Reflections after a week of blogging

After blogging for the past week I realize that I have learned a ton of stuff of about technology and myself.

First off, there are many different blogging systems available. I have only tried Blogger and I am more than satisfied with the results. I wish that I could break up my entries by filtered category (i.e. all the tech columns could be accessed in one click). But other than that limitation I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience to date.

There are multiple methods of adding entries to my blog, I can just go to Blogger.com from a browser, I can email the entries to a special address, I can SMS messages from my phone and most recently I discovered Ecto. Ecto appears to be a great tool and I am going to pay for this shareware.

There are thousands (millions?) of blogs out there. Most are not very good and seem to be pointless. Most are not updated regularly if at all. I already know that I don't plan on being one of those bloggers. I have been looking for a way to regularly vent and this is a perfect solution.

Blogging is the new journalism. I don't mean that you should ignore the old gray lady and only read Buzz Machine. I also am not going to imply that bloggers are even close to the literary quality or maintain the strict standards of even the most junior journalist. But, think about it for a minute. What does the word journal mean? Someone who keeps a journal is someone who takes regular, if not daily, notes. A journalist is someone who regularly writes about events. The first journalists, the kind that our Founding Fathers fought to protect, were about telling the world about what was happening in the world. Several of them were in fact publishers. The FF thought the best weapon against tyranny was an informed public.

In that light, blogging is merely a digital expression of the broad sheet.

To me, blogging has opened a new world. I have spent my life avoiding writing. Even though I have a talent for the written word I never pursued it as a career option. I'm sure that was a mistake. I'm not sure I can make anything of it now but blogging has opened the door for me and with some time and practice I may be able to take this somewhere.

Besides, it's cathartic.