Blogging is a channel for communication. Why do we communicate and what is communication anyway? I found my own answers and that of Dictionary.com to be dry and without verve.
Thus I trekked to my bookshelf and dug deep in the archives and pulled out the book, “Communication as culture.” The title was titillating and I felt it could provide an answer with the vitality that my own lacked. I’m still paging through the tome but the following quotes stood out to me.
“Society exists not only by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.” — Dewey, 1916
“If the archetypal case of communication under a transmission view is the extension of messages across geography for the purpose of control, the archetypal case under a ritual view is the sacred ceremony that draws persons together in fellowship and commonality. “ – James Carey, Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society.
Why blog? It seems to me to be more than just the transmission of information but equally not solely for the purpose of drawing together community. Perhaps it is both? I believe as we take our first baby steps in to the world of new media we first must realize what that world is to ourselves. I’ll finish with one more quote from James Carey.
“…communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed.” – James Carey, Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society.