As my field of interest narrows again in response to the increasingly urgent requirement that I come up with a solid PhD proposal, I’ve been looking for blogs with a similar focus to what mine will be (soon, I hope). Here’s todays harvest.
Corante.com is a handy hub for several blogs hooked into the whole democratization/decentralization of technologies, “mass amateurization”, and participatory journalism nexus. Some of them are too far to the commercial side for my needs, but I particularly like this one:
Manifesto:
Mass media in the last half of the twentieth century turned us all into entertainment consumers; taking away much of our natural, human inclination to creativity as singers, pianists and storytellers. Who could be funnier than Carol Burnett or more charming than Johnny Carson? Will the nieces and nephews sit still for Uncle Joe’s guitar when they’re used to hearing Doc Watson or Eric Clapton or B.B. King? Why compete? Better to take a backseat becoming a passive consumer and sharing jokes from the previous night’s broadcasts around the water cooler. But as the twenty-first century dawns, mass media has fragmented, professional quality production tools have become desktop commondities given away with the purchase of a new camera. Paired with a dearth of innovative “professional” content these changes have led to a quiet, but quite real, revolution in the quantity and quality of “amateur” content.
Ideaflow is an eclectic mix of buzz, innovation, and both the commercial and social potential of blogs.
And it hardly needs to be said that Clay Shirky is always one to watch as well.