hultberg.org: LinkLog

Weblog history, present and future

These two articles give a good overview on weblog history, the current state and where it might go.

Clearly the blogging phenomenon means something. We still have to figure out what though. It will never replace mainstream media, but with 3 million blogs out there we have a movement going that is similar to what aspiring rock musicians have been doing for ages: creating stuff, handing out demos and looking for attention.

Which is not to say that 90 percent of news-related blogs aren't crap. First of all, 90 percent of any new form of expression tends to be mediocre (think of band demos, or the cringe-inducing underground papers of years gone by), and judging a medium by its worst practitioners is not very sporting. Still, almost every criticism about blogs is valid - they often are filled with cheap shots, bad spelling, the worst kind of confirmation bias, and an extremely off-putting sense of self-worth (one that this article will do nothing to alleviate). But the "blogosphere," as many like to pompously call it, is too large and too varied to be defined as a single thing, and the action at the top 10 percent is among the most exciting new trends the profession has seen in a while. Are bloggers journalists? Will they soon replace newspapers? The best answer to those two questions is: those are two really dumb questions; enough hot air has been expended in their name already. A more productive, tangible line of inquiry is: Is journalism being produced by blogs, is it interesting, and how should journalists react to it? The answers, by my lights, are "yes," "yes," and "in many ways." After a slow start, news organizations are beginning to embrace the form.

Hopefully it will change journalism to something more interesting, with a more exciting voice and whole lot more credibility.

Emerging Alternatives: A brief history of weblogs

Emerging Alternatives: Blogworld, The Amateurs weigh in

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