Ethan Zuckerman wonders why so many at Davos are interested in blogging.#

It's not clear to me why Davos folks are so interested in the blog phenomenon. [...]

But clearly something about blogging captures people's attention. I'm wondering if it's a reflection of a Davos attitude towards media. Media are pretty clearly treated like second-class citizens here. Working journalists have brown badges, which prevent them from getting into most sessions and some areas. My guess is that most of the folks here are so important, they're well beyond courting media and expect, instead to be courted.

So perhaps Davos folks are interested in blogging because they're willing to overturn the media establishment.

Next Sunday some other people from Berkman, including myself, are going to Grasshopper in Allston. C'est deliceaux.#

The Binary Circumstance writes of the trials of publishing his book and wonders about self-publishing and how the blogosphere changes things.#

Getting the book into print is one thing, getting people to buy it and read it is another. Promotion! This is where I think that blogs will play a major role in snatching control of publishing from the big guys. I have my blog to promote the book and I have a growing number of connections who have blogs. This is a HUGE asset. If a book is good, it will sell largely by word-of-mouth anyway. Blogs are highspeed word-of-mouth. In addition, many bloggers are Amazon.com Associates; they can earn a 5% commission by putting a link to buy the book from Amazon on their site.

So the possibility is there and the whole idea of self-publishing is starting to look a lot more appealing than going the traditional route. At this point, the ability to create hype seems to be the major publishers' greatest asset. It's no small advantage either; but it also requires a book that is hype-friendly.

I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for it since I heard about it. Hopefully things will come together for BC.

Grant Henninger writes about The Transformation.#

The transformation of politics and of broadcasting, because they can't be separated, was never going to be complete. There will always be a place for a broadcast message. Many bloggers think that they will be able to replace broadcast media and broadcast messages. They think that the one-to-many era is over and people will turn on any politician or company that tries to broadcast their message. Bloggers think that once people get use to a conversation in the marketplace they will accept nothing less from everybody. This isn't true, there will always be a place for broadcast messages. One-to-many broadcasts and many-to-many conversations will live together, the only major change is that the conversations will keep the broadcasts more honest.