blogging the DNC convention blogging
July 27, 2004 11:20 AM Subscribe
While much of the blogging world has been ga-ga over getting into the Democratic National Convention, it's tough to find anything interesting going on among the convention bloggers (to their credit, go turn on CSPAN today and see for yourself how boring it is). While our own Jessamyn is there (here are profiles of everyone going), I've found the strange CNN/Technorati partnership to be the most useful thing. Technorati founder David Sifry is basically doing a metafilter of all convention blogs over on CNN as the daily blog roundup, highlighting the posts worth reading among the participants.
AND THUS BEGINS THE SELLOUT OF THE BLOG.
why would anyone let CNN or Sifrey decide on "the posts worth reading"?
the ENTIRE value of blogging rests is found in the gap between bloggers and the "legitimate" media "industry".
this is nothing to celebrate, this is the beginning of a borg-like assimilation.
posted by quonsar at 11:43 AM on July 27, 2004
why would anyone let CNN or Sifrey decide on "the posts worth reading"?
the ENTIRE value of blogging rests is found in the gap between bloggers and the "legitimate" media "industry".
this is nothing to celebrate, this is the beginning of a borg-like assimilation.
posted by quonsar at 11:43 AM on July 27, 2004
I went last night. It was boring. I blogged about it anyway ;)
quonsar: that's not the only value of blogging, though it is a primary one. I expect you'll see stratiation- the virtue of blogs is that individual bloggers can 'sell out' but you can't coopt a whole movement of leaderless individuals just by getting a few.
posted by louie at 11:49 AM on July 27, 2004
quonsar: that's not the only value of blogging, though it is a primary one. I expect you'll see stratiation- the virtue of blogs is that individual bloggers can 'sell out' but you can't coopt a whole movement of leaderless individuals just by getting a few.
posted by louie at 11:49 AM on July 27, 2004
quonsar, please tell me how else I can find anything of interest among the dozens of "OMG, I'm actually in the Fleet Center!!! Security was so tight!!! LOL!!!1!!!1!!" posts.
posted by mathowie at 11:54 AM on July 27, 2004
posted by mathowie at 11:54 AM on July 27, 2004
the same way Sifrey finds his? are you saying that there are only two types of blogging - "LOL!!1OMFG!!1" and "worth reading"?
posted by quonsar at 12:08 PM on July 27, 2004
posted by quonsar at 12:08 PM on July 27, 2004
AND THUS BEGINS THE SELLOUT OF THE BLOG.
Oy gevalt.
Listen, I'm pretty sure you can ignore this entirely and still browse the blogs yourself. But to the thousands of CNN readers who barely, if at all, know what a blog is--or guys like me, who are barely, if at all, interested in reading them--this is a service that will provide a point of view otherwise lacking in the major media coverage.
Don't let me interrupt your pants-soiling, though. Surely this is THE END OF BLOGS AS WE KNOW IT.
posted by kjh at 12:12 PM on July 27, 2004
Oy gevalt.
Listen, I'm pretty sure you can ignore this entirely and still browse the blogs yourself. But to the thousands of CNN readers who barely, if at all, know what a blog is--or guys like me, who are barely, if at all, interested in reading them--this is a service that will provide a point of view otherwise lacking in the major media coverage.
Don't let me interrupt your pants-soiling, though. Surely this is THE END OF BLOGS AS WE KNOW IT.
posted by kjh at 12:12 PM on July 27, 2004
the same way Sifrey finds his?
Uh, I have a job doing other stuff. I'd rather not read 30+ blogs trying to find the needles in the haystack. I pointed to Sifry's thing and you deemed it the death kneel for blogging.
My question is if Sifry's picks are so awful as you atest, please show me someone doing a better job separating the wheat from the chaff.
posted by mathowie at 12:16 PM on July 27, 2004
Uh, I have a job doing other stuff. I'd rather not read 30+ blogs trying to find the needles in the haystack. I pointed to Sifry's thing and you deemed it the death kneel for blogging.
My question is if Sifry's picks are so awful as you atest, please show me someone doing a better job separating the wheat from the chaff.
posted by mathowie at 12:16 PM on July 27, 2004
Jessamyn did a nice job of capturing the weirdness:
"It's all so very meta-everything. We watched Howard Dean. The other media watched him. They watched us watch him. We watched them watch us. They watched us watching them watch us. They photographed us photographing them. We photographed them photographing him."
posted by donovan at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2004
"It's all so very meta-everything. We watched Howard Dean. The other media watched him. They watched us watch him. We watched them watch us. They watched us watching them watch us. They photographed us photographing them. We photographed them photographing him."
posted by donovan at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2004
On the other hand, some people find the convention coverage so boring that they're trying hard to avoid it. I was flipping between radio stations during lunch and heard someone mention some events in town which could be fun, since there's nothing on tv except for "boring democratic convention coverage."
Even if I'm not going to watch every minute, I'm glad that networks still deem it worth showing.
posted by mikeh at 1:25 PM on July 27, 2004
Even if I'm not going to watch every minute, I'm glad that networks still deem it worth showing.
posted by mikeh at 1:25 PM on July 27, 2004
Well, as always, Atrios is interesting, even if he's now officially a sellout. But he's giving some behind-the-scenes detail, and a further item of interest is that I don't see how he can get through this convention, providing the details of where he just was, who he was just with, without being finally outed. When will it happen?...
posted by soyjoy at 1:42 PM on July 27, 2004
posted by soyjoy at 1:42 PM on July 27, 2004
My question is if Sifry's picks are so awful as you atest
nowhere, in any way imaginable, did i "atest" to any sort of awfulness in Sifry's picks.
I pointed to Sifry's thing and you deemed it the death kneel for blogging
yes. the technique is known as bombast!
posted by quonsar at 1:53 PM on July 27, 2004
nowhere, in any way imaginable, did i "atest" to any sort of awfulness in Sifry's picks.
I pointed to Sifry's thing and you deemed it the death kneel for blogging
yes. the technique is known as bombast!
posted by quonsar at 1:53 PM on July 27, 2004
i don't know about you, but the "networks" (i'm assuming you mean CBS, NBC, and ABC) are showing one hour on Wednesday and Thursday. that's it. there's still plenty of god awful crap on TV.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:08 PM on July 27, 2004
posted by mrgrimm at 2:08 PM on July 27, 2004
The Wireless Election Connection Moblog is kind of interesting.
Students armed with Cingular cameraphones are walking the convention floor, taking instant snapshots along with commentary and posting the information live.
Where else can you see a map of the electoral college with each vote represented by a gingerbread man.
posted by culberjo at 2:21 PM on July 27, 2004
Students armed with Cingular cameraphones are walking the convention floor, taking instant snapshots along with commentary and posting the information live.
Where else can you see a map of the electoral college with each vote represented by a gingerbread man.
posted by culberjo at 2:21 PM on July 27, 2004
Uh, Soyjoy? Apparently, Atrios has already cooperated in his outing.
Also, see the very last line of his front page.
posted by Zetetics at 2:47 PM on July 27, 2004
Also, see the very last line of his front page.
posted by Zetetics at 2:47 PM on July 27, 2004
It's sort of amusing to see the Great Coming of the Bloggers fizzle.
"I got my credential! There are no donuts! I can see Michael Moore in the distance!"
I don't think Dan Balz has much to worry about.
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:54 PM on July 27, 2004
"I got my credential! There are no donuts! I can see Michael Moore in the distance!"
I don't think Dan Balz has much to worry about.
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:54 PM on July 27, 2004
not only that, but his Web site is down too. *dum-dum-dum*
everyone in this arena wants to run down there and smell that poop
posted by mrgrimm at 4:03 PM on July 27, 2004
everyone in this arena wants to run down there and smell that poop
posted by mrgrimm at 4:03 PM on July 27, 2004
Surely the big story at the moment is that 'kos' is now so ashamed of his previous posts that he is hiding them:
this url used to link to his famous broadside to some murdered americans in Iraq: "screw them". Allegedly, it used to up until 2 days ago, . No more. It now points to a current story, by a redirection.
No search of the site will find it: though this post refers to it.
Is it because the guy got a pass to blog at the DNC, which therefore needs a little tidy-up first?
Looks a little Stalinist to me...
posted by dash_slot- at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2004
this url used to link to his famous broadside to some murdered americans in Iraq: "screw them". Allegedly, it used to up until 2 days ago, . No more. It now points to a current story, by a redirection.
No search of the site will find it: though this post refers to it.
Is it because the guy got a pass to blog at the DNC, which therefore needs a little tidy-up first?
Looks a little Stalinist to me...
posted by dash_slot- at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2004
dash_slot-, here's a mirror (?)
fwiw, i think he removed it a long time ago. i don't read the site much, but i'd guess it was b/c of advertisers more than anything else.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:40 PM on July 27, 2004
fwiw, i think he removed it a long time ago. i don't read the site much, but i'd guess it was b/c of advertisers more than anything else.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:40 PM on July 27, 2004
I scored a pass to Tuesday off a fellow drunkard in a bar near the Fleet. Jesse Jackson stepped on my foot, which I feel is a mode of being for many Democrats. Except that instead of stepping on their ideologies, he really hurt my toe.
The energy of the place can not be captured on TV. Michael Moore is nowhere near as huge as he looks on TV and he shook my hand and thanked us librarian-types.
Also, Wolf Blitzer is a giant head on a weenie body.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:20 PM on July 27, 2004
The energy of the place can not be captured on TV. Michael Moore is nowhere near as huge as he looks on TV and he shook my hand and thanked us librarian-types.
Also, Wolf Blitzer is a giant head on a weenie body.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:20 PM on July 27, 2004
At first i thought qounsar was sore his own site , 'everlasting blort' hadn't been invited to sit in Jimmy Carter's Presidential Balcony (and indeed the Democratic party is the poorer for his absence).
After gazing at the blogs from the conference however , they seem to be full of: 'Look at me i'm in the balcony ! I got an advance speech !We're killing people in Iraq but let's talk about the internet connection to the convention!" which suggests these people are :
A: Easily impressed.
B: Easily bought.
C: Anal.
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:49 AM on July 28, 2004
After gazing at the blogs from the conference however , they seem to be full of: 'Look at me i'm in the balcony ! I got an advance speech !We're killing people in Iraq but let's talk about the internet connection to the convention!" which suggests these people are :
A: Easily impressed.
B: Easily bought.
C: Anal.
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:49 AM on July 28, 2004
Zetetics, thanks, I wonder when I would've found out about that without your link. I'm going to spin this as showing just how prescient I was, only you have to backdate my comment by 24 hours.
Also, see the very last line of his front page.
Well, yeah, since Monday. I'm not in the habit of scrutinizing the entire page for additions. But I should've been. He tipped us off with the line Eschaton -- now with more Easter Eggs than ever! I should've hunted, huh.
posted by soyjoy at 8:18 AM on July 28, 2004
Also, see the very last line of his front page.
Well, yeah, since Monday. I'm not in the habit of scrutinizing the entire page for additions. But I should've been. He tipped us off with the line Eschaton -- now with more Easter Eggs than ever! I should've hunted, huh.
posted by soyjoy at 8:18 AM on July 28, 2004
You're welcome, Soyjoy, but my guess is that you would have found out by now anyway. There's a rumour that his name is Duncan Black
posted by Zetetics at 2:11 PM on July 28, 2004
posted by Zetetics at 2:11 PM on July 28, 2004
it's on CSPAN online in either real or wmp formats for those of you abroad--or at work. (Sharpton's on as i type--excellent speech)
posted by amberglow at 5:39 PM on July 28, 2004
posted by amberglow at 5:39 PM on July 28, 2004
why are there already postmortems on Edwards' speech on news sites when he hasn't even spoken yet?
posted by amberglow at 6:53 PM on July 28, 2004
posted by amberglow at 6:53 PM on July 28, 2004
Apparently Jerry Falwell may give the opening invocation at the Republican Convention. I wonder if he still blames feminists, gays, and pagans for 9/11.
posted by homunculus at 8:45 PM on July 28, 2004
posted by homunculus at 8:45 PM on July 28, 2004
of course he does, but they're sure to vet whatever he says--they're aiming to put on a moderate face to hide the Santorums and DeLays and Lotts and...
posted by amberglow at 8:52 PM on July 28, 2004
posted by amberglow at 8:52 PM on July 28, 2004
ah, Falwell's in trouble for his Bush support: A watchdog group claims the Rev. Jerry Falwell violated campaign finance laws by endorsing President Bush and soliciting funds for a conservative political action committee on his ministries' Web site.
posted by amberglow at 5:55 AM on July 29, 2004
posted by amberglow at 5:55 AM on July 29, 2004
the absolutely most hysterical coverage of it: fafblog
posted by amberglow at 6:04 PM on July 31, 2004
posted by amberglow at 6:04 PM on July 31, 2004
why are there already postmortems on Edwards' speech on news sites when he hasn't even spoken yet?
Sorry I'm late to this thread, I was, um, busy. The speeches all come to anyone signed up for the PR Newswire as early as a day before. The saddest part about the convention for me was that with very few exceptions [Barney Frank, Al Sharpton, maybe Dean?] pretty much everyone did a word for word reading of their speech. Not that this shouldn't be expected, but I was hoping for a bit more spontaneity, even though people told us over and over not to expect any. I archived all the speeches I got in email in this directory.
posted by jessamyn at 12:17 PM on August 2, 2004
Sorry I'm late to this thread, I was, um, busy. The speeches all come to anyone signed up for the PR Newswire as early as a day before. The saddest part about the convention for me was that with very few exceptions [Barney Frank, Al Sharpton, maybe Dean?] pretty much everyone did a word for word reading of their speech. Not that this shouldn't be expected, but I was hoping for a bit more spontaneity, even though people told us over and over not to expect any. I archived all the speeches I got in email in this directory.
posted by jessamyn at 12:17 PM on August 2, 2004
« Older Schwarznegger And The | Sorcerer II expedition Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Technorati's round-up it is.
He shall be to the convention what The Agonist was to the beginning of the war perhaps?
Well, maybe not.
posted by nofundy at 11:32 AM on July 27, 2004