Information Research Weblog

I have just come across Blaise Cronin's letter to the Editor in the December 2005 issue of the International Journal of Information Management, in which he reviews the response he received to his (well-founded) criticism of 'bloggers'. The bits that roused the ire of the 'bloggers' were:

Lately, I’ve been wandering around Blogland, and I’m struck by the narcissism and banality of so many personal blogs, of which, if the statistics are to believed, there are millions. Here, private lives tumble into public view, with no respect for seemliness or established social norms. Here, as the philosopher Roger Scruton said of Reality TV, '[a]ll fig leaves, whether of language, thought or behavior, have now been removed.' What desperate craving for attention is indicated by this kind of mundane, online journaling? Surely, one writes a diary for one’s personal satisfaction; journaling is, after all, a deeply private act.

and

One wonders for whom these hapless souls blog. Why do they choose to expose their unremarkable opinions, sententious drivel and unedifying private lives to the potential gaze of total strangers? What prompts this particular kind of digital exhibitionism? The present generation of bloggers seems to imagine that such crassly egotistical behavior is socially acceptable and that time-honored editorial and filtering functions have no place in cyberspace.

Good knockabout stuff and I recommend Blaise's piece in IJIM if you'd like more of the same. However, it is knockabout with a serious message.