Policy blogging

Here's Matt Sinclair's explanation of why policy wonks relate to weblogs in the way they do.

"I reckon lots of smart people start blogging and don't find it rewarding because they don't get into a community whose praise and criticism can make it worthwhile. That community is what those of us who want to see a more thoughtful blogosphere should all try to build."

I'd agree with his conclusion, but I think that the technology isn't quite there yet to support the development. Blog-posts disappear from view shortly after they are written in most cases. They aren't captured and indexed in a consistent way, and 'backlinks' aren't sufficiently effective or consistently applied. There isn't a fully developed form of 'collaborative filtering' in place yet (though this is developing all the time in different forms).

I keep emphasising the 'yet' bit of those sentences because it's pertinent.