Impact of Blogging: Negative & Positive

caught in the moment
munching on  //  teddy grams
eargasm  //  the sound of cars driving by outside
mood  //  calm

This week’s chapter from “Dispatches From Blogistan” left me feeling proud to be in this class & proud to be a blog owner.  Although I wouldn’t have started this blog if it weren’t for this class & if I had my own blog I probably wouldn’t write about political issues, I know I am taking part in a new force in the media.  Last Wednesday, I met a man who was the online producer for The Seattle Times.  I asked him about blogs & he totally disregarded its importance & mocked the blogisphere.  After meeting him, I felt a sense of disappointment.  It hurt to know that one of the advocates for an online medium of news disliked its blog counterpart.  I found him a bit hypotricital since The Seattle Times allows people to comment on certain stories & isn’t part of the blogisphere based on comment on other’s posts?

In contrast, my cousin is one of the producers for NBC’s Today Show, & he said that the rise of blogging made his company want to start up a blog of their own.  I respected how he addressed the blogisphere as something that is here to stay.  Jamais Cascio’s interview was also as refreshing as my cousin’s answer.  He talked about the positive aspects of blogging both politically & from an activism standpoint.  He also addressed the question of a blog’s credibility.  Hyperlinks should be used to link the post to the truth or where one can find the facts that back the blogger’s words.  Cascio also addresses the controversial issue between traditional and new journalism.  Like my cousin’s view, he believes that the two can work together.  A partnership that can be observed in Russia and South Korea.

Questions

1) Looking at political blogs from Russia and South Korea, how can the United States use a similar system to get more people involved in politics using blogs?

2) How can today’s political blogs increase more citizen participation?