February 23, 2005
Blogs and Ethics?
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Will makes a great point about ethics and blogging. There does seem to be a general format for "appropriate behavior" that is evolving but is that a good or bad thing? As the technology matures, will it lose some of its current appeal to those who share ideas on the firnge?
Another alternative to what happens to the institutionalization is more along the lines of one of the bloggers quoted in the original article:
Mitch Ratcliffe, a veteran tech journalist and blogger. When I am blogging and I am both publisher and editor, I'm playing by different rules, and there is, across the blogosphere, an evolving set of mores that will never become hard and fast rules for all bloggers...But as Ratcliffe suggests, the blogger’s penchant for independence means that even these guidelines may be trumped by an even higher law: Don’t impose your rules on me.(My emphasis added)
Anytime we take something that has a subversive element and formalize it, those looking to challenge the status quo will either move on or intentionally break the "rules."
As Will notes, what will blogging become when it grows out of its current adolescence and into adulthood? Is there a chance that blogs, by their nature, might suffer from Peter Pan syndrome?
Posted by Rovy at February 23, 2005 4:16 AM