Weblogs: September 2003 Archives
Micropublishing can create lots of noise, but my experience is that the quality of writing and insight in most blogs is quite high, so I am enriched by the discussions and many of the points published in this format. I find all the points of view on the world enthralling.
In (Weblogs and) The Mass Amateurisation of (Nearly) Everything... [plasticbag.org]Tom Coates has summarized the new potential that the change from the publishing a webpage to the publishing of a weblog involves.
He concludes by saying,
This flexibility of publishing creates a fluid and living form of self-representation, the 'homepage (as a place)' has become the 'weblog(as a person)' that can articulate a voice. And when there are a multiiplicity of voices in space, then the possiblity arises of conversations. And where there is conversation there is the sharing of information. And conversation about what? Well everything from music and movies and animation and medical information. Weblogs are becoming the bridge between the individual and the community in cyberspace - a place where one can self-publicise and self-describe but also learn, debate and engage in community. In other words, weblogs are [...] becoming enmeshed in the very structures of information retrieval, community interaction and media distribution themselves.[underlines mine, Spike Hall]
Lets see if we can find the stuff to translate this potential into higher quality community life for all, not just that of articulate technophiles.
Without working at it hard and well-- its a powerful tool for good or ill --, we could be simply adding to the noise pollution of our increasingly urban, corporate landscape.
[Connectivity: Spike Hall's RU Weblog]
This is a good link to a definition of social software. The author Michael Quinion writes about international English usage. It is also worthwhile subscribing to Corante: Social Software if you are interested in the subject.
World Wide Words: Social Software. Here's a pretty decent three-paragraph description of the term "social software", by Michael Quinion, who among other things contributes to the Oxford Dictionary of New Words. [Corante: Social Software]
