Seeking the Nature of the Blog

Nicholas Carr writes In Praise of the Parasitic Blogger, thoughtful piece which he ends describing his blog as ... a parasite, a bacterium, a scavenger of bones and turds and the occasional piece of pretty cloth. And I, for one, couldn't be happier ... He takes his metaphor from Steven Johnson's Ghost Map, the excellent description of nineteenth century London's battle with disease. I agree that blogs are a new form of journalism, born of a cheap universal medium and a very simple recording mechanism. So it permits most anyone and everyone to digest today's news. Here news is not what I can find in a newspaper today, but also the track of an individual in an increasingly information-rich environment.

That's a useful outward view of the blog. What is the view to the individual? Some conversations we had recently bring up that idea. Should an employee be able to write about their professional experiences, when that might reveal the activities of their employer? I said yes, as long as the affiliation is clear. I described a blog as a sort of 'floating resume'. Today some employers may look at a candidates online writing. In the future they may require the submission of a blog name to show the evolution of a person's writing, thinking and interests.