Power To The Persons!
Last week I was discussing with a friend about whether there was a difference between the term "persons" and "people".
"Persons" is just the plural of "person". "People" is often used as a synonym to persons (which, arguably, makes it right - see the prescriptive versus descriptive argument). However, people has another meaning referring to the persons belonging to a nation, community, family etc.
So a safety officer at Schindler Lifts might say "We need to teach the people of the world not to let too many persons into an elevator."
Blogs, like personal web-sites before them, and the Usenet before them, don't so much give a voice to the people as a voice to the persons.
It is clear that many bloggers have amateur writing skills.
That should not be surprising; this is a reflection of the general population - or perhaps of the more literate, richer, technically-savvy section of the general population.
It is also clear that they often write about trivial issues, or they write about serious issues with only a shallow analysis.
However, it is important not to be dismissive of such blogs - not just because I include myself in each of these categories, but also because the (implicit) purpose of the blog may well be served with such efforts. Having an elitist view over bloggers would appear to miss the point of blogs.
Of course, that's easy to say when I am still thrashing out in my mind what the point of blogs actually is.
"Persons" is just the plural of "person". "People" is often used as a synonym to persons (which, arguably, makes it right - see the prescriptive versus descriptive argument). However, people has another meaning referring to the persons belonging to a nation, community, family etc.
So a safety officer at Schindler Lifts might say "We need to teach the people of the world not to let too many persons into an elevator."
Blogs, like personal web-sites before them, and the Usenet before them, don't so much give a voice to the people as a voice to the persons.
It is clear that many bloggers have amateur writing skills.
That should not be surprising; this is a reflection of the general population - or perhaps of the more literate, richer, technically-savvy section of the general population.
It is also clear that they often write about trivial issues, or they write about serious issues with only a shallow analysis.
However, it is important not to be dismissive of such blogs - not just because I include myself in each of these categories, but also because the (implicit) purpose of the blog may well be served with such efforts. Having an elitist view over bloggers would appear to miss the point of blogs.
Of course, that's easy to say when I am still thrashing out in my mind what the point of blogs actually is.