// was asked this weekend if i still blog: yes, no, blogging is so 2004… blogging is not publishing, publishing is not blogging…
Tag: blogging
//
In essence, [blogging/blog platforms are] a straightforward content-management system that posts updates in reverse-chronological order and allows comments and other social interactions.
Viewed as such, blogging may “die” in much the same way that personal-digital assistants (PDAs) have died. A decade ago, PDAs were the preserve of digerati who liked using electronic address books and calendars. Now they are gone, but they are also ubiquitous, as features of almost every mobile phone.
Interview: Seth Godin on How Often to Post to Your Blog
From AdAge.com:
Seth Godin: My goals in blogging are:
- To spread ideas
- To put my ideas out there and get them out of the way of the next idea
- To encourage people to add alacrity to their diet
I find that I have about six bloggable ideas a day. I also find that writing twice as long a post doesn’t increase communication, it usually decreases it. And finally, I found that people get antsy if there are unread posts in their queue.
Hence, the compromise on daily.
Blogs survive as scavengers
News-gathering is expensive. (Read previous posts on this theme here (The (read) sky (between) is (the) falling (lines)) and here (Pornographers don’t sell pornography).) That’s why I present this from Simon Dumenco for AdAge.com:
“unlike Salon, which… pays for its content, HuffPo [HuffingtonPost] has an ethically questionable content-generation scheme: It doesn’t pay most of its bloggers at all. Worse, it sometimes even lifts content wholesale from other sites that do pay for their own content…” (http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=133541)
Seth on the death of the personal blog
From BlogAsheville:
Many local bloggers have neglected their blogs recently, with varying reasons/excuses.
So, do bloggers need a bailout too? No. Read Seth’s take on the personal blog demise:
There’s a difference between a blog about YOU… and a blog about the reader. Guy Kawasaki’s blog, and my blog for that matter, are not about us, about what we ate yesterday or how great we are. They are about you, the reader.
I guess there’s an easy analogy:
Your blog could be like a newspaper (written by a staff)
or it could be like a book (written by an author)
So, enough about me. How about you?
The point is not to show up on a list, the point is to start a conversation that spreads, to share ideas and to chronicle your thinking.
Blogging grows up
In essence, [blogging/blog platforms are] a straightforward content-management system that posts updates in reverse-chronological order and allows comments and other social interactions.
Viewed as such, blogging may “die” in much the same way that personal-digital assistants (PDAs) have died. A decade ago, PDAs were the preserve of digerati who liked using electronic address books and calendars. Now they are gone, but they are also ubiquitous, as features of almost every mobile phone.
A concert isn’t about the music
A concert isn’t about the music, is it? And a restaurant isn’t about the food.
Seth Godin1
NOTES:
1) Seth Godin, “Sing it (please S I N G I T),” August 2, 2008, Seth Godin’s Blog, accessed August 2, 2008, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/sing-it-please.html (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
“Blogs shouldn’t be work”
As newspapers, including mine, have begun to take a nosedive, the powers that be have decided that blogs must pay. The numbers (hits) are watched incessantly, and increasing them has become the criterion for survival, not just of the blog itself, but of the writer behind it. In a real sense, the blog has become an albatross, or a target painted on my chest. If I didn’t have one, no one would be looking at those blog numbers – they’d be looking at other numbers, true, but there’d be no pressure on the blog. There’s the rub: a blog with pressure becomes work, and blogs shouldn’t be work.
—Timothy Mangan1
NOTES:
1) Richard Chang, Paul Hodgins and Timothy Mangan, “To Blog or Not to Blog,” May 25, 2008, ARTSJOURNAL weblog, accessed June 5, 2008, https://www.artsjournal.com/npac/2008/05/to-blog-or-not-to-blog.html
The therapeutic value of blogging
writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways…. people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere. “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.
Jessica Wapner, Scientific American1
NOTES:
1) Jessica Wapner, “Blogging–It’s Good for You,” June 1, 2008, Scientific American, accessed June 5, 2008, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
The Web never sleeps
Our always-on wired world doesn’t leave room for contemplation… Charles Bukowski once lamented that writing poems that were published soon after felt like throw-away journalism. But…. the Web never sleeps.
Jeff Gomez, Print is Dead1
NOTES:
1) Jeff Gomez, “24 Hour Posting People: Bloggers feel the pressure,” April 7, 2008, Print is Dead, accessed April 12, 2008, http://printisdeadblog.com/2008/04/07/24-hour-posting-people-bloggers-feel-the-pressure/ (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
Narrative Non-Fiction Comics: UPDATE
The publisher received the first installment of my creative non-fiction comic this week. It has been almost a year since a posted about a creative non-fiction comic I’ve been illustrating and writing. Previous posts on creative non-fiction comics: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
The irony is that Drawn, an illustration and cartooning blog, posted this on Monday:”Goodbye one-page diary comics; everyone’s blogging now.”
It appears the one the inspirations for my work now has a blog (which isn’t bad) but he posted this: “In the old days i’d have made a one-page … but today we squander our narratives in a blog.”
The first installment is due to hit the streets in December and the medium is horribly dated. Another source of inspiration has a blog as well but hasn’t updated since 2003. However, Vertigo released a five-issue miniseries by him that began in September.
Maybe it’s not as bad as Drawn considered.
Edgy design, edgy gear
Awhile back Edgy Mama put out a request for some edgy gear and I couldn’t resist an edgy design project. So I submitted design and it was voted on and won thanks Edgy readers like Ptaak, fringes, naughty drawdy, Lightning Bug’s Butt and Autumn. Check out Edgy Mama’s blog and find out when the enviro-friendly Edgy T-shirts are available.