The Digital Lumberjack - When life goes digital

When the Internet was born many people understood how important it was the ability to publish any content and reach the whole world at almost no cost. The freedom and the resources have ever since been there, but maybe this was never really exploited until the blogs appeared.

A blog by definition, is just a personal journal published on the internet. Usually they are focused in one specific subject. Think one word about any hobby, political trend, professional activity... anything! and you will find someone blogging about it.

The big difference from any other of your reading sources (and the reason because people don't usually take it seriously) is that most of them are written by normal people. Anyone can have a blog for free in a few minutes. This usually comes along low quality, non reliable, non professional and many other non desirable things. However such freedom gives a voice to interesting people who would never get noticed.

On the other hand books, articles, magazines or any other communication source have an industry behind them. You get contents usually with higher quality and made by professionals, but not without the control of some kind of institution. Today corporate behemoths, usually with some political hand behind, own the major outlets of our news, opinions and entertainment. What you read has been previously classified as acceptable and profitable. Only in some cases this is really an advantage, like when an academic institution ensures that its articles meets a minimum of quality, veracity and grounded research.

Blogs when you need information

Once you add some blog reading to your internet routine, it will quickly become your best source of information. Look at it as a specialized newsletter that filters everything you can find in the internet. Some might become your entry point to the social circle you needed to find someone to help you, work with you or learn with. Good blogs will point you to places and people with a common interest. Many people find the right partners for their projects this way, even scientists are finding out that they can share, develop and review their work through blogging.

Blogs for entertainment

I bet this must be the best reason for many people to surf the internet, right after sex. Latest news about their favourite topics, jokes and funny videos.

If what you are looking for are good stories I must tell you that they are hard to find but I have come across some really talented bloggers out there which I truly enjoy reading every so often. However, this is an area that I have not fully explored. Blogs are good for learning new things because they are full of fresh ideas, independent and with many points of view, even it their contents are of just cheap quality. However when it comes to reading for leisure I care far more about the literary quality. I might be somehow demanding because I spent two years of my life learning about literature, but a good novel can be a piece of art and I still have a long list of classics to read yet.

Blogs for bibliographies

Most people think of bibliographies as something boring, and sometimes I think they are right. If you walk into a book store you will mostly find two types: The ones about famous some-times-interesting people who died a long time ago and the ones about boring living people who have money enough to pay someone to write about them.

However blogs, and specially those written with more personal entries, have something special. They are from normal people which which would never publish their thoughts unless being so plain easy. This way you might find out about the life of a person that fits your interests. Let me explain this with an example.

Imagine you are a young entrepreneur in front of a small company and willing to digest any material which can help you lead better your company. Sure you can find books about management, leadership and even about the specific market of your company. However, something really valuable that is hard to find out of the blogosphere would be the personal diary of people who started like you, who battled like you, suceeded and is "currently" writing frequently about it.

It can be people who succeeded in something you are trying to achieve, a mother telling the world her challenges raising her kids in this world, the man who decided to quit smoking and run a marathon. Sure that you will be exited to read the experiences of someone whose objectives resembles yours. Although there are books about anything, I believe that in this case there are many small voices worth listening to.

Start reading!

Choice is wide and variety great. You will find such a quantity of contents that you will have to develop new skills to digest such outrageous amount of information. Many times you will discover that there are many people out there with too much free time. You might get that feeling when you find something like a 12 hours detailed log about the activities of a fly in someone's garage, with pictures, videos, animations and detailed diagrams. Except those cases, I assure you that there is such a thing as serious, high quality, professional blogging. But once again, the value of blogs is not in their quality, but in their independent opinions, fresh ideas and unique perspectives. Some of their contents are made with various voices from different parts of the world coming together. A blend of the thoughts of people with different backroungs, experiences, stories, religions...

But be aware that freedom always comes not exempt of surprises. Blogs can be hoaxes like the story of Kaycee Nicole or part of some marketing campaign. Professional blogs are also cash machines and the bigger they are, the more chances their contents might be moved because of money.

It is up to you to evaluate the credibility of what you are reading. Think for yourself, choose freely and enjoy it!