b.cognosco

A quest to examine, inquire, and learn.

Home · Essays · Archives · About

Recently

Monday, July 15, 2002

The User Time Forgot

HP Drops Middleware

Liberty Alliance

Books Make It Real. An Offer You Can't Refuse

What's The Problem?

Bill Turner : "Okay, do we really need all these books about weblogs? Is it really that complex a thing that we need instruction?... Personally, I don't think there's anything that a book can teach you on the subject, much less four books. It isn't rocket science." [jenett.radio] [via The Shifted Librarian]

Frankly Bill, it damn near is rocket science -- at least if you want to do anything more than post a little IM-type blather to a couple of friends. Anything more complex requires some knowledge of what's possible and the technology. Radio, Wiki, Zope, and the lot are Geek Toys. I spent over three weeks fiddling around before I got it, and I'm a reasonably astute person who has used the Internet daily for years.

More importantly, you need to know why you should be doing it. The few adults outside the blogging community who have some idea of what blogging is think it's just the chatty-app described above. And that application has about zero appeal to anyone over the age of 14. You're not about to get mass adoption with this as the reference model. I still have trouble getting anyone I know to understand that blogging is not just a trifle suited only to the feckless and unemployed.

But even if you add in all the people who have heard of blogging and think it's useless, you still have a tiny fraction of the web-enabled population. As Michael Wilson says:

Oh stop already
Look, there's a simple fact that seems to elude most of the Blogerati, if I may coin a term. Most people (something that has no statistically relevant deviation from EVERYONE) have NO idea that blogs exist. The books about blogging need to be there. We're in a pretty self-congradulatory medium here. Hell, I'd even go so far as to say that an inaccurate book is better than no book.

I have a long-held belief -- books make things real. Whether you read them for fantasy, relaxation, or education, a good book has a way of bringing its subject to life -- even ethereal techno-things like blogging. Books add credence and credibility. They make the intangible tangible. Dave Winer claims he doesn't understand books about blogging. I think our fearless leader has missed the boat on this one. And the general uproar over badly written or useless blogging books is misguided.

As Matt Mower says:

I think this is a key point. When I step back and think about it I've had a lot of conversations recently where the subject of blogging came up because people asked me about what I was doing. There then followed a conversation where I try to get across what it's all about. In desperation I usually end up with some sort of half-baked: "It's like a web diary" explanation. This misses so much of value but there you go. These are people who know what the Internet is, use wordprocessors and email, maybe even write web pages.

And here's uber-librarian Jenny Levine summarizing nicely the need for books on the subject:

I covered blogs at our SLS Tech Summit in March, but it was still too confusing and irrelevant for most of the librarians that attended that session. Next time, I'll be able to hold up these books, and they'll take me more seriously. Sorry, but that's how most of the world still works. They'll purchase them for their libraries, too, which means the concept of blogs will officially be cataloged and indexed in our collective memory (not just the memory of those of us who live online).

What's The Deal

One of the things that kills books about blogs is the shelf-time they spend between the time they were written and the time they go to press. This is a fast-moving area. That really is visible in the Blood books, and I suspect will also be evident in the O'Reilly and BlogRoots books.

I know how to fix this. I work (at least for a bit longer) for one of the new, Internet-based publishing companies. My employer can get a book from manuscript to finished product in less than a month. Once available it's listed in every book distribution database in America and is available to ship within 2-3 days of order.

What's more, my particular company is also partly owned by Barnes & Noble, and has a deal to get top-quality how-to, self-help, and tech books into the stores and on shelves in B&N retail stores.

So it's theoretically possible (yeah, even feasible) to get a real book into real stores in time for it to be timely, relevant, and useful.

Dave's second complaint is this:

Another problem with books about blogs (blooks?) is that as I read them I want to comment, more than any other kind of book (I've been reading a lot lately). Well, how do you do that? Will these books be on the Web? Will they have paragraph-level permalinks?

There are a lot of options for how this might look, but the short answer is yes, this book can be available on the web, in formats that allow comments, bookmarks, etc.

Here's the Offer

When it's published any royalties (after recovery of actual publishing fees) will go to some charity -- maybe the Heart Assn, or the American Cancer Society. (I'll post the royalty reports and check copies so you can see.) I'll even avoid putting my name anywhere in or on the book, if that makes you feel better.

It won't be

"a philosophical book to have lasting value, but to do so, they should have gotten a social butterfly to edit it, one who crosses all the lines with ease, someone who likes everyone and who everyone likes, but somehow doesn't have to kiss ass to do it." -- Dave Winer

We could use a conceptual manual for blogging, klogging, connecting, managing, etc. One that could be updated and revised every few months, if needed, but still be tangible to the outside world.

Call me crazy, but I think it would work. I'm willing to try, if a few of you want to contribute the content. I can post a draft shell for the TOC at QuickTopics and we can start anytime. It's all up to you.

Presentation Wars

Powerpoint In The Coliseum. Oops - I missed Round Two of the Sippey versus Harpold clash of the Powerpoint titans , so now I'm also catching up on Round Three . I agree that Harpold won round two , if you can use the word "won" for that presentation. Hey, why no RSS feed for this epic battle?!

Blogging Collides With The Printed World.

Blogging Books and Trackback

Look, there's a simple fact that seems to elude most of the Blogerati, if I may coin a term. Most people (something that has no statistically relevant deviation from EVERYONE) have NO idea that blogs exist. The books about blogging need to be there. We're in a pretty self-congradulatory medium here. Hell, I'd even go so far as to say that an inaccurate book is better than no book.

» I think this is a key point.  When I step back and think about it I've had a lot of conversations recently where the subject of blogging came up because people asked me about what I was doing.  There then followed a conversation where I try to get across what it's all about.  In desparation I usually end up with some sort of half-baked: "It's like a web diary" explanation.  This misses so much of value but there you go.  These are people who know what the Internet, use wordprocessors and email, maybe even write web pages.

So the value of the books, even the bad ones, is as Jenny points out:

"Now I find myself in the same situation with blogs. I plan to implement them for every service area at SLS and on a personal level for staff internally and yet, I'd be surprised if even 10% of our staff understand what they are. I covered blogs at our SLS Tech Summit in March, but it was still too confusing and irrelevant for most of the librarians that attended that session. Next time, I'll be able to hold up these books, and they'll take me more seriously. Sorry, but that's how most of the world still works. They'll purchase them for their libraries, too, which means the concept of blogs will officially be cataloged and indexed in our collective memory (not just the memory of those of us who live online)."

People are going to read these books.  Lots of 'em.  I hope Blogger.com have a good relationship with their server suppliers!

Blogging is currently a one-way medium. Best you can do is have 2 (ok, "N") people subscribing to each other's monologues. But with TrackBack you close the loop and notify your conversation partner that it's now her/his turn. Now you can TRULY have interchange. Something that's only hackishly possible at the moment. (Check the userland discussions for the number of times people ask for "comment notifications".)

» I agree.  I think TrackBack is a very important technology.  I'm reaching for a metaphor but can't find a good one.

But effectively it's the difference between a broadcast system and a network.  Blogs alone are too much like public broadcasting.  You send and if you're lucky you get back letters and phone calls.  With TrackBack people can be wired in, feedback loops will be established, communities will grow, it'll all come alive.

 

Contact

       

This Page was last updated: 2/9/2003; 11:17:13 AM