YearlyKos my first report

Chicago has been a hotbed of blogging this summer. First blogher, now YearlyKos.

What is YearlyKos? First you need to know what DailyKos is. DailyKos is a community. There is Kos himself who recently told Abdon Pallasch that he thinks he is a better community builder than he is a blogger.

Daily Kos has diarists who are basically like bloggers, though they write on Kos. The Diarists gain reputation in the community and move to the "front page."

First, the DailyKos is political. It is a community of progressives and Democrats. That said, their exploration of the process of blogging and development of ideas about "netroots" (an updating of grassroots, referring to real people doing poltical action in real communities, to include organizing online with the aim of moving from virtual action to real action.) There are some very interesting discussions of the relationship of blogs and blogging to journalism and of whether blog is a noun or a verb. There are what I guess I would call hybrid discussions because these bloggers are reporting sometimes, advocating other times.

They get lots of hits and many are making their living off blogging, so there are fascinating discussions about editorial independence when your blog is supported by ads. I think that the direct connection between these writers/content creators and the details of business is very important in today's media environment. This is what is missing from the mindset of lots of traditional journalists. They don't bother or deign to think about their work in terms of how marketable it is. When your model has been to work for hire, you are not connected the way the Kossaks are with what sells, or how to sell your work.

When writers who have developed their own monetary and economic support compete with writers who expect to "insulated" from the business side, what happens? That is one of the unarticulated issues that lies behind the journalism vs. blogging.

That is one of my reasons for being at YearlyKos.