The Importance of Blogs

This a post about how and why blogs will become an important foundation of genuine, participatory public discussion and how you, reader, can help lead the way. Basically, traffic-building strategies like search engine optimization (SEO), blog carnivals, trackback, and RSS/syndication align profit, informational value, and readership with low overhead and search costs. This means that anyone can blog, but only those who provide the most valuable information in the most easily accessible way will dominate in the long run. The "long" in long run dominance will be shortened by people like you reader as we develop more sophisticated interests in linking to blogs and, for you fellow bloggers, in learning how to build traffic.

A lot of server space is taken up by online articles, wiki-entries, and of course, blogs about the future of blogging and its role in society. One general consensus as I find it is that blogs are an unprecedented way for everyday people (not newscasters, public officials, or media stars) to have a public voice. For example, here is Technorati's stance and Scott Rosenburg's defense of bloggers against the apparently not-so-everyday journalist. Whether blogs are good for democracy is its own niche in the blogosphere and academia. There is the Habermasian Angle of free, open, and rational discussion ultimately reaching consensus and the information filtering argument in the spirit of John Stuart Mill. You should also read the blogs prompted by Arianna Huffington's debate on the issue for more complex positions. The jury will be out on this question and many others for a long time and will probably come back with mixed results like every other complex issue. However, when it comes to efficiently finding and consuming information, the blogosphere and internet as a whole has unmatched and probably unavoidable potential.

The first reason and lesson for readers, particularly you bloggers, is the fact that blogs run on traffic and traffic is created by content value. If you make valuable content, visitors will like you. If visitors like you they will come back. They will bring their friends by linking to you on their own blog, linking your blog on Facebook and MySpace, or the old fashioned word-of-mouth. This is the sage advice of bloggers' bloggers like Copyblogger and Steve Pavlina. As you may notice from the links, these are veterans' advice for turning a blog into a traffic and money-making hub. While not everyone cares about the money in blogging, those who dominate the field and their content niches do. If this is any indication of the future of blogging (and when has history not followed the money?), blogging will only create more high quality information, scale up on traffic, and become more commodified.

As an aside, the commodification of blogging opens up a whole other bag of worms that I will not get into now and that does pose some serious downsides, particularly over the medium run, and are likely to raise new questions and issues as it reshapes content on the internet.

The second dimension which both drives growth, quality content, and accessibility is the slew of traffic-building marketing tools currently used which link the traffic-quality base to integrating, content-driven marketing. Take Search Engine Optimizaiton (SEO), syndication, and blog carnivals for example.

SEO is the process of tailoring a website so that it is most easily found and visited from search engines. It can be such a technically intensive and profitable mode of traffic building that Google's own discussion revolves around hiring an SEO consultant. They do however provide a Starter's Guide (pdf). In total, SEO is a creater-side strategy which should aid search engines and reader heuristics (i.e. bookmarks, links on networking sites, feed following, etc.) to increase the overall information search efficiency among blogs. While it is not for everyone, it is but one efficiency tool.

Syndication increases visitors' ability to follow a blog's activity and return to the site and the same kind of starter information is also available. This may be one of the best ways to generate the medium term readership (those between one-time browsers and regular readers) which more fully tests a blog's content value. Additionally, social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, which offer other forms of tracking, also offer another means for ranking and ordering blogs.

Lastly, blog carnivals are when a group of bloggers write posts on a certain topic and post them to a single site hosting the carnival. Not only does this provide a (rare) source of editing, they deepen personal, professional, and hyperreference relationships between bloggers, expand readers' blog networks, and condense topical discussion to a much more localized venue.

These three tools exemplify the intrinsic link in blogging between growth, content quality, and accessibility in the realm of marketing a blog. First, these tools are cheap and accessible for those just beginning (unless you hire an SEO consultant and what self-respecting internet cowboy or cowgirl would?). Not only is it relatively easy to start a blog, but to market it. Second, these tools operate on the same logic of information organization as one of the most basic internet features: the hyperlink (I'll return to the awesomeness of this feature in another post (maybe)). Third, building hyperreference networks through imbedded images, hyperlinks, etc. transfers the status of linkers providing more cognitive and emotional meaning than any other dimension of a link. Lastly, each of these also makes the organization of information more efficient by matching content with entry point content like the text in hyperlinks or Google search results.

With the basic framwork tied to traffic, content, and search efficiency; the last cornerstone is the basic economics of blogging - little overhead, low barriers to entry, and an unknown upper-limit on profits. There is little pre-startup selection meaning that everyone who wants a shot can get one. There is little natural selection, meaning that even if you're not successful, you can still do it without going broke. If you actually get the ball rolling on your blog, almost all of it is profit. Remember though that time is money and putting up a respectable blog takes a lot of it.

Lastly, how much money could be made in blogs is utterly unknown and new ways of turning readership into income are being invented everyday. (The ethics of monetizing blogs is also another major niche debate which I hope to address in another post. Lets just say for now that most strategies are at least annoying, but there are some methods that might benefit you, reader).

Blogging is an economic wild west and there's plenty of room for everyone right now to make some money and for some to potentially make an unimaginable figure based on high quality content and readership. In my opinion, the economic incentives are aligned to make blogging a crucial source for the public imagination, education, and discussion. We're not there yet and will not be there for probably another decade (in which time we'll figure out better ways to organize information on the internet, develop better-quality information, scale up blog production, and see more centralization of blog readership at the same time that readership grows exponentially).

The question and challenge for you reader is one, whether you care (and, if you've gotten this far, probably do); two, how can you do your part to help us all bring rule to this wild west; and three, to create the next generation of blogs. For those of us who are not full time bloggers or have hopes of being one, start tagging and linking to blogs you know and like. Put them in your RSS reader or Twitter them. Make it easier for others and yourself to find them. Also, as we all know you're good at, rain the criticism down. Make sure no bad content goes unpunished and no good content goes unmentioned. For those who are thinking of trying to live on blogging, I dare you to go beyond the achievements of the many great bloggers today, start finding the upper limit of readership and profit, and push. Since money, readership, and content are so intertwined in blogging, pushing the limits will open the doors to a bigger, better blogosphere; not immune to corruption, but subject to a much sharper "bend towards Justice."

Women Speak out Against Pahlin

Just got this E-mail beginning to be circulated by women for women on Sarah Pahlin. I personally agree with this one; hence, I'm helping spread the word.

Subject: Fwd: WOMEN SPEAK OUT

Just in from a friend. Within this message is an invitation to make
your own personal statement and send it along to
womensaynopalin@gmail.com
Lend your voice, if you wish.

*Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt
since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential
candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible
decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous
farce in the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential
candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.


Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of
what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead
to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she
is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform,
environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom
of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire
the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church
and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real
preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a
mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but
solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for
Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in
the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and
great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so
demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does
not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is
presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could
win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here with
a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this
country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our
nation.
Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin,"
which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your
reply at your earliest convenience the greater the volume of responses
we receive, the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com

**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to your women friends and
acquaintances, you could be blessed with a country that takes your
concerns
seriously. Stranger things have happened.
Type rest of the post here

Notes from the Front Lines

I received this e-mail in my inbox this morning from Boone area protesters at the RNC:

greetings. i'm sorry i haven't sent out an update, but it has been hard
to take one minute to rest or send emails. the actions have gone well,
and we have certainly achieved some of our goals -- most especially
movement building!

the police violence is unprecedented. starhawk says she has never seen
this level of violence perpetrated on innocent nonviolent protesters --
even seattle. we have witnessed beatings, tasings, pepperspray,
concussion grenades; we were teargassed on monday.

our boone six are safe, but we had two of our larger group snatched from us
in the march on tues, and jason was tasered with 3 protrusion guns & 4
handheld tasers. he was beaten by at least 8 riot cops and has multiple
lacerations to head, face, torso & a black eye. he is still pulling
copper out of his hip & was given alcohol wipes & antibiotic cream. his
partner ryanna was released last night, but he is still inside. they
picked up another 90 people last night. they are denying phone calls,
macing, tazing, beating these kids in custody. lots of folks being
charged with felony conspiracy charges.

i want to write a personal appeal to you for the younger boone group of
folks who will be heading home today. we have witnessed some incredibly
brutal attacks on our friends, including deborah (she is safe & with us,
but badly bruised). these four folks (along with thousands of others!!!)
have had one of the most radicalizing experiences a young person can have
in this country.

emma, ally, nate & will are leaving today, and should be home tomorrow
night. they are going to need major support -- we're all doing well, but
we are all very tweaked & edgy -- lots of tears & many emotions.

please be sensitive to their needs to be heard, to be loved on, to be fed
yummy food, whatever you can do for them that is low stress & loving!! we
are definitely going to have some emotional trauma to deal with. they are
all doing well in general, but just lots of ups & downs & shaky energy.
i'm
trying not to cry writing this -- and it's not working -- i can't even
begin to tell you how horrible the police violence is here and then in
turn how concerned i am that these four folks get the support they may not
realize they are going to need. please call them, check in, anything you
can do that is supportive.

deborah & i will head back as soon as we can. we'll need your support
too, but for now, let's focus on helping these four young folks feel safe
& supported.

thank you so much for all you do in the world.

biglove. elizabeth


p.s.
we will definitely want to organize an event where we can show images &
tell these stories. if anyone wants to help us start thinking about when
that might be able to happen in the next two weeks or so, that would be so
helpful.

here are numbers you can call if you would be willing.
St Paul Mayor Chris Coleman: 651.266.8510 Ramsey County Sheriff Bob
Fletcher: 651.266.9333 Ramsey County Chief Judge Gearin: 651.266.8266
Head of Ramsey County Jail: 651.266.9350

here is footage of our friend jason's arrest -- he is in pink shirt -- he
helped us put the roof on our house -- he is my beloved; keep him in your
thoughts.
http://www.startribune.com/video/27795154.html?elr=KArks5PhDcU9PhDcUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=523539&catid=14

http://www.startribune.com/photos/?c=y&img=4protest090308.jpg

if you have money to share, we are still in desperate need of more
resources to get these folks out safely & get them the medical care they
need. if you want to contribute, you can send to my p.o. box or find
coldsnap legal online. thank you.

More trouble at the RNC

Police Arrest Four Journalist on Rioting Charges

Police Raid and Detainment of I-Witness Journalists 083008

Losing two of the five first amendment rights: Free Press, right to gather in public place

Why Wright makes me Proud

I've finally gotten a chance to confront Obama's Wright problem full on and finally understand where Wright is coming from, what he stands for, and why he pisses people off. And I am proud to consider him an ideological ally on two basic grounds: black liberation is absolutely necessary in Wright's form and the perspective he bears on foreign policy cuts through the conservative's naive and selfish self-righteousness to find America's place in the world, not outside or above it.

To sum his ideology up in a sentence: he's a black liberationist preacher which automatically means: liberal, identity politicist, direct descendant and next generation of civil rights. The civil rights movement didn't die in 1968. Some of it went crazy with back to Africa or black separatist sentiments which often took the scars of discrimination to the point of self-exemption (I'm thinking of Farrakhan). The civil rights movement translated ideologically into liberationism, identity politics, diversity politics, etc. On the ground, it held firm in churches, community service organizations, and political advocacy. Jeremiah Wright is a key exemplar of what the civil rights movement has become today.

I stand behind the black liberation movement as a wholesome way to achieve black self-determination, pride, and solidarity without the elitist, exceptionalist, and/or confrontationality of other black power ideologies. The first key tenant, a black-centric point of view whereby events are interpreted through the lens of discrimination towards racialized people, especially blacks, not only subverts the contemporary dynamics of racial subordination, but also helps put a sense of self-worth into focus. Such a point of view doesn't say, "I am black and I get special treatment because you discriminate against me." Rather, it says, "I am black and am just as valuable a person as anyone else. I'm going to respect myself and demand the respect of others that I give to them." The second tenant facing and overcoming racial discrimination too is still necessary and relevant. Discrimination has become diluted since the civil rights era. But it is still salient and saturated, imposed through expectations, intuitions, and embittering realities. There must be a standing up and accounting for discrimination and its effects within and outside of the black community and American society as a whole. Black liberation is the black community standing up to face the effects of discrimination within itself and confronting the larger society with everyone's role in perpetuating and enforcing oppression. The key values underlying this are humanistic: that everyone has value deserving of a sacred human dignity that cannot be taken away. Social justice with this humanism means imposing obligations on the privileged to repay the debts of oppression without demoting the privileged to the level of animals - to acknowledge the crime without bestializing the criminal, something American culture has yet to accomplish.

This extends seamlessly to Wright's foreign policy and the policy of all good liberals - to respect all people and humanistically stop and correct oppressions, privileging, and exceptionalism. The history of US foreign policy is rife with exceptionalism, caretaking, and neocolonialism and Wright is correct to note that this has made us a focus of hatred and vengeance among those we've dominated. We continue to support one of the largest state sponsors of terrorism (Saudi Arabia), imposed a program knowing that it would kill millions of the most vulnerable (the Oil-for-Food program), reject any international legal responsibility, and promote economic growth with callous disregard for labor or environmental welfare. This isn't the Bush Doctrine on foreign policy. This is the American Doctrine since World War II. Kennedy and Johnson orchestrated Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs, Nixon invaded most of South America, Clinton implemented Oil-for-Food, Bush holds thousands of prisoners of war without trial or a plan for release. What do we expect the world to think of us? American has been hawkish and neoliberal in foreign policy since the end of isolationism and it's about time we joined the rest of the civilized world with a liberal foreign policy. We must allow ourselves to be held legally responsible and answerable to the rest of the world by disbanding the security counsel, allowing all of our international operatives to be triable at the Hague, to be sanctioned by the UN for violating international law. What kind of proponents of democracy and humanitarianism can we be if our every action is based on the ability to veto the democratic vote of our fellow nations, to not be beholden to the law that we helped write and hold everyone else responsible for, if we refuse to engage in any discussion with those who have extremely varying views of the world, if we feel we can do whatever we want as a country in the world. We are not the most democratic country in the world. We are its biggest hypocrites. We must commit to a sustainable development plan for the second and third worlds. We must accept environmental responsibility and sign Kyoto. We must break the exclusionary, agenda-setting practices of the G8. This is a liberal foreign policy.

Before I sign off though, I would like to make one strong caution to Wright and those like him attacking Hilary Clinton for her privilege. The last thing we need to come out of this primary contest is a split between women and African Americans ala "we've suffered more" claims. No, Clinton has never been called a "N*****." But, she has, like every other woman, been afraid to walk alone at night, had her feelings trivialized, been judged as too cold and controlling for a woman, etc. The matrices of oppression have not disappeared and they are still very much caught up in one another (infantilizing, compartmentalizing, animalizing, etc.). We cannot create a political split between oppressed groups in this country without confounding the whole liberation movement!

Survey Frustration

Alright, so I've been working with these two data sets from two surveys for about a year and a half now, pulling many, often strange correlations out of them with fairly consistent success. They've been good to me. Recently though, I decided to return to the data for multivariate analysis (looking for relationships between three or more variables) to strengthen the research for submission to a journal and have just been frustrated by inconsistencies between the two surveys.

The Surveys: With the exception of a couple questions added and a few questions reworded, the surveys are textually the same. The big difference is that the first survey group was a sample of students at a community service event while the second was via the internet, advertised on my university's homepage (of sorts). Overall, there were some demographic differences. I got a larger proportion of male respondents at the service event than the general survey (not surprising since I'm studying why men don't volunteer). Of course, the service event survey had a higher number of hours volunteering in college and the previous semester as well. However, I'm not blind to the influence of gender and previous hours because I'm studying exactly those.

Key Differences: Among all of the analyses I'm doing, the most recent and most important are also the most inconsistent. I get one thing for one survey at a certain amount of hours and another thing for the other survey at a different amount of hours. Let me be more specific.

1. In the general survey, women are significantly more likely to do more service if they've already done a lot of service while men don't change. There's no such effect in the service event survey.

2. Organizational Influences: In both surveys, organizational affiliation significantly impacted the likelihood to volunteer in the future. But which organizations and how were completely different. In the Service Event Survey, clubs, greek organizations, and university organizations all had a significant impact on the likelihood to volunteer in the future (clubs and uni orgs positive, greeks negative). Organizational affiliation also significantly impacted women but not men. In the general survey, only community volunteering agencies had a significant general effect. By gender, women in CVAs were more likely to volunteer than those who were not, while they were also significantly more likely to volunteer if they had logged a lot of hours in the last semester and were associated with clubs or religious organizations.

3. Motivations: women with little volunteering experience cite resume building/networking motivations in the service event survey. Men cite the same with mid-range volunteer experience and little recent volunteer experience in the general survey.

These are just a few of the inconsistencies that I'm not sure how to explain. There's something about the groups; whether their environment or some unknown selectivity. I can generalize some explanations, but it's just not clear.