22.11.02

 
Intimacy and publicity
Blogs are closely connected to the rhythm of daily lives. The postings are structured not by importance, topic or sensationalism, but by time. This way we get a journal which - while it's submitting to the strict linearity of time, it also submits to the non-linearity of how things happen. Lives are not structured by narrative models or dramatic curves, life is structured by the randomness of social networks, associations, nature, imagination, same as by the repetitiveness of certain needs: food, sleep, warmth, safety.

When the blogger publishes, this structure of life shines through. Noah makes a point out of his first personal post, when his private life shines through. But for those who know Noah, his personality has been evident all along. Look for instance, at how he attempts to put a discussion back on track: However, the conversation I hoped to start was not about who is lucky enough to live somewhere with a good, independent bookstore. I think the important issue here is link politics. This is Noah the organised, structured scholar, the man who likes to maintain focus, and who moderates discussions quite well and with a very friendly, positive voice. Now blogs don't let themselves be moderated like that, because the people he tries to get back on track don't need his moderation in order to speak: each and every one of them are in their own environment, where they can express their personal thoughts.

Occasionally blogs run parallel or keep referring back and forth to each other, and you get the impression of an public conversation. But how public is this conversation? Is it between the two, or are they using the conversation form to address the public? Perhaps they use the conversation - or comment - comment - comment form to develop, test and post their own thoughts, not really directed at anybody in particular? Again the tension between the public and the intimate: even in research blogs the personality and the events of life overrides the routines of blogging. Gonzalo travels to Europe, and ludology.org is suddenly slightly erratic. Adrian goes travelling, and his vlog concerns itself with non-spaces and nomadic writing. Jill gets problems with her hands, and she doesn't write for along period. These are traces of the body, the life of the writer, which may not be as explicitly personal as Noah's post about his car-crash, my posts about weather and life in Volda, Jill's posts about what Gonzalo will have for dinner when he arrives in Bergen, or Adrian's posts about the difficulties of having your heart in two countries.

The personally published blog contains this tension between the public and the intimate, no matter how much we work to keep to some academic topic in the blogging. Perhaps is that what makes it interesting?