Anurag Jain's Blog on Bangalore Events, Travel, IIM Bangalore, IIM, IIMB, Management

Monday, March 07, 2005

Posted 10:09 AM by Anurag

"Blog People"

Although I think that he's being rather harsh, and also even though I dont agree with his views on the utility and efficiency of google/search engines, I do, however, agree with some of what American Library Association president Michael Gorman has to say about blogs (via /.) and 'Blog people':

"[The] Blog People (or their subclass who are interested in computers and the glorification of information) have a fanatical belief in the transforming power of digitization and a consequent horror of, and contempt for, heretics who do not share that belief... Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs."

Granted that Mr Gorman seems to be a condescending Luddite who is probably of the view that the 'new generation' doesn't know any better. Nevertheless, I agree with his points on the quality of blogs. Most of the times, blogs just link to other pages (like this post itself!) without any value add. Worse, sometimes, bloggers just ctrl-c/ctrl-v content from other webpages (e.g. this blog, copied from this blog without even acknowledging!) without even crediting the original page! And worst - even though one good thing blogging has accomplished is the mental empowerment of people - a lot of bloggers seem to have an inflated view of their capabilities. Those who are taken by, or proclaim, that "Blogs are the next big thing" are being naive, and probably the ones most affected by faddism. Blogs are nothing but easily-updatable, interactive webpages. Nothing new there, as companies like geocities have been offering similar services since almost the beginning of the Net. Come on people, come to terms with it, go home and sleep it out. Don't get ahead of yourself by thinking it's the end of the world and bloggers are the only species chosen to be in Noah's Ark.

Some more food for thought on the topic. Here's some real neat comments on Blogs/Blog People story at /.:
# And a note on the word "blog"...
# To claim that one lifestyle is superior is hypocritical, egotistical, and superficial.
# Couldn't be more true: 1, 2
# Noise issue
# What's More Is, He's Write

0 comments

Comments: Post a Comment