Folks:
Today a web presence means more than static html pages, board discussions, Lists or interactive games participation.
Today there are blogs instead of boards. But there are now social networking sites that are proving more than useful to some people.
I'm currently trying to become findable on linkedin.com as well as facebook.com -- I don't think I've signed onto myspace.com yet but I suppose I will eventually.
The essence of these developments is the way that large groups of people can talk to each other, like a big party room where everyone sits quietly and listens as one person says something relevant to what someone else just said.
Many of us read a lot of Regency Romances where authors try so very hard to convey the essence of what "making conversation" is all about. A good conversationalist was valued at these upper crust parties, and conversation was considered an artform.
That became entirely lost in our society starting perhaps as early as the 1950's when television invaded living rooms. Or maybe the 1920's when radio became the common household evening activity.
Somehow, today, while people are flowing away from reading novels, magazines and newspapers, the fine art of conversation may be in revival online in blogs and social networking.
True, when these facilities started out, the artform was so lost that general anonymous interaction gave rise to the phenomenon of the Flame War -- an emotional exchange characterized by hurling foul language mostly fraught with semantic loading and devoid of meaning.
However, today there are those who make money blogging because they have found the knack of expressing public opinion in a quotable way. These are the new journalists. They make news rather than reporting it.
I suspect the fine art of polite conversation won't be far behind this development, and it may be a blog just like this one that throws the spark onto the dry tinder of the internet.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/jl/
http://www.aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/ -- where I am currently posting chapters in a book on Tarot that does not yet have a publisher. Check Tuesdays.
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2 comments:
That does seem to be true--blogs and myspace comprise the new fine art of conversation. I wonder, though, that despite the marvelous conversations we have with people we've never met, can we talk to our neighbors?
Excellent article, and lots of fodder for thought.
Jacquie
Jacquie on myspace
I have to admit that all this online chat/blogging is fairly new to me since March of this year. But I have taken to it, like a duck to water (and I can't even swim).
I have been blessed to meet the most amazing people I never would have otherwise living in my little corner of the world.
Personally Jacquie, I don't want to talk to some of my neighbors. I'm sure there are a few who've never even opened a book. :)
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