Tuesday, June 14, 2005

The benefits of blogging...

When I talk about blogging and why I do it, I talk about disseminating and sharing information. I also talk about using my blog to keep track of information for myself (a nice side benefit). Another tangible benefit is that blogs allow for a give-and-take that seems different from an e-mail discussion list or online forum.

As I write this, I'm thinking of Charles Bailey who sent a comment to alert me to a list that I had not seen. I also think about the comments I've received where someone has been able to give some insight into an organization/process that I was not privy to. Those comments then become part of the knowledge shared in the blog. The truth is, we all have access to different information and our blogs allow us to share and combine what we know.

Sharing...this is the benefit of blogging...and the benefit of digitizing materials.

2 comments:

Ann Tenglund said...

I definitely agree with what you've said here about the value of blogging.

However--I'm wondering if you (or others reading this) are receiving a lot of comments on your blog. It seems to me that a lot of blogs are still one-way communication devices, because people use aggregate readers (such as Bloglines or something similar) that don't have a direct mechanism for comments (unless you click directly on the link to the post and go to the actual blog site). I think our tools have to evolve more, so that we can get some of the additional give-and-take that seems to still be more prevalent in the e-mail discussion (i.e. listserv) world.

Jill Hurst-Wahl said...

Ann,

I think that some blogs (seemingly those that are more personal, where you get to know the writer) do generate comments. For example, I find myself commenting on Blogs like Confessions of a Mad Librarian when Eli talks about her career decisions. I don't tend to comment on posting on "business" blogs.

With my blog here, I do sometimes get e-mails rather than comments. I don't know when a person decides to do which. Personal preference?

So...yes...limited two-way communication on this blog for the moment, but I hope that will change.

You make a good point about blog readers. Also with blog readers, we lose the other info that the blogger has place on his/her page/site.