Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 July 2006 09:27:24
Even if, as is argued, the majority of blogging is self-indulgent and subject to the exaggerations, selective memories and half truths of the writer, (and I am convinced that actually the majority of bloggers are alot more honest and straight forward than they are portrayed as being) I am coming round to the view that in many ways those are the bloggs with the greatest value, rather than the more oft read, better written ones.
My reasoning behind this is two fold:
(i) those who write the oft read ones, better written ones are often professionals of some sort, &, in the Christian blogging world leaders and practioners, and so they already have a forum for their views, be that through conferences, academic writing or whatever and so even without blogging their extremely valuable insights would be communicated to the wider world.
(ii) the type of mundane detail and expressions of discontent and delight that are contained within your "average Joe Blogg" relate to the everyday experiences of "normal" people, often women whose voices, in the past have either been silenced or lost and written out of history (according to Spender, Storkey and others). These are not the voices of the winners, but rather the voices of those who just carry on day in day out. Through bloggs their voices are not be reinterpreted or misinterpreted by those seeking to understand where they are coming from, but who are way outside that frame of experience, but rather experiences being articulated by those for whom this is not theory and experience to be related to but for whom it is real life.
I have two fears though:
Firstly, in the vast void of cyberspace in which our reflections will live on even after we have gone it will be the voices of the oft read which are not lost, for theirs will be those which the search engine will lead researchers, historians and theorists of the future to. This is likely to mean that again the experiences of "the everyday" will be wiped out from memory.
Secondly, that the view put forward at the beginning about the majority of blogging being self-indulgent and subject to the exaggerations, selective memories and half truths of the writer will be so believed that people will not recognise the power of the blogg to capture the everyday lived experience of people, from which alot can be learned.
I hope that I am not overstepping the mark here, but I want to end with an example (and if the person I am going to use objects please use the comments section to ask me to try and remove it - edit willing). Over recent weeks on the Wibsite we have followed Fineline's journey into a new community and particularly into finding and experiencing a new church. I believe that there is so much to learn from this, as there are from alot of the other Wiblogs, about life for the "bum on the pew".