The Emerging Web

Blogs, Online Communities, and Reading and Writing Skills

2008-09-27T11:26:00.004-04:00

Cairncross presumed that since that online communication is primary written (although that may change thanks to the rise of video), reading and writing skills would improve out of necessity. Ineffective communicators would improve or be left behind, as would poor readers.

You can certainly find well written blogs, even well written blogs on the subject of writing blogs well. However, there is no shortage of popular blogs that are poorly written. In these cases, the blogger is usually either a respected expert in a non-academic field, or one whose theme is primarily visual with the writing visual and secondary.

Online communities are no different. In fact, while blogs are about the writing, communities are more focused on shared interests, and participants may be well qualified in the interest, but poorly equipped to write about it.

The Atlantic Monthly (Carr, 2008) featured an article that discussed the possibility that increased internet usage may negatively affect our ability to read long passages. The author writes that online reading is "chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles."

The communications revolution is changing the way we consume information, but Cairncross may have overlooked the extent to which it would change the way we process it. Is it possible that we will exchange grammar for efficiency, and clarity for convenience?

Carr, N. (2008). Is Google Making Us Stupid?. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from The Atlantic website:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Blogs, Online Communities, and a New Trust

2008-09-27T10:38:00.002-04:00

Consumers are perhaps the ultimate source of consumer advocacy, and thanks to the death of distance and communities of practice made possible by the web, getting a broad cross section of consumer reports has become a simple proposition.

One of the more common sense resources in this area might be the Consumer Reports blog itself. There are many others, though, running the gamut from advocacy to anti-advocacy, and points in between. As in other cases, consumer blogs or blogs supporting a particular cause, although they allow for interaction via the "comment" feature, are more journalistic than they are conversational.

Online communities allow for more give and take and may be more suited to presenting a balanced view, since they allow more for debate and give equal priority to opposing viewpoints. Many communities have developed an ebay-like feedback feature for the commerce section of their sites - Talkbass is a good example. A great feature of the site is that it allows members to post classified ads. If you are looking for bass gear, you will find it there without having to dig through lots of unrelated stuff. However, very few would feel comfortable sending either money or equipment to an unknown, far-away party without any idea of their integrity or intent to fulfill their side of the deal. The feedback system allows both parties to get an idea of how the other has performed on such deals in the past, and without it interpersonal e-commerce would be much more rare.

In addition to feedback on interpersonal transactions, communities also provide a means of consumer reporting. Do you need opinions on which kind of fishing line to buy, need help deciding between two different washing machines, or want user opinions on a particular brand of off-road tires? You find communities of practice for almost any interest imaginable. In addition to opinions on the products themselves, online communities also provide information on the performance of service providers and retailers. This high level of transparency creates the trust that is necessary for commerce to occur over long distances, or makes it difficult for poor performers to stay in business.

Online Communities, Blogs, and the Proliferation of Ideas

2008-09-26T22:39:00.003-04:00

Cairncross states that "new ideas and information will travel faster to the remotest corners of the world", and that communities and distance education will connect students and teachers. As many of these ideas connect and overlap with others, these posts will probably become shorter, assuming information supplied in earlier posts.

The smallest desire to learn about any topic, and a decent internet connection, will quickly support the idea that ideas are in fact proliferating in countless blogs and online communities.

Let's start with blogs. Do you want to encounter thoughts on motherhood, homelessness (from a first-person perspective), right-wing politics, left-wing politics, personal budgeting, grammar, or paranormal phenomena? You will have no problem finding multiple blogs for each of these categories and as many more as you can think of.

If you are more of a community-minded person and want a forum to share ideas in a more democratic way, you can find online communities for bass players, multiple personality disorder sufferers, vinyl record collectors, jeep enthusiasts, and players of the Madden NFL series of video games, among many, many more.

Just as when ideas are shared in person, you will encounter the profound, the profoundly silly, and the outright idiotic, but there can be no denying that ideas are being shared among interested parties across huge distances, and that those who are seeking ideas and education will find them.

Blogs, Online Communities, and Communities of Practice

2008-09-26T22:20:00.002-04:00

This is possibly the most accurate of all of Cairncross's predictions. The ability to communicate and form real interpersonal bonds with others of like mind or interest without regard to distance is one of the greatest functions of new web technologies.

In this area, online communities hold an edge over blogs. By their very nature, blogs tend to have a one-way relationship, that of author to audience. They allow for interaction and do bring people together, but the primary agenda and lines of communication are set by the blog's author.

Online communities, on the other hand, are in essence communities of practice. Whether you are an established, leading member of a particular group or a novice trying to learn more about a narrowly focused issue, online communities, like their real-world counterparts, are a tremendous resource. In addition, to Talkbass, which I frequent as a member of a specific subset of the larger community of musicians, I have used online communities to learn more about replacing a water softener, upgrading a specific model of radio controlled truck, and removing the factory stereo in a Ford pickup, among many, many other things.

As with so many practical things, it helps the novice to have access to someone who has experience with the thing you are trying to do, and online communities have made it very efficient for people with like interests to communicate and come together across otherwise impossible distances.

Blogs, Online Communities, and the Death of Distance

2008-09-25T22:46:00.003-04:00

Cairncross predicted that distance would cease to be a factor in the cost of electronic communications, and he was right. Anyone can set up a blog for free, just like I set up this one. Posts are instantly available to anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world. If enough people visit I may have to start paying the hosting site for its services, but whether the bandwidth-hogging traffic comes from 3 miles or 3,000 miles away is irrelevant. This holds true for both blogs and online communities.

Blogs and communities have killed distance in a way not mentioned by Cairncross. He focused on the corporate impact, but distance has also died with regard to more personal pursuits.

My Life as a Mom, for example, receives comments from local friends of the blogger, but also out of state and occasional international comments. For the most part, the discussion is focused on the central theme of the blog (child rearing and motherhood), but what a few years ago would have required several personal letters or phone calls involving two people can now be a conversation among several people spread over huge distances.

Talkbass is one of my favorite online communities. As a self-taught bassist, this community has been invaluable to me. We bassists can get practice tips, consumer reports, album recommendations, directions to the best stores and venues in various cities, and general camaraderie with no respect to distance. In addition to all of that, the classified section is a great source of good used equipment, and a great place to sell one's surplus gear. Having access to a community of hundreds or thousands of bassists all around the world enriches us all, and would be absolutely impossible to replicate using any other medium.

One of the great killers of distance and time with both of these media is the fact that they are archived. It is often not even necessary to engage in a new conversation on a certain topic. Older conversations that have already answered the question are their for our perusal anytime.

Trends in the Emerging Web

2008-09-23T22:45:00.004-04:00

At 33 years old, I have been a participant in the internet culture for long enough that it's easy to forget that for over half my life I had no contact with it at all. I completed my first 15 years of schooling without any meaningful contact with a computer. Now, however, I have become fully immersed in the web. All my most important financial transactions take place online. When I am researching a potential purchase, I have always been able to find an online community with real-life users of the product who are willing to share their stories. Many of the big-ticket items I've purchased recently have been bought from an online vendor. Most of my communication with far-off friends and family happens on Facebook, e-mail, or text messages. The communication, narrow focus and/or broad perspective on myriad topics, and sheer efficiency of the web have transformed my life and are transforming the world.

Blogs and online communities are the two web genres I find most personally appealing. For the most part, they have been able to retain the common touch - they feel less commercial and more personal than many of the other emerging genres, even though they are far from untouched by "the man."

The Emerging Web blog will compare blogs and online communities across the following five categories, as outlined by Frances Cairncross in The Trendspotter's Guide to New Communications (Bucy, 2005).

The Death of Distance - how have blogs and communities made distance and time zones irrelevant?

Communities of Practice - do they facilitate interpersonal bonds based on shared interests rather than physical proximity?

Proliferation of Ideas - their role in connecting students and teachers, and spreading ideas efficiently across huge distances

A New Trust - their role as a clearing house for consumer information

Improved Writing and Reading Skills - is the proliferation of online writing improving our formal communication skills?

Although I may refer to several blogs and communities in the posts to follow, I plan to focus on one of each.

Talkbass.com is an online community for musicians (like myself) who play double bass or bass guitar. It is an excellent example of the form, and I am very familiar with it due to extensive use.

My Life as a Mom is the blog of a friend of mine. She writes about being the mother of two small boys and other family adventures. She has developed a small but faithful following, and has recently began inserting commercial elements that I think it will be interesting to analyze.

Bucy, Eric P. (2005) . Living in the Information Age: A New Media Reader. Belmont, CA: Wadsoworth