'Dooced!'

'Dooced' was not a word I'd ever encountered 'til I went to the SXSW Panel entitled 'Content Boundaries, a 12-Step Programme'. The ladies in the above photo, Heather Armstrong AKA 'Dooce' (left) and Margaret Mason AKA 'Mighty Girl' (right), have over 13 years experience of writing blogs. Their panel dealt with how to balance your interests as a blogger against those of your readers. 

For those of you that don't know, and I didn't, to be 'dooced' means to be fired from your job for writing about your work place, and/or colleagues, in an open and frank manner on a blog. Heather Armstrong did just that and was fired from her well paid job as a web designer in LA. But luckily, what could have been a disastrous career move instead turned out to be her making; she sued and got loads of publicity that meant the readership of her blog rose dramatically. And, because she really does have some interesting things to say, she now sells advertising space and is making enough money for her family to live on, solely through publishing her blog...

Maggie Mason is a freelance writer and publisher of shopping blogs. Her 'Mighty Goods' and 'Mighty Junior' have developed since 2000 and contain personal descriptions of her own taste and lifestyle; the identifying characteristic of her site is that she tells readers about items she finds and really likes thereby sharing and making her discoveries available to others. It's simple as that! She has a huge readership, as others seem to able to relate to her taste, and she has also been able to sell advertising space on her site. 

Both writers had originally resisted advertising for fear of commercialisation of their ideas but now agreed that having taken the plunge they can control the type of ads and campaigns they feature on the blogs. Their 12 step programme was really a summing up of common  sense procedures to 'blogging'. For example: if you put out a controversial statement of some kind on you blog, don't be surprised if you get some negative feedback. Don't get upset, just be prepared...and then delete! 

I found both woman communicative and spirited but it was 'Dooce'  who really  interested me (perhaps 'Mighty Girl' felt too much like an online disseminator of consumerism a la Bourdieu for me). 'Dooce' initially used her blog as a sounding post to vent her emotions and the complex and painful experiences of her life; by being open and honest she connected to a huge readership who related to that honesty, and her spirit to survive. And has she survived. She has surmounted a variety of difficulties and problems in her life: religious indoctrination, cancer, and post-natal depression to name but a few. Her blogging voice is frank, ironic, conversational, sometimes angry but always engaging. And this basic humanity has been the attraction for her readers, and the conduit to a frank and uninhibited exchange of information and points of views. 

What I took from this session were feelings that the power of blogging could be developed and explored within a Virtual Learning Environment.  How it could be used to exchange ideas and knowledge; in fact during some further research I have discovered that some progressive companies here in the US have already done this and been overwhelmed by the quality and usefulness of the results. But what about this: maybe blogs could be used even more within education - and Art & Design institutions in particular - not only as a forum of communication but as a tool to promote creativity itself? 

 

Worth a try?