Posted by so on May 25, 2005, at 21:11:10
In reply to Re: differences » Dr. Bob, posted by thuso on May 25, 2005, at 17:58:06
are we cousins? just asking because of the name.
I can offer some counterpoint to that -- web logs have been a source of valuable information in some circumstances, but that doesn't make them all useful for all circumstances. I read yesterday an article representing the leading advocacy group for protection of children in the net environment that said slightly more than half of the world's now 38 million supposed blogs are operated by teens, and primarily by female teens. (I say supposed because I'm not sure which self-published web sites they defined as blogs.) The major concern there was potentially exploitive activity arising from too much self-disclosure by young people. The group cited four youths who were murdered by people they met on-line. But elsewhere, I read that blogs first appeared to be a useful new trend but soon became a venue widely used to announce one's own importance. I've seen some outright libel of strictly private individuals in some blogs that might stand probably because the subject doesn't know they were targeted, and because the self-appointed blog publishers have no background in libel law and might not know the difference between a private person and a public figure. I've seen blog posts that seem to be invasions of privacy, too. Of course, that's nothing new -- been that way for thousands of years, no doubt.Otherwise, blogs aren't all that new -- it's just a new word for a particular form of content management software that provides for easy updating and replies. In general, they give more editorial control to the site owner than do threaded message boards.
As you say, some are members-read-only, and some groups use the software to let any member post a new article, but in general, they are an evoluton of what were called 'zines the last time a presidential election drove a wave of news stories about the latest on-line self-published media. And before there were 'zines there were newsgroups, and before that e-mail lists -- its an emerging concept, as you likely know from having been involved for several years.
poster:so
thread:497806
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050517/msgs/502931.html