BloggingOn 10.2 - Logicars and Despars [or] Should We Try That Again?

Perhaps getting carried away is also what a blog is all about. To attempt something a little more focused and coherent, let's take a look at this little thing here.

Jon Garfield's article "Constructive Media" is a great place to start talking about what a blog is, what it does, and what we can expect from it. This is theoretical. It's holistic. It's not of the "a blog is..." variety categorization and taxidermy.

Garfield is discussing all sorts of interactive internet media, but what he has to say applies to blogs, fo' sho'.

I call this "constructive media" for the simple reason that all participants agree that the point of the whole exchange is to build upon the opening point of the discussion. (even disagreement is a positive motion). The opposite may well be "destructive" media, where the original point is lost, and often civility as well. (the terms "constructive/deconstructive texts", from literary theory, generally address how a text is perceived; here we are focusing on the mechanics of the discussion).

So, the "point" of blogging is to "get somewhere" conversationally, interactively? Ok. Why not? But if we're going somewhere, where exactly are we going? This is no doubt determined by each individual blogger (or blog; as Holly would argue, "our blogs write us"), but can't we find some overarching collective destination? Self-expression? "Information-sharing"? Different posts, the both of them.

What does Garfiel... er, funkel. Gar-funkel have to say? (Maybe not about a blog's purpose, but about it's success - we may not know where we're going, but we'll know it when we get there).

The degree to which a communications medium can be said to succeed is in how many people see it as useful, and as legitimate.

Useful? Legitimate? Whatever do you mean Mr. Garfunkel? Maybe this is better deferred...