Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Best blog posts '06

By Ken Parish and Nicholas Gruen - posted Tuesday, 2 January 2007


As someone once asked, so this is Christmas - and what have you done?

Well in the lead up to Christmas 2006 a few people, some of whom regard themselves as friends but none of whom knew each other a couple of years ago, were hard at work on an anthology of what they thought were the best blog posts of 2006.

Today one can say "blog" and most people get it. But then some still don't know that a "blog" is one of those nerdy jargon expressions, chosen at least in part for its quizzical unattractiveness, as a shortening of the expression "weblog".

Advertisement

A weblog can be anything you want it to be, but the simplest way of explaining it is to say that it's like a diary kept as a public document on the web - with provision made for people to comment on the "diary entries", though in the new lingo the diary entries are "posts" and each post together with responses to it is a "thread".

An interactive diary kept on the Internet can be on any subject - and so there are literary blogs, gossip blogs and blogs carrying similar content to op-ed columns.

Our Best Blogs of 2006 - rapidly and inevitably abbreviated by us all to BB06 -  are the offspring of a process which itself illustrates the remarkable aspects of the new medium. On the December 11, 2006 Troppo carried Ken Parish's review of Black Inc's Best Australian Essays of 2006. Troppo poster Nicholas Gruen, who had an essay in the volume, had proposed to its publisher Black Inc, that it do something that's becoming increasingly common - send a book to a prominent blogger for review, in this case Ken Parish.

The broadly favourable review nevertheless suggested that the collection suffered from insufficient exposure to the "blogosphere". So in the comments thread, Gruen suggested "So why don't we produce an anthology?". Ken Parish was the obvious editor-in-chief having recently committed himself to producing "Missing Link" a thrice-weekly review of blog posts of interest but he wasn't interested in taking on the task himself.

No problem! At that stage the "self-organising" aspects of collaboration on the Internet took over. A method was proposed whereby people could nominate their own, or someone else's, best three. And a hastily cobbled together committee of volunteers would help Ken compile a short list from which he would be the final judge of the best blogs for 2006.

The committee was Ken Parish, Nicholas Gruen, Helen Dale and Meika Loofs Samorzewski. Having co-operated in producing a shortlist, Ken then chose the best blogs with Nicholas acting as a sounding board.

Advertisement

The process embodied the strengths of blogging and more generally of the new wave of "user-produced content" on the Internet - the most spectacular examples of which are open source software such as the Linux/GNU operating system and the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Where it had taken Black Inc many months to produce its anthology of essays, BB06 was compiled in a little over two weeks. And you won't have to pay to read them. They're all already available right now on the Internet - if you know where to find them. And you'll know where to find each of them as they will be published again in On Line Opinion throughout January.

Some of the authors will have taken the opportunity to review their work for republication and you'll get the choice of joining the new discussion they initiate on OLO, or following the link provided to the original post where the discussion may begin anew!

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. All

This article is an introduction to "Best Blogs of 2006" a feature in collaboration with Club Troppo, and edited by Ken Parish, Nicholas Gruen et al.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

10 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Authors

Ken Parish is a Darwin-based lawyer and former Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. He now teaches (mostly public law subjects) at Charles Darwin University, where he founded Australia's first fully online external law degree program. Ken is no longer associated with any political party, describing himself as a "committed sceptic".

Dr Nicholas Gruen is CEO of Lateral Economics and Chairman of Peach Refund Mortgage Broker. He is working on a book entitled Reimagining Economic Reform.

Other articles by these Authors

All articles by Ken Parish
All articles by Nicholas Gruen
Related Links
Catallaxy
Club Troppo
Larvatus Prodeo
Sarsparilla

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 10 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy