blogs err us
According to the blogging community ("the blogsphere"), the recent CBS memo forgery flap, shows bloggers are the Big Bang of Information Age, or, as another blogger puts it the blogosphere is a media improvement because the sheer number of blogs, and the speed of response, make errors hard to sustain for very long. The collective mind is also a corrective mind. Transparency is all."
So what's up with Carbondale, Bloggy? Are people in town really so internet-challenged that a few more bloggers can't get into the act? Sure, we have SIU types Fraydog, and T Lev, and Pragmatik, but there is little or no interaction between them. The best use of blogging for political purposes in these parts is Saline County States' Attorney candidate David Nelson's campaign blog.
Where are the student journalists? The journalism teachers? The business faculty and students? local activists? the vice-chancellors?
Blogs are more than simply personal online journals; the best ones offer issue-oriented summaries and opinions with links to supporting evidence for whatever claim, word, or phrase is in question. Because blogging allow for group contributions as well as solo efforts, blogs make excellent project-development tools.
This blog was originally started as a development tool for the Shawnee Network web site, and has in turn been been instrumental in getting other blogs rolling for personal and community projects -- such medical malpractice, local business, obama and keyes, etc. Some haven't been posted to for months, but the concern and the people and the possibilities are still alive and well. All they lack are a few more contributors.
Bark to the Future - carbondale dog park
Between the Rivers - "guitars between the rivers" project.
Bike to the Future - bike 2 work day
Carbondale Biz - business blog
Carbondale to Cyberdale - new
In this Corner - Keyes vs. Obama
Lime in the Coconut - medical malpractice
POOLside - public outdoor swimming pool
V for Varsity - saving the venerable venue
How about a City Council blog! Why not? We're talking Community Conversation here. Study Circles for the 21st Century. I bet at least three Council persons would love to try it, and the others could be convinced, why not? Not enough time? It's highly ironic that the Carbondale Conversations (Study Circle) groups don't maintain a blog . Does anyone besides a few reporters and the members know what's happening with the Carbondale Conversation Action Groups? If you're not on the mailing list, you don't. This is true with other groups and organizations too. The Peace Coalition, for example, and Carbondale Community Arts. And City Council . . . don't forget City Council. It's all part of Operation Carbondale to Cyberdale.
Blogs are da bomb.
3 Comments:
True, we need more Carbondale blogs. I was hoping to see some of the academic departments at the university come up with blogs. But I think a lot of people still think of pink letters tHaT lOOk LikE tHIs on teenage girls' pages [:)] when they think of blogs. Luckily, I think that's changing a bit, especially with the party conventions allowing bloggers access. And the best free blogging platform [Blogger, I think] is just...better now. I'm seeing newer and better blogs all around lately, and I'm hoping that Carbondalies will follow suit:)
I wonder if Carbondale blogging would improve with deeper and cheaper access to high speed internet access. I have to say, Dave, that with your old site and with my old, slow internet access I could have painted my house in the time it took me to load your blog. I must REALLY have been interested in what you had to say, because I still checked in regularly. Now that I have high speed access, this is no longer a problem. But based on the trouble I had finding a reasonably affordable high-speed connection, I tend to think this affects many other non-university types.
I think you're right . . . more people need high speed connections for the blogvolution to blossom.
Did you know your pseudonym is the title of a novel by Upton Sinclair? The subject matter sounds eerily like a foreshadow of today's world. Blurb at: http://tinyurl.com/6dr8u
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