Steve Rubel just announced in his weblog MicroPersuasion that he accepts my challenge (posed yesterday) to see how well he can stay abreast of next week’s environmental news strictly by reading weblogs.
More on this…
In his acceptance, Rubel notes:
“With my normal media dietary habits, I am already completely clueless about environmental issues. This makes Amy’s challenge all the more intriguing. If I know nothing about this particular topic, how much knowledge will gain after a week of consuming these blogs (pun intended)?”
That is an excellent point, and I’ll be interested to see the results of that as well.
One of my favorite aspects of weblogs is the seredipity factor – by following a weblog I often encounter new topics or unfamiliar events, or discover new perspectives or connections.
I believe this happens because weblogs are generally less formal than traditional news media. Therefore, they tend to be more about people (their interests, concerns, observations, and perspectives) than issues or events. Even weblogs with a strong topical or organizational focus tend to mention at least occasionally the other interests of the authors.
In other words, the strong presence of the human voice directly shapes the content of weblogs. It’s not just about style, it’s also about what gets covered, and how. This is a big part of what I believe defines weblogs as a unique medium of communication – even (and especially) for news coverage and commentary.
…Anyway, I’ll see how well Steve Rubel can answer my eco-news quiz at the end of his experiment. (I won’t be too hard on you, Steve, and I even gave you a good list of eco-blogs to get you started in my previous entry.)
I’ll also be interested to hear what Steve learned about environmental issues and news from this experience. Chances are he might turn up some interesting stuff that gets overlooked by more traditional environmental news coverage.
Go for it, Steve!
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds
BlogoSquare