Saturday 26 February 2011

Blogs




Well, now that I’ve blogged more than 1,000 posts I feel I can comment a bit on the whole blogosphere without being out of my depth, not that that stopped me before, as you know.

The first thing that attracted my attention this week was a post by another brainy anthropologist, this time a lady, Rosa Mikeal Martey, an assistant professor of communication at Colorado State. The post from the Denver Post via The Dispatch is similar in attitude to Dusan’s Metanomics Interview (which I have mentioned here before,) though obviously not in such depth. The common thread being that academics have begun to realise what we have been saying for at least two years now, namely, that VW’s are a psychic research laboratory, if you allow them to be.

This links in to one of the few pieces of interest to come out of Hamlet’s declining efforts, namely a survey which I have taken and which I would recommend you do too if you have time, by University of Missouri-Columbia media professor Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, PhD,.. This type of interest in what we do and how we live is far more important in informing others of virtual worlds than any crappy adverts the Boys are gonna put out.

..but I do follow quite a few blogs (see above) and though it is difficult to pick out a few....here goes....

Hamlet’s blog, now that Blue Mars is basically dead, has started getting interested in SL again, trying tirelessly to get Facebook tied to the Viewer...for some reason. It shows, however, how little Hamlet is inworld through his rather uninformed comments and opinions. If you aren’t passionate about VW’s ... why blog about them? Hamlet is very dependent on his Comments, without them I would be even less interested.

Prok’s blog I have tried a couple of times, and a recent post is a good example of why I am not a regular follower... It would seem to me that a post about the way two streams of internet users, those who believe in a free internet and those who are commercially minded would be a good subject for a post. Turn that into a sensationalist pseudo-political ‘war’ as in “The War on the Second Life Economy”, make it three times longer than it needs to be, and you have a post that soon makes me wonder if the end (reading the whole rant) is gonna be rewarded (like by some insight or concise suggestion) or whether I have better stuff to read.

On a positive note ... one blog that makes me spurt coffee though my nose on occasion is Whiskey Shots e.g. here
and....for aspiring bloggers this is one lady we could all learn from...her Tweets are hysterical too....

Miso is one of my fav’s too, totally different style, but never boring.

Nobody does Interesting like Dusan Writer. His blog is an intelligent, well thought-out collection of ideas and suggestions...this from a man who passionately loves virtual worlds and the possibilities of magic they provide.

Tateru Nino is probably the most factual blogpost I follow. Tateru has her finger on the pulse as has forgotten more computer stuff than I will ever know.... and ...

....along with Hypergrid Businesses’ Maria Korolov, help to keep me up to date.


For avatar related psychology and general transworld observations I find Botgirl and Lalo Telling two blogs I wouldn’t miss, and would recommend.

..and the list goes on.... those I haven't mentioned are legion. I read a lot not on this list too... and....my advice , though there must be thousands of ways to write a good blog..

Some people don't blog often, and their posts are the better for it, I think thats a big problem ...blogging when you have nothing to say...
It's kind of obvious...you have to blog about things that interest you, you will find your readers, they will find you.
...and... my personal opinion ... I'm really not keen on adverts...I mean...how much money can you actually earn?? ... peanuts surely....


Luckily my Tweetpeeps keep linking new stuff, so I'll carry on trying to bring you the Good Stuff....however that's defined...

:))

8 comments:

  1. i guess i should get off my butt and post a blog or two instead of just adding comments to your blogs.

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  2. HEY COOL!! Thanks!!! Yours is at the top of my list of blogs I check daily. xoxo

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  3. Thanks for mentioning my blog, soror :)

    And congratulations on the big 1K. You deserve it.

    It seems to me that from the beginning of VWs, there has been a tremendous failure of imagination and exploration of the possibilities to study ad hoc social groups, group and personal psychology, distributed business models, the emergence of a new patois melding tech cant, 1337speek & lolcat and the explosion in instant and full (audio, video) communications at a personal level.

    This pursuit of the Killer App and instant monetization are withering the future possibilities of this medium in an orgy of locust-feeding. Everyone wants to control something that hasn't even shown its wings yet, so they are clueless.

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  4. @ whiskey....thx...:))

    @ Miso... exactly right, as usual, I think. Sooo much to learn and we have only just begun to realise that this complicated culture we are a part of is both revolutionary and pioneering.

    This has never been done before.

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  5. ps - the problem I have with reading Prok is clear from the linked post; this little ersatz gem is quite enough:

    "What is an economy? An old friend of mine who is a wealthy retailer once explained it to me very simply:
    "It's the place where a willing buyer meets a willing seller."

    ... which is either appallingly or willfully ignorant of the questionable morass that copyright/trademark/patent law has descended into... the label-changing from ancient, established advertising and demos to some freaky Das Capital TSA spielenspiek and the killer admission of selling freebies, which, despite the blustering attempts to promote some kind of insane Adam Smith rhetoric to hang it on, smells like a walrus died in the ethics closet there.


    In the interests of full disclosure, I'd be quite interested in whom the quoted "wealthy retailer" is - Mr. Anecdotal Evidence? :D

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  6. 1000 posts!?! Wow... after 1 1/2 years I've got 137 (and yeah, I've slipped the last two weeks :-\ )

    Congratulations!

    And thank you! Never thought I'd be mentioned in the same "breath" as the bloggers who inspire me -- including, of course, you :)

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