Lynch Moblogs

from the make-it-useful dept

Mon, Jan 27th 2003 1:09pm — Mike Masnick

Someone who prefers to remain nameless points out that Business 2.0 has now caught onto the whole "mobile blogging" bandwagon (anyone else think it's sad that "moblogging" has caught on as the name for this)? Unlike other articles on the subject that seem to just say "gee, look at that", this article points out just a hint of what mobile blogs have the potential to do. Of course, the best example they can come up with is the highly overused example of Dan Gilmor and Doc Searls (Business 2.0 omits their names for some reason) blogging information about Joe Nacchio's stock sales while he was whining about the failure of Qwest. While it's an illustrative example, it still relies on the idea that someone is sitting at a laptop sending in information. The only thing really "mobile" about that example is that it was over a laptop using WiFi. The more exciting idea with "moblogging" (ugh, I've adopted it too), is the ability to have more real-time news reports on anything, anywhere. As a news story unfolds, people will be able to document it, live. Furthermore, I think mobile blogging becomes a useful "backup brain" device. While folks at Microsoft and Accenture are working on special devices to record everything you do, and people you meet, why can't people just use a simple mobile blogging application to do that for them? If you meet someone new, snap a quick picture and jot down some notes in your blog. Get an idea based on a conversation? Throw it into your mobile blog. It would be nice to add audio recordings and (searchable) transcripts, but I won't get greedy just yet.

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2003 @ 3:02pm

Problem with "second brains" and mobile blogging
I think the problem with a system that serves as a "second brain" serves the potential to capture every *bad* thing that a person says or does - seems to me when I meet someone that I connect with through business or a friendship, I remember who they are quite well. I play the good parts back in my head, and make sure there's another way to contact them. So I'm already filtering things out.

Can you imagine a society where everyone's got camera's and recordings of everyone else? Speech would become so stilted, so careful... seems very Orwellian to me. Maybe I'm just not seeing this the right way.

As for mobile blogging - seems to me if you're sitting there banging away while someone else is speaking, you're not exactly giving them the benefit of attention. Knee jerk reaction is fine, but aren't you at greater risk of missing the Big Picture during a speech, for example?

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