Tommy Collison

Listening to the Tubridy Show from this morning via podcast, as Suzy Byrne and Damien Mulley discuss blogging with Ryan Tubridy.

Tub is playing devil’s advocate here, saying that the internet has a credibility issues, and that he prefers a hard copy of information instead of simply googling something. Mulley and Byrne are defending the internet, really, and saying while that some sites (such as Wikipedia, which is a joke these days*) just aren’t reliable any more, there are several websites out there that can be trusted for news etc.

Tub pointed out that if most bloggers (including Mulley and Byrne) aren’t worried about their readership, why not just write it down on a piece of paper and stow it in the attic a lá Anne Frank? Suzy responded, saying that blogging is an important medium because there may not be too many sources on it, or not too many places to consult or have a debate about things, the example she gave was the Lesbian and Gay community.

I think that Suzy makes a fair point, that the more mainstream media, like radio and TV, can give out one message about a subject (example: the Lesbian and Gay community), which could be wrong or just the wrong image, and blogging means that people can attempt to get the real information out there. Not exactly a ‘viva la revolution’ let’s-all-try-to-overthrow-popular-media way, because that’s not what blogging is about, but certainly it’s allowing dissatisfied people to voice their own opinions.

Val O Conner joined in, and made the point that if she only had her laptop, she could have been blogging away and wouldn’t have needed the airwaves to express her opinion, which is the beauty of blogging. When she was working in the press, she felt it wasn’t very creative, that she liked photography, writing, and cooking. She made the point that blogging was a great way to combine one’s interests, which it is.

A few texts from readers started coming in, one of the texts read out said that bloggers should get their heads out of computers and maybe have a real chat with their friends. People need to hold onto the skill of personal interaction.

This is one of the big stereotypes. That bloggers are nerds who spent 20 hours a day on a computer and pride themselves by not having been out of the house in X number of weeks.

I don’t know much about the rest of the world, but in Ireland, we have Tweetups, we have TeenCoffees, we have TeenCamps, we have Web Awards, Blog Awards, OpenCoffees, Bizcamps, Twestivals, where bloggers/twitterers meetup and chat, and, if over 18 and there’s a bar around, have a pint. That’s Ireland :P

Another text complained about blogging, talking about how It’s just unqualified people using the web to waffle. I don’t know Jerry in Monaghan, but, with most computers, there is a quit button. I mean, who’s standing behind you with a gun to your head telling you that you must read this. Not the blog owner, naturally, because isn’t he the one who hasn’t been outside his home in X weeks? Plus, as Damien said, you’ll get waffle wherever you go, even in a taxi. ZZZing! :P

Suzy (rightly so) asked when RTE were going to start taking blogging seriously. Tub directed her to RTE Choice, telling her ‘go there to find the answer to your question’.

Now, going to the site, I have to say I’m not impressed. No actual domain and only a handful of posts? (Most of them only a few lines each?) Not great, I must say

Overall, it was a good enough interview, I guess. Mulley and Byrne defended blogging well, against the onslaught of border-line abusive texts that came in.

No! We’re not all nerds!

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* Wikipedia is truly dire these days. Recently, I looked up the very first Tom & Jerry episode, Puss Gets The Boot. Now, it’s been removed since I saw it, but under Trivia section, it stated: The episode title is a play on the name of the cat from Shrek 2, Puss in Boots

Erm, what? Or as Patrick would say, lolwut?

That’s incorrect on so many levels. The Tom & Jerry cartoon came exactly 64 years before the Shrek 2 character was introduced, so how exactly could that be true? That’s like Hilary Clinton saying that she was named after Edmund Hillary. Sounds great and impressive right? It does, until you remember that the Everest climber only did said climb four years after Clinton was born. Before that, he was an unknown beekeeper and not famous. Hmm..

That’s the problem with Wikipedia. Now, any random person with a computer and an internet connection can edit the majority of the pages, changing (almost) anything they want. It’ll stay there until it gets reverted, which, if it’s not an important page, could be some time.

*

Edit: 3/3: 08:27 Don’t get me wrong, I like wikipedia. It is a good website. On Saturday, when I wanted to explain to mum what Avenue Q was, I just went to wikipedia and what they had was perfect. It’s a grand website, only unreliable