Saturday, December 15, 2001

Childhood-logs: What if from the day that we learned to read and type we were required, not by our teachers but by our parents to keep a weblog? What if we had to keep this daily activity up every day of our childhood, until our 18th birthday? What if the weblog was defined not as a diary bu a place to record ones creations, observations and explorations? What would you write about when you're six? Eight? Ten? Twelve? What observational talents would benefit from this daily record. In addition to critical thinking, reading and writing skills, what other skills would necessarily be enhanced? Would the daily record and forced verbalization of thoughts and ideas enhance any other talents? What types of relationships would we develop with the other people who would undoubtedly read and respond to this weblog? Like piano lessons, would the we despise the practice at the time, only later discovering what a beautiful skill we have developed?

I am wondering, though, what kinds of limits to place on the weblog, itself. Obviously, protection of privacy is of utmost importance but if the weblog is not publicly accessible, how will the child strike up friendships and a relationships with others who share the same interests?

What about training? How do you train a child to keep a weblog? To become a novelist, you must first read novels, but if you are a poet, no experience with other poetry is necessary. You either have it, or you don't. Is weblogging like writing a novel, or like being inspired by poetry? If its like noveling, does a weblogger have to read other weblogs before they begin weblogging in order to find a place to begin? I began weblogging after reading numerous logs (Scripting News, Robot Wisdom, David Chess's Log, Bird on a Wire.) For me, it was only after reading these weblogs, that I began to understand the concept. It took me still longer (some might argue that I still haven't) discovered my own blogging voice. How do you teach someone to weblog? Have you ever successfully explained the concept to someone just learning to read?

If one blogged their entire childhood, from the time one learned to read and type until the age of eighteen, how much content are we talking about really? In the span of twelve years between the sixth birthday and the eighteenth, there are roughly 4383 days (365.25 days x 12).

The previous paragraph contained 279 characters and spaces and 51 words. If we define that as the minimum amount of content that will be posted on the average day (I'm assuming that as child ages, the weblog entries will expand in size) then at the end of the childhood the weblog would consist of about 1.2 million characters and spaces and 223,000 words. This amount of content would easily fit onto one modern 3.5 inch disk or the memory of Palm Device. So, for all practical purposes, you could carry around your entire childhood weblog history in your pocket.