Implications of Blogging Technology

I found the article by Gillmor to be very interesting. The way that the world talked about 9/11 through online blogs not only that day but for days to come was pretty amazing. I also liked the idea that with the internet "we had a medium that was anything we wanted it to be: one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many." This is the way that I like to think about blogging technology. Our class is a good example of how we use blogging technology as a one-to-many, many-to-many communication medium. It's crazy how it can be anything we want it to be.

As far as the implications of blogging technology on already established media, I also think the article by Gillmore did a good job of portraying this. Although we have TV and radio to tell us the news, there's nothing like being able to talk about things from our perspectives. I think that the major difference between the blogging technologies and already established media is that the blogging is so very personal. One has the opportunity to say whatever they want, and just about anybody can read what they have to say. It's also a very good way to keep in touch, as the article shows, when already established media is down or not working. I don't really think that something like blogging technology will take over any of the already established media, I only think that it will help to improve it. As stated in the Gillmore article, blogging can be a very useful resource for reporters, but in the end, the reporter still works for a newspaper or television station.

Discussion Questions:
1) How did you use media technologies after 9/11, and did it change anything in the way that you communicated?
2) Is blogging really that impactful? Or is other already established media always going to win?
3) How does blogging effect one's everyday life? What are the different ways in which blogging can be useful?