Friday, October 27, 2006

Why We Blog

(This post will be at the top of the blog until October 27th, new posts will appear directly below it)

I would like to extend an invitation to bloggers to join in on a collective blogging section of our upcoming winter issue of Reconstruction. The issue is the “Theories/Practices of Blogging.” In addition to the special section of posts on blogging there will be about a dozen essays on blogging.

The deadline is October 27th.

Our intent in this section of the issue will be to collect a wide range of bloggers and link up to their statements in regards to why they blog (something many of us are asked) and any statement they have on the theories/practices of blogging.

If you already have a post on this you can feel free to use it, or, if you are interested, you can submit a new one.

We will link to each statement from the issue at our site, with the intent of creating a hyperlinked list of statements on blogging that can serve as an introduction to blogging (or an expansion of knowledge for those already blogging).

If you are interested please contact me at mdbento @ gmail.com

21 comments:

Robert said...

Thivai,

i wrote something on my blog...an online magazine called Get Underground published it once a long time ago..dig it here:

http://www.getunderground.com/underground/features/article.cfm?Article_ID=1431

i figured since it was first published on my blog then GU, and plus the fact that it's quite dated (but hopefully still relevant) that it may interest you

if so, just lemme know...if not, it's all good

Michael said...

Robert,

This definitely works and I like the way you addressed Paglia's critique through a reflection on the negatives and positives of blogging. I, of course, also agree with the anxiety of those that control discourse... of course, they quickly co-opt the form, but, at this moment it still has the potential for creative chaos...

Do you want me to link to Get Underground or the post at your blog?

Michael said...

Ooops, I mean I agree that this is "why" they feel anxiety, not that I sympathize "with" their anxiety...

Robert said...

oh hey, that's great

thanks Thivai

i guess a link to GU wld be the coolest way to go :)

Michael said...

Robert,

Do you want a link to Loveecstasycrime included with it?

Robert said...

aw geez, Thivai

too cool of you but not necessary...LEC has been in a bit of a crisis for about a year now...my private life hasnt exactly been smooth, so im not writing as much as i wld like...LEC is pretty much a link-blog now and not all that worth a peek right now

thanks so much, though :)

Sarapen said...

I've got three pre-existing blog posts about my reasons for blogging and some ruminations on the practice of blogging. I think it's interesting to look back and see how my reasons for blogging have changed. If you need me to combine those three into a single essay, please say so. The tone is quite informal and the posts aren't very analytically rigorous, so don't read me expecting an in-depth discussion of the dialogical principle in regards to blogging.

Sarapen said...

Sorry, the posts can be found at:

http://sarapen.edublogs.org/2006/06/02/hello-world/
http://sarapen.edublogs.org/2006/07/12/i-see-you-seeing-me/
http://sarapen.edublogs.org/2006/10/09/whos-the-fairest-of-them-all/

Michael said...

J de leon,

The last one would work--thanks (I'm assuming this is ok with you?)

Tell me, how did you study Philipino bloggers without interacting with them (it seems to be the nature of blogging--better yet, how could a study of blogging not be autoethnographic? even if you were a fumbling stranger trying to make your way through the rivers of discourse. It seems you will never get wet unless you stick your toes in?)

Sarapen said...

Sure, that works for me. I found it hard to get Filipino bloggers to read me because I didn't discuss the topics that many Filipino bloggers wrote on -- Philippine politics, celebrities, etc. I couldn't click too well with overseas Filipinos either since they were either blogging for their own circle of friends or discussed stuff that I'd outgrown (they were mostly teenagers). The most interaction I've done with Filipino bloggers was when we had interests in common, such as studying anthropology or being mutual fans of anime.

Which isn't to say that I didn't interact with Filipino bloggers at all, I interviewed several, but in the end those interviews were just supplementary to content analysis of Filipino blogs.

I was kind of disappointed because I'd gone in expecting to find that I'd affected the bloggers I was studying and would have to be reflexive to fully illustrate how I'd affected my subjects. You know, make the researcher present in his work, etc. Oh well, perhaps if I'd had more time I could have gotten this.

There's actually very little autoethnography in what I'm doing, I'm focusing more on identity construction than on the process of blogging per se. I wrote that particular blog post because I thought it was such an interesting idea that it seemed too bad it would never appear in my thesis.

Anyway, if you don't mind I'll repost your announcement on the following Livejournal communities that might find it interesting:

http://community.livejournal.com/blog_sociology/
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_research/
http://community.livejournal.com/cmanthropology/

Michael said...

Please do repost it and your explanation makes sense... sorry, I'm so immersed in qualitative autoethnographic reflection that I sometimes forget that it isn't always the best method.

Thanks again for contributing and for passing the CFP on.

Sarapen said...

No problem, good luck with the project.

Michael said...

Good luck with the job search, should I call you Dr. Ariadne yet?--I look forward to reading some interesting film essays/books from you in the coming years.

Molly Bloom said...

Thankyou for the kind interest. It's much appreciated. Just been reading your back-posts. Amazing stuff over here!

Michael said...

Thanks Molly--I like the collective site and joined o that I can post some stuff.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a good answer. I think I blog because I'm a sick, sick, sick, horrible person. I'm only comforted by the fact that some of you are worse than me.

Unknown said...

My take: Why I Blog.

Anonymous said...

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier.

Here's my take. I could have easily over-thought this one, but didn't have the time or energy. It's pretty straight forward, perhaps underwhelmingly so.

Michael said...

Thanks Bill,

I like your nod to critical pedagogy, a line of thought that was very influential in my teaching, politics and creativity.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Thivai, if I recall correctly, we had some kind of exchange in the past about critical pedagogy.

I also realized recently that we might have engaged each each other on this topic via Rushkoff's MS list a while back, in a different life. Birds of a feather...

Anyway, hope the issue is shaping up well. Sorry I couldn't supply something more substantive.

Michael said...

Actually Rushkoff's Media Squatters listserv is what got me active on the net and probably was one of the factors in leading to blogging (Rushkoff started his and Rebecca Blood was on the list at the time).

I'm sure we did talk about CP on the MS.

I'm working on the issue right now, putting it together and getting ready to send it in.