According to Jonathan Yang, in his The Rough Guide to Blogging (see reference in the ‘Book’ page at http://susancharlotte.wordpress.com), in 2006 there were between 8 to 30 million blogs lurking about the web. And according to Technorati (www.technorati.com) around 100,000 new blogs were created daily (again 2006), making for a doubling of the blogosphere every 5 months.

These statistics indicate that by 2010 blogs would be a dominating online force, except for the fact that many blogs ‘die’ after a single post (remain inactive cluttering the ether) and apparently, according to Yang, only 10% of blogs are updated regularly.

As part of my studies as a Graphic Design student I am required to set-up accounts broadly across the social media network and generate traffic to my site, This is an exercise in marketing our own work, learning how to set up marketing tools for clients, ‘controlling’ our own online presence and professional collaboration.

I’m relatively new to the whole online world and it interests me that I’d never heard of Blogs until last year, when, as students we were required to post homework on class Blog sites. I first thought that bloggers blogging to other bloggers are only preaching to the converted. But the phenomenon is increasing so rapidly that masses are being converted daily.

Much of it seems to just be a way of sticking a hand up to be seen in any way.

In my reading I came across this passage recently “Orwell concluded in his “Pleasure Spots” essay by arguing that we need solitude, creative work and a sense of wonder as much as warmth, society, leisure, comfort and security, and that “man only stays human by preserving large patches of simplicity in his life.” (p.333, Clarke, Thurston,2001, Searching For Crusoe, A Journey Among The Last Real Islands, Ballantine Publ group,USA)

I’m wondering how this is possible for many people now with the time required to regularly update sites, and keep in touch with their many followers? How does this phenomenon affect the human requirement for solitude and simplicity?

Although I sound negative about this concept, it’s just the initial impact of the eye-opener. I am also realizing quickly, the benefit of collaboration among designers, especially the ability to raise and discuss issues with a broad audience.

Now, more than ever before, designers have come into the foreground of society. We are no longer the individuals behind the design, instead we place ourselves in the foreground, saying, “Look, this is me, and this is what I’ve created. This is what I’ve contributed.” Maybe we should step back and let our work speak for itself. And—if it’s truly successful—we will have made a difference in the world without needing the recognition for it.

It is the wise person indeed who knows that they do not know.

The rhetoric that has developed by designers ‘working for social change’ has often struck me as naive, and grossly arrogant in some cases. Constant evangelical celebration of design in the ‘design will save the world‘ vein, has blinded many designers to the fact that may not be best equipped to do the good they intend to do. It also has the effect of belittling the smaller, more local and less heroic work that they could be engaged in within their own communities.

“The road to neo-colonialism is paved with good intentions.” – Indeed, although Ivan Illich put it a little less politely when he said ‘To hell with good intentions’:
http://www.swaraj.org/illich_hell.htm

This controversial address to well-intentioned American students volunteering among poor communities in Mexico in 1968 is pretty harsh in some respects, but provides a valuable lesson in understanding the social complexities of doing such work. He also celebrates the quality of being humble – a quality that would be good to see more of in design.

The road to neo-colonialism is paved with good intentions.

David Stairs