I pulled in my email this morning and got a reminder from MS Office that it’s Jon’s birthday! This morning Jon is pondering whether "conversation-based online community [e.g., The Well] has died in the era of the blog."
I don’t think so. I think it’s been enhanced. Some of the conversations could use a little pruning though.
A problem we face relates to empowerment and entitlement. Issues of gender and ethnic discrimination in North American community organizing are tangled up in the purpose of some of the work. Women bloggers (Shelley prominent among them) have justifiably noted gender bias in linkage, conferences, gatherings, dinner parties where the geeks meat to do what’s reet. Non-white bloggers might feel much the same but I don’t hear their voices raised in blog spaces I most frequent. Jeneane proxies the conversation around issues of why so few black faces at conferences. Memer, a black man from Toronto speaks to the matter a bit in Jeneane’s comment threads and occasionally in his own posts. Who else addresses these matters?
And, entering this issue from the rear: While I would love to be included in what’s happening across the range of interests that engage me when I blog, do I really deserve a seat at the table with professional journalists? Senior corporate tech management? Advanced telecom networking strategists? Lit-crit heavyweights? Well, of course I do, but I need to keep using my elbows under the hoop to be sure to get in position and stay there.
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