A community challenge, my bloggers
Michael Gorman, president of the American Library Association, writes in a recent article that blogs consist of the thoughts of random people, “unpublishable” and “untrammeled by editors or the rules of grammar.” He continues his diatribe:
“Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs.”
It’s entirely possible that Michael Gorman is completely wrong. Of course, in his “blog post” in the Library Journal, he covers this case:
“Perhaps that latter thought will reinforce the opinion of the Blog Person who included “Michael Gorman is an idiot” in his reasoned critique, because no opinion that comes from someone who is “antidigital” (in the words of another Blog Person) could possibly be correct.”
Unfortunately, Michael Gorman, you do a disservice to bloggers. We are entitled to some amount of pride in our work, even if self-published. The blog is an expression of literary and personal value. The best blogs focus around originalityof ideas and facts. Rather than be insulted, take this as a call to action.
Make your blog a complex text.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2005 at 4:55 pm and is tagged with american library association, michael gorman, rules of grammar, personal value, random facts, disservice, library journal, recent article, accumulation, bloggers, paragraphs, habit, critique, pride, expression, editors, texts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
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