Whole Lotta Shakin'

Today's topic: Blogs.

Some people see blogs as a completely new medium, ripe to democratize the world and send the petty dictators whimpering into what few shadows are left in a new age of enlightenment.

Others consider it another iteration of the same old stuff... many blogs contain some form of commercial (such as my sidebar), and the content is usually lackluster at best.
Even if the content is good, what seperates a news blog from a newspaper? What if the content is the same?

I suggest that the answer lie somewhere between the two. Certainly blogs offer a chance to voice your opinion if you own a computer and access to the internet. So, farmers in China are usually out. No input from them. I'm pretty sure chunks of central America, former Soviet republics, etc. are all without voice. Without the views of the poor, it's not complete democracy.

But it's not the same old thing, either. Where else can you combine print, video, and audio elements, aside from the web? Already Apple exploits this with it's trailer pages (I love those), but a freelance film-maker with no other outlet could simply post his film in pieces, giving commentary as needed (or desired), and get the same exposure. Possible more.

Eventually this space will be tamed by big companies with an interest in the vox populi for marketing purposes. You will be seeing more subtle ads someday. Perhaps interlaced with other elements. Until then, it's something of a frontier town.

With no sheriff.