Sunday, October 2, 2011

Pool of the Week and Question

Photo from Desire to Inspire - which never reblogs (or does so skillfully enough that we don't notice it)...

I just read an interesting interview on DisneyRollerGirl about, among other things, "rebloggers". According to Cathy Horyn, the majority* of us simply rehash the work of others in a most un-journalist(ic) fashion.

Lord knows, that occurs to me every time I find a pool porn photo and feel compelled to post it. I mean, I've only ever taken my own pic of one of these pools. I live in Canada, after all. Also, fancy photographers, with access to richie people abodes, tend to do these pics more justice. Come to think of it, journalists aren't the ones taking the fancy photos in a high percentage of the meaningful, probing and original articles they write (especially the ones they write about rich people pools).

But what do you think? Does the shot above call attention to the cut and paste quality of which Ms. Horyn accuses us? Are we bloggers trying to be journalists? Comedians? Diarists? Teachers? Scientists? Anarchists?

Personally, I'm a little of column A and a little of column B. (Hahahaha, get it?) Last time I checked, no one was paying me to be investigative, so I'm not going to worry too much.

*On a total tangent, I really struggle with collective nouns, btw...

10 comments:

  1. Gee, I've always thought that the Internet was for SHARING INFORMATION. If you wanna call it "pool porn," that's just fine with me.

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  2. I agree with marysews that it's about sharing. I like things like the pool porn because I am getting YOUR take on someone elses photo (and I probably wouldn't have found your blog if it was a photography blog). Same as when a pattern like Jalie jeans floats around multiple blogs, each blogger has a different experience fitting, it is all interesting to read. I don't actually see anything truly cut and paste on the blogs I read.

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  3. You don't rehash. You add your own comments and opinion. I wouldn't keep reading your blog if it was just a series of other people's pics. Then I would just go to the source.

    That probably sounds odd coming from someone with a tumblr. But I don't consider that blogging. That's just keeping a collection of bookmarks in one place to easily review things you love. I don't do it for an audience. Everyone on tumblr is a rehasher. And if they aren't, I think the've chosen a terrible platform for their blogging.

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  4. I think there's a difference between sharing and attributing what you share to its original authors/sources and trying to pass off something as your own on a blog. I try to post mostly my own photos, and when I use an image or an idea from somewhere else I try to always cite it. Of course, my blogging and writing style in general have been largely informed by my years in academia..... I tend to think of blogging as something akin to op-eds. There is an element of journalism in what we do, but I think we are much more obvious about our bias and make no pretense of objectivity.

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  5. I never really get it when people compare blogging to journalism - at least hobby blogging. It seems more like conversation on a grand scale to me. Last I checked, we're all allowed to talk about whatever we want to talk about.

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  6. You have nothing to worry about, and I enjoy the pool photos :).

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  7. I don't see much of this at all on sewing blogs, or others that exist to showcase things people are actually doing or making. It crops up more in my experience on "theme" blogs, where they follow a particular topic or issue. While I don't think it makes the most interesting reading (I much prefer sewing posts to pool porn ;) ) there's an easy solution: don't read that kind of blog! Amazing!

    On the other hand, I have to admit I get most of my news via blogs these days. I found out about the Japanese earthquake when Yoshimi posted to let us know she was OK, and about the Oslo shootings when Solvi(Delphinelise) did the same.

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  8. I'm laughing at the idea that I rehash others' work!

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  9. Mary: Good point!

    Sera: That's what I love about sewing blogs too. I get 5 different perspectives on the same item.

    Raven: Thank you! xo

    Ray: I totally agree!

    Stacey: And I agree with you too!

    Susan: They are really good photos, even if I didn't take them :-)

    T: You raise such an interesting point about learning mainstream news from blogs. It's amazing how that happens. And, you're right, the sewing blogs are very content rich.

    Wendy: It is laughable!

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