Lock, Stack and Bytes

And I thought that people started talking about blogs recently! Well, it so happens that exactly five years ago on this day, Mr. Scott Rosenberg (currently Managing Editor at Salon.com) was making a very strong and passionate case about the utility of weblogs in his technology column “Fear of links“. The column, generally speaking, was a criticism of the reasons that made professional journalists look down upon their Web journalist counterparts.

They’re fulfilling the predictions by Internet visionaries of the
rise of a new breed of personal journalism online — only instead
of pounding the physical pavement, they forage for news on the Net
itself.

And then, of course, there were his views on weblogs. Five years ago. Well, I can almost see Mr. Rosenberg looking down upon all those “professional” journalists and giving them a I-said-so look. But going by his writings, he doesn’t seem to be a self-congratulating kind of a person.

- Rajesh

Off late I have seen a lot of “chatter” in the media about blogs. Today, it was The New York Times that came out with an in depth story on the phenomenon of “blogging”. While it is difficult to trace the history of weblogs (Mr. Dave Winer may, of course, disagree), as far as mainstream media in US is concerned, I think it all started with Howard Dean’s passionate embrace of blogging as a medium to reach out to the hoi polloi. I remember the talking heads on TV and radio trying to define and demystify the term “blog” for their viewers. Come to think of it, no dictionary, at this point of time, defines the term “blog” or “blogging”.

The story in The New York Times does a good job of trying to cover the different motivating (sometimes not-so-motivating!) factors that drives people to take up blogging. It ranges from pure boredom to illusion. Bill Gates and the like, of course, see it as a business tool.

The Web’s illusion of immortality is sometimes more attractive than actual cash

In my family itself there are four different members doing it for four different reasons. And I won’t be surprised that that number will grow by the end of year. Both - the number of members and reasons. My younger brother - who is the driving force behind all the other family members taking up blogging (including my nearly 65 year-old father!) - “blogs” for a number of reasons. Every reason for him is as good as the other: a diary; a technical journal; a “place” to exchange ideas with peers; a form of documenting ideas or simply helping fellow “bloggers” to spread the word about something important that otherwise would never surface in mainstream media.

As far as I am concerned, blogging is the ultimate form of First Amendment. Every one has a take - and the right to voice it. The right to blog. And that can only be good.

- Rajesh