It is going to be really interesting to see how blogging impacts our society over the next few years. In some ways, there is just too much information out there and some blogs are just plain junk. I can't cite any in particular, but that's because I make that judgement call in the first few seconds and move on to other sites that hold more promise.
In the pre-blog era there were quite a few journal writers, but it didn't seem like the norm. I'd often hear family members or friends say that they were "behind in writing" in their journals and really needed to get back to it. It sounded like a chore. I received my first journal around 9 years old. I was, and still am, a committed writer. Looking back, I realize that it was daily therapy that I needed to let go of the happenings of each day.
My ancestors were big journal writers. Many of their journals have been published as books and my parents give them to all of us as gifts at Christmas or birthdays. These are some of my most cherished possessions because they are irreplaceable. I even found one of my relatives journals online at http://www.ezratclark.org/familyfile_pjcrc_1.asp#1876 which is a family foundation on the Clark side. I started to cry the first time I read from it, and some of the other journals on the site, because somehow the simple entries made me feel close to people I had never met.
Here are a few entries:
June 15, 1884 - Theological class in schoolhouse.
June 18, 1884 - Took 291 cattle to Star Valley, 13 here, 58 at dairy, 6 at Bennington.
June 23, 1884 - W & Jno went to Valley.
June 20, 1884 - Went to Montpelier. Jos. Phelps rec'd letter about death of W. Cooper.
June 21, 1884 - W & Jno. Went to' Pelier. W. paid $65 on land deal.
June 27-28 - I and Emma at Soda Springs.
Simple. Direct. To the point. But, it does tell us a little about these people and their lives in the areas of rural Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Utah.
I have been spending about two hours a week typing some of my old journals into the computer so I have everything in digital format. I had worried, until I read these entries, that transferring them into the online format would take something away from there meaning. However, reading the journals of my ancestors online have convinced me that scanning a few pages of handwriting from each journal will do. The words have plenty of power in themselves.
Which brings me to blogs. They are so easy to create, update and read. I have a feeling that more people will have a record of their lives as a result of blogs than they would have if this technology had not been invented.
I've learned so much from others blogs as well. A few examples off the top of my head:
- A woman, Erica, in my ward and my cousin's wife are both pregnant and announced this on their blogs complete with a sonogram picture. I found out about the woman in my ward through Elise, my visiting teacher, who had linked to the woman's (Erika) blog. Before blogs, I would have to either get a letter or email from a family member informing me of the news and I'd have to wait until socially acceptable to ask Erica at church if she was pregnant. Even after all that, I would never been at their homes to see the sonogram picture which would surely be posted on their refrigerator. P.S. I think everyone just keeps re-using the same sonogram picture.
- I worked for a year or so with a guy named Howie at a drug treatment center and I never knew that he was an avid photographer and great with using Adobe Photoshop. But, he has a blog and a shop at Deviantart.com. Not only did I order a few of the pictures just to see how they turned out, but I blogged about his talent myself a while ago - http://rebeckeronline.blogspot.com/2008/03/photography-by-ryan.html . Now, as a result of a blog, I have some great photography on my walls.
- Sheila shared about her experiences going through fertility treatments and looking at her blog this past week I found out that she is going to have a baby. Congrats Sheila! However, without her blog entries I would have no idea how difficult this process has been psychologically, physically, mentally and spiritually. Perhaps sometime I will be able to share with someone else her experiences to help them through pain.
- My sister Renaye wrote about her "conference chaos" getting through general conference each year and how the expectations and the reality never quite match up. How many people have gone through this experience? Did they think they were alone? Perhaps, but now they can read her blog and know that this is a normal phenomenon for growing families that are trying to be faithful Mormons while managing kids with short attention spans. P.S. The great thing is that her very next entry was about skin care. Completely unrelated.
- Jared, my artist/innovator cousin, is traveling the world creating art. He has many blogs, but one is devoted to different art that he creates or sees on his travels. I only know where he is and what he is doing by casually visiting his site once in a while. It appears that he is now a "Brooklynite." Oh, but wait. He put that on his Facebook message and not on his blog. By his blog, you would think he is still down in Mexico.
- Somehow I ran into a blog of an old friend in Michigan the other day. Now I know where Dina lives, that she likes scrapbooking and that she has a family. I haven't contacted her yet, but I will. And, I'll contact her sister, Carlyn, that now goes by Carly apparently and owns a scrapbooking company called ScrapGals.
I could go on about how Aaron likes donuts or how I learn a lot about web 2.0 from Mark Oehlert and Ben Bonnet's blogs, or how I keep up with little Alma Cooper by reading Jessica's little witty entries or rare updates from Chris about procrastination, or how Ann is getting married, or Patti's updates on raising her son, or Pam's fun adventures in California, or Meghan's interesting weekend, or that Lori has four kids now, or where Natalie and John will live next...
But, you've heard entirely too much information.A point, and there is one or maybe two or three, is that the daily activities of our lives are now being documented by individuals and accessible for all. People that normally didn't keep records, now upload photos, track when their children start to walk, share photos or artwork they create, and expound upon random thoughts. It's opened up a world that always existed, but was shared in very small circles. It sounds like it could become one huge gossip network, but the reality is that many people will be inspired, informed, and aware of so much more through this process of archiving and documenting those little things that happen everyday. Speak nothing of the anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists that are having a heyday with all this information...or should be.
Perhaps this column should have been labeled "technology" instead of "blogging and journals," but either way, I get to put a large slew of labels on my posts so they are easier to search later. Hmmm. One of my next entries will have to be about the labels. After all, I'm starting to do more with taxonomies, information architecture and knowledge management.
One last entry from the old online journal:
1912. Jan 29Walter Sizemore hauled 12 loads of manure for 1 ton of hay hauling all himself using my dump boards and dumping the manure in rows on timothy S.W. of first stack ;yard this side of Swampy Meadow. Hay from Spring Hollow--- Gross 3850Tare (sled) 1430Net 2420
1912. Feb 23Bp Hayes gave me $4.80 pay for Deacons outlines.
1912. Feb. 27All were vaccinated.
1912. Mar 14Scab came off
1912. Apr 1. Marie and Julia and Evan Hoff got April Fool on me.
1912. Apr 2This morning Marie and I measured snow in drift on the lawn - 2-1/2 ft deep,.
http://www.ezratclark.org/familyfile_pjcrc_6.asp#1912
2 comments:
Very cool Rebecca. After reading your entry Jessica is really itching to write another entry. I'll probably write one as well.
Come out and see us sometime. Oh, are you going to Palo Alto? You could call William.
I loved this entry. Some of my friends print their blogs and then keep them as journals - who knows what else might open up in the next 50 years to keep the stories of our lives!
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