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October 06, 2003
good writing @03:22 PM
mind you, I am a nascent blogger. i have stuck my entire head into it, but that still leaves me playing catch-up. i've got the uni-case down, but the more i delve into the world, the more i realize that my position in the blogsphere will forever be one without a view from the front. just check me out on technorati - hardly someone to raise a fuss over; not a hub, and only a spoke by default. but as a wade through this world, i am constantly compelled, engaged, overwhelmed, perplexed. i want to be a part of it. i want those links. or maybe i don't really care. maybe i shouldn't want a part of it. it is a question of quality, maybe. blogs have a wonderful ability to bring people together. there are lively conversations between blogs that are completely lacking in mainstream media, and these conversatons - especially in the tech arena from which they were forged - have established themselves as a useful and formidable information layer (and will only continue to do so).
But what blogs lack is a writerly quality. they are, for the most part, written rather egregiously; hastily scribed and as devoid of depth as they are awash with hyperlinks. This, in many cases, is not the fault of the author (necessarily). The medium itself is frenetically paced. It thrives on the flow of information, and therefore cannot be burdened with deliberate style or calculated organization. This is instant publishing. I have switched from unicase, because I've been thinking more carefully - but in most cases, and I exaggerate, there is neither the time nor desire to search for the shift key. We are all prone. Certainly, the desire to get these thoughts 'out there' has superseded my own knowledge of the conventions of expository writing, and for that matter, an eye towards well formed sentences. Everyone knows that italics are a clear cut sign of bad writing...Now where am I going with this?
Certainly most blogs - and I'm careful to qualify that statement - lack a skillful pen, er. keystroke. Does this matter? Is this only the business of literature and traditional media? Perhaps. But as blogging becomes more ubiqutous, more mainstream, the majority of it will only become only more careless, and will with all probabilty, begin informing mainstream media. If I visit the New York Times online in 10 years, will it just hyperlink out to various blogs -- a super hub?. Will editors just become info-surfers?
I'm not sure how we begin addressing these potential problems - if they are indeed even problems. Sites like MetaWeb merge blogging culture with traditional literature, and Smart Mobs is the perfect companion to Howard Rheingold's Book, extending it in a sophisticated way that would be impossible within the context of traditional media. Such sites - and many blogs and blog portals - lead to conversations that are unparalled in conventional mainstream media. But as they begin to proliferate into the mainstream, will skillful, adept and calculated writing become a second-class citizen, will it take on the circumscribed role that I'll perpetually occupy in the blogsphere?
Hmm. that went on a little longer than expected. And that only means that the piece, if I can call it that, probably needs some serious retooling and rethinking. Complete revision is probably in the cards. But there is no wastebasket nearby, and I'm planning on finishing this train-wreck, this moderately pretentious and potentially misinformed thought / ramble / car crash and clicking submit. Instant publishing.
posted by will | comments (1) | 
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In defense of Italics:
Time to read some Paul Valery, William Gass, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion -- indisputably great writers!
Even one of your favs, Steven Johnson, sprinkles italics liberally in EMERGENCE. Who told you this?
Sounds like some prep-school composition teacher.
Posted by: pweil at October 15, 2003 06:17 PM