Welcome to my other presence on the internet, my blog Les jeux sont faits for Humanistic Informatics 206: Technology and Society. It’s something very different from Brad in Bergen but I think in this post I’ve found a way of bridging them.
(HUIN 206 folk, the reintroduction is for those who came here for the first time via a link on my personal homepage).
Brad in Bergen, I keep insisting, is not really a blog – but since most people call it a blog I plead truce on semantic grounds. There’s more to be said though, because we have read a book about online diaries (which are “blogs” too? I’m not sure) which offers some clear analysis. Briefly, here’s some key points of Vivian Serfaty’s from The Mirror and the Veil:
- “[Weblogs are] a dialogical space [...] created within what is supposed to be an intensely personal space” (53).
- A paraphrase of page 63: readers of a blog actually manipulate the content and the way the writer writes.
- “Appealing to a large number of readers and having them respond, meets a deep-seated need for love and recognition” (55).
1. So much for point 1. When I chose googlepages as the host of Brad in Bergen I did so partly because I wanted to try something new and partly because I liked being on the outside of the mainstream blog community sites like Blogger and WordPress. I decided not to have a comments feature, so scratch the dialogical aspect.
2. Well, Serfaty hit the nail on the head. If you read my early entries, they are written with a clear Toronto-nuanced audience in mind. But then people I had never met started reading it. The funniest anecdote from a European friend: “Brad, my parents think it’s cool you keep a website because they can see what it’s like to live in Norway. They asked me why I didn’t do the same thing”. I started writing with a more global audience in mind (though stubbornly kept my long-winded and verbose style).
3. Whoa. My deep-seated need for love is going unfulfilled. Actually, I am quite content with the limited online feedback I get for Brad in Bergen because it may mean that when I do get a response (an e-mail, phone call, or letter) it is meaningful and heartfelt. Also, the lack of point 3 is partly to combat point 2 as I don’t want my readers to influence me too much.
From feedback I’ve got, I think most people would prefer comments, tags, search, and RSS on Brad in Bergen. Do you think I should have comments? Do you call Brad in Bergen a blog? I welcome any and all comments, especially since it may provide more building blocks for further posts connecting the two… entities. Just type in the “Leave a Reply” window below.
December 6, 2007 at 7:33 am
hm.. nice post dude!
February 17, 2008 at 7:08 am
I stood there revealing for it. Sarah’s security was illegally about to the widest point, and with one tramp thrust, it slid in benevolent the guides and to the wrist.