cool sites. i'll be back to visit them again :)

I enjoy participating in online communities such as kairosnews and slashdot, but I've never really become involved in the blog scene. It seems like such an "in-group"/"out-group" world. I know Charlie will argue that kairosnews *is* a blog, but to me the fundamental difference is that it's a much more public place. It's like the difference between the town square and someone's living room. Somehow I don't feel comfortable going into someone else's living room and introducing myself, but I'm happy to shout out my opinion in the town square.

Anyone care to comment?

I enjoy reading other blogs more than I write on my own. And when I have written lately, it was to my students!

Maybe I'm too hard on them, then, for not keeping up with their own blogs.

I don't know; I think blogs are just as public as online communities. It's not, perhaps, the same if the blogger doesn't have comments on his or her site, but there is that interaction. Unfortunately, though, I can see why you might say "in crowd/out crowd" WRT the blogging community. :-/

Oh, and Anne Galloway, Torill Mortensen, and Jill Walker all have excellent blogs. I think I might link to them on my blog.

perhaps these "public places" versus the "living room" are a difference between individual blog sites and community blogs?

Having had a few hours to think about it, it might be "town square" versus "front porch," because an individual blog seems to me to be a place that you readily invite others--really anyone who passes by--into.

Still, there's undeniably a different dynamic. A front porch constitutes a more intimate--even a more privileged--place than a town square. That's not to say that there aren't those who occupy privileged positions within the town square. Perhaps it's just that everyone starts more or less as an equal in the square, but all front porches aren't equal. For some porches, their geography, their proximity to the other elite homes in the community, give them an elevated position compared to other porches. There's a physical presence that backs the social status.

With blogs, we speak of good design, of regular witty additions, of links to other hip blogs. These are architectural, rather than social features. An online community (or a community blog) is, to my mind, a more "natural" gathering place, one built on the common needs and interests of its inhabitants.

Perhaps I'm going over the top with the metaphor here. Anyone care to rein me in?

Not me. Makes me think you are right in that an individual blog site is not a virtual community onto itself. Some, invite us to come in and see what's there, much like those private home tours people sometimes go on; others, by providing comment boards, invite us to sit on the "front porch" and converse for a while.

And likewise, a home is part of a community. So too is an individual blog site, establishing it's relationship by linking to other sites, commenting on posts on other sites within the posts, or providing a list of referrers.

I have comment boards on <a href="http://cyborgwoman.blogspot.com">my blog</a>! I'll socialize with any of you.

BTW, Haloscan comments are much better than those Enetation ones.

Thanks for the kind words. And this site is new to me too - very interesting!

But I just thought I'd point out that I am Canadian, studying and working in Ottawa - I recently discovered the Scandanavians myself ;)

- Anne Galloway