Bloggin' for Brian

This will be far too (but perhaps mercifully) brief, and it may also be too late, but I did want to put my groat’s worth of wit to work on Brian Lamb’s social software presentation in Vancouver tonight.

* What is most significant about the emergence of blogs and/or wikis?

Blogs: the implicit narrative in the organization, the way they look good out-of-the-box, the presentation-followed-by-Q&A (comment) rhetorical model, the system of trackbacks and cross-linking, the idea of the blogroll (this merits further discussion, I think), the human-face-of-the-corporation angle, the idea of the blogosphere

Wikis: Distributed, persistent, worldwide authorship focused on particular topics or projects, evolving very rapidly and thereby demonstrating the process of civilization and the flowering of discourse communities the way a time-lapse movie shows the blooming of a rose.

* In your mind, what is most misunderstood (or little understood) about these tools?

I think many people believe blogs are a genre the way (bad) pulp fiction is a genre: they’re all the same, their goals are the same, they’re trash, they’re just personal bleatings. Blogs are a medium, and while to a certain extent the medium is the message, it’s also true that blogs need not be personal or controversial, etc. If they inhabit a genre, it’s narrative, broadly considered.

Wikis are us. I think that fact is very poorly understood, though the latest Wikipedia scandal may have helped educate some folks in this regard.

* Are blogs and wikis evolving into something else?

I’m not sure we’ll know until they have.

* What are the implications of these publishing tools on ideas, public opinion and free speech?

Oh my goodness. No brief answer possible. No broad answer valuable. I will note that the implications are remarkably like the implications of the emerging print culture of the Renaissance. (Cf. terrific “In Our Time” (BBC Radio 4) podcast this week on 17th Century Print Culture.)

* What are a few of your essential blog reads or wiki communities?

Yours, of course. šŸ™‚

* Anything else?

Everything else, but tempus fugit and so must I…. I’ll make it up to you in enchiladas in San Diego.

4 thoughts on “Bloggin' for Brian

  1. Just under the wire my friend! Good thing I habitually click your links as soon as they pop up in my aggregator. I was just finishing up formatting. Now, to find appropriate spots to squeeze in some of your wisdom. I won’t be able to use all the great stuff that’s here, natch…

    Do I ever look forward to seeing you next week.

  2. I should add you were already in my presentation in a couple spots (most prominently your fine recent post on the Wikipedia controversy).

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