Week 6 Journal Post Weblogs and the Public Sphere

           The Weblogs and the Public Sphere reading by Andrew O’Baoill, caught my interest in the week 6 assignment.  As a former e-commerce store owner, one of the areas I found hardest to conquer was the weblog.  O’Baoill’s reading focuses more on the political aspect of weblogs but I feel it can be related to any interest or discipline across the web. Weblogs fall into both the critical and cultural dimensions of the Green model.  They serve to ask critical questions and construct alternate perspectives; they also culturally develop an understanding of content and context. 

            
            Weblogs are defined as a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites. (dictionary.com, “Blog”)   In1997 Habermas identified three key features regarding the public sphere; inclusivity, disregard for public rank and rational debate (O’Baoill, pg 1) each of these features can be related to the blogosphere.

            
          Web sites such as blogger.com and livejournal.com allow users with little or no technical experience to launch their own weblogs.  I feel that’s where the inclusivity stops with weblogs.  Content is “king” weblogs need to stay updated and current and those that have the most traffic are those that have the most google rankings. Google rankings are highest when weblogs updated content on a frequent basis.  This article was written in 2003, twelve years ago.  Since that time Jenkins participatory culture has come of age online and with the advent of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram no longer do bloggers just update content on their blogs but they update their social media pages which then link back to their blog sites. Today’s most popular weblogs  are multi-media giants like The Huffington Post, Mashable and TMZ, all of which are backed by large investors. These large media machines have the ability to obtain new content frequently and have large staffs monitoring and updating them.  Weblogs have become main-stream on most media related web sites such as local news stations and cable networks.  Bravo TV is one example of a website that has their own blog style web site where users can comment in real time.  Today’s weblogs are money making enterprises and with that the concept of inclusivity is blurred.  In reality creating a blog is still a simple task but ability for one person or small group to keep it updated with content, and obtain high google ratings is a dubious task.

Outside rank should not be a factor in within the public sphere according to Habermas (pg 3).  

            Outside rank in this context is considered the reputation that the contributor builds with the public sphere.  Weblogs have the ability to build reputations on an ongoing basis. Today’s web sphere it’s not as easy for an individual  to launch a blog and have a large amount of followers.  What is possible is to have a blog with small amount of regular users.  Today's contributor can grow their blog and gain users and create a public space via social media links.  Many of the blogs that I have recently found have been found via research on Instagram.  I conduct searches using topics I’m interested in and find Instagram users who are posting.  After following on Instagram I will normally click through to view their weblog site and I will link to their Facebook page to see when they update their blog.  For me I feel that following them via Instagram postings allows them to gain my acceptance.  Weblogs allow for anyone to become a “published” expert, weblogs change the way that information is published from top down hierarchical to a free flowing network. 

Habermas wished for the concept of a rational debate until consensus is achieved (pg 4).  In today’s cluttered websphere I don’t see how that would be possibility. The organization of how content is set up on weblogs doesn’t lend itself to users being able to clearly view all comments.  Since information is fluid comments on one topic can quickly morph into another topic. One of the interesting topics on page 4 of the reading is the fact that weblogs don’t follow a hierarchical order like a newspaper and the concern is that weblogs cannot provide a balanced framework for interpreting information.  Since the design of the weblog isn’t fluid there is a lot of room for confusion and misinterpretation.  One benefit of weblogs is that they may not be able to come to a consensus online but they are able to organize and mobilize on a more local level.  One example of a local weblog are the Patch.com sites.  They act as a community information site just as a local newspaper would in the past, but they allow users to comment and give their opinions on local news.  Patch.com can mobilize local groups for volunteer opportunities, school functions and local political events.   

References:

"Blog." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web 22 Feb. 2015.

O'Baoill, Andrew. "Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs: Weblogs and the Public Sphere." Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs: Weblogs and the Public Sphere. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.