Monday, February 18, 2008
TAXPAYERS JABBED
ABC-approved Queensland academics Jason Wilson, Axel Bruns and Barry Saunders examine blogospheric power:
As we’ve pointed out before, Australia’s bloggers are overwhelmingly left-of-centre ...
And all of them are such class acts. (By the way, hit that “before” link for the evidence of leftist domination this bunch previously “pointed out”.)
JASON!
Jason, Axel and Barry - the Boyzone of blogging - continue:
We might have our equivalents to the left-leaning Daily Kos ...
Name one. Name just one with readership and political influence comparable to Daily Kos. In fact, name just one with any substantial readership and influence.
... but it’s hard to pick out our own equivalent to Little Green Footballs or Town Hall, where Australian conservatives can form communities of opinion and respond back (except maybe at Tim Blair’s blog) ...
There’s also that Andrew Bolt chap. He seems quite the community-former.
AXEL!
Away from the ABC (rapidly defiling Australia’s pristine online environment) and over at J.A.B.’s primary site, Jason has a theory:
(The) reason that the left-of-centre blogosphere has prospered in Australia is that the opinion pages only seem to be open to forthright conservatives ...
Lots of unpopular blogs is not a sign of prosperity. As for opinion pages only being open to “forthright conservatives” ... Catherine Deveny, Richard Ackland, Traceeee Hutchison, Mike Carlton, Kathy McCabe, Phillip Adams, Sue Dunleavy, Richard Glover, Jill Singer, Alan Ramsey, Kenneth Davidson, Anne Summers, Peter Hartcher, Annabel Crabb, Michael Leunig, Michelle Grattan, Tim Colebatch, Martin Flanagan and Adele Horin (among other op-ed non-cons) may disagree.
BARRY!
Here’s another triple-academic theory:
With the Rudd Government in place, and the hard-right columnists looking increasingly isolated (Tom Switzer’s resignation as the editor of the Oz’s opinion pages last week is a clear sign here) ...
These clowns have no idea. They’re just making things up. And, of course, they’re doing it on your dime, with a juicy grant to investigate “innovative applications of digital media for participatory journalism and citizen engagement in Australian public communication”.
“Participatory”, eh? “Citizen engagement”, would you? Take a look at their site (warning: because it’s a left-wing site, you may experience delays due to overwhelming prosperity). Then, as an interactive experiment in “Australian public communication”, try to find email addresses for Jason, Axel and Barry.
UPDATE. “Produsage”. It’s a word Dr Axel invented all by himself. It’s also a book:
Axel Bruns has been so kind as to send me the manuscript of his new book on Produsage, and I must admit that while reading it I could hardly contain my ...
• prodesire to kill myself?
• prodictionary of words that will never catch on?
• Michael Leunig ProDuck™?
UPDATE II. Plagiarism! This site breaks the news of Kevin Rudd’s earmining to a shocked and frightened world, October 19:
NO, KEVIN! NOOOOOO!
Jason, Axel and Barry on waxmuncher Rudd, one month later:
No, Kevin, noooooo…..
No link, no credit. Sigh ...
UPDATE III. “I had a look at their site,” emails Roy Vernon. “Nineteen posts between the three of them in six months, or once a month each. Not really blogging, is it? I write to my mum more often than that.”
UPDATE IV. Barry launches a withering riposte.