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 | 
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