I've had a comment from a Ryan Morrisson, a new media journalist for bbc.co.uk/jersey who is working on an article "that looks at the increasing number of community sites, blogs and personal media in the island - this will cover message boards, facebook groups and of course - blogs." He asks me the following questions:
"Can you give me an idea of 1) why you felt the need to blog, 2) what you hope to achieve, 3) the sort of things you discuss on your blog, 4) why you think so many community sites and blogs are launching in the island, 5) what you enjoy about blogging."
Well, it seems appropriate to blog about this. After all, the main thing about a blog is that it is open, visible, public. And I like that - I like knowing people's thoughts. I'm so glad I did not live in previous generations, I like living in an era when it's all hanging out. I'm pretty online - I facebook, I post on message boards and forums, and yes, I have a number of blogs. But I was asked about this blog.
So, answers:
1) why do I feel the need to blog?
Well I don't - feel any need that is. I just enjoy it.
2) what do I hope to achieve?
I was a reader of local blogs long before I was a blog writer, and partly I just wanted to join in. I still read blogs for much longer than I post.
I also find that the process of writing and editing my thoughts helps me crystalise my thinking. And that is always a good idea!
The original intent for this blog was that I wanted to spend a year focusing on the States members, as I was very confused about how they acted. However, a year later, just as confused, I gave that up a bad idea. Then I thought I would go back to the original meaning of blog, which comes, as you no doubt know, from web log. I thought I would find it enjoyable to create a log of Jersey websites. And it did, but I was quickly swamped. I had not realised the number of websites that exist - and new ones are being created all the time! So I dumped that idea too. Now this blog is for me to muse on any local matters that interest me, as and when I feel I have something to say.
Why online? Well, if I wrote it all down on bits of paper, I would no doubt lose it. This blog is free storage for my ideas, if you like. If my hard drive crashes, no matter - everything will still be here. And I like to link up with others - see if anyone has something to say about what I think.
Should I want to broadcast my thoughts, then compared to writing to the JEP there is much more freedom blogging. If I write to the JEP my letter is at the mercy of the editor - even if he prints it, he controls what responses are printed and when the discussion is closed. None of that here. If I decide the day after writing a post that I have changed my mind - I can say so, or edit or delete my post. Of course I would get more readers from a letter printed in the JEP - but I am not really writing to be read. I don't have a site meter counting the number of visitors my blog gets, though I am always delighted when I get a comment and know that someone has been reading.
The other purpose of my blog is as a handy place too keep links to the local websites that I use.
3) what do I discuss on my blog?
The obvious answer to that is why don't you just read it and see!
4) why are so many community sites and blogs launching in the island?
Well, I am not an expert on how many sites and blogs there are - some community sites seem to be set up by people have left. Beans around the world - as it were. And of course Internet use is spreading, broadband is getting more widespread, blogging has been publicised so is more known about, and setting up a blog is much, much easier than it used to be. If you go with a blogging site like blogger.com you can be up and blogging with a pretty site in half an hour, and all for free - so the numbers of people blogging are bound to be rising. If you have a group of friends online, a blog or facebook makes sense - you only have to write one message, and everyone gets it. it makes even more sense if that group is geographically diverse.
5) what do you enjoy about blogging?
All the above.
I would like to point out that Ryan has his own blogs at upyourego and 5tracks.
3 comments:
I received the same email, and your response about the JEP letters page pretty much matched my sentiments. I mentioned that sometimes I feel like my blog entries are 'Letters To The Editor' that never make it to the letterbox because I know they'd never be published!
I notice you mention not having a site counter. You should sign up with Google Analytics. http://www.google.com/analytics/
Not only will that give you a visitor count, it gives you all kinds of funky stuff...a location map of vistors, keywords used to access the site, most viewed search terms etc etc etc.
I feel like a spammer leaving all these URLs in your comments section today!
Thanks!
Ah, I was a little late - the article was published the day previous to my response here
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