techPresident - No More Blog, Blog, Blog! - Comments

Some More Thoughts

Harkinson — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:23:25 -0400

Alan had asked what, in particular, I'd like to see Techpresident write about. Well, in general, I think the site has been great at casting a critical eye on how politicians are using the web, but it hasn't carried that critical eye to the blogosphere quite as much. Maybe this is outside of the site's mandate, and if so, that's understandable, but I do think the blogosphere is becoming increasingly intertwined with the power elite, and somebody needs to cover that beat. For more about what I'm talking about, see Dan's discussion here:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/06/4758_blogger_hubris...

We Settle Back Into Rational Discourse

Alan Rosenblatt — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:22:01 -0400

Jay, I just read your post and thought you were right on. I know I have often relied on the posing two straw men extremes to trigger a healthy debate in my classes, but I have found it often too inflammatory in conversation, despite my best intentions. Its the weave of an analysis that makes it compelling, not its volume.

So I am glad the volume has settled down. I have read the post and comments on MoJoBlog and those on Jay's. I think there are a lot of important questions being thrown about here. And my Lockean sensibilities tell me this is a great thing.

Josh, you alluded to some issues you would like to see us discuss here at TechPresident. What specifically? As you can see, I love discussing. :)

I am certain we all don't agree on everything. I can live with that and it appears all of us can, too.

The fact that MJ has been online since 1993 is evidence that what we are dealing with is anything but "new," but it has gone through a major technological upgrades and a huge growth in market share in the past few years. So the potential has grown.

As someone who has been knee deep in the web of politics since the days of MJ's web launch, I am happy to hear all of this passion when people write and talk about this stuff.

For all our complaints about the lack of deeper attention we in the political and media spaces give to networked politics, my own discipline, Political Science, is far worse. There is a cadre of political scientists that get it, but by and large most departments and political science journals just don't.

So, I take my conversations where I find them. And prefer them to be curious and passionate. This one certainly is.

Alan Rosenblatt
Executive Director, Internet Advocacy Center
AKA DrDigiPol (drdigipol.com)

I wrote about the Mother Jones package

Jay Rosen — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:51:07 -0400

At my blog, PressThink, I wrote about http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2007/06/27/mother_jones.html
the Mother Jones package and what I think was wrong with it.

"Mother Jones invites you to question if the Politics 2.0 revolution really lives up to its hype."

And PressThink asks whether the printing press progressives at Mother Jones have any kind of grip. "They saw the Internet and freaked: this can't be real. Recovering their bravery, they decided to debunk it."

See Micah Sifry in the comments tangling with Mother Jones writer Josh Harkinson.

Yes, But Slowly

Alan Rosenblatt — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:33:19 -0400

Read your post, left a comment there, looking forward to talking more.

Alan Rosenblatt

Alan, do you actually read?

Harkinson — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:33:38 -0400

Please see my response to your post over at Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/index.html#4743

Politics 2.0 Guide

Jonathon Pyles — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:47:13 -0400

Great article. Maybe techpres could make a guide to politics 2.0 that organizes the various "villages", noting the major / influential sites in each, their history, popularity, the differences between them, where they are headed, etc. I think this would be an interesting and informative resource.

No More Blog, Blog, Blog!

Alan Rosenblatt — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:29:31 -0400

Blog this and blog that
Blog it all and blog a blogging brat
We don’t want a campaign that looks just like that
I don’t want a campaign that looks just like that

I am not a self-hating blogger, though I am a fan of Captain Kirk and the Sex Pistols. Personally, I think blogs are swell. I know bloggers. Bloggers are friends of mine. But online campaigns are not just about bloggers. However, after reading so much mainstream press coverage about Politics 2.0 lately (for example, in Mother Jones this month), one might conclude that the sun rises and sets only on blogs and the bloggers that write them. There is so much more to online campaigning that we do ourselves a great disservice when we narrow our focus too much on blogs.