Test: Gleaning, Exchanging and Vernacular Media is a thoughtful little piece that reviews a recent publication by MIT Press called New Media: 1740-1915
An intelligent contribution to the current “will weblogs chnage the world/make the tea/bring democracy” trend of thought. For example
“We do need to ask questions about how blogging might change the landscape of journalism, broadcast media or politics, but we also need to notice how it is affecting the lives of its millions of practioners, every day, in subtler ways. How is this vernacular practise helping people make sense of their lives? How is it affecting their concept of family, friends, work or home? How is it changing the grammar and discourse of language itself?“History tells us that we won’t get the answer to these questions from the loudest voices, as power is inextricably linked with assimilation. Only by listening to the gleaners, those picking at the forgotten edges of the field, will we understand the real beauty of the landscape we are creating.”