Moblogging!

December 13, 2002 12:01 AM

Moblogging! Yesterday's Guardian Unlimited features a gently snarky piece by Jane Perrone, introducing a wider world to the possibilities of camera+mobile phone+Web publishing, à la HipTop Nation. By my count, that's one month, five days from the word's coining to its first appearance in the major media (if you think the Guardian counts as such, that is). Given such rapid memetic uptake, what do you think: flash in the pan, or new social structure abornin'? (Full disclosure: my site is linked from Perrone's piece.)
posted by adamgreenfield (12 comments total)

1% this:
"...'journalists will almost never be the first on the scene anymore' - they will be beaten to it by keen mobloggers sending pictures to their sites."
and 99% this:
[picture of tic-tacs] 1st sign of the apocolypse....im out of orance tic-tacs! --juz//AIM: I Throw Mnky Poo
posted by eddydamascene at 1:44 AM on December 13, 2002

...unlike, say, the Web?







(I mean, sure, you're right. But I'll tolerate a lot of noise in the channel if the signal is either inherently highly valuable, or easy to lock onto to the exclusion of the garbage.)

I'll shut up now.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:29 AM on December 13, 2002

I thought that moblogging would be some kind of mob that attacks people online. Something like: 'Hey, this guy uses javascript to disable right mouse click'.

Then other people find out his homeaddress, phonenumber and shoesize and all this information is collected onto one mobblog, where you can try and harras the person in question.
posted by sebas at 2:45 AM on December 13, 2002

"1% this......"

Actually both are 100% true. Web loggers will always get there first. And web loggers are crappy journalists. But as we've seen with a few "news" items on Metafilter, having a blogger in the area can be a great source of background info.

"or new social structure abornin'?"

Oh please. I blog from my phone sometimes. It gets old even for me. It's more boredom than structure. And I saw people blogging from laptops using WiFi almost a year ago. This is much older than one month. Wasn't that guy doing this with a wearable computer about five years ago?
posted by y6y6y6 at 2:50 AM on December 13, 2002

Justin Hall, esteemed blogger and journalist both, covered this topic a few weeks ago in TheFeature.com. I'd be interested in comparing the differences. But then, I'm a little short on time this morning. Maybe later in the afternoon.
posted by dogmatic at 4:07 AM on December 13, 2002

mobile phone cams = tiny, grainy, blurry, generally shitty images.
moblogging = a viral marketing seed wherein the blogworld is supposed to assist corporate theftmeisters in selling shoddy, not-ready-for-prime-time consumer products.
posted by quonsar at 5:47 AM on December 13, 2002

Man With a Movie Camera = grainy, blurry, generally shitty images

But it kickstarted a revolution in cinema.
posted by mook at 6:06 AM on December 13, 2002

"Moblogger" : I thought it was some kind of mafia publishing tool, too.

Let's fix this before it catches on.

How about "Mobilogging..." too reminiscent of Mobil gas stations?

Maybe "FieldBlogging?" As in, field reporters?
posted by Tubes at 7:42 AM on December 13, 2002

I thought that moblogging would be some kind of mob that attacks people online.

You mean like Metafilter?
posted by rushmc at 8:53 AM on December 13, 2002

Question: Is it mo-blogging or mob-logging? Is it we-blog or web-log? Inquiring minds sort of want to know.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:57 AM on December 13, 2002

Moblogging is so November 2002.
posted by kerplunk at 1:02 PM on December 13, 2002

Mo-blogging sounds a little... fruity.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 3:28 PM on December 13, 2002