Al blog, στο blog, à un blog. Despite these three languages (Spanish, Greek, and French) there is one common word: Blog. Who would have thought that this four letter word, whose origins come from web log, would transverse so many languages? This directly relates to one of Andrew Sullivan's thoughts on why he blogs. In his article "Why I Blog" he says that he directly gets feedback from the writers instead of finding whatever out only through the editors of a paper, journal, etc. This creates a flow of thought through the body of people whether that be the author or the reader thus upholding the concrete idea of is being discussed.
After reading Andrew Sullivan's article as a whole I can most all of his view points on blogging. I personal value hard copies of written literature over digital copies any day of the week but I do not see the demise of hard copies anytime soon. This is where Andrew Sullivan's metaphor using jazz music towards the end of his article gave me the biggest conformation on my beliefs. He says along these lines that just like jazz people talk over them both which is drastically changes the environment when experiencing or taking part in that verses classical music and paper. The difference really is that a different degree of human interaction is involved.
When you read a book all you can do is develop your opinion of the writer’s voice. When you blogging you can give your opinion through voicing it rather than merely develop it and never communicating your thoughts with the author directly. The whole blog I am currently writing could actually be posted as a comment onto Andrew Sullivan's blog article and he could personal read what I have to and develop his own thoughts about me. When you only have a hard copy this direct interaction or "intimacy" is eliminated between the author and reader by the third party editor/etc.
Another important view I took from Andrew Sullivan's article was the idea that this intimacy when blogging created a sort of friendship. This concept is what makes it possible to have cohesive and persuasive arguments on a subject via the virtual world. I think blogging will not make print materials obsolete but I do think it provides our culture with a reasonable and fast type of communication in an ever decreasing world of humanization.
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I really like the multiple language thing at the beginning, quite possibly because I am a language dork.
ReplyDeleteBut, getting to the point, couldn't one argue that blogs aide in dehumanizing the world? What could be more human than hand writing your own things with paper and ink? Is the trade-off for ease of communication dehumanization via technology?