Day One in Boston: Too Conventional

My reaction to day one of the convention bloggers experiment has been similar to that of Michael Markman and B.K. DeLong: too much awe, too little blog.

I've been watching the convention with heightened interest because of the weblogger invite, but many of them appear overwhelmed by the experience and their moment of media celebrity. I hope they're not going to be stuck in a cranny of the Fleet Center with poor Net access, because they won't have a chance to do what webloggers do best: Poke around the fringes of an event finding things the mainstream media overlooks.

Contrary to what some journalists have argued, webloggers are valuable in situations like this because of their personal perspective, not in spite of it. I want the idiosyncratic views of software pioneers, librarians, and other real people as a contrast to the polished, safe and jaded coverage of professional reporters.

Here's an example of the kind of post I'm hoping to read: Electablog author Dave Pell's take on the declining importance of urban issues in politics, inspired by his encounter with Jerry Brown.

2004/07/27 · 0 COMMENTS · Link