Flutterby™! : Public, Private, Secret 2003-10-16 16:23:00.634241+00

Public, Private, Secret

2003-10-16 16:23:00.634241+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments

For quite a while I've tried to keep Flutterby away from the "weblog meta" crowd, staying away from in jokes, staying away from the politics of RSS... err... RSS... I mean RSS. And I think a lot of the modern "weblogs will transform the world" stuff is hoohey. So when I heard about the Friends Of O'Reilly camp, and looked at the attendance list, I thought "probably fun, but I'm not jealous of the invitees".

And in all the post-camp coverage, I've had the same impression. Except that Danny O'Brien came away with some insights on public, private and secret conversations, and how they relate to weblog space, that are a must read, and Simon Phipps amplifies the point (Thanks, Scoble).

Essentially, the weblog is private conversation, like you'd have in a coffee shop between friends, but just like conversation in a coffee shop the point in a weblog is to invite others into the conversation. As the space of newsgroups and mailing lists expands out to be unmanageable, the personal and often mundane content of weblogs serves as a way to filter down from the madding crowd, to drive away the large audiences that would make the conversations public.

More later, I just wanted to get some content up for today.

#Comment Re: Public, Private, Secret made: 2003-10-16 20:11:29.645394+00 by: Dan Lyke

#Comment Re: Public, Private, Secret made: 2003-10-17 01:14:11.077376+00 by: Dori

That was just Dave sucking up in the hope that he gets an invite to the next one. I don't think that Tim's going to go for it.

Tom & I were lucky enough to be invited (being locals and having finished writing an ORA book two days earlier probably helped), and I have to say, it was simply amazing. I didn't know that there were that many people out there with that combination of huge brainpower and minimal attitude. The sheer lack of "I'm wonderful and therefore you must listen to me" ego crap was awe- inspiring. Everyone contributed to the give and take of ideas. And everyone was smart enough that things didn't have to be dumbed down or repeated three times, so it was just a continual flow of mind-blowing goodness.

#Comment Re: Public, Private, Secret made: 2003-10-17 03:26:55.748095+00 by: baylink

#Comment Re: Public, Private, Secret made: 2003-10-17 15:29:52.265219+00 by: Dan Lyke

Jay: Yep, I'm still not sure how I didn't end up in that one, 'cause at the time weblogs were actually a unifying force.

Dori, I didn't get the image of "sucking up" as much as that "roll on the back and expose the neck" pose when a dog decides it's gonna go full beta.

#Comment Re: Public, Private, Secret made: 2003-10-17 20:36:42.865463+00 by: Dan Lyke