A blast from the past reminds me of one of the reasons we started BlogHer


it's so easy for mainstream reporters to use sources that look like them...meaning not women in most cases

At the very first BlogHer in 2005 the opening keynote panel was about whether we should play by the existing rules or change the game entirely. That's an old debate in most minority or marginalized communities. Change from within (meaning you have to get in)? Or rabblerouse from the outside.

I was definitely more on the play...no, win...by existing rules side...although I thought creating a new game should be a simultaneous activity.

One of the reasons I thought it was so important to raise the profile and voices of women bloggers across all subject areas, one of the reasons I thought it was so vital to feature women sharing their expertise on topics, personal, professional, political and technical, was that back in 2005 the mainstream media was just starting their rush to the blogosphere as an easy place to find sources...sources for quotes, commentary, anecdotal data etc.

And back in 2005 those blogging voices that were featured were almost exclusively white men.

Hence I had a rush of nostalgia, and not in a good way, to read this article by the New York Times on HyperLocal or Placeblogging. Every person quoted is a man, although they cite at least one site in their list that was started and is run by a woman.

Women have actually been innovators in this space...early innovators, like Jarah Euston with her Fresno Famous placeblog (later acquired by the local newspaper company) and Lisa WIlliams, founder of H2OTown and Placeblogger. Placeblogger was cited amongst a list of such blogs in the piece, and has been around quite some time, but no further love.

I can think of many more, but see, women bloggers are my milieu.

And I don't think reporters should be satisfied until their source list for any story...particularly one about the online world and blogosphere (which, by the way, is statistically more diverse than the wider Internet)...represents the diversity of the space they're writing about.

Posted: Mon - April 13, 2009 at 08:00 AM       EmailFeedback

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