Personal communication form thrives in cyberspace

By AMY MATTHEW
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The word sounds like a species of swamp monster or eggnog's inferior cousin - a gooey, sloppy substance no one wants to ingest. Blog.

Actually, though, blogs are a form of communication that have erupted across the Internet over the last several years, one that really started attracting mainstream attention during last year's presidential election.

Blogs (short for Weblog) now number in the thousands, up from less than 50 in 1997, according to numerous histories. They allow just about anyone, even technophobes, to establish their own presence on the Internet.

The content can be whatever the creator wants it to be; there are blogs devoted to just about any subject we humans can conjure. Pets. How-to. Politics. Twinkies. Day-in-the-life chronicles. The choices are as vast as the Internet itself. But blog at your own risk: There have even been recent reports of employees being fired for information they posted on their blogs.

Thanks to numerous Web sites (Blogger and Bloglines are two popular examples), even people who consider themselves technologically illiterate can set up their own personal space. Follow a few simple steps and voila. Start typing.

Hey, congratulations! You've got your own Internet address. Not to burst your cyberbubble, but who cares? What's the purpose? Is there one at all? Are blogs just a vanity project - the computerized equivalent of "Ooh, ooh, look at me?”

Sure, there are people whose only reason for starting a blog is so they can admire themselves in another format. But the most common purpose of blogs is to create more interaction with people who share similar interests. It's a way to spread some humanity into the gig and byte world of the Internet, whether talking about Aunt Gertie or the protests in Ukraine.

Gretchin Lair started her personal blog (gretchin.blogspot.com) three years ago. She's a former Pueblo resident who now lives in Portland, Ore. Initially, a blog was a way for her to provide details when her out-of-state boyfriend asked, "What did you do today?” instead of offering the typical "Oh, nothing" reply. It wasn't created as a way to attract hundreds of readers; it helps her keep in touch with friends she doesn't see every day.

"It lets everyone in at the same time, which keeps you from having to repeat the story and forget what someone does and doesn't know," she said via e-mail.

Lair defines those who read blogs as a community.

"I think blog readers are often incorrectly identified as an ‘audience,’ as if blog writers are performers on a stage and the readers clap for them at the end," she said. "Instead, because blogs are interactive, it's like hosting a tiny conference about yourself and people get to interact and ask questions and learn more about you and each other.

"It's a lot friendlier than writing in a big, empty journal."

Lair writes about work, her car (which is covered with poetry magnets), friends, her Mountain Dew addiction and her cat, Amelia. She said the blog has even helped her love life.

"I knew my partner was the boy for me when, having returned from a trip, I found he had read my entire blog from start to finish. A year and a half of it. My heart melted," she said.

While Lair focuses on the personal aspect of blogging, Rafe Carson wants to make his blog an extension of his profession, Web design. The Colorado State University-Pueblo senior is creating a Web site that will be an e-zine (electronic magazine) for fellow designers. It will include a blog, a place for subscribers to share ideas and seek solutions to design problems.

"I'm trying to capture the professionalism of blogs (and) turn it into something more important," he said. "The whole plan is to connect from professionals to professionals."

He sees blogs as covering two steps in the evolution of the Internet. First, they provide specialization - a way of breaking down the galaxy of information that's out there.

"They're finally getting a way of nesting it, controlling it," Carson said.

Second, blogs bring a whole lot more of the Internet to those who might not normally use it much. Now they can be actively involved in its content.

"Seven years ago, all they could do is watch," he said. "Now they can participate."

That participation has opened up a new portal to the news world. During the 2004 presidential election, political blogs became the hot new way to communicate ideas. Democratic and Republican blogs sprouted everywhere - some serious, some satirical. They first attracted mainstream attention with the John Kerry-Swift Boat Veterans for Truth issue, but became white-hot with the CBS story about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard.

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