We Agree

Microsoft Founder and Chairman Bill Gates endorsed the use of blogs today as "a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing." The reason, in my estimation, is that blogs become an integral part of one's daily life: they harken back to the lost practice of keeping a journal, which was common among older generations.

But where blogging is better is in its interactive nature. It necessarily, through its ability to link to articles, pictures, etc., provides the blogger the ability to provide context and tangents to what he is thinking; thereby offering a personal angle to the news. This evolution can be seen in our own daily blogging on the Democracy Project site, which has evolved considerably from merely posting a breaking news event (which we still do frequently) to mini-editorials on how the news fits into our organization's larger schema.

We here at Democracy Project obviously believe in the efficacy of blogging to promote freedom worldwide, but I am also excited about its potential for culture; might it produce the next Shakespeare or T.S. Eliot (think about all of his footnotes in the Wasteland that could be links). Its wide implications for culture and art haven't even emerged, but will.