"i blog, hence i am"
this is the title of an article published in "Die Zeit" no. 52, 19dec07. a certain Thomas Gross is talking to Geert Lovink, an internet theoretician, who heads the Institute of Network Cultures at the university of Amsterdam.
Lovink's most recent publication "zero comments" makes blogging "the killer application of our times". in this interview the author says a couple of interesting things (and i translate freely):
* "my understanding of blogging [...] is more like what Michel Foucault calls "technologies of the self". the main thing of today's net is not news and opinions but self-profiling and self-reflexion: who am i? what am i doing?"
* "[a blog] revolves around one's experience which is reflected in the confrontation with an already existent text, picture or video."
* "the blogosphere is certainly something lonely, reflexive. you exhibit yourself although you don't know to whom. blogging is a cult of individualism under antagonistic, anti-individualistic conditions, insofar it's the successor of the diary. it is a completely new diary culture which is neither public nor private, but exists in ambiguity."
* "the most popular blogs deal with cats. the worldwide most popular blog topic is cats. then come holiday destinations [...]. there is factual, heroic or desperate blogging. blogs undeniably carry aspects of self-advertisement, too. you can create your own profile. you can publish idealized pictures of yourself. but ultimately these pictures don't work on the net."
it seems that Lovink quotes Erich Fromm (freely translated): "the right to say what you want only carries weight if you are capable to translate your thoughts into words."
Lovink says:
* "my hope is that the technology that so profoundly changed the picture we have of ourselves and our concept of "the social" self might create a new social body. perhaps the fear of disappearing in the mass was characteristic of the 20th century but maybe the 21st century will show us new ways of organizing ourselves through technology, ways we only begin to understand. the question is: will we have the inner strength, the conviction to accept this challenge?"
Lovink's most recent publication "zero comments" makes blogging "the killer application of our times". in this interview the author says a couple of interesting things (and i translate freely):
* "my understanding of blogging [...] is more like what Michel Foucault calls "technologies of the self". the main thing of today's net is not news and opinions but self-profiling and self-reflexion: who am i? what am i doing?"
* "[a blog] revolves around one's experience which is reflected in the confrontation with an already existent text, picture or video."
* "the blogosphere is certainly something lonely, reflexive. you exhibit yourself although you don't know to whom. blogging is a cult of individualism under antagonistic, anti-individualistic conditions, insofar it's the successor of the diary. it is a completely new diary culture which is neither public nor private, but exists in ambiguity."
* "the most popular blogs deal with cats. the worldwide most popular blog topic is cats. then come holiday destinations [...]. there is factual, heroic or desperate blogging. blogs undeniably carry aspects of self-advertisement, too. you can create your own profile. you can publish idealized pictures of yourself. but ultimately these pictures don't work on the net."
it seems that Lovink quotes Erich Fromm (freely translated): "the right to say what you want only carries weight if you are capable to translate your thoughts into words."
Lovink says:
* "my hope is that the technology that so profoundly changed the picture we have of ourselves and our concept of "the social" self might create a new social body. perhaps the fear of disappearing in the mass was characteristic of the 20th century but maybe the 21st century will show us new ways of organizing ourselves through technology, ways we only begin to understand. the question is: will we have the inner strength, the conviction to accept this challenge?"
morino - 25. Dec, 22:04
