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Jul. 9th, 2003
Blog up your life
Jul. 9th, 2003 05:02 pmEarlier ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andrewducker asked why I am fiddling around with setting up a blog rather than just posting the same material here.
Well, there's a number of reasons. For one, as somebody who makes his living in journalism, I'm fascinated by the impact the blogging format and things like RSS feed distribution could have on the future of my trade. I want to play, experiment and understand. Indeed, I've been doing so for a little while. I've set up a Christian-themed blog that's picked up a good, regular readership and watched the various experiments of people likebruceb with interest.
I'm not credulous enough to believe that blogging will ever replaced the traditional media, much as some people would like to believe it will, but I do think that methods and technology from blogs will change the way people like me operate. There's certainly a possibility that in future you'll be able to compile your own magazine, using a combination of a smart feed reader and the feeds from multiple blog: reviews from one source, comment from another, a news feed from a mass media site and so on.
Livejournal seems better, to me, at creating communities: interlinking small groups of people, many of whom already know each other. Most people who read a person's Livejournal are probably maintaining one of their own. Blogs, partially through their presence on other servers and partially through the other option they offer are better at the "wide world" publishing model. In particular, I wanted to play with Moveable Type's categories and Trackback facility. That's the major reason I'm switching from Blogger.
The Livejournal isn't going anywhere. It's be the same mix of random stuff it is now. The MT site will be a far more disciplined exercise in publishing, with a theme, particular ideas and a degree of passion behind it, all of which I'll reveal in due time. I've no idea if anyone will read it and I don't much care. Nigh on 30,000 people buy the mag I write for weekly. I doubt my blog will ever reach more than a tiny faction of that number. No, the blog is for me. Every person who chooses to read is simple a bonus.
andrewducker asked why I am fiddling around with setting up a blog rather than just posting the same material here.Well, there's a number of reasons. For one, as somebody who makes his living in journalism, I'm fascinated by the impact the blogging format and things like RSS feed distribution could have on the future of my trade. I want to play, experiment and understand. Indeed, I've been doing so for a little while. I've set up a Christian-themed blog that's picked up a good, regular readership and watched the various experiments of people like
bruceb with interest.I'm not credulous enough to believe that blogging will ever replaced the traditional media, much as some people would like to believe it will, but I do think that methods and technology from blogs will change the way people like me operate. There's certainly a possibility that in future you'll be able to compile your own magazine, using a combination of a smart feed reader and the feeds from multiple blog: reviews from one source, comment from another, a news feed from a mass media site and so on.
Livejournal seems better, to me, at creating communities: interlinking small groups of people, many of whom already know each other. Most people who read a person's Livejournal are probably maintaining one of their own. Blogs, partially through their presence on other servers and partially through the other option they offer are better at the "wide world" publishing model. In particular, I wanted to play with Moveable Type's categories and Trackback facility. That's the major reason I'm switching from Blogger.
The Livejournal isn't going anywhere. It's be the same mix of random stuff it is now. The MT site will be a far more disciplined exercise in publishing, with a theme, particular ideas and a degree of passion behind it, all of which I'll reveal in due time. I've no idea if anyone will read it and I don't much care. Nigh on 30,000 people buy the mag I write for weekly. I doubt my blog will ever reach more than a tiny faction of that number. No, the blog is for me. Every person who chooses to read is simple a bonus.