In the future, it will be imperative to have more and better communication. Weblogs are just one of many new forms of communication. As such, I believe they are beneficial but only in a limited way. This is due mainly to the make up of the people who blog on the Internet.
There are over six billion people on earth. Over eight hundred million people have Internet access. That leaves over 85% of people with none. Regional disparities are great, too. Many Africans, Asians, Latin Americans and people from the Middle East have no Internet. How important can Weblogs be in this light? The worldwide annual increase in access is approximately 40%. That outpaces world population growth. These statistics indicate that, some time in the future, everyone can have the Internet and be part of a ‘great leap forward’ in global communication. Still, many people are not online by choice.
Even if we all had access tomorrow, not everyone would go online. Who would take advantage? What defines them as a group? First, those people must have access to the Internet. Assuming everyone had, they would then need free time. Even with 100% of people with access and time, the Internet would have to compete with all other leisure-time activities. To blog or not to blog? Is that the question? How about going to a library? How about some outdoor activities? How is the family? The busier people are with those, the less likely they will blog. Weblogs and micropublishing would indeed be an improvement in global communication, but not for ‘doers’ especially. The ‘viewers’ would be more likely to participate and benefit.
The prospect of over six billion brains online is attractive. Here are some examples: Als Online Brain, Hannah's Brain.... Live! Uncensored! Online! and Jim's Brain Online (remarkably, my URL registrar shows www.mybrainonline.com available for sale). Al wrote that his Website “is an ongoing experimental attempt [to] create a replica of my brain online for the web-surfing public to explore”. He also wrote that he “took a history test without studying and ate some extremely cheesy and terrible cheese pizza in the cafeteria”. Al’s brain does not work well enough for me to explore, but Hannah’s brain almost was. She realized, “…not everyone is as passionate about the election as I am. So I try not to go into politics too much on my blog.” This was the preface to her passionate views on politics (September 4th, 2004 entry). Jim offered his “random brainspew about computers, children and life in Grand Rapids, Michigan”. Is global communication improving yet? The reality of six billion brains online may not match the hype.
Hype is a good word to use because there is a fashion aspect to blogging. It is the cool, new thing. By the time the average ‘Joe User’ gets a blog, it might be time for the Snoberatti to abandon blogging. Even the word ‘blog’ is not a great improvement over diary or journal, but has a ‘secret language’ feel to it. Blogging also recalls graffiti, in Hannah’s case, live uncensored cyber-graffiti. Once you have spray painted a wall, you can admire and feed off of it. It is a permanent reminder that you have ‘been’. Micropublishing attracts just those people who are perhaps slightly more attracted to this (present company excepted, of course!). Naturally, some people are good communicators and have some purpose. Others are house-bound. Blogging suits them. Most others, I feel, are just selfish and their noise limits the impact of Weblogs. As Hannah wrote, “So if you're ot [sic] getting sick of my rants and raves, that sucks.”
Weblogs truly are unique analogs of the human brain. Links are like mental pathways. Memories can be expressed online not only as text and images but smell and touch (x-rated!). Machiavelli wrote “men are a sorry lot”. Their brains can now have cyber immortality.
In conclusion, commentary about blogs must view it as one form of communication in the context of rival forms (e.g., MUD Object Oriented sites). Has even the printing press itself improved global communication? I cannot help but think about the self-serving things we write, and the good books we never read. No matter how much communication technology changes, we communicators remain the same.