Comments on: On things maturing… maybe

By: Larvatus Prodeo

Larvatus Prodeo — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:52:29 +0000

The state of political blogging II - links post…

A bit more of a wrap-up from the Australian Blogging Conference. If anyone missed my piece on where political blogs are and where political blogging is going, it’s been published in an edited version at New Matilda. Somewhat different reaction i…

By: Mark Bahnisch

Mark Bahnisch — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:00:06 +0000

I wonder if it’s unkind to note that the uber evangelist at the conference revealed he used to be a Liberal staffer! (though in fairness he did say he’d never vote for them again).

But, yep, agreed totally. The whole “tipping point” thing appears to be about the desire to commodify and “monetise”. As with the media, content as such is just a platform to hang eyeballs on.

TINA! is great. I was really kicking myself I didn’t get my act together to go down this year. There is enormous energy. And then there’s that ginger beer…

Happy birthday Mel!

By: WildlyParenthetical

WildlyParenthetical — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:15:30 +0000

Interesting. I’d wondered what kind of discussion would occur at a gathering like this (I suspect you’re right about the non-national advertising… I don’t recall catching any sign of it until a week before - and that may well have been via you!). I’m always a bit disappointed with the whole ‘new technology = new liberation’ tendencies of some people, which seems to be articulated as this kind of evangelism. To your concerns about the consequences for those who don’t want to, say, blog, I’d like to add that people who don’t want to blog in particular ways may also be seen as ‘odd’. Reading some of the ‘how to blog’ guides out there (say the Lorelle’s blog, advertised all over wordpress.com) feels awfully like ‘how best to sell yourself’: ‘Write often!’ ‘Write interesting!’ ‘Comment on (very) current news!’ ‘Take a stand!’ I can’t remember where, at the moment, but I read someone who recommended taking a ‘controversial’ issue, researching it for an hour and then ‘taking a stand,’ even if you were unsure. Part of what I like about blogging is the processural, partial and developing style it permits, which makes it (or can make it!) in many ways looser than other forms of writing. Many of these ‘profile’ and ‘platform’ inclinations feel, as you say, remarkably conservative in this respect. I suppose I’m just feminist-ing alongside you, but I wonder how much of the optimism/evangelism is part of a lingering hope that the web is inherently democratising, overlooking the heavy Western liberalism that tends to shape it?

Thanks for reporting back!

By: M-H

M-H — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:52:59 +0000

My take is that she thought it was good in parts…

By: blogoz - Australian Blogging Conference Roundup : deswalsh.com

blogoz - Australian Blogging Conference Roundup : deswalsh.com — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:49:17 +0000

[...] I’ve read a couple of times the post On things maturing…maybe on the Home Cooked Theory blog and I can’t figure out whether the author enjoyed the conference or didn’t. [...]