Home

Bio & Disclosures

Discussions


xFruits

2007 Events

Friday, June 27, 2003

Author:   Doc Searls  
Posted: 6/27/2003; 1:47:48 PM
Topic: Friday, June 27, 2003
Msg #: 3706 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next: 3705/3707
Reads: 3462

Loose Weekendings 
 Frank Paynter interviews Steve MacLaughlin. The permalink doesn't work, so just scroll down to Wednesday, June 25. Some extracts:
 The reason I choose not to get wrapped up in the frothing confab of bloggerdom is because I honestly do not believe there is that much to say about blog culture. I believe that there has been less debate over Rousseau's "The Social Contract" or "Waiting For Godot" by Samuel Beckett than there has been over what blogging is or what it means in some larger social context. History always repeats itself and blogging is the latest iteration of personal journals, which is not a new concept to say the least. Go back and read some Samuel Pepys or James Boswell and you will quickly get a much less haughty golly-gee-whiz attitude about blogging's originality or special powers...
 I think the whole debate of bloggers as Journalists has long since exhausted any new meaningful thoughts. At the end of the day we are all just adjunct journalists. We have other jobs that in theory qualify us to comment on particular subjects, but our blogging does not pay the bills. We may occasionally break a story or force a correction in print or topple a politician, but we are always going to be amateurs in the eyes of the professional Journalists. This is a lesson that I have gleaned from another profession. Unless I am mistaken the only bloggers making a living from their blogging are those that were Journalists to begin with. When someone crosses over from the minor leagues then I will be pleasantly surprised.
 Bloggers are the barbarians at the gates of the Journalism world, and there is some real apprehension about our presence, but they figure they can wait out any siege. Their hope is that we get bored and find someone else to pester. Journalists do not fear bloggers, but they do have some concerns about how blogging will change their profession...
 Whoever coined the term "ivory tower" hit the bull's-eye dead center. The whole process of getting hired in higher education defies any logic, and once you get into the club you are not going to let someone upset the apple cart. Then to reward you for towing the line they give you this amazing thing called "tenure" that makes you bulletproof from getting canned no matter what you do, or better yet, don't do. Who wouldn't love that kind of job security... err... academic freedom?
 What they don't tell you is that higher ed has over produced union card holders to the degree that there are five or six applicants for every one full-time position. That makes it an employers market where the inmates run the asylum. I have actually written an as yet unpublished article about my own adventures in trying to get hired in higher ed. My lawyer says I might want to consider keeping it that way.
 € Congrats to Larry Lessig for getting the Public Domain Enhancement Act floated in Congress. Now we all need to lobby for its passage. After, of course, we sign the petition.
 € Playing with Apple's Video iChat. It works remarkably well. Scary.
 
Oo Noo 
 The Google Toolbar doesn't work on Linux or OS X. It only works on Internet Explorer on Windows. Bummer.
 
Found: Civilization 
 So I'm sitting in Muddy Waters, which is Santa Barbara's Alt.Coffee, without the dead computer reliquery or the Web site, but with pretty much everything else. Expecially the free wi-fi.
 
TGIJ 
 It's the 27th. What happened to June? Time flies when it's running out.
 That's my thought for the day, as it runs out all over the world (it's already gone in the Far East). In one month and three days, I'll finish 56 years on the planet. Which equally feels like a whole lot and not nearly enough.
 I saw Tommy Franks described in the paper yestereday as looking "every bit" his age, which is the same as mine. And I thought he looked pretty damn good.
 But not as good as Dubya, who's got his 57th coming up in a few days. The bastard.


There are responses to this message:




Copyright 2008 The Doc Searls Weblog

Membership : Join Now : Login

Create your own Manila site in minutes. Everyone's doing it!

Click to see the XML version of this web page.

Blogroll

 
Search archives

Santa Barbarians
Edhat
SB Independent
SB Newsroom
Kevin Barron
Blogabarbara
Craig Smith
SB*Free Press
Joe Andieu
Patrick Gregston
John Quiimby
Das Williams' dad
Katy Pearce
Taymar Pixley
Lisa Gates
Cookie Jill

Everybody else
Spot-on
RageBoy
MysticBourgeoisie
David Weinberger
Miscellaneous
Dave
Berkman
John Palfrey
IT Garage
Bret Fausett
Susan Crawford
Bruce Sterling
Steve Lewis/Bubkes
Hak Pak Sak
Brad Kava
Brad Templeton
Sheila Lennon
Don Marti
Steve Urquhart
Wes Felter
Brad DeLong
Tom Evslin
Brian Oberkirch
Dean Landsman
Hugh MacLeod
LAist
Jeremy Ruston
Geoff Jones
Vaspers the Grate
Sig Rinde
Chris Albritton
Ronni Bennett
Thomas Hawk
Kevin Bedell
Howard
Bryan
Deep Fun
BoingBoing
edhat
Terry Heaton
Jay Rosen
Kim Cameron
George Lakoff
Scott Rosenberg
Larry Lessig
Jim Thompson
Jeff Jarvis
David Isenberg
Stephen Johnson
Tim Oren
Geoff Moore
Rex Hammock
This is Broken
Max Sawicky
Stuart Hughes
Dave Pentecost
John Perry Barlow
Mary Hodder
Dan Gillmor
Steve Gillmor
Dean Landsman
John Stodder
Seth Finkelstein
Renee Blodgett
misbehaving.net
Ruby Sinreich
Ed Cone
Julie Leung
Ted Leung
Ken Coar
Flemming Funch
Mike Sanders
Marc Canter
Joi Ito
Ethan Zuckerman
Doug Kaye
Jon Lebkowski
Judith Meskill
Allen Searls
Esther Dyson
Christopher Lydon
Russell Beattie
Tim Bray
Brian Millar
Mark Pilgrim
Michael Hall
Backup Brain
Frankston, Reed
Britt Blaser
Brent Simmons
Loic Le Meur
Leslie Winer
Mike Taht
Eric Raymond
Volokh Conspiracy
Steven Levy
Lisa Rein
Skywave
Epeus' epigone
Glenn Reynolds
James Taranto
Frank Paynter
Ross Mayfield
Dana Blankenhorn
Ken Bereskin/Panther
Daily Wireless
Filchyboy
OxBlog
Bryan Field-Elliot
Rajesh Jain
Oliver Willis
Gary Turner
Michael O'Connor Clarke
Jennifer Balderama
Kevin Werbach
Amy Wohl
Phil Windley
Fulcrum
Real Joe
Greater Democracy
Mitch Ratcliffe /biz
Mitch Ratcliffe/soc
Wayne Robins
VivaCapitalism
Cut on the bias
Howard Greenstein
The Poor Man
Mickey Kaus
Dave Sifry
Buzz Bruggeman
Ben Hammersley
Matt Jones
Paul Andrews
John Robb
Schoolblog
Tom Shugart
Matt Welch
Blur Circle
Denise Howell
JY
BlackHoleBrain
Chris Pirillo
Marek
Tony Pierce
Chris Nolan's
Spot On

Wil Wheaton
Meg
Brian Linse
Dan Pink
Dawn Olsen
Craig
Yoz
The Head Lemur
Ev
Jeremy Zawodny
Susan Kitchens
K5
Anu Gupta
Jonathon
Fishrush
Dave Ely
Euan Semple
Eric Norlin
Paul Boutin
James Lileks
David Williams
Mary Wehmeier
Bruner Blog
Halley Suitt
Webword
Ann Salisbury
Om Malik
Moxie
J's Notes
Meesh
NUblog
TBTF
Cam
Seth Finkelstein
Tom Matrullo
Chip Hoagland
Deborah
Fortboise
J.D. Lasica
Photodude
Phil Wolff
Andre Durand
Eric Hansen
Mike McBride
Jeneane Sessum
Chris Nolan
Gonzo Engaged
Michael Mussington
UseTheSource
Wes
Adam
Sam Ruby
Miguel
Frank Field
Rebecca Blood
Joshua Allen
Cluetrain
JOHO
EGR
Searls site
Scoble
AKMA
Kottke
Tomalak's Realm
Tim O'Reilly
Mitch Kapor
Bill Quick
Dan Bricklin
Lou Josephs
Alan Reiter
N.Z. Bear
Todd Morman
Zeldman
Glenn
Joshua
Rex Hammock
Matthew Thomas
Brian Dear
Baylink
Burningbird