tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post115501055610907867..comments2024-03-18T22:21:33.261-07:00Comments on The Debate Link: Casual SpeakDavid Schraubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-1155013019205974042006-08-07T21:56:00.000-07:002006-08-07T21:56:00.000-07:00Can blogs explain the obscure and obtuse to the ge...Can blogs explain the obscure and obtuse to the general public? Sure.<BR/><BR/>Look at the Al-Rueters Incident. Not only were there the traditional technical disserations, but also included were entry-level experience discussions and eventually newcomer explanations - <B><I>and</B></I> all of these were interlinked, making it simple to find a paper that matches your level of intellect and experience.<BR/><BR/>Hell, the same thing happened at a similar scale on my blog. Normal discussions on grades of steel in an academic or materials science are fairly close to law articles in how obtuse they can get, and it's a damned esoteric subject. Thanks to show/hide code, it's possible to include not just the short descriptions and the more indepth ones, but also to do so without overwhelming those who don't need more than the soundbyte.<BR/><BR/>Will it look like the "old media"? No, and that's going to lead to a pretty vast schism. For one things, blogs remove the entire possibility of hiding behind jargon : everyone has a dictionary in their tool bar by this point, so use schadenfruede or paradigm incorrectly and people will notice it. Nor is it really possible to use the old-style emphasis on footnoted references. Hyperlinks and the ease of access to things that were previous near-impossible to check, like , mean that studies and references will become much more important than their previous status as near-appeals to authority.<BR/><BR/>I don't think I'm too upset about the differences.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10581481195058896802noreply@blogger.com