Blogcritics: Comments on The Pre-Industrial Blog

Comment by Bob A. Booey

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 03:08:49 EDT

I'll have to take the time to read this later to see if you've actually said anything, but it seems like an interesting topic. That is all.

Comment by tom m

Tue, 13 May 2003 20:19:49 EDT

This is a splendid choice of a book to use to gloss the mode of blogging, metaleptically, as it were, and most suggestive as it suggests both the marginal properties of blogs as well as their ability to "switch" and become the primary texts for other bloggers to annotate. An infinite series of mutually annotating marginalia, each with the power to confer primacy upon the other. Cool.

Comment by iggy

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:22:20 EDT

"We got a great big convoy, nothin's gonna get in our way ... con-voy ..." I tend to agree with you. There's actually very little "social networking" going on in blogging these days. It's mainly about self-promotion, BlogShares, wanting in on the Drudge action. On the other hand, the CB craze may have died, but CB is still in wide use among truckers to spot those smokies. So maybe there's life after the media hype for the folks who are in it, pardon the pun, for the long haul.

Comment by Kevin Bjorke

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:02:28 EDT

I', still convinced that blogging is just one of many similar "movements" -- compare, for example, to CB radio use in the 70's. Technology permitted the whole populace to become broadcasters, then quickly devolved into stereotypical social grooming, eventually sliding back to its original practically-purposed form before being largely usurped by celphones. So much for a revolution in consciousness.

Comment by blogalization

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 14:25:26 EDT

Well said! I respect that point of view, but have this contrarian streak of cultural conservatism that makes me pipe up with the old French cliché, "the more things change, the more they remain the same" whenever possible. And genre politics are dangerous ground. I just loved the idea of a scholar writing a book legitimating scribbling in the margins as a legitimate object of literary study. For more of the similar, try The Footnote: A Curious History and The Devil's Details: A History of the Footnote.

Comment by Murphy

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 14:02:49 EDT

That is fascinating! What this illustrates to me is that the tools created by the internet are once again being adapted for use towards impulses we have long felt. It is not surprising that we want to share our opinions on events/information/literature with others. And it is useful to read what others have to say. But trying to tag blog with a genre designation, trying to tag any dynamic production with a genre designation, is an after-the-fact exercise. Blogs are changing, the web is changing. It may be very useful to categorize past postings, just to try and discover patterns. But this is a living, very vital form of expression. It's not through evolving yet.