A little over one month ago I was contacted by David Perlmutter, professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Research in the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. Dr. Perlmutter is quite interested in blogging; he maintains a weblog of his own and is writing a book on the popular media, particularly that devoted to American politics. Part of his work necessitated a study of active political bloggers, and to that end Perlmutter is soliciting the opinions of those who make up what is known, less colloquially by the year, as the "blogosphere."
The survey was largely comprised of queries on personal, political and methodological preferences. There was, however, one request for an expositive response. As there was no request for non-disclosure, and I wrote nothing incriminating, my answer to the question "Why did you start blogging?" is reproduced here.
It was only after graduating from college in 2000 that I began following the news in earnest. Having never written with any dedication outside of class assignments, my public opinions were limited to the occasionally printed letter to the editor of Cleveland's primary newspaper, the Plain Dealer. I was familiar with websites and online journals but perceived the work of amateurs as remote, a link here and there to a friend or peer — or to what was ostensibly the proper source for information, press agencies and commentary magazines.In the summer of 2002, it was — oddly enough — from Rush Limbaugh that I first learned of a writer named Andrew Sullivan who maintained something Limbaugh referred to as a "blog." Investigating the recommended site, I found that Sullivan wrote short entries of a hundred words or so, making novel use of mid-sentence hyperlinks by providing readers with relevant material and pertinent opinions of others; all published on a daily, even hourly basis. Some of the "weblogs" to which Sullivan linked invited readers to post concomitantly to the authors' entries, resulting in discrete threads, as on an online forum. Authors, "bloggers," communicated with their readers directly and had such exchanges with colleagues to limn a kind of discursive network. At the time the clerisy wasn't paying much apparent attention to bloggers, but since some bloggers were journalists or academics — well, maybe some notice was being taken.
Anyone who wanted to contribute to the national conversation would find that thrilling. My interest in all this was progressive, driven by volition, and led to one question: Can I do this, too? The answer was provided by one of several programs facilitating easy online presentation, Movable Type, and the answer was Yes. That was all I needed.
Perlmutter provided a separate survey for readers of weblogs. Good work, such as Perlmutter's, is best rewarded by volunteer participation. So have at it, all five but possibly seven to ten of you!