A Return to Victorian Values

Everything is cyclical, don't you think? If there's one certainty other than death and taxes it's that crap long-dead trends will at some point inevitably be dredged up by a eager doe-eyed audience too young to remember how rubbish they were in the first place.

Examples. Flares. The Clangers. George Bush. Furry boots. Asymmetric haircuts. Socialist Worker's Party. Dungeons & Dragons.

But why not take the longer term view? Why not eschew the last few centuries of progress altogether and return to the days when Britannia ruled the waves; the era of Upstanding, Courageous and Morally Sound Gentlemen with Prodigous Facial Hair?

You could start by visiting The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Since 2003, this blog has been putting up a diary entry from Pepys' famous journals every day. How postmodern is that?

Hemingway Chimes In

The debate over the democratization of the media is nothing new. In fact, this kind of controversy has dogged writers since the days of quills and inkwells. Ernest Hemingway, were he alive today, might ask the blogging masses to consider his 'iceberg principle':

"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."

On the other hand, many of our literary greats were incredibly prolific and varied in their writing. Consider the output of Victorian heavyweights such as Charles Dickens and, er, Sir Richard Burton.

My two cents? I think my heart would love to fall for Iain Dale to be right, but my head can't help but side with Burton. The most interesting Blogs are the ones written from the inside: Salam Pax in Baghdad; The Captain Ed Blog, which broke a media gag order to show Canadians just how corrupt their (now defeated) government were; and our very own Guido Fawkes.

After all, if information is currency, then third-hand-information is the New Zealand Dollar.

* Blogging: The Debate Polarizes

Two contrasting approaches to the dissemination of information could be found in the approaches of our last two Online Journalism guest lecturers.

In the Red Corner we have Iain Dale, blogger extraordinaire and Online Broadcasting pioneer, whose approach can be encapsulated in the phrase "I don't think, therefore I blog". He posts updates to his blog several times a day, which apparently takes him less than an hour to write. His approach is immediate, reactionary, interactive.

In the Blue Corner is Richard Burton, erstwhile editor of the Online Telegraph. He too believes in the power of Blogging and user-generated content. The Telegraph was a pioneer in web journalism, as well as one of the first news sites to turn a profit. But he thinks that people should refrain from comment on matters they know nothing about, emphasised the importance of subject matter expertise, and - if I may read between the lines of his argument a little - seemed to view much of the Blogosphere as a morass of impotent opinions being ejaculated into cyberspace.

Perhaps that was reading between the lines a bit too much. But his comments resonate with Will Self's view that in a world where writers outnumber readers, not everyone can or should be allowed a platform. Burton gave the example of his Paris correspondent as an example of what a Blog should be: well-written articles about lives less ordinary.

Meadows, my Self and I

In the spirit of the Blogosphere, this post is entirely composed of things stolen from other sources.

I was going to write an intelligent, reasoned critique of Daniel Meadows' lecture on digital storytelling, but then I read Martin's post which said everything I was thinking in a more structured and eloquent way. If I tried to write up my own thoughts, Martin's words would end up coming from my keyboard. So instead, I will direct you to it.

On another note, the 'are blogs rubbish' debate: author and raconteur Will Self interviewed by our very own Alex Phillips. For Self, blogs are an "exacerbation of narcisstic tendencies within our culture" and responsible for the weakening of societal bonds. Have a listen.

Blog of the week

Sinister forces have compelled me to direct you to my favourite Blog of the week. It is the nerd-tastic Keeper of Lists website. Recent lists include the Top 35 Things Not To Say On An Airplane, Top 35 Annoying Things To Do In Your Next Business Meeting, and my personal favourite, Top 218 Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With "Pants". Which I partially reproduce here for your pleasure.

1) I find your lack of pants disturbing.
2) You are unwise to lower your pants.
3) The Force is strong in my pants.
4) Chewie and me got into a lot of pants more heavily guarded than this.
5) Your pants, you will not need them.
6) I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants.
7) You came in those pants? You're braver than I thought.
8) Governer Tarkin. I should have expected to find you holding Vader's pants.
9) In his pants you will find a new definition of pain and suffering
10) I sense the conflict within you. Let go of your pants!

What if... Blogging isn't the future of communication?

"Re-engage the audience... citizen journalism... instigate a dialogue..." the rats are deserting the good ship HMS Newspaper, leaving a trail of platitudes in their wake. But have people abandoned newspapers because they want to be a part of a Brave New Blogging World where news is unsubstantiated, poorly written and footnoted by pages of pointless arguments? Or is it because they just don't want to read newspapers any more? In short, are Blogs just the latest buzzword siezed upon by media execs trying to mitigate plummeting circulation?

We are told that the Blogosphere is expanding at the rate of 23,000 blogs a day. Well OK, but how many of those actually survive past day three when you've expounded all your theories on Bush's foreign policy and you have to start Blogging about what you had for tea? We are told that Blogging is a vital tool for engaging the public: after all, even Conservative Leader David Cameron Blogs. Yeah, but if he jumped off a cliff while clutching a family of deprived African children, would you do it too? In fact, since when has emulating any of the behaviour of a Tory Leader been a good idea?

So what if the Blogging Revolution turned out to be a false dawn, fuelled by a hardcore group of attention-seeking enthusiasts posting commenting all over each others' Blogs but generally ignored by right-thinking society? I mean, do you know anyone who actually Blogs regularly? I do, but I'm on a top Broadcast Training course full of news junkies. It might just be that the rest of the Blogosphere is written by angst-ridden young Goths and computer nerds.

So, you might ask: if I'm so cynical about Blogs why have I just signed up for one? Why don't I just sod off back to my humdrum offline existence and leave you Level 3 Warlocks to it? It's because I don't neccesarily believe all the opinions I express. In the hyperbolic world of online journalism, neither should you.