doc searls: cluetrain blog -- cluelog.
question:how do you find time? i just answer email in public.
heather havrilesky: suck.com filler! (polly esther) rabbit blog. suck went under - met ken layne and matt welch. writing outlet, advice letters.
evan williams - the blogfather. publish direct to web site scripts, handy. internet startup. built it on a whim and it took awhile to figger why it was interesting.
susannah breslin - MTV pilot! more interested in "out there" porn and stuff, but magazines didnt want that. layed up 6 weeks, started blog to write whatever she wanted. sex, porn, robots, her life, trying to turn a blog into a tv show... "new media content into old media crap!"
what is a blog?
low budget personal reality tv, editorial rant, political, collaborative - individual...
popular but not entirely new. overusing "blog". it's a means of publishing, but that's not so new. how is this different from personal home pages?
•threshhold of technolgoy to publish is so LOW. used to be a lotta work, other people would have to do the web site creating all this work for each other. (Suck.com 2 guys) easy as sending email - makes a big difference. (Doc)
how has blogging freed you? (Susannah) - gap between what she wanted to do and waht she could write. blogging closed gap
freelance writers: if you wanna read more from an author you like, you can read otherstuff they write. BLOGSPOT - can blog within minutes. boom. tonypierce posted 30 pics of anna kourikova -- allegedly in penthouse -- found them and posted. 3 million hits in 3 days!
userland, livejournal, moveable type: EV: uhh it's gotten bigger. medium coming into its own. (tv was like radio at first.) popular rise gained momentum in 1999. (geocities 1995 - similar vision of personal publishing.) blogs - we figured out how to really make that true, lower the barrier. blogger is natural evolution, this is how we take advantage of this medium. took awhile to realize. okay there are a few blogs, the automation isn't there so maybe 1,000 will use this software. more mainstream now but not truly yet -- this year, bog portals gaining interest, commercialization AOL. this year -- oh, this is what the web is and this is what we do with it.
Clay Shirky - power laws, weblogs and inequality. Blogging culture not egalitarian. everyone can't be heard equally - A-list. natural self-inclination of commentators to rank everything (Doc). blogging rewards fast if you have good content - nobody saying "yes or no". david sifry - technorati, cosmos of links, hacked his own software to create opportunities for unknown bloggers. lotta technology and generosity involved. people sent Doc a laptop when he lost his. how do you account for that generosity when you're busy ranking everything.
TONY PIERCE: Haves and have nots. Homeless Guy's blog throws that out the window. access via library (until funds get cut!!!) no have and have-nots... welll..... Disparity between blogging, what it could be and what it is.
Heather or Susannah? -- If you're given a medium in which you can publish ANYTHING in any way. why are they repeating same info you can read in washington post? where's the artist? alternative ways of blogging? same story on every blog. eg Daypop.
Susannah: self censorship? whether to link to certain things - dog sex. WIRED, men expressing date rape fantasies but didn't link to sites. Susannah linked to sites. bukkake!
Question: When you become known for a certain style of blogging, a certain kind of content and style. do you play it safe and stick with it to keep readers happy?
heather - i prolly disappoint readers by not sticking to same thing. mood changes. answering relationship questions for awhile. cynical self-involved persona at suck, but other times veer into earnest, self-help psychological shit, different people respond. touchy feely letters and i don't wanna hear about this crap letters. Reading News lately and writing about that on rabbit blog. not getting paid - always pushing envelope of what i'm writing about. test honesty levels, experiment with different structures to hang content on. dont want to fall into lowest common denominator stuff of journaling.
guys club -- exhibitionist in womens blogs. trade off sexuality for popularity? (to heather). picture my ass, faded -- send more money it becomes more focused! (laughter) $20,000 - perfect ass photo. cam girls - model for what business on the web could be. TONYPIERCE - hits are like a river. high low, comes and goes. i cant offend by trying new things so i tried asking for money. hopefully i'm giving you something different than cam girls, why arent you giving me $$$? $1000 and a trip to arruba - yeah just gotta ask! bus log car drive - $400. if you don't like it, screw you don't come back. newspapaer and tv wouldnt say screw the demographic -- end up with crap on tv, people prolly dont even want that but its all they got. Blegging. cam girls started a lotta this. first saw blogging by cam girls.
MARK what makes a blog interesting? boingboing, we comment on other articles, interesting sites. editorial judgement, writer that consistently surprises you and shares interests to some degree but won't overlap you -- interesting newcomers. ALWAYS room for interesting newcomer and can suddenly rise to stardom.
Disruptive technology? In what way? coffee making habit while listening to NPR. wait - i wanna HEAR blogs! read blogs, audio. Doc Searls. yeah! let's make a company! gonna disrupt radio, get ready. not just blogs, blogs are where people can float an idea and somebody will think it's good and do something with it.
what's missing? Ev. 3 seconds after the big bang predicting galaxies. clay shirky's powerlaws has validity. the writing is better than the reading. heloing good stuff bubble to the top - directory and search will offset effects of power laws. power laws - you get into patterns. if you have better tech to discover new things it's more equal. technorati, link this world in interesting ways. __ new things, audio video. NEW THING - http://wackywacky.blogspot.com/ audio blog!! audblog. from cell phone. you call a #, punch a code, talk or hold phone up to whats happening. road trip blog on the way. cooool!
susannah - jan 1 on blog. guest blog on boingboing. comments were super snarky "i saw that online like, 3 days ago." flames. guy posted his son's erotica in her comments. so she disabled comments. verbal strike - only posted visuals. mindfuck your visitors. don't do what you're supposed to do! i get off on it, tends to happen when i get bored with blogging, provocative for awhile.
heather - how has blogging changed perspective and habits as a writer? more guilt on my life about not writing... instant feedback. but no comments, she filters them but people email. usually get good feedback if its good, people tell her if it's boring.l instincts better, trust myself more because of feedback loop.
boingboing -- interactivity changed writer/editor experience? coming from zine. whether *I* think it's interesting is the criterion. but people suggests stuff to us that's good. 50/50 user suggestions and editor picks.
weblogs as threat to conventional journalism. doc? and/or logic, not a threat. conventional journalism will change. harder to make money, blogs make it harder. doc's effect blogging is greater though it makes no money. writer's ability to get paid? always magazines and papers. paid. harder for them to ignore blogs, they'll use blogs as primary sources.
susannah - repurposing new media to old media. why? money. now that i can do exactly what i want, how do i make money? will it limit me or castrate what i'm doing, if i make money? you only see one side of it on the blog. but there's the person going out into the world before it hits the blog - tv show shows that.
ev: people getting paid for content. nick denton pioneering things, commercial weblogs. thin - you don't spend much $$ up front. advertising may work for special interest blogs, maybe.
QUESTIONS:
Doc - i enjoyed your book. i like blogs, how it relates to corporate communication. halfway point to conversation (markets are conversations). google, you find how much blogger hates something. will it make sense for corporate communication. companies don't talk, people talk. cluetrain. more companies will have blogs.
kleiman - UCLA prof. the interactivity among bloggers. i dont know who my readers are but i hear a lot about and from other bloggers. main feedback from people who talk about the same stuff i do. politics and academics - it's a very good fast conversation, people kept very honest. it's a distributed conversation but flame proof. link structure...
fossilized.com. starving student. with more blogs coming out, screw html! hard to find someone new, will they kill themselves like personal homepages did? -- harder to find not nec. problematic. boingboing makes it easier, but has that "oh i just found this strange thing" delight. finding the kid bafoonery.org, standingroomonly hugh elliot, about a guy taking his meds. exciting to find those weird gems.
will, company is called Dedicated. content creation and journal, what about blogs as way to direct audience to emerging issues, and alternate portal. slashdot , arts & letters daily is my main news source. .... if i wanted to point a lotta people to something, i'd go to metafilter or slashdot. group blogs will always have a lot more readers. turn lotts people on. everyone: blog hour a day. susannah - 3 hours. mark - depends on deadlines. up to 1.5 hrs.
geocities. gives an opportunity for people to publish themselves. diff between web pages and blogs - blogs mostly text. (no!) mark, why are illustrations in separate section?
kitty bukkake! (clap) my public persona is shy, compared to saying anything online. never had that before having a blog. never had to deal with the difference, i've never felt weird in public before i wasn't in public? susannah: don't like to be very personal/revealing. more personal because of her blog. heather used to be more confident interpersonally - it's ruined my life! socially, it's different. i write a blog about bukakke tell mom?! i'm a cartoon character - well you're boring compared to your cartoon character, not as funny or hot. blogs more immediate, much more eloqusnt on the page than in person. as writing gets better, i get more tongue tied in person....
TONY nothing you read in here is true. but everything sounds like you have a dramatic sex-filled life. how has that changed your life, the content on your blog - people ask you on the street if stuff is true? guy came up to me and said i like your blog, girl was pissed off cuz he didnt recognize her. - blogging gives you a certain anonymity you dont have to relate the way you do in the physical world. -- you are judged by your thoughts and what you write about! like email. just the words, not what i look like. in control of everything. can make up cool fake name, dont have to use pictures, liberating. tom brokaw is always tied to him being a white man. reverse cowgirl didnt ever have to put pic in here. i chose not to put my pic on there. you do have to show yourself and give a little real life.
dana harris, writer for variety. heather. writing a novel, does it interact with a blog or separate? -- difficult thing. my fiction writing is way behind other kinds of writing, havent discovered how to access that as naturally as non-fiction. thought about starting a first-person fiction blog. you can be totally confident in one area of writing, but with fiction i'm completely self-conscious. compare myself to chekhov, can't wake up comparing yourself to them and try to post.
downside of using your real name. consequences of saying something to someone, that you wouldnt say to their face.... tony or mark? it's easy for me to be who i am. go fun or deep. certain topics i avoid -- politics. came out as pacifist after 9/11. creepy emails about being responsible for death of israelis.
susannah - extreme graphic email from a well-known blogger! but otherwise, no weird stuff from who she is.
skip, eardrumbuzz.com. i use blogging as a glorified browser history. where my thoughts were at the time. open it up to friends. reading the news. RSS feeds. how big a part of blogosphere are newsfeeds. lotsa RSS on panel and audience. RSS really simple syndication. gets broadcast to receivers. technorati and netnewswire can aggregate them etc. Doc
artlung.com, sandiego bloggers. when are we gonna hit critical mass of drudge report.. trent lott story.... what are most disruptive things that bloggers are responsible for. limits of blog influence. ken layne - "we can fact check your ass" directed at print media, but also each other.
to Doc. content aggregator. newspaper and tv news plays that role. technological way and human personal way, editorial voices i trust. you find it, trust it and read it. blogs are a different species. in programming, more eyeballs make bugs more shallow (?) the war is run by warbloggers, not the state department? lots of raw intelligence among war bloggers, rich stuff.
susannah - when you'll be blogging about trucker whose mudflap you got belt buckle from???
ming.tv - ming the mechanic. webcam girls. technology make it easier to be on tv 24 hours a day, will it spoil blogging, make it something else? we'll all be like madonna. heather - exciting, not madonna - voyeuristic look at another person. subjective, capture immediately, love to be able to to that. not come home to blog. -- wish people did use graphics and pictures (tony).
tony's notion - if more people had access to devices like webtv or mobile, so youre not forced to blog behind pc, how does that change things? tony - eg when dtv happens, sit on couch and blog into dtv. you'll see demographic go up in age, people in front of computers all day dont wanaa do it at home too. if you have another device maybe those people would blog. even if you're a cub scout leader in alaska, there's prolly some other cub scout leaders that wanna read about their lives.
community. fundamental unit of blogging. writing for ourselves, thats cool. some obsessed with stats, etc. but -- kiro5hin and metafilter. and blogs that can talk to each other but don't try to, islands floating but linked?
-- many interesting blogs are very insular, a group of friends or people, a tiny community. collaboration not explored enough. (ev?)blogging being someone's own space brings power to it. but if we can maintain that while helping people fold into a group, that would be interesting. show one more thing -- Ev -- evhead.com GOOGLE BUYS PYRA!!!! BLOGGING GOES BIGTIME HOLY SHIT!!!!
L.A. BLOGGERS woman. donate to rhizome. blahh. holy shit fuck.
