#10, on Blogging, from Dave Pollard's How to Save the World

This entry below conjoins nicely with my previous post about writing, writing fluency, and the so-called "crisis" in academic publishing:

10. The Ultimate Utility of Blogging: Last, but certainly not least, is this remarkable statement from blogger Rob Paterson on the utility of blogging: "The utility of blogging to me is that it is recreating the lost world of a humanity that is connected to itself and hence to everything." Rob and I and a group of bloggers have been working on a compendium of our best and most important work, and we've been exchanging ideas on a theme or shared vision for the book. I suggested that, if it's going to sell, the book needs to have utility to the reader, especially the reader who barely knows what a blog (or online journalism) is. Rob identified three 'values' of blogging to him personally: Finding one's voice; Noticing what gives and what drains one's energy; Redefining the meaning of work as a function of community and fellowship instead of wage slavery. So he's saying, and I agree with him, that blogging (the participation in the conversation as both a journal reader and writer) re-centres you, frees you from being like, and seeing the world like, everyone else, and allows you to see the world and yourself differently, more profoundly (for better and for worse), and hence to liberate yourself and take charge of your own life. Self-awareness, self-reliance, and the personal liberation that comes from deep knowledge. Could there possibly be a higher utility for anything?