Wired News: Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs
Wired News: Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs
Article summary: The virtues of blogs and how the writin' aint all that well all the thyme, so let's hope we can do some sort of video blogs.
What follows are basically my comments on the article. (Hint: This will make more sense if you read or scan the article.)
I suppose we could all get a blogger or wikipedia license before we write anything. Or perhaps, as people write they will get better at it, the spell check will get better and perhaps there will be a grammar check too for such Internet activities. My writing is not on the eloquent side however, I have improved my writing by writing, not by sitting back wishing I could write like the Jollyblogger. Also, I think traffic levels and comments encourage people to keep improving their writing ability.
There has been a consensus building that wikipedia just is not the same quality as Britannica. I'm not sure why that must be even talked about. Perhaps it is the idea that a group of volunteers can out perform the experts. If there was an editor out there that had to be pleased, and people were really working in teams instead of as individuals, the results could be of a higher quality. The Linux community has a good product because 1. programming requires a basic skillset 2. Torvald is the big cheese. Wikipedia is great for what it is. If you find mistakes on the page about you, why don't you fix it, improve it instead of saying "I gotcha, ha".
Another thing, like the writer I wish we had a better content on TV. It is not the volume of choices out there that is the problem. The Internet can be a new means of distribution, however, more stuff being distributed is not the answer. 500 channels of nothing is still nothing. How does one improve the quality? Economics of a quality production is still incredibly high. It is an expensive media form. Talk shows, reality shows, cooking shows and sports events can turn into simply a way to shovel content out the bandwidth. The executives, producers and other media controllers have important jobs of helping get the best content to the box. I think the writer is focusing on that fact that blogs are a different distribution system. Where as I beleive, blogging's sucess is based on the fact that the software creates a cheap and easy way to publish. Blogging is not about a new distribution system but merely a content creation wizard. (I'm using the term wizard to refer to software that automatically takes you through a process so that you get your job done fasters.) Keeping a log on line is nothing new. If you want put more video out on the Internet I beleive one needs a better, cheaper editing software for both the video needs to continue to be developed. Once amateurs can effectively put their family and skateboarding videos on the Internet with minimal effort, then those with significant but undiscovered abilities can create new and exciting content. Much of it will continue to be amateur unless there is czar like Linus saying what is good and what is not. However, the traffic levels, links and comments will help to sort out where the great videos are and the poor videos will simply not get as much traffic.
Article summary: The virtues of blogs and how the writin' aint all that well all the thyme, so let's hope we can do some sort of video blogs.
What follows are basically my comments on the article. (Hint: This will make more sense if you read or scan the article.)
I suppose we could all get a blogger or wikipedia license before we write anything. Or perhaps, as people write they will get better at it, the spell check will get better and perhaps there will be a grammar check too for such Internet activities. My writing is not on the eloquent side however, I have improved my writing by writing, not by sitting back wishing I could write like the Jollyblogger. Also, I think traffic levels and comments encourage people to keep improving their writing ability.
There has been a consensus building that wikipedia just is not the same quality as Britannica. I'm not sure why that must be even talked about. Perhaps it is the idea that a group of volunteers can out perform the experts. If there was an editor out there that had to be pleased, and people were really working in teams instead of as individuals, the results could be of a higher quality. The Linux community has a good product because 1. programming requires a basic skillset 2. Torvald is the big cheese. Wikipedia is great for what it is. If you find mistakes on the page about you, why don't you fix it, improve it instead of saying "I gotcha, ha".
Another thing, like the writer I wish we had a better content on TV. It is not the volume of choices out there that is the problem. The Internet can be a new means of distribution, however, more stuff being distributed is not the answer. 500 channels of nothing is still nothing. How does one improve the quality? Economics of a quality production is still incredibly high. It is an expensive media form. Talk shows, reality shows, cooking shows and sports events can turn into simply a way to shovel content out the bandwidth. The executives, producers and other media controllers have important jobs of helping get the best content to the box. I think the writer is focusing on that fact that blogs are a different distribution system. Where as I beleive, blogging's sucess is based on the fact that the software creates a cheap and easy way to publish. Blogging is not about a new distribution system but merely a content creation wizard. (I'm using the term wizard to refer to software that automatically takes you through a process so that you get your job done fasters.) Keeping a log on line is nothing new. If you want put more video out on the Internet I beleive one needs a better, cheaper editing software for both the video needs to continue to be developed. Once amateurs can effectively put their family and skateboarding videos on the Internet with minimal effort, then those with significant but undiscovered abilities can create new and exciting content. Much of it will continue to be amateur unless there is czar like Linus saying what is good and what is not. However, the traffic levels, links and comments will help to sort out where the great videos are and the poor videos will simply not get as much traffic.
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