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Dispatches from Blogistan: A Travel Guide for the Modern Blogger
The term "blog" wasn't coined until 1999 and yet by 2004, it had become Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. Globally, the number of blogs is doubling every six months, with more than 50 million blogs online today. Here to offer a unique overview of the emerging phenomenon that even armchair observers will find curiosity-satisfying is Di spatches from A Travel Guide for the Modern Blogger.
Filled with practical, easy-to-implement advice for making blogging more enjoyable, useful, and profitable, this book covers everything from blogging and how it fits into the history of journalism to practical tips for planning and managing a blog, attracting and retaining an active readership. Written by noted technology journalist and interactive media veteran Su zanne Stefanac , the book features a fresh and succinct approach; quotes and commentary from noted and celebrity bloggers (author/futurist Bruce Sterling, NPR commentator Farai Chideya, Craig Newmark of craigslist.com, and Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing editor and science fiction author, among others); an accompanying blog site (dispatchesfromblogistan.com); and more. Stefanac explores issues of trust, influence, privacy, discovery, and the power of collaborative discourse, making this is a blog book like no other!
Filled with practical, easy-to-implement advice for making blogging more enjoyable, useful, and profitable, this book covers everything from blogging and how it fits into the history of journalism to practical tips for planning and managing a blog, attracting and retaining an active readership. Written by noted technology journalist and interactive media veteran Su zanne Stefanac , the book features a fresh and succinct approach; quotes and commentary from noted and celebrity bloggers (author/futurist Bruce Sterling, NPR commentator Farai Chideya, Craig Newmark of craigslist.com, and Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing editor and science fiction author, among others); an accompanying blog site (dispatchesfromblogistan.com); and more. Stefanac explores issues of trust, influence, privacy, discovery, and the power of collaborative discourse, making this is a blog book like no other!
248 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2006
11 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Stefanac
1 bookAfter abandoning her first career as a chemist, Suzanne Stefanac wrote about technology and its social and business implications for more than fifteen years, publishing in Wired, Macworld, Salon, PC World, Publish, New Media, San Francisco Chronicle, California Lawyer, and Rolling Stone, among others.
In the early nineties, Stefanac was founding editor of Macworld Online, overseeing technology, creative, editorial, and business aspects. She next was an executive producer for The Site, an hour-long, nightly program about technology that launched on MSNBC. She subsequently co-founded RespondTV, an interactive television infrastructure company, where she served as senior vice president for creative and production, overseeing development and implementation of interactive applications for clients such as Coca-Cola, Ford, American Airlines, Purina, Comedy Central, and PBS.
Among her more recent web strategy efforts, she designed and built a website for General Wesley Clark's PAC and oversaw a website in seven languages for Quincy Jones' We Are the Future project. Stefanac conceived and built a website for Macarthur Fellow and American Book awardee Guillermo G'mez-Pe'a. She has served as a mentor with the American Film Institute's Digital Content Labs for the past eight years. She was a session chair at DUX2005.
In the early nineties, Stefanac was founding editor of Macworld Online, overseeing technology, creative, editorial, and business aspects. She next was an executive producer for The Site, an hour-long, nightly program about technology that launched on MSNBC. She subsequently co-founded RespondTV, an interactive television infrastructure company, where she served as senior vice president for creative and production, overseeing development and implementation of interactive applications for clients such as Coca-Cola, Ford, American Airlines, Purina, Comedy Central, and PBS.
Among her more recent web strategy efforts, she designed and built a website for General Wesley Clark's PAC and oversaw a website in seven languages for Quincy Jones' We Are the Future project. Stefanac conceived and built a website for Macarthur Fellow and American Book awardee Guillermo G'mez-Pe'a. She has served as a mentor with the American Film Institute's Digital Content Labs for the past eight years. She was a session chair at DUX2005.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2011
Described in the subtitle as "a travel guide for the modern blogger," Suzanne Stefanac's book is worth reading whether you are a blogger or not. This is not so much a how-to book as it is a why-to-blog book.
The first two chapters offer a new take on the history of communications. And the book really begins with the introduction of the internet as radicalizing the way communications occur. Instead of pushing messages (from advertising to propaganda), the shift is to pull the audience to the message. Instead of one-to-many or one-to-one channels of communication, the shift is toward many-to-many channels. The blogosphere is the heart of the many-to-many messages.
Stefanac provides a layout of the landscape in her explanation of the blogosphere. Even though the book was published in 2006 and some things have changed, her insights into the culture still ring true. Technorati is no longer the only major search engine for blogs, for example. Google, Yahoo, Bing, and most others now include blogs in their search engine results. Such changes confirm how spot-on Stefanac is about the democratization of media. With a common sensical approach she addresses issues of trust, privacy, security, and legal safeguards. Yet its reading about the power of collaborative discourse -- many-to-many conversations -- that gets to the heart of blogging.
There are so many basics to blogging covered in this book I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand this new social media phenomena. People all over the world upload more than a million new blog posts every day. Every day. News blogs are written by citizen journalists and professional reporters. Food blogs by farmers, grocery stores, chefs, home cooks, foodies, gardeners, upscale food magazines, food manufacturers, product advertisers, etc.
Blogs as diaries. Blogs as clubhouses. Blogs as news feeds. Blogs as soapboxes.
Stefanac takes the blogger on a road tour. She gives the reader driving instructions but most importantly takes them under the hood of the car to explain how the search engines work. And how to check our own fluids, tire pressure and lights. It's a handy desk reference for a seasoned blogger and a wonderful place to start for someone who is new to blogging.
The first two chapters offer a new take on the history of communications. And the book really begins with the introduction of the internet as radicalizing the way communications occur. Instead of pushing messages (from advertising to propaganda), the shift is to pull the audience to the message. Instead of one-to-many or one-to-one channels of communication, the shift is toward many-to-many channels. The blogosphere is the heart of the many-to-many messages.
Stefanac provides a layout of the landscape in her explanation of the blogosphere. Even though the book was published in 2006 and some things have changed, her insights into the culture still ring true. Technorati is no longer the only major search engine for blogs, for example. Google, Yahoo, Bing, and most others now include blogs in their search engine results. Such changes confirm how spot-on Stefanac is about the democratization of media. With a common sensical approach she addresses issues of trust, privacy, security, and legal safeguards. Yet its reading about the power of collaborative discourse -- many-to-many conversations -- that gets to the heart of blogging.
There are so many basics to blogging covered in this book I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand this new social media phenomena. People all over the world upload more than a million new blog posts every day. Every day. News blogs are written by citizen journalists and professional reporters. Food blogs by farmers, grocery stores, chefs, home cooks, foodies, gardeners, upscale food magazines, food manufacturers, product advertisers, etc.
Blogs as diaries. Blogs as clubhouses. Blogs as news feeds. Blogs as soapboxes.
Stefanac takes the blogger on a road tour. She gives the reader driving instructions but most importantly takes them under the hood of the car to explain how the search engines work. And how to check our own fluids, tire pressure and lights. It's a handy desk reference for a seasoned blogger and a wonderful place to start for someone who is new to blogging.
May 21, 2009
This is a very good book for beginning bloggers and especially for the technically challenged. It covers a lot of the uses of blogs and the goes on to talk about how and where to set one up.
One thing I liked about it is the emphasis on voice and audience. She says you have to just be yourself and go for it. She interviews a lot of people out there doing it and some of her best gems are from these interviewees.
Here is a snippet from Jamais Cascio, a longtime activist:
One thing I liked about it is the emphasis on voice and audience. She says you have to just be yourself and go for it. She interviews a lot of people out there doing it and some of her best gems are from these interviewees.
Here is a snippet from Jamais Cascio, a longtime activist:
Blogging is notoriously ephemeral, as well. It's easy to start a blog, but its even easier to abandon one. Writing with both passion and frequency requires far more energy than most people realize; moreover, web audiences can be fickle. Internet-enabled mass activism can disintegrate as easily as it emerges.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews