... for neglecting my blog the past few weeks. I could put it down to revision, family emergencies (although does fighting over one piece of pasta with your big sister count as an emergency) or any number of things. But really it's just a combination of laziness and lack of interesting things to say. Which is why I'm already beginning to wonder why I started today's offering. As, unsurprisingly, I have nothing interesting to say.
Shall I write something thought-provoking? I was just contemplating launching into a rant on extreme feminists and extreme anything-ists following a few heated discussions in our Ethics lessons, but I just thought about something more relevant.
Blogging. I write this blog, safe in the knowledge that a few varied people read it (and I use a few very loosely. I re-read it once, and I think that's probably it). But more importantly; I write this blog. I am, principally, a woman of pen and the written (or even typed) word has always been my tool of choice.
But against the rise of video-blogging; or 'vlogging', usually via the media of youtube.com, is there any space for written blogs? Blogs have given wider access to an audience for would-be columnists instead of struggling to find a newspaper to take them, but are we killing it before it has really began? Will 'vlogging' become the only way to get an opinion noticed on the web, especially as iPhones and many other mobile telephones give good access to the internet and, more importantly, the ability to click on a link and view a video. In fact, it's probably easier to view a video that wait for a page to load, zoom in correctly and then read through it.
Of course, while writing this I have thought of the converse points - that newspapers survived in the face of television news bulletins surely supports written word over video? And many blogs and bloggers have found success and even mild fame through broadcasting opinions over the cyberweb?
BUT vloggers tend to find fame more quickly - for example charlieissocoollike on youtube ended up on the news for a video about a cup of tea. Is this because video is more accessible to the masses; emotion and knowledge are communicated without the need for complex syntax or lexis? (See what I did there? No? Fine.)
I don't know. You decide; have Blogs usurped, in some people's eyes, newspapers only to be taken over by vlogging?
BY THE WAY, this was the original blog I was GOING to post:
I did melt a pen over the weekend by hovering it over a candle. It now doesn't work, I have a burn on my left ring finger and red plastic over my English Literature folder. I could attempt to sound this mundane and worryingly fun event sound interesting, but instead I shall find something equally banal to excite you with.
Goodnight and Deity-or-not Bless
Kate (:
There's ALWAYS space for the written word. It's much better than 'vlogging', which I resolutely avoid.
ReplyDeleteWith video, you force viewer to see you, rather than an impression of you. You also force the viewer to see YOUR impression of the facts.
With words, properly wielded, you create an impression of yourself that allows the reader rein, and you allow the reader a degree of interpretation that's just not available to boring pictures.
Stick with the pen. It's mightier than the camera.
D
Words will never die. Keep repeating that to yourself until you believe it. But there's millions upon millions of blogs so be patient. Have faith and your writing and stick with it :)
ReplyDelete