Friday, January 21, 2005

Organised chaos: What happens when you replace the word "blogging" with "thinking"?

Organised chaos: What happens when you replace the word "blogging" with "thinking"?: "Anyone who derives their power from hierarchy or gate-keeping knowledge is in for a rude surprise. This particularly applies to managers and politicians who are often the worst offenders. My generation and the way we interact, converse, grow and learn will fundamentally change the world and for the better."

Henry By George, she's got it! By George, she's got it!

Blogging for me is like thinking out loud. Those who socialise with me know that once I get going (about a pint and a half going) I tend to hold forth on just about any subject. My friends are very patient, and indulge me in this. I also tend to 'verbally annotate' a lot - people who sit near me in the office must find it hugely irritating, but they indulge me.

I suspect the reason I do this is that I'm not aware of 'structuring my thought processes' in any way. I'm amazed at people who think things through, and come to decisions. That just doesn't happen for me: talking out loud, or making notes here (I write pretty much the same way I talk) is a way of *remembering* what I think about, and of processing my thoughts.

So, the blog - despite it's discalmatory tone, and it's habit of playing to the crowd - isn't much more than a filing system for my thoughts.

The reason I've been surprised, is that the process of getting things up on the blog, and the related pleasures of RSS reading has created a new semi-professional semi-friendly network based around shared interests. Suddenly, I know what's going on in other areas of my own workplace, because I read about it on other's personal sites.

I'd say that the number of people in bbc.co.uk who maintain blogs is actually going to affect the physical structure of the corporations website. There are suddenly enough of us connected together, in a way that exposes the function of the web and makes you think about the bbc site as a cohesive whole, experienced by the user, that I think there will be a steady change towards the bbc site become an integrated, navigable experience, rather than the loose affiliation of cantons it currently is.

Or something.

1 comment:

kim said...

Blogs as the U-Bend of the mind's sink? The Colander of the peas of thought? The muslin of the jam-making of consideration...