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January 13, 2005
Little Sir Echo How do you do? Hello - Hello - Hello - Hello
Bill Doskoch's blog is one of the best I've come across in my web travels, up there with my favourites: On the Fence and Foxymoron. When I spoke to Bill this morning, we both sounded exhausted. As I had been surfing the web till 4 in the a.m., he had been blogging - he posted four entries between 3:46 and 4:08. It seems he never stops.
Although a fan of the blogosphere and all it has to offer ("blogging makes me a better journalist and being a journalist makes me a better blogger"), the CTV.ca writer had an interesting take on blogs and their wankfest qualities.
The problem with blogs is that they're mostly read by your friends. They turn into this like-minded club and don't offer as much honest debate as they could. That's why I don't see them replacing the mainstream media nor should they. The problem becomes hiding in your own little world, and this is understandable because it's tough to understand people who are different from yourself...You need debate to test and strengthen ideas, but most of the people who leave comments on my blog tend to like what I have to say. I've never had a critique and don't find I get much in the way of comment at all...My virtual friends seem to like it and like me (or the projection of me they see on the blog) so I never get any strong debate.
The echo-chamber effect is one I've been battling with in my story. Andrew Coyne's Wisdom of the Crowds experiment, for example, shows the benefits of blogging for journalists in terms of building on the reader-writer bond, but at the same time his experiment failed in its predictions, showing that blogs can become echo chambers where readers reinforce a blogger's prejudices. Ahhh, the blog. So simple and yet so complex.
Posted by Samantha Israel at January 13, 2005 04:13 PM
Comments
You quoted me accurately and in context.
What the hell is that about? :^)
Actually, your phone call this morning prompted me to get out of bed. I'm not one who greets the day with a bounce in his step, and without a coffee first, well, you were lucky to extract anything quotable from what I said. :)
To expand a bit on those thoughts, I haven't gotten *any* comment on my more policy-wonkish postings. Mostly, it's the slice of life stuff.
And my most heavily trafficked story since the blog started, Elvis's Death Day [ http://billdoskoch.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2004/8/16/124660.html ], has never been commented on.
But yeah, if I could wish for one thing for my blog, it's that it triggered more sharp, well-considered critiques. Maybe a change in writing style is required. Maybe I'm not being opinionated enough. Maybe I need more readers who disagree with me.
Just asking the questions, however, should eventually lead to better answers.
Anyhow, thanks for the well-prepared, well-conducted interview, and good luck with the story.
Cheers
Bill D.
Posted by: Bill Doskoch at January 13, 2005 10:08 PM
Thanks Bill. I'm not much of a morning person myself (How funny is it that we both refer to 11 a.m. as the early morn?) You were animated and articulate despite the hour. You made for a fantastic source :)
Posted by: sam at January 17, 2005 03:57 PM
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