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Why do you blog? Aren't you being selfish? Aren't you boasting? Aren't you boring the world? Who gave you the idea that your expression has a place in this world? Who do you think you are?
The mainstream media certainly don't like you. Witness ABC's Cokie Roberts' proud declaration that she can't be bothered reading blogs, and seems rather put-out that the blogs are out there nonetheless. [video (new window)] She's been appointed by ABC to share her thoughts with you. Nobody appointed you to share back. Where do you get off, trying to do it anyway? Witness the AP's takedown campaign against bloggers.
What are you about, blogging like you do?
There's this print magazine, Artful Blogging, which is about craft and art blogs. I picked up the Summer 2008 issue [ISSN: 1941-2320], which profiles many women who blog about their work. They speak in their own words. And while it's ostensibly about craft, art and creativity, what the women say in this magazine could be about any blogging.
I had never noticed or maybe it was just that I didn't pay too much attention to blogs or the concept of them. My first impression of "blogging" was that they were all personal online diaries. I tend to be a very private person so the thought of sharing any part of myself openly never appealed to me, and by the same token I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of reading a complete stranger's thoughts.
Eventually I came across some craft-oriented blogs. These appealed to me immediately because I enjoyed seeing what crafts others were making, reading about what inspired them to create the pieces, and even their process of creating. One day I thought, "why not?"
-Audrey Hernandez, p. 38 [her blog: http://smallcreations.blogspot.com]
...
Blogging was the crack in the door, a new lease on my artistic life. With each post and comment this door opens more and more. I have founda voice to my creative juices that seemed to have been stifled. It gave me the opportunity to put myself out there, to find a supportive audience of like-minded folks. To begin making art again and finding the courage to put it out in the real world in addition to this wonderful virtual one.
-Stephanie Hilvitz, p. 134 [her blog: http://rodrigvitzstyle.typepad.com]
...
Because of my blog, I found myself spending a little extra time to take photos and scans. I also discovered ways of framing phots to enhance how they are displayed. And in the meantime I learned a little more about the techniques of digital art.
It's funny how things will find a way into ones' art. I first used graphic programs mostly to straighten or fix the color of a photo. I made several elements to use in my collage work. But the more I played with the programs, the more I found I could incorporate digital techniques into the entire art piece. All of this because I wanted to "fix" a photo for my blog.
-Rande Hanson, p. 129 [her blog: http://r2artstudio.typepad.com]
These comments come in the same season when Eszter Hargittai and Gina Walejko of the Web Use Project release a new report [PDF] that indicates, as Jacqui Cheng reports in Ars Technica:
...suggests that the Internet is not an equal playing field for men and women since those with more online abilities—whether perceived or actual—are more likely to contribute online content," Hargittai said in a statement. "It appears that lack of perceived skill is holding women back from putting their creative content out there."
Hargittai acknowledged that there may be additional factors at play that affected the (lack of) participation by women online. For example, women may have greater concerns over privacy than men—I know that my father attempted to instill in me a very deep-seated fear that anything I might post online could lead someone to break into my home and murder me in my sleep (so far, so good). Women may also be less confident in the quality of their work than men, although if this were the case, things may not be as balanced as they apparently are after controlling for perceived digital literacy.
Fear and insecurity may play a role in reluctance to blog, but this is an era much different than the times of total old media dominance, when, in the words of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press:
Fewer than 1% of the population is able to reach the general public with their information. (In the U.S., owners of the four main TV networks alone
