OCCUPIED COUNTRY

Why ?

I started this Blog on the 19th March. After a few hiccups I think I've finally found something I can relate to. I've often tried to keep a journal before but have always failed to keep it up. Taking a Blog on, though, gives you a certain amount of responsibility. You feel as though you have a 'readership' that hangs on your every word. Although - judging from the lack of comments and the pitiful figures in my stats, there's nobody out there gives a shit whether I blog or not. But, I don't think that's the point. I know I'm beginning to rely on this medium just to relax, unwind and talk bollox.

Its not a 'Diary' though is it ? No 'woke up this morning, the weather was changeable. Had to go and get a present for Jennifer's birthday. Met Alan down at the precint. Discussed World affairs and Mr Slater's swelling.....' Blogs are more......I don't know....like commentaries on World affairs, with links to the actual commentaries. Consequently future social historians will not have to put in endless months of research into the historical context of the Blogger's entries. Its all linked you see ! Piece 'o' piss.

That's what worries me though: all this linking to other sites. In 20 years time we will probably be able to access Blogs such as this via some medium that delivers it on demand. An opportunity for us all to access the thoughts and smart-alecness of , literally, millions of Bloggers. I just think a lot of it won't make sense, because all the links will more than likely be dead and gone. The BBC might keep an archive - and put the effort in to catologue the news stories that we link to, but how many other sites can we say the the same about ? Read any learned tome that relates to the past, especially when relying on documentary evidence such as journals, diaries etc., and it soon becomes apparent that there is a lot of conjecture going on. Admittedly based on usually thorough research of the period in question but, nonetheless - conjecture it is.

There's a dissertation, probably MANY dissertations, being written at this very moment, trying to understand the explosion in Blogging. Is it just 'diary-keeping' in cybersapce ? Or a completely new means of expression ? Personally I plump for the latter with a trace of the former thrown in for good measure. The main difference between the two is the public arena that we call the Web. A diary was generally hidden, locked and - in the case of Sam Pepys and others - written in code. A Blog, by its very nature, is in the public domain the minute it's published. Even if it's private, in the sense that, like mine, my close family/friends know nothing of it, it still exists...out there...in cyberspace. One day they may discover it, who knows. Till then.......

So, would Sam Pepys have Blogged ? Well, if we ignore the obvious danger of committing one's thoughts about politics etc., during such turbulent, and bloodthirsty, times, I would have to take the view that Sam wouldn't have Blogged. Let's face it - he wrote in code !! I wonder if he ever re-read them ? I often wonder if any other Bloggers out there bother to re-read ? Me I aim to print all this out one day and keep it on a good ol'-fashioned medium - called paper. This here cyberspace reminds me too much of an Etch-O-Sketch. (No link provided; future historians - if any - will have to do the research like what proper Academics do !)