Nicholas Carr wrote a blog post last week bemoaning the death of the blogosphere . In it he comments on how blogging is increasingly becoming the preserve of corporations/companies who employ teams of writers to ensure a continual output. The concept of a blogosphere of independent writers sharing and debating ideas is being overwhelmed by the unmatchable output of those with something to sell.
There's definitely something in this, and it reflects Henry Jenkins; ideas about Convergence Cultures. In that context blogs are just one more platform on which output is consumed and brand attachment (or kissmarks) is created.
Perhaps it's also a reflection of the realities of life. Blogging is time-consuming, it takes a committed individual to maintain a blog over a long period, particularly in the face of reader apathy or dwindling subscription levels. Figures quoted by Carr from Technorati reflect this:
"Technorati has identified 133 million blogs since it started indexing them in 2002. But at least 94 percent of them have gone dormant, the company reports in its most recent "state of the blogosphere" study. Only 7.4 million blogs had any postings in the last 120 days, and only 1.5 million had any postings in the last seven days. "
To my mind, it's debateable how much of this drop off is the result of corporate invasion and how much is the result of a fad finding it's place. Much like many people have found social networking sites have marginal use in their lives and their engagement is only maintained by a few particularly active friends, blogs seemed like a great idea for a while and now they're merely something good but not epochal.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Monday, 29 September 2008
UK Council for Child Internet Safety
The goverment today launched the new UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which isn't hyperlinked because, in true e-government style, it doesn't appear to have any website which I can find.
As one of the central receommendations of the Byron Review, UKCCIS will focus it's energies on centralising the widely dispersed safety campaigns littered across the web and create for the first time a one-stop shop for parents, children and other interested parties to get information on child safety. It will also work with industry to ensure illegal or harmful content is taken down rapidly and develop good practice models for web services used by children.
All of this is positive and that it reports to the PM gives it a prominence which suggests it will not simply be a lightweight talking shop. However, two primary issues concern me.
Firstly, Ed Balls greeted the launch by saying:
"We want to help children and young people to make the most of what all digital and interactive technologies can offer. By putting in place the right support for children, young people and parents we can reduce much of the anxiety that exists around the internet. "
Is it just me or are those two sentences only loosely related? Reducing anxiety about the internet has not been shown to directly lead to children and young people making the most of it. There is no paralell council on maximising the benefits of the internet.
Secondly, the Byron review also recommended a "sustained and rolling research program" and there has been no sign of this emerging and the government's action plan makes only the loosest mention of commissioning future research into small areas at some vague point in the distant future. Anyone who has tried to find information on young people's use of the internet will know this research is desperately needed if good policy is to be made.
It will be interesting to see how the council progresses in its work and whether it will be used by industry to do anything more than certify their own use credentials as child-friendly. Some genuine policy work on maximising opportunities whilst they are minimising risks would be most welcome.
As one of the central receommendations of the Byron Review, UKCCIS will focus it's energies on centralising the widely dispersed safety campaigns littered across the web and create for the first time a one-stop shop for parents, children and other interested parties to get information on child safety. It will also work with industry to ensure illegal or harmful content is taken down rapidly and develop good practice models for web services used by children.
All of this is positive and that it reports to the PM gives it a prominence which suggests it will not simply be a lightweight talking shop. However, two primary issues concern me.
Firstly, Ed Balls greeted the launch by saying:
"We want to help children and young people to make the most of what all digital and interactive technologies can offer. By putting in place the right support for children, young people and parents we can reduce much of the anxiety that exists around the internet. "
Is it just me or are those two sentences only loosely related? Reducing anxiety about the internet has not been shown to directly lead to children and young people making the most of it. There is no paralell council on maximising the benefits of the internet.
Secondly, the Byron review also recommended a "sustained and rolling research program" and there has been no sign of this emerging and the government's action plan makes only the loosest mention of commissioning future research into small areas at some vague point in the distant future. Anyone who has tried to find information on young people's use of the internet will know this research is desperately needed if good policy is to be made.
It will be interesting to see how the council progresses in its work and whether it will be used by industry to do anything more than certify their own use credentials as child-friendly. Some genuine policy work on maximising opportunities whilst they are minimising risks would be most welcome.
Introducing Potential Futures
Having been at the UK Youth Online conference on Saturday, I thought it was finally time for me to set up the blog I've long neglected.
I was struck at the event by how many of the practitioners there expressed a real interest in knowing more the real statistics surrounding young people's use of the internet and, consequently, if nothing else, this blog will hopefully provide some commentary on a few choice findings from emerging research.
It will also be used for my musings on my ongoing research into young people's use of the internet, my efforts to build a user-typology for young people, thoughts on technology policy-related news and other social policy issues that grab my attention.
I was struck at the event by how many of the practitioners there expressed a real interest in knowing more the real statistics surrounding young people's use of the internet and, consequently, if nothing else, this blog will hopefully provide some commentary on a few choice findings from emerging research.
It will also be used for my musings on my ongoing research into young people's use of the internet, my efforts to build a user-typology for young people, thoughts on technology policy-related news and other social policy issues that grab my attention.
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