Blogging/Writing

In IM within Second Life, a fellow blogger asked me if I was attending the inworld get together today (in an hour, in fact). Of course, I am going. But then something was said that made me slightly amused: You've been gone for a while, but now you're back! That's great!

He was, of course, meaning that I had slowed down on posting on Your2ndPlace.com and KnowProSE.com. And I had, and I will again. I read a lot, and I think a lot. When reading, I typically don't write - and I consider simply pointing to what other people wrote as bad form for a blogger. I suppose the best way to explain it is to say that I am a reserved blogger, and that I take what I write seriously. This is not to imply that others don't take their blogging seriously - far from it - but if I were to write down every incomplete thought I had, the world would be cluttered with my mental meanderings.

And then, when reading something - such as Homo Ludens - one ends up revisiting a lot of things in one's mind. Instead of writing about every little piece as I poke ideas and thoughts with a stick, I write things more congealed - or try to. Maybe I'm not a blogger, but my aspiration is not to be labeled by the technology I use to write with.

After listening to WTP's last podcast (overview here), I found myself agreeing with some of what was said by Alf Hermida. That is something I may visit on KnowProSE.com, but since this is my more personal space I will simply say it point blank: If I am not writing, I am reading and thinking about what to write.

Writing, you see, requires more than just being a parrot. It requires critical thought. It requires investigation, exploring facts and patterns of facts. In this way, perhaps I have a more journalistic approach to blogging. I cringe when someone calls me a blogger, but what other way is there to say what I do? I do not seek acceptance, I simply express my thoughts - and I believe that expressing one's thoughts clearly is markedly different than using a technology to write or copy and paste a lot of nonsensical hype.

So yes, I use blogging software - actually, I use Content Management Systems due to the volume and broad range of things I write about - but I do not think 'blogging' is what I do as much as 'writing'. I take the time to read and think - important aspects of writing, I believe, but empirical data could well prove that blogging is something else entirely.

Go ahead, excommunicate me. :-)