Blogher 06: Culture, Crowds and Celebrity
Posted by Karoli in Uncategorized August 1st, 2006
I could probably have entitled this post the Culture of Community, too, but it really was a crowd and that’s just a bit more descriptive.
ADHD factors into this post somewhat. Not all ADHDers are like this, but I am. I get overwhelmed by groups bigger than about four people at a time. It intimidates me because I hear snippets and strands of things going on but not one single strand. It means I have to pay attention to being inattentive with intention to avoid hearing pieces out of context. Being overwhelmed is exhausting.
Blogher attendees were an incredibly diverse group, if you ignore gender as a factor. Inside the diversity, there were some fairly large groups of like-minded bloggers, including the formidable group of mommybloggers (with a few daddybloggers thrown in), the techie bloggers, and of course, the so-called “A-listers”. There were edubloggers, bloggers for social change, foodbloggers, photobloggers, vloggers (or is it vbloggers? I’ve never gotten that right) and other smaller microcosms of the whole that was the BlogHer community.
I don’t fit into any of these groups. I sit on the fringe of several. This blog touches on so many different topics that there were times where I felt as though a new group of bloggers should emerge called “eclecti-bloggers”. There were times where it felt a bit isolating to not really belong to any specific group. Those were the times where the camera came out. TW said it quite nicely:
I am a blogger. Pure and simple. I am uncategorizable, I am not “JUST” this or that sort of blogger. I don’t feel a dying need to run around announcing that I am a lesbian, just like I don’t run around announcing anything else. Other than the fact that I would really love for you to read my blog and I would love to read yours or that I might already read your blog. That I know I will announce or try to get the courage to announce to anyone I see whether they have kids, don’t have kids; whether sleep with women, men, both, neither; whether they drink Coke or Pepsi; whether they have a high school degree or graduate degree or no degree. I am interested in people. I hope they are interested in me, no matter what category I might or might not belong in today, tomorrow, last year, or this year.
Much has been written on the Blogher postmortems about cliques. Fear of encountering them, techniques to enter them, frustration that they exist, all of it.
Another way to describe a clique would be “a group of like-minded people”. Describing the various groups at Blogher as “clique-ish” implies that they were not inclusive. I didn’t see it quite like that. There was never a time where I felt excluded from any group that I encountered. However, there was a clear “Culture of Celebrity” that emerged in that two day period that I’d like to see diminished.
I touched on this topic in my previous post where I talked about some of the fears expressed around introductions to Heather Armstrong (Dooce). But she wasn’t the only “A-Lister” that was held up in reverential tones on blogs and conversation over the weekend. And I don’t get it. I read many of the blogs that were mentioned because I enjoy them. Not because they’re popular, not because they’re A-listers. Because they write stuff I want to read. Most of what I read are not on the “A-list”. Some are.
It seems to me that there is a tendency toward a “culture of celebrity” that spills over into the blogosphere, and was evident at BlogHer, but certainly not unique to Blogher. That raised a whole series of questions for me (but no answers), so I’ll put them here and maybe you have an answer or thoughts that will clarify things.
Is the need to focus on celebrity unique to American culture or is it a human trait? Do we gravitate toward those who are first, the risk-takers? Most of those “A-listers” are on the A-list because they were some of the first to be doing this and also because they’re pretty good at it. Does the focus on celebrity detract from the overall message or add to it? Do we create celebrity as a defense to keep ourselves from questioning our own skills, motivations, and voice? Is it fair to those we call celebrities or “A-listers” or whatever else you want to call them to hold them to a higher standard than we do others? And if they meet that standard, do we give them the freedom to make mistakes and take more risks? What benefit do we as a group derive by carving out a smaller group and assigning them “specialness”? And is it really a benefit or a detriment?
There will be a time in the not too distant future where the Blogher groups will, by necessity, need to splinter. The Mommy/Daddybloggers are already a force unto themselves and my bet is on them to become the first offspring of the BlogHer mamas. There will be more. This is really a natural aspect to any community– as it grows, it branches.
New leaders will emerge to serve alongside those who exist now. There will be disagreements, philosophical differences, new opportunities and stronger focus. But at the bottom of it, we are all still bloggers who belong to that larger community.
Technorati Tags: bloghercon06, blogher2006, celebrity, culture
1/7/07: Comments are now closed on this entry.
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…living life in 19/7 time 
What a great way to wrap up the weekend at BlogHer. It was all this and more, but the clique reference gave me some things to think about as I write my own entry. I love what TW said about fitting in and describing oneself. It is so perfect.
Wonderful to meet you and have my brain go, “Oh, yeah! I remember you and the ADHD thing that I commented on a long time ago.”
Here’s to a successful weekend!
Appreciated your post immensely as am BP and son is also BO, so it hit home. Former Pdoc dx’x him ADHD but when he was changed over and meds were changed, whew, he is now a A student and a great kid to be around.
Hi,
Nice post.
When I started my blog, there was no need to limit it to a certain category.
It was just a blog about ‘what we talked about at lunch.’
Same goes for my videoblog. I’m comfortable having my blog be about everything and anything.
I have recently started cross posting a show, Vlog Soup, to it’s own blog becuase people ahve asled for an easy way to find all those episodes, but I’ll still blog about everything and anything.
Thanks,
–Steve
My first time reading your blog, and I love it. It is GREAT to hear from an adult with ADHD as it gives me insight into what life might be like for my kid.
Glad that BlogHer has brought us together (even though we didn’t meet in person…did we?). That’s what it is all about.
How about a shift from the culture of celebrity to the culture of appreciate of each of our talents and strengths?
I think this is part of what I have started to blather about moving from the culture of fear to the culture of love. Maybe we need to shift the culture of celebrity a bit as well too. Wahddayathink?
I added some punctuation and definitive articles in the sentences, so my post doesn’t sound quite as incomprehensible as it did when I posted it at 1 am in some time zone that I shouldn’t have been awake in. Airports eat punctuation. I am sure of it. Thanks for the link.
I agree with you and am not sure what to do about it other than trying hard to encourage people not to be cliquish, and to go a little outside their comfort zone talking to people they don’t know.
The thing I am finding out is that when a lot of people pay attention to you or read you and then want to talk to you, it is lovely yet exhausting. And it can feel like a weight of expectation. People know that is true when they walk up to a person who is getting a lot of attention, i.e. fame within a particular scene, and that’s part of what makes them feel shy or tongue-tied . Book authors deal with it by doing lots and lots of small readings and book-signings. It gives structure to that interaction. I see why, and how it is practical, and yet it cuts off the “celebrity” from being open to new relationships and serendipity.
One way to defuse that is to value the people you know whose blogs or writing is just emerging. What is more productive and intimate… a commenty-bloggity relationship where your blogs are deeply intertextual, between 5 people who all pay attention to each other, or your comments on a ‘celebrity” site? In social network terms: people tend to over-value a link to or from a celebrity - a node that is linked to 1000 other notes. er, I forget the actual terms for this but something like “eigenvectors”. However, the most “valuable” networks are small and dense clusters with heavy activity. So, make your own woolfcampy type of thing and you will all celebrate the value of your local cluster. Decentralize fame. Importance is not popularity - it is sustained, interlinked attention.
That said, I will still never forget that one 5 minute conversation I had with Ursula Le Guin where she told me how she stayed up all night before Wiscon 20, making a Bajoran earring to wear. So I understand the gratification of the fannish moment. And I also still tell little stories to myself about how someday we’ll hang out around the kitchen table together, unable to remember that time when we weren’t Best Friends… That’s the kind of thought train that if you have it, must gently be pushed away so that you are freed to do the wonderful things that YOU will do.
Well, I like Liz’s point about going out of our comfort zone to talk to people they don’t know.
About the celebrity stuff. at one point I decided to do some research and approach some of the “famous” bloggers and get a photo with them … act like groupy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/sets/72157594216039910/
I was curious if I would get ignored, get 6 seconds of polite photograph, or have a brief engaging conversation …..
I’m stewing on a social networking guide (face-to-face techniques) to go out of your comfort zone and talk to people even if they aren’t famous blogger.
Beth, Great photos! That was a terrific icebreaker, kudos to you!
Nancy, Yes, I think you\’re exactly right. I really didn\’t start this discussion with any intended criticism of celebrity or those who hold others up as celebrity, but more questioning whether that is the most productive interaction for any of us, and most importantly, those of us in the blogosphere who hold such power collectively toward change.
Liz, great insights. it is truly a matter of stepping out of the comfort zones, but on a higher level I wonder if it\’s fair to hold up fallible people so high. It seems like we don\’t really give them enough room to fall softly if they should stumble. It can be the same reason that musicians seem to get stale after a few hits, or writers fall into a formula — it\’s safer to do what works than try new pathways when you\’re sitting under a microscope.
Kris, I think we did meet at the community session. At least, you seem very familiar to me.
Mocha, bottle some of that middle child stuff and sprinkle it on this eldest — you\’ve definitely got a knack.
Sage thanks for your kind comment! I\’m so glad to hear that your son is thriving and an A student. That\’s the goal.
Steve, I\’m loving the videoblog. And of course you already know that I love your mother\’s blog, too.
TW, it was great the way you originally wrote it but I\’m happy to put your edited quote in there if you want. Better yet, I\’ll just recommend that folks click the link.
So recommended.
DnW
[...] Denise’s reaction to my post on Culture and Celebrity was surprising to me — she read it as an effort to criticize or minimize others’ accomplishments. Haven’t you ever wanted to meet someone you respected and admired for their work? Haven’t you ever squealed with delight when you were able to meet someone like that? Or have you never felt an attachment of that nature so you simply can’t understand it and so must try and convince others that their feelings are somehow wrong or even harmful? [...]
I can see exactly what you are saying here, but I did go up and talk to Heather and she was lovely.
Some of the other “celebrities” weren’t quite as friendly, but I got the feeling that they were uncomfortable with all the attention. Bloggers are used to having some anonymity or at least distance from their readers.
Hi Sarah — I’m sure she was. Had I figured out who she was I probably would’ve introduced myself and expressed appreciation for her, too, but I was a little bit lame.
Your point about being uncomfortable with the attention is well-taken. I’m sure that’s true as well.
Good thread, here and over on Daily Dose of Denise. Thanks to all. Lots of thought provoking comments (and glad that I was not the only typo-ista!)
[...] According to the reports and my first-hand experience, the 700 and some women bloggers who attended Blogher06 were a diverse bunch. It wasn’t so much because of diversity in race, sexual orientation, or age. People who attended Blogher05 say that if anything this year’s conference seemed somewhat more “heteronormative” (they also say that Blogher can be as diverse as we all can make it; we just have to speak up). Blogher06 got itself in trouble because it pulled together people with more different backgrounds, skills, interests, and goals than your average conference. [...]