Daily affirmations of a word mercenary
Recently, Danah wrote a about the disparity between the label of “blogger” and people’s self-identities: apophenia: Journaler is to Blogger as Dyke is to Lesbian (Why Identity through Activity Fails).
It’s interesting to me because she speaks of online journalers who others describe as bloggers because, well, they use a blogging program and it looks like a blog, so they must be a “blogger.”
I meanwhile push against the term “online journaler,” even though realistically that’s closest to what I am. I like to think that I write essays and post links and do things BESIDES write about my life. I also like to think that because I only write about a tiny slice of what goes on in my world that I’m not actually an online journaler, because this isn’t the whole picture.
Danah’s always full of interesting perspectives and thoughtful bits of information.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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alison
March 11th, 2004 at 11:55 pm
i’ve always thought that if i were a blogger i’d link to more stuff, and if i were an online journaler i’d start more posts with “today for breakfast i had toast…” or “my boyfriend came over yesterday…” i like to think that what i do is more personal than the former, and more universally relevant than the latter. mostly, i just tell people that i write on the web and leave it at that.