04/16/2005 Posted @ 09:15 PM PD/ST: "A Conference of Our Own"

Everybody's talking about blogging these days. It seems like everybody's got a blog too. It exhibits the democratizing power of the internet and how the little network meant for communication between colleges and labs became the tool for everyone with access to a computer.

There are people who have something to say or some agenda to push. There are those who don't really have much to say but think they need a blog anyway, 'cause you know, everyone else is doing it. And then there are people like me; it's another tool for communication and to exercise writing. I don't have comments enabled and I don't know what traffic comes and goes, and I'm not sure it matters to me (or in the case of comments, is worth the hassle).

There are lots of interesting blogs and conferences, etc. out there. I've never been much interested, because they always sounded like a bunch of highly technical, overly intellectual people getting together to discuss bits & bytes, Typepad vs. Moveable Type, must belong to a certain clique to ride this ride kind of thing.

And then, Elisa Camahort, with whom I had corresponded in the heat of the Presidential campaign while she blogged for the Santa Clara Democratic Party, sent me an announcement about blogher. "Oh, yawn," I thought.

But because I respect Elisa, I took a look. This one has the promise to be different and to address some of the other "real" issues of blogging. There's already a discussion about content and where boundaries get drawn. That's something I'm really interested in. I've already applied to be a volunteer blogger so I can get a scholarship to attend something that could be really cool.

According to Elisa and the rest of the ladies at blogher, everyone is welcome to attend but the energy will most definitely be toward women and blogging. If that sounds feminist and exclusionary, so be it. Equality hasn't arrived yet folks and women are among the many groups that still get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. If you're not convinced, read Melanie McBride's comments about "It's different for boys" on the How to be Naked discussion. What Melanie says is dead on to what I have witnessed, and experienced.

Okay, so there's graduation in June. My 46th birthday in July. My first term at UIS in August. And now, blogher at the end of July. It's shaping up to be a full and enriching summer.