Why Blog?
Back in the 80s when I was in MIS, I was the only programmer in my shop (of some 250 technical folks) with email. Not just “email at home” but “email” … as in anywhere. Granted we were in coastal Maine where innovations tend to struggle amid the Luddites and poverty, but still, it was available and I had it.
In those days I used to ask people, “Do you have email?” I’d usually get a blank look. In those instances where they knew what email was, the answer was, “Why in the world would I want email?”
Um?
Because without it you’re cut off from the wider world? Hopelessly adrift in the backwaters of snailmail and telephone? Lacking the ability to communicate in any timely/economical sort of way with people not in your time zone?
Ok, that’s harsh … and I never actually said that to anybody. But it was a response that never lost its ability to surprise me when somebody responded that way. The benefits seemed so obvious to me that I just couldn’t understand why somebody as smart as I thought they were would ask such a silly question … twenty-five years later, I think I understand it a bit better. I’m probably an early adopter.
Lately, the question has been on my mind relative to the “new email” — blogging. I’ve asked a few people whose opinions I respect and whose voices I want to hear more often if they have a blog. Several people in the last few weeks have said, “Why in the world would I spend MY time writing this self-serving claptrap?” or something approximating it. Ok, not all of them. I’ve actually had some reasonable responses including “Because nobody has presented me with a compelling reason for doing so.”
Fair enough. Here’s a few reasons.
When I ask ya, it’s because I want to know what you have to say on a variety of subjects as they come up in your life. I think you have something that’s worth saying and I want to make sure I hear it. So, when I ask, it’s probably because I think the world would be a better place if you’d sit down a couple times a month and write a lil something about how you think about stuff. I could be wrong and you might really be a shallow-brained twitlet, completely lacking in any ability to see the big picture or communicate on a wider scale.
It’s also true that I write to learn (as I’ve posted ad nauseam here) and I believe that all of us would benefit from the practice. Think of it as my poor contribution to the field. Ya, I know it’s the moral equivalent of the soapbox in Piccadilly Circus, but hey … It’s something I
But that’s OK!
Blogs bring democracy to publication. I know people have been saying the web brings democracy to this, that, or the other for about a decade now, but in this case I think it bears special consideration. Not only do I have the ability to publish what I want in a forum were other might find it, but I can actually “broadcast” that publication to my subscribers via RSS. Those people who are interested can subscribe to my publication and follow my thinking as it evolves — and I can do the same to theirs.
The implications here are HUGE!
I don’t have to write something every day. RSS deals nicely with the intermittent publication issue. So long as SOMEBODY writes something every so often, I get a little mental sustenanace each day so I’m rewarded for running my aggregator. People who subscribe to my feed probably also do Steven Downes, Will Richardson, CogDogBlog, and maybe Crooked Timber as well. Those people ALWAYS have something to say. I’m hoping the new DLD site will garner the same attention and activity.
The time issue is also a problem. It DOES take time to write — I’m squeaking this one in between breakfast and shower (with a break for “the necessary” and moving the effort into the office) for example — and it takes time to read. We all have to find time somewhere to do “the reading” if we’re gonna keep up. That’s just one of the facts of professional life. And what I learn in the hour or so I spend writing each week and the hour or so a day I spend reading MORE than pays back in access to tools, ideas, people, and insight. It’s my “battery charge” that somebody (Pat Miller?) alluded to when talking about what the conference does for them.
Now I’m willing to admit that it may not be for everybody. There are some people I’d just as soon not listen to. There are some who’d just as soon not listen to me. And there are SOME who I don’t agree with, but that I’d like to keep up with anyway just on the off chance they might pull their heads out of their .. um.. Anyway. I think you know what I mean here.
So, those are SOME of the reasons why I think you should blog. Are they compelling reasons? Depends on you. How willing are you to share your perspectives? How valuable is communication? How much do you feel an obligation to the field?
How much do you want to engage in a community that values the free exchange of ideas?
Ok. Time to get back to work.
NL
Epilogue: A list of SOME of the people I wish had blogs (in no particular sequence). If you’re on this list and you have a blog, please send me your blog address. If you’re NOT on this list and you have a blog, PLEASE send me your blog address.
James Elsworth
Pat Miller
Kay Persichitte
Ward Cates
Mary Herring
Josh Kirby
Michael Barbour
Addie Kinsinger
Dick Cornell
Kyle Peck
Marcy Driscoll
Susan Zvacek
Karen Murphy
Les Moller
Janette Hill
Joanne Bentley
Erin Edwards
Tony Pina
Al Mizell
Leslie Beville
Cindy Conn
Charlie Reigeluth
Ana Donaldson
Wes Miller