Joho the Blog
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May 28, 2003
Rebecca Blood, in her keynote at BlogTalk, worried that bloggers only read bloggers who agree with them, thus greatly limiting the potential for growth and understanding. Worse, only reading people who think the way we do can result in an "echo chamber" where the echoes seem to confirm our beliefs. Rebecca used as her example the blogs for and against the Iraqi war. But that is one of the most divisive of issues. Is it true for less contentious topics? I suspect it is to some degree. (Note: Joho the Blog remains true to its pledge to be 100% Research Free.) But I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. It sort of has to be true because conversations need common ground. So, if it's a debate about software patents, the people involved in all sides of the issue will likely be fairly technical, sharing some assumptions about the nature of software and how markets work. Nevertheless, the homogeneity is what enables there to be vigorous debate. Some degree of homogeneity is a condition not only for conversation but also for understanding and learning. For example, when AKMA upbraided me for something stupid and mean I said about Foucault, we were only able to talk about it because we share a base of presuppositions about philosophy. Because of that shared base, AKMA was able to show me where I was wrong and opened up Foucault in a way I had dismissed. Are AKMA and I Western, intellectual (in my case, add a "-wannabe") white guys who are carrying very roughly the same baggage? Sure. But are we also an echo chamber in which we can't learn anything? Nah. Echo chambers definitely do exist. Sometimes they exist precisely in order to solidify opinion. But not every case of homogeneity is an echo chamber. Because we can only understand the new in terms of the familiar (which is the same as saying that understanding means placing something in context), agreement is the ground on which learning can occur. Nevertheless, I find it impossible to resist Rebecca's conclusion that we - I - ought to be more adventurous and open in what we read and think about. Agreement simultaneously enables learning and tends towards complacency. Posted
by D. Weinberger at May 28, 2003 10:42 AM
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Comments
Why would you wanna be white? Apart from the privileges, I eman.
Posted by: AKMA | May 28, 2003 03:36 PM
Agree. This, however, does not only apply to blogs -- self-selection is a part of most any choice (including media and, say, restaurants) in two ways: awareness of the space and what you choose at that given point.
Posted by: Kai | May 28, 2003 04:28 PM
It's entirely natural for people to gather around those whose opinions they agree with. We do that in real life, so it's no great surprise that we do it in the blogosphere too.
I think more echoey than people agreeing with each other is that so many blogs just link to the same sources. How many people quote Salam Pax, The Guardian, The NY Times, Wired etc? I'm guilty of it, sure, but so it seems is every other blog I've ever read (at some point or another). Now, I know Salam Pax is an fascinating and educational read, and therefore worthy of quoting and linking, but I like blogs that tell me something new, or something old from a new perspective, not recycle information I've already got from the horse's mouth.
But this strange ideal of blogs being mainly link-based, rather than opinion/information based, perplexes me, because it doesn't really add much value to the net. The best blogs are the blogs that give me more than just an information source - instead of just posting a link and saying 'oh, go read this' they actually add some sort of intelligent (or amusing) commentary, opinion or debate to it which gives me something more meaty to sink my teeth into.
Posted by: Suw | May 29, 2003 04:06 AM
I dunno I generally like reading folks I don't see eye to eye with and a diversity of views. Like JOHO the author of that thing is nuts at time I sware! :)
Posted by: Thomas | May 29, 2003 01:28 PM
Why would you wanna be white? Apart from the privileges, I eman.
Well, it makes the whole goth aesthetic a bit easier to pull off, and tattoos stand out more clearly. You're also more likely to have blonde hair if you have pale skin, which means you don't have to bleach your hair before dying it. So there are a few advantages.
Posted by: Mars Saxman | May 31, 2003 12:59 AM