October 01, 2003
tidbits
California Girl writes "Who is your audience? Is it yourself and
whoever knows about it? How do you decide what to include there? Does it mean that your entire psyche is like an open book. Or do you edit yourself and what you want to reveal."
Good questions. It is, starting out, a little lonely. And yes, I do censor myself and it isn't the free for all that might take place in my bound, private, hand held, analog journal. But for me I am thrilled to be writing again, about anything, toilets, tubs, toothaches and pig races. btw, this pix was taking by California Cousin Cary who could always best me at bubble blowing, jump-roping, roller-skating,( the antique kind with four wheels and a skate key), jacks and now photography... aren't they cute?
anyway, California Girl goes on to say "It also doesn't seem like a connecting activity unless, of course, you direct someone to it. Kind of like, if you are interested in me, read my blog." well yeah. That is the idea. But I guess when you are starting out and if you aren't a big muckety muck like Christopher Lydon or Dave Winer you have a small (teeny in my case) group of devoted (:-D in my case) readers and commentators. Hoping all the while to engender a conversation or dissent or even, at the highest levels, discourse about whatever strikes your fancy! The interactive function that is built into the software like Manila or Movable Type or Blogger do the work of setting it up for you so that you can ping people and alert them to your posts, they can post or comment, your posts are organized and archived automatically and so much more.
My excitement is mounting as the conference this weekend at Harvard, BloggerCon takes shape. I am afraid I am way out of my league here, but am particularly excited to see how others are using blogs in education and what we can implement at Simmons.
Hey California Girl! Do you know Dan Gilmor, from the San Jose Mercury News? He is presenting at the conference and has an eJournal. But even these professional bloggers have their detractors. From acomment on his blog by Jim Hill,
"Dan, I know you think we're in the middle of a sea change in the way the very fundament turns and perhaps we are -- but you're getting very close to turning the phrase "gets it" and its permutations into synonyms for "thinks like I do". Might I suggest retiring it, or at least giving it some bench time?
Time will tell whether the feverish linking to one another that the Valley's online scribes engage in turns out to be anything other than a self-congratulatory CB radio of the new millennium, doomed to fail when the audience realizes that reading the thoughts of a mutual admiration society isn't all that exciting after all. I suspect that it will if you keep pointing to each other while saying "Here's another one who gets it."
food for thought.
or for blogging.
speaking of...time for breakfast.
and oh, the score now,
tooth: 1 Zithromax: 1.
The pain is gone. Hallelujah.
Well, now that I am checking your blog daily, just like I check the online news and my various email accounts, I can see that your blogging is a connecting activity. My connection to your days now is not dependant upon your having time to drop a line. Despite the 3000 miles, I have a glimpse into your days, and when I write to you, I find myself responding to your blogs.
The conference seemed intense. Interesting that the blogging scene is dominated by white men. Hmm. --From your "California girl"
I am honored to be included in your blog.
Thanks for praising my childhood talents. I'm very proud of those accomplishments but ask for your forgiveness regarding the Revlon doll clothes I stole from you.