Respect
The Guardian’s leader (translation: editorial) praises blogging, saying that “is graduating from being a minority sport to a mainstream activity.”
The more people join in the more powerful, and empowering, the network will become. Anyone with broadband can publish their own music, films, voice or words as well as being a passive participant. Suddenly the global village has its own continuous conversation.
[via Glenn Reynolds]
Tags: Weblogs
March 12th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
“Anyone with broadband can publish their own music, films, voice or words as well as being a passive participant. Suddenly the global village has its own continuous conversation.”
According to the latest statistics I could find, only 1.3% of the world have broadband. We have a long way to go….
March 12th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Michael,
Folks w/dial-up can access and author blogs just fine. It’s only when you get into audio and video that broadband is key. There are plenty of blogs w/just text and images that everyone with any kind of net connection can peruse.
So, it would be great if everyone had broadband, but it’s not necessary for people to take part in absorbing and making a mark in a huge slice of the blogosphere.
March 12th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Another tidbit for Michael:
The stats he cites are for DSL only. Another estimate which incudes cable internet subscribers takes the global figure to 2.5%. Plus, many of these connections are shared by other household members, and by neighbors who piggyback on open wifi networks, I’m sure the number could be, conservatively, doubled. And that estimate is a year old, so the number has got to be higher now. So broadband adoption is not ubiquitous, but it’s broader than the above estimate.
March 12th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Another tidbit for Michael:
The stats he cites are for DSL only. Another estimate which incudes cable internet subscribers takes the global figure to 2.5%. Plus, many of these connections are shared by other household members, and by neighbors who piggyback on open wifi networks, I’m sure the number could be, conservatively, doubled. And that estimate is a year old, so the number has got to be higher now. So broadband adoption is not ubiquitous, but it’s wider than the above estimate Michael cites.
March 12th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Jeff-
i have enjoyed your conversation for a while. I would be interested to hear your views on the difference between English and US opinion journalism. Frankly, i struggle with the use of the language of the latter.
March 12th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Right, Jonny - I failed to realize those stats I found were for DSL only; your 2.5% seems more reasonable if it includes all broadband. But, I doubt you can really double the numbers to try to include those who share access at home or via wi-fi networks. It is much to easy to say it could be “conservatively doubled” without any real data to support such a presumption. As it is, we’re still far away from a “global village [in] continuous conversation”
March 12th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Jeff, I wonder what makes Guardian generally so much more nimble than other news organization when it comes to recognizing new media potential?
Michael, you are right about music and video. But, I think a more important point of the article was that everyone can join the conversation. Publishing large-size multimedia files doesn’t preclude one from becoming a full participant in the global conversation that goes on in blogosphere.
March 13th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
“Publishing large-size multimedia files doesn’t preclude one from becoming a full participant in the global conversation that goes on in blogosphere.”
Agreed. (so long as you have electricity, access to a computer, internet access, and the technical proficiency)