In a comment the other day, Marie Anne Cunningham pointed out, rightfully so, that despite my references to “slow blogging”, I haven’t ever indicated what I mean by that. In reality, she brought me to realise that I myself didn’t even know what I mean by that exactly, so I’ve spent some time researching the matter.
The Manifesto
As it turns out, the phrase slow bogging has been in existence since 2006 and seems to originate from a writing experiment started by Todd Sieling, a software product designer and amateur photographer from Vancouver, British Columbia (Sieling, 2008).
Sieling’s notion of slow blogging (Sieling, 2006) has been discussed by a range of different sources; most notably the New York Times (2008), in an article in that also chronicles the work of Barbara Ganley and others. Sieling offers perhaps the most concise explanation of slow blogging in his manifesto of 6 tenets, with the first two being the most compelling – at least to me personally:
- …[Slow blogging] is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament.
- Slow Blogging is speaking like it matters, like the pixels that give your words form are precious and rare.
Slow blogging, Sieling continues, is about giving your thoughts time to solidify and mature, and is a direct rejection of the attitude that “blog early, blog often, and Google will reward you.”
Barbara Ganely (2006) refers to slow blogging as a reflective practice that is “both a return to thinker-to-thinker letter-writing and a move forward into hypertext and multimedia expression” and echoes Sieling’s emphasis on concept maturation and exposition:
“It takes time for the many loose strands of thought to converge into a unified post; it takes a lot of effort, a lot of energy, and a lot ( I know, I know sometimes too much) writing.”
For Chris Lott (2008), slow blogging amounts to a meditative experience that he likens to mindful wandering:
“What is the process of creating a slow blog entry (or a content-centric web meander) if not an opportunity for reflection and practice and, ultimately, mindful wandering? If we listen to our thinking, following the connections as they come and searching for the inclusions that feel right- and craft our words with intent- we are engaged in the best kind of creative activity.”
What each of these posts has in common is a clear sense of care for the message, a deep contemplation of and respect for language and its subtle connotations, and a demonstrated interest in writing as a craft.
My Take on Slow Blogging
To me, slow blogging is about making your words count; being deliberate in language and tone, thorough in exposition and clear in meaning. It’s about taking the time to clarify your thoughts in your own mind by any means necessary – contemplation, meditation, brainstorm, discussion, research – and then ensuring your writing effectively conveys your message and achieves the desired impact.
Importantly it’s also about the ecstasy and enjoyment of the creative process; and the exploring of a concept or idea from the initial spark at its inception through development to ultimate realisation and completion. It’s about recognising writing as a living, breathing, growing and changing process, rather than simply the output of an end product
When we write, we fuse aspects of ourselves in text for the purposes of conveying our perspectives on the world – and everyone and everything within it – to others, that they might come to understand a little bit of who we are and what we believe. It stands to reason then that we take as much time as is required to ensure we do our message – and thus ourselves – justice.
References:
Ganley, Barbara (2006). “Slow Blogging: Context, Transitions and Traditions (Back from Illinois, Part Two: Setting Up The Classroom Community)”, The New BGBlogging, 14 November 2006. Accessed on 3 January 2009 from http://bgblogging.wordpress.com/2006/11/14/slow-blogging-context-transitions-and-traditions-back-from-illinois-part-two-setting-up-the-classroom-community/
Lott, Chris (2008). “I Am a Slow Blog”, Ruminate, 8 October 2008. Accessed on 3 January from http://www.chrislott.org/2008/10/08/i-am-a-slow-blog/
Otterman, Sharon (2008). “Haste, Scorned: Blogging at a Snail’s Pace” New York Times, 23 November 2008; accessed on 3 January 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/fashion/23slowblog.html
Sieling, Todd (2006). “Manifesto”. Slow Blog. Accessed on 3 January 2009 from http://toddsieling.com/slowblog/?page_id=10
Sieling, Todd (2008). “About”. Slow Blog. Accessed on 3 January 2009 from http://toddsieling.com/slowblog/?page_id=2
Great summary, Mike: “the ecstasy and enjoyment of the creative process” – very nice. I am a firm believer in fun as a crucial part of learning and creation – not passive entertainment, as decried by Mark Edmunson in Why Read? – but active engagement, joy. I think those of us engaged in education in any sense need to both teach and model that kind of active fun.
Slow blogging is first and foremost about writing something valuable, rather than just writing something. We need that kind of attitude because search engines are not all that good at separating the wheat from the chaff, and there is so much chaff these days.
Insight does not usually get lost these days — it’s all preserved on a server somewhere — but it can easily get buried. Give me a hundred poorly thought-out posts to read and I might not even notice that one of them has a gem of an idea.
The web these days is a noisy environment; let’s not make it noisier.
In a sense, this is all about not wasting reader’s lives. Computer storage may be (essentially) infinite, but the abilities of your readers to read and understand are a finite resource. A ill thought-out blog posting is like litter on the sidewalk. Individually unimportant, but if it starts collecting in piles, the city suffers.
@Greg Kochanski
There is certainly a lot to be said about quality content – there’s no doubt about that.
At the same time though there’s the question of motivation for writing. For whom does the writer write? I imagine this will be different for every person; some will write for an audience, some will write for themselves, and for others still it may be a combination of elements. Some will write for profit, some for pleasure; some for fame, some for the sheer joy of it.
For that matter, even in literature there is debate about what is good writing and what isn’t. I don’t profess to be an expert there, but I would imagine that the saying “one man’s trash is anothers treasure” would apply just as much to this sphere of activity as other aspects of life.
So I think all of these aspects combine to create a fairly complex landscape in which perspective determines worth and to a large degree value as well. If the motives that drive a write to share their creations with the public via a blog are sole self-expressive or introspective and not to speak to a specific audience, then it seems to me that the works have value in and of themselves regardless of the perspectives of others.
I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff