Round one, first pitch lobbed by Joichi Ito
(repost)
Ok I just read the whole thing. I strongly urge all of you, no matter what your interests are, to read this. It not only discusses the possible effects of "weblogging" on democratic political systems, but also explains how and why.
I will comment on it further on my new, upcoming, separate, more "serious" weblog, when I get it going.
(update)
Mark Federman adds:
It is the effect of the medium that informs us of its nature and characteristics. [McLuhan 101: Medium = anything we conceive or create from which emerges change; Message = the changes or effects that so emerge. Medium = Message means that the nature of a Medium is precisely equal to the emergent changes. It has precisely nothing to do with the TV and its program...] The blog as a conversation (not as a "medium of conversation") means that a newbie to the blogging world will be as confused as someone who steps into the midst of a small group at a cocktail party in the middle of their conversation. One of two things will happen: Either the person will "pick up" the conversation and join in, or they will quit the group and move on - possibly to the buffet table to load up on more "content." While someone may, in context, recap aspects of the converation up to a particular point, few will take time to explain the rules of conversation, the context of conversation and so forth... at least during the party. However, there are indeed venues for such education, particularly when one is crossing into a different, and unfamiliar, cultural ground.
Relatively few in the general population know (or care) what a blog is, and the rest completely ignore the effects of the blog and the blogging community on our society. The same "rest" ignored the Web a few years ago, dismissing it as a computerish fad... But then again, most people march backward into the future, watching where they're going through the rear-view mirror.
