Blogs
There are many reasons for an individual to have their own website. For some, it acts as a kind of shop window in which professional wares-be they writings or works of art-can be displayed. For others, the web is a means of self-publishing material that would otherwise never find a single reader. Quality is variable, of course, but more interesting is the way an increasing number are built around the weblog format.
A weblog (or "blog") provides a running commentary on the host's preoccupations and, usually, a multitude of links to their favourite sites. Since 1998, the number of blogs has soared from 30,000 to nearly 750,000, in part due to the availability of software that makes it simple to update a web page. Blogs now inhabit every corner of the net and usually come in a magazine format, with pictures, sounds, links and chat. As is common with web phenomena, most blogs are utterly dreadful. But among the illiteracy, paranoia and narcissism, there are things worth reading. The first big blog-Arts and Letters Daily (aldaily.com)-is still the greatest, providing a stupendous array of links to the world's best writing.
Flashblog.net meanwhile, abounds with tiny films. Flash movies are in the vanguard of new viral marketing techniques and this site is a love letter to them. They're cheap and (relatively) easy to make, and can be sent as e-mail attachments. At the time of writing, Flashblog includes a link to Alex Gopher's gorgeous music promo, "The Child," a super-cool animation with funky soundtrack, in which a city is represented entirely by typography.
Much more serious is the blog of the former editor of the New Republic, Andrew Sullivan, (andrewsullivan.com). Sullivan is conservative, Catholic and gay, and his elegant writing is the vehicle for some sparkling political commentary. The home page is the "daily dish," which links to big news stories. For Sullivan, "blogs have emerged as an instant critique of major media... yet at the same time, bloggers are parasites on big media, relying on them for stories and raw material." Like many writer-bloggers, the site serves as a useful archive-cum-greatest hits collection, providing links to all of Sullivan's recent output (see also samuelbrittan.co.uk or kenanmalik.com for excellent British examples). Especially worth a visit is Sullivan's book club, which features an impressive Q&A with Bj?rn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist.
Once it was thought that publishers would be swept away by online operations. But the absence of viable business models starved the micropublishers. Blogging, however, truly means that anyone can be a karaoke publisher, feeding on the content of others. For the serious, it is a chance to promote interesting ideas. For others, it is a chance to bask in reflected glory. But the best of them are very good indeed.
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