Blogging goes wireless

(Originally published on infoSync) Throughout the next few paragraphs I will attempt to introduce you to the concept of a blog, tell you why I would not call it journalism, and even show you why journalists all over the world should be shaking in their pants. In other words; sit tight, it’s going to be a rough little ride.

What are blogs?

Well, first of all, blogs are hip. You need to have a blog these days. In the odd case you have no clue what a blog is, think online journal. It’s a place where you wringe your innermost thoughts out and share them with the rest of the world. Arguably, you don’t need to go that far and can restrain yourself to talk about things you want the world to know about. Spelling errors are abundant, editors nowhere to be found — and often one wonders why some entries had to be written in the first place. Sometimes, some people, somewhere, refer to these blogs as journalism.

Blogs and Journalism

Let me start by defining both terms. Blogs are frequent, chronological publications made up of personal thoughts and web links. Webster has the following to say about journalism: “writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or descriptions of events without an attempt at interpretation.” There we have it. Judging by the above definition, blogs are more opinion pieces and not real journalism. For those who want to go deeper into this matter, the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism recently held a panel on Weblogs — another name for blogs, journals or whatever you might want to call them.

In this debate concerning journalism, one issue is frequently ignored. I believe — although I might be wrong — that blogs are personal and emotional, read by people interested in another human being. The intention of blogs is not to provide readers with facts portrayed in an objective manner, and I don’t look at 10 or more blogs for journalism and hard facts, but rather for the ideas those bloggers have and possibly their thoughts about the matter around us. This is not journalism.

There is another side to this story though, which I became apparent to me after reading a quote on Scot Hacker’s blog:

“Oxygen is more vital to human life than gold, but because air is abundant, oxygen is free. Weblogs make writing as abundant as air, with the same effect on price. Prior to the web, people paid for most of the words they read. Now, for a large and growing number of us, most of the words we read cost us nothing.” — Clay Shirky, on weblogs.

This really got me thinking, because it partly explains why journalists are so scared of the blogging phenomenon. My main objection in this case is that we would pay for good air if we could, much in the same way we’ll always pay for good writing. To further strengthen my case, journalists will always be needed for the objective reporting, and newspapers and magazines will always be used to reach the masses. Good writing will come at a price. Real feelings about events can more easily be found elsewhere.

Blogging unplugged

This is where wireless comes in. By now, I hope I’ve established that blogs are about feelings, personal thoughts, and interest in another person — and ultimately about friendship. Blogs are great in that sense since they provide an outlet for feelings and simultaneously allow us to report to the world what’s happening around us. One thing we can’t do presently, however, is telling the world what’s happening around us at this very moment — presuming we’re not sitting right next to our computer all the time. Unless you have a T-Mobile SideKick, that is.

To give a better idea of what I’m talking about, I urge you to take a look at a web site Mike Popovic has put up at hiptop.bedope.com. The site — and others like it — feeds from e-mails sent in from T-Mobile SideKick or Danger Hiptop (the reference design of which the SideKick is based on) devices, and you’ll find posts from numerous people about what they are currently seeing and thinking — all with pictures and text. Now THIS is the future of blogs!

And the cool part is that you could in theory do the same thing for users of any mobile phone equipped with a digital camera and capable of doing e-mail. The only advantage of the SideKick is that it has a full keyboard, and presumably has attracted more of the youth market which is bound to already be sold on the idea of blogging. Texts from posts on Popovic’s site are usually short, and since a picture is more worth than a thousand words, a phone keypad with T9 input and a camera should be enough for most of us.

You could even imagine this being arranged through MMS — and once there are premium MMS services, like there are premium SMS services now, I wouldn’t be surprised if carriers or other companies started offering blogging services where one would pay to have an MMS sent to a specific number converted into an entry on ones blog.

Are you scared yet?

This is exactly what journalists should be worried about. In a few years, millions of people will have mobile phones with high-quality integrated digital cameras. Whenever something happens anywhere in the world, pictures and eyewitness accounts will be up there on the web for everyone to see in no time. Of course, journalists will still rush to the scene to get the scoop — but the scoop will already be long gone, and journalists will almost never be the first on the scene anymore. It might not be good spelling or reporting, and it might not be objective, but it will be diverse, real and full of emotions. That’s the new way of spreading the news fast — so welcome the wireless blog, everyone.