A meeting of the blogging minds, but to what end?
Six days ago, I attended the popular Brooklyn Blogfest. While my blogs aren’t particularly germane to Brooklyn — the subways go everywhere and the Yanks are New York’s team — I live in Kings Country and plan to do so for a while. I consider myself a Brooklyn-based blogger and stay attuned to the goings-on in my neighborhood and borough through many of the blogs represented at the Blogfest.
In the intervening six days, I’ve had a long time to think about the Blogfest and no time to write down some of my thoughts. While the participants all had praise for Louise Crawford’s excellent event-planning and generally tireless organization, the few blogs that dared to critique the blogfest drew some ire from those who participated. Most notable were two posts from Brooklyn Skeptic — here and here — that touched upon some of the Blogfests shortcomings.
From the outset, the people who ran and produced the Blogfest did amazing work. Many people do not blog for a living, and those that do are busy running their sites. That the Blogfest went off seemingly without a hitch and with such a large public response speaks volumes to the dedication of those behind the gathering.
But my problem with the blogfest, similar to those views expressed by Brooklyn Skeptic, is that the festival’s programming is not geared toward the proper audience. The sense I got from the crowd last Thursday at the Brooklyn Lyceum was one of blogging sophistication. The overwhelming majority of folks in attendance ran their own blog, worked for a Web 2.0 company or were familiar with the intricacies of blogging. Gersh Kuntzman, the editor, as he’ll remind you over and over again, of The Brooklyn Paper, was one of the few print media people in attendance, and his presentation about blogging and the role they will play in the future was by far the most interesting.
The programming, I found, was geared toward the hypothetical people in the audience with a limited knowledge of blogging and the Internet as a medium for creative writing, photography, reporting, neighborhood watches and so on. The group at the Lyceum didn’t need a five-minute presentation on the top ten tips for starting your own blog; the overwhelming majority of us in attendance had figured out those tips and many more back in, oh, 2005.
What the Blogfest needs — and what Gersh touched upon — are serious panels about the nature and shape of neighborhood blogging. We don’t need introductions; we need depth. While some presentations covered these topics, a revamped panel format instead of a one-off speaking format would do wonders for the Blogfest.
Kuntzman in his presentation mentioned the Brownstoner comment epidemic. On Brownstoner, every comment thread devolves into an Internet fight among anonymous trolls. As these comments are a very public part of the blog presentation, what does this inability to have an intelligent and unmoderated comment discussion say about the future viability of blogs as a news source? Are we doomed to Godwin ourselves into oblivion? Can blogs really democratize — or is it socialize? — media without moderation?
And that’s just the tip of the ice berg. Bloggers as a group can discuss the various ways blogging is just like traditional media coverage. We cultivate sources; we accept tips; and some of us even fact-check.
Maybe at next year’s Blogfest — and, yes, there should be one next year and in the years to come — the Brooklyn Bloggers can move beyond the idea of “Hey, we’re the bloggiest borough in the country” to something more substantial. With all these Brooklyn blogs and many among the most prominent in the country, we all collectively must have learned something more than how to give a good shout-out, right?
Musings | Benjamin Kabak, May 14, 2008 2:17 am
Lesley — May 14, 2008 @ 9:21 am
Hey there -
I’m really glad to see someone else agrees with me about the Blogfest. I thought the event was great as well, but I would be interested in discussing some of the deeper issues with other avid bloggers.
I wish I could talk to Louise about this stuff and help with it, but I think she might have blocked me from commenting on her site…
Cheers!
Brooklyn Skeptic
Xris — May 15, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. The Blogfest is just one thing, and it’s Louise’s gig. Rather than try to change what that is, I’d rather see a diversification of venues and channels for Brooklyn bloggers to meet, organize, debate, etc.
That was one of the motivations for the Blogade. Questions such as those you and Skeptic raise have been raised at those events; I hope that continues.
I would like to see an ongoing series of panel discussions addressing different topics. The environment created by unmoderated anonymous comments is one thing. How about the responsibilities of the bloggers themselves for what they write? What about conflicts of interest, eg: advertising revenue?
My big dream: a Brooklyn blogging conference. Multiple workshops. Breakout sessions. Tutorials for beginners (and there were a lot of beginners at the Blogfest). BOFs for experts sharing their years of experience.
Brooklyn is a big place. We can have all of that. It just takes people to organize it.
Lesley — May 15, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
I would LOVE to do a blogging conference. The interest is definitely there.
Melissa — May 17, 2008 @ 9:02 am
I’m agree with your observations. I’m very new to blogging so I enjoyed the Blogfest, but viewed it more as a very informal party/get-together/networking event for local bloggers to get to know each other face to face.
However, precisely because I am a beginner, I’d be extremely interested in going to a blogging conference were important topics and technical details are discussed more in depth. I’d also be interested in helping to organize these workshops.
Benjamin Kabak — May 19, 2008 @ 12:54 am
I’m not opposed to the idea of trying to put together a blogging conference. It would be quite the event though to organize.