The Rise and Fall of Blogging or how to gain audience

Abstract Disclosure:
I present to you an unintended analysis of how weblogs started as a new medium for construction of conversations thus birthing new social spaces and became the latest phenomenon of online publishing in search of an audience. The short of it could be named "The Rise and Fall of Blogging"

How did it all start?

Well, Martin Röll, a well known German Das E-business blogger who is stationed in Dresden and who runs around Europe educating corporations how to engage in 'conversations' with customers in the Age of the Second Coming of the Giant Web Thing has written a 'white paper' (co-written with Magdalena Böttger) entitled "Weblog Publishing as a support for exploratory learning on the world wide web". (PDF file)

Well I thought I would suck up to him since I am in Germany at the moment and in dire need (nay, let us say extanding a helpful friendly hand) of finding some bloggers in Bremen for fun and profit, and mostly for talking business and learning German. And since I love 'Exploratory Learing' and I am currently using "Exploratory Learnig" for my German study I thought this was a good topic to explore and well, what a better way to suck up then to actually read Martin's paper and more even dare to review and add some comments. So I labored on this for 10 minutes then explored it for 10 more and here is what I wrote to Martin. (Hold on the synthesis is at the end of this long writing. You do have to endure some of my explorations first. Thank you.)

So,

My 'Exploratory Learning' of German language is not that great but I would rather do it this way than go a traditional route, to a traditional language school; these are not 'Exploratory' enough for me and seem very 'Right' and 'proper' in their teaching. So I want to remain with my 'Exploratory Learning' but could use a good guide. All this seemingly nonsense talk about my learning German is quite relevant to Martin's Paper and my unintended analysis that follow.

I love 'Exploratory Learning' however, as I see it "Exploratory Learning" lacks two very important things for me as a learner: 1) systematic-synthesis-context-construction-blueprint (Yes, I know this is a long made up noun. Let's say that this is 'the what' to learn now and what later and then what later after that) and 2) a committed teacher with an intention that I learn by constructing the context for myself (the guide, teacher, coach who is my partner in helping me master the topic).

You can have both if you are willing to enroll in a school with great courses and great teachers and if you have enough money and time to afford such a thing. Fo an Exploratory Learner this is quite boring, among other things. Let's interject here that in the so called 'Information Age' where an established knowledge becomes quickly irrelevant and new knowledge becomes the established knowledge 'Exploratory Learning' seems one of the methods of succeeding (or maybe only coping) with the onslaught of stuff to know now to know to know now to know now now now to know now now..... Yes, It can drive you crazy.

If then Exploratory Leaning is my preferred method in this jungle of pieces to construct a collage as a map of the world, a model to create, then the question is how to add those two missing pieces I mentioned, the context-blueprint-thing and the context-blueprint-maker. OK. let's do some thinking on this topic.

This sentence from Martin's paper caught my attention:

"Where “true” knowledge is sought, exploring the World Wide Web can prove ineffective and inefficient."

I thought this to be a very important point. Many people at this point could come to the conclusion that this is utter nonsense - saying, "The Web is THE place for KNOWLEDGE and the MOST Efficient and MOST Effective you Idiot".

Yes. And No. There is plenty of knowledge on the web but it is not the lack of content but the lack of a guiding context, a learning context. A learner can not possibly comprehend content relevancy to the topic being explored and he is in constant need of having the context constructed. A context for learning can only by provided by a committed teacher (someone has to leave a map of how they got there you Idiot).

A committed teacher is an increasingly rare occurrence these days it seems. Perhaps it's why the Exploratory Learning is so 'popular'. The Context for Learning must be constructed and since there are not enough teachers (Committed To Learning Teachers) the learners find themselves frustrated and are constructing the context by themselves without a guide. This however may prove ineffective and inefficient in 'true' search for knowledge. - (note: I have no idea what I am trying to synthesize here, well I am just drawing a map of my thinking, arriving at points of context construction so bear with me.)

In 'Exploratory Learning' there does not seem to be any finality to learning. No arriving at any conclusions, nor synthesis. Exploring keeps on going and going with never ending considerations and re-considerations of the explored knowledge until one gets stuck, usually finding out one is missing something to continue the explorations but not having a clue as to what that might be, the answer to which might be some more exploring, a bit of indecisive limbo land (Sort of like this paragraph you are reading).

In exploratory learning there is no one who can point me to what knowledge to master, to build a base, a foundation for further construction. Every piece of knowledge appears as equally important as every other one. (just like links on the web sometimes) There is no guide in helping me along the way of my context construction and no blueprint. (Are you starting to see the point?)

This begs a question (finally some conclusion making to this exploring, aren't you glad?) Can weblogs help me with this context and this guide thing? I think Weblogs introduce a 'committed teacher' back into the world of learning and a committed teacher's systematic context construction activity. A weblog can only provide a 'committed teacher' when the weblog's author is himself a learner and not a teacher, when an author exposes his blueprint of arriving at synthesis, when weblog posts are a systematic context construction blueprint, where we learn of an author's road leading to the point of synthesis. (This is an important point so read this again.)

Weblog's author does not teach but sees himself as a committed learner, In a context of readers peeking at his weblog they are the ones who see him as a committed teacher. The context of weblog interaction introduces this distincion. In being a committed learner with an intention of 'sharing one's context construction journey' he is therefore a guide for an 'Exploratory Learner' who can use an author's journey as a guide, a map. I, as a Learner, can now travel an author's road and do check ups on my own context construction activity against the author's traces of context creation. By reading a weblog I recreate author's context for myself therefore making it mine. Bada Bing! A social construction.

What makes this valuable for me is that I live in a social construction of weblogging as a medium that people employ to build communication signifiers as road signs, as holders of attention on the things they 'are working out for themselves', so to speak. I am then given an 'inside the mind view' of someone who is thinking through the pieces and analyzing one's findings. You can see one's journey of context building which can then become a template for the reader to see conclusions the author comes up with. In 'Weblogging' we follow author's internal monologue, from this monologue we construct our own monologue, a sort of a dialog of monologues, a conversational space of weblogs. Bada Bing! A social construction.

And now Danger! Weblogs are now being related to as a "Publishing". They used to be called "Weblogging", a new social construction and not a new method for the existing social dynamics. So slowly "Weblogging" has gained a distinction as a new method of "Publishing" and not as a new social construction by itself that happens to look like "Publishing" but is really not.

So what has happened to "Weblogging"? Because it is now looked upon as "Publising" webloggers now produce content and sell the beautiful fabric they produce but don't want to share the messy labors of arriving at the delicate fabric production learning. Instead they want an audience. KaBoom! No more context construction sharing and context reconstruction learning. The End.

Thus I conclude my unintended analysis of how weblogs started as a new medium for construction of conversations and new social spaces and became the latest phenomenon of online publishing in search of an audience.

I thank you for your attention.

Comments

[Gaspar]

Acute, brilliant, but I object, Your Honor: only very popular blogs risk becoming online publishing. I suspect there is a phisical limit in the number of conversations one can have: after that, it turns into broadcasting.

I have very strong faith in the Long Tail, where a million small conversations are started every day. Don't you?

[Kombinat!]

Welcome Gaspar, I accept your objection and your faith. It's been a long time since we've engaged in one of those small conversations. I wrote a response as a new post "Misunderstanding Gonzo Marketing"

So good to hear from you. I now go to add your site to my RSS reader so I can receive your broadcasts and I can learn more italian.

[Jon Husband]

Very nice unintentional analysis.

I think Weblogs introduce a 'committed teacher' back into the world of learning and a committed teacher's systematic context construction activity. A weblog can only provide a 'committed teacher' when the weblog's author is himself a learner and not a teacher, when an author exposes his blueprint of arriving at synthesis, when weblog posts are a systematic context construction blueprint, where we learn of an author's road leading to the point of synthesis.

And then there's always the Happy Tutor

[bmo]

Well...that just about sums it up,

BUT - those that see weblogging as online content publishing aren't seeing weblogging, they're seeing online content publishing using weblogging tools. One can use a photocopier to copy a page from a book and store it and use it and cite and reread it over and over and use it with other copies to build something new OR one can use a photocopier to run off a thosuand leaflets to be left in the windshields of cars, announcing one's new beatles memorobilia shop opening party Saturday night.

I for one came to weblogging thinking I might find an audience and do business instead found some friends. Talk about a Peekaboo!

So, though one attends a party with the intention of schmoozing clients it sometimes happens that out of the blue a beautiful young woman steals your heart. KaBoom!

The weblogging tool may or may NOT open up your peripheral vision.

Happenstance happens.

[K!]

Peekaboo! back at you.

[Matt]

Thoughts on exploratory learning:
My own journey in language-learning is ongoing - both exploratory and instructor-guided. I find that neither is fully sufficient - I seem to need these three different things to really start "getting it":
1. Exposure to "dull" base learning (Pimsleur comes to mind)
2. Exposure to the language in its cultural context - spending time puzzling it out, dictionary in hand, finding out that what I just spent 15 minutes understanding is a common "set phrase" that doesn't need to be broken down.
3. Classroom learning, which provides the framework (your "systematic blueprint") upon which the individual "bits" from the first two, but also fills in the blanks of knowledge that may not have been present or obvious in the first two - Either because it's considered "grammatically complex" and not suitable for a beginner (in the first type), or too formal, unusual, or normally elided in common speach (in the second type) but nevertheless inherently understood by each and every native speaker, and without which one's knowledge of the new language cannot be completed.

To relate this back: The best (or at least "most informative") blogs do represent the kind of authoritative and coherent narrative which one can follow and echo in themself, and replicate the blogger's "journey of idea". The source that I have found more consistent (but don't worry, I don't "trust" it further than I can throw it) is Wikipedia... by its own tenets, the kind of "blueprint" you're looking for is explicitly asked-for in Wikipedia articles... even poorly written ones can be useful, because of the degree to which they draw the black lines on the paper and put the number in each space, for you to color in yourself.