Musings on design & other stuff jen's place

So here's something strange. Now that I'm blogging, I was interested in whether my peers were doing the same, and if so, what they were writing about. I belong to an email alias that has about 200 members, all of whom are or were students of the Human Factors graduate program that I attended. So I sent an email with the subject line, "Who's blogging?" and this content: "I just started blogging -- who else is doing this? What design issues are you talking about?"

The good news is that I got four responses from colleagues who are blogging, so I'll talk more about that in a minute. But the odd part was that there was one particularly outspoken person, who responded in angry tones that not only did too many people have blogs, but that we as user experience professionals should not be blogging because it would contribute to information overload. Not only were those points illogical -- my two middle MBTI letters are NT -- but it took the tone of the alias to a different level. From a place to get support and help to a place where you could be attacked without warning.

There were people who disagreed with the angry poster, and people who conceded points. So what is it about blogging that makes people upset and angry? Do websites have the same effect on them? Books in a library? Newspaper or magazine articles? Is it really that there is more information "out there" (and that they think that is bad) or is there something about the nature of blogging that just sets people off?

I responded to the email, but did not engage the person in a flame war -- didn't flame wars go out of fashion in 1994? I thanked the four people who responded that they were blogging, and I was interested to hear what they use their blogs for: one colleague had a personal blog, two people used their blogs as a way to communicate their professional skills and values, and a fourth peer is engaged in a group blog with her work colleagues, where they discuss design issues. That was exactly the kind of information that I was looking for.

But, now that I'm forewarned, the next time I ask a question on that alias, I'll be sure to have my sword and shield at the ready, just in case. And I'll find a more supportive alias to talk to about blogging.