|
Blogging the
Medieval Revolution
by Sarah Blick
Blogs (short for “web logs”) are a new phenomenon. At
their most basic, blogs are websites that feature a running commentary on
whatever interests the “blogger”; thus the majority of blogs are personal
diaries that usually only interest the blogger’s friends and family. But
the most popular blogs interest hundreds of thousands of people who visit
their site each day. These blogs have had a tremendous impact on news,
media, and politics. The findings and commentaries of these blogs have
raised huge amounts of money for presidential candidates, forced the
resignation of news executives, politicians, and helped bring information
about major political movements in places like Krygyzstan (http://www.registan.net/?p=4848)
and Africa (http://www.blogafrica.org/) to
a wider audience. Bloggers link to articles from newspapers all over the
world and some of the bigger blogs even “dispatch” their own
correspondents. That is, when they want news and information from say, Kazakhstan,
they connect with a Kazak blogger and post photos, commentary, etc.
Bloggers now post news from every country in the world, except perhaps, North Korea,
which restricts internet access. (http://www.nkzone.org/nkzone/Blogs).
The “blogosphere” takes to task politicians, the MSM or “mainstream media,”
academia, and more. Whatever your political bent you will find blogs that
inspire you or infuriate you. Here are links to some of the biggest
political blogs in the U.S.:
http://mickey.ondragonswing.com/archives/006277.html#006277
(dogs)
http://blogenspiel.blogspot.com/2005/03/history-carnival-4.html
(history)
http://academiccopyright.typepad.com/
(academic copyright)
Reading
through some of these blogs (when I ought to have been grading exams or
cleaning the house), I began to wonder whether there were blogs on
art-historical or medieval, Renaissance, and early modern topics.
Naturally, there are. Unfortunately, while lots of medievalists have blogs,
many tend to be the “I went to the grocery store” type with some medieval
thoughts thrown in. Still, every movement has to start somewhere. Here are
some active blogs written by medievalists:
http://www.artsjournal.com/
http://www.blogenspiel.blogspot.com/
http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/news/
http://www.earlymodernweb.org.uk/emn/
http://fishpond.owlfish.com/medievallogs.html
http://community.itergateway.org/
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=middle_ages
http://www.newyorkcarver.com/blog/2004_12_01_archive.htm
http://homepage.mac.com/gillgren/iblog/B1104942885/ (Renaissance)
Here are three that roundup and report almost daily on new
archaeological discoveries:
http://www.cronaca.com/
http://www.mirabilis.ca/ http://pecia.tooblog.fr
How will blogs influence the study of medieval art history? With blogs
making a big splash in most fields, it is probably only a matter of time
before they influence our field as well. Will they play a role in expanding
the discourse between scholars or just become fun time-wasters; it’s too
soon to tell.
Printer friendly version
|
