The Future of the Deaf Blogosphere
Yeah, I know– most of you deaf readers out there are used to the term “DeafBlogLand,” coined by Moi; just figure me for a subversive stick-in-the-mud, okay? *grin* Anyway, the deaf blogosphere. It’s grown by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, and lately has just exploded, thanks to the Tent City Protest. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to pick and choose, and having an aggregator like DeafRead both helps and hinders this. On one hand, it’s nice to have everyone in one place, but on the other hand, there’s so many new blogs. For the most part, I’ve stuck with the tried and familiar blogs I’ve been following all along, although I’ve added a few to my day.
What’s really interesting is that with some exceptions, the early deaf blogosphere was composed of blogs– that is, written entries posted for the edification of the community. In the last year though, more and more people have been experimenting with vlogging.
I think this development is interesting. While there have been quite a few vloggers for some time out in the general community, this particular form of communication is tailor-made for the deaf community, and I think could actually be turned into a force to be reckoned with for society as a whole. Already, video communications have altered mass communications– witness the plethora of political ads on YouTube and other hosts during this past election cycle. Soon-to-be ex-Senator Allen began his long stumble towards political oblivion by being filmed during his infamous “Macaca” moment, which found its way to the web in no time flat.
During the Tent City protest, vlogging found its legs thanks to people like Joey Baer, whose site soon became required viewing for many interested onlookers. Since then, others have been inspired to vlog more and more, even if they had previously done a vlog here and there. While a lot of vlogs that I’ve seen so far are focused on internal community issues, personal opinions, and the like, I think there’s also a lot of potential for vlogs to be used as a tool for social commentary and a continuation of our civil rights movement.
One example is a vlog by Joseph Rainmound, over at Deaf In The City. By now, many of you have already seen this particular vlog. But if you haven’t, or need a refresher, go and see it. It really is a marvelous mix of a personal soapbox with powerful political and social commentary, and I think exemplifies how the future of vlogging (let alone the blogosphere) could (and should) develop.
Those of us who blog have our tiny little audiences (such as yours truly. It doesn’t help that I don’t post daily…). A few of us pull in more than 20 or 30 people daily. A handful command larger audiences, such as DeafDC, Ridor, DeafRead, and the major up-and-comers, such as Mishka Zena. Even among hearing bloggers, there’s a similar pecking order, following the hallowed tradition of Hollywood: “A List,” “B List,” and “C List” bloggers. On a recent Technorati blog by Dave Sifry, you can see some of the statistics: for example, out of 57 million blogs, only approximately 4,000 are considered “Very High Authority.” It’s a new world, and blogs are still growing, changing, and developing. For once, we are in on the ground floor of a social phenomenon, and due to its visual nature, blogging/vlogging can be a powerful tool, both politically and otherwise, if we develop it right.
I carried on a conversation (here and here) with Jared Evans over at Jared’s Rambling Thoughts on the future of DeafBlogLand, and while I’m still skeptical about a deaf blogger reaching the top, I’m less skeptical than before. One factor that I think greatly helps is the use of captioning in doing a vlog; Tayler Mayer’s done it, and Todd over at Triomphe L’Oeil captions every vlog he does (while Tayler, Jared, Ridor, and others have vlogged, and now Joseph Rainmound, Todd’s site is 100% vlogging. While his subject material doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a national vlog audience, his format (along with Joey Baer, another vlogger) is certainly a template of sorts for future deaf vloggers. For example, don’t wear striped shirts…). This aids users, hearing and deaf, who aren’t familiar with or know no ASL to be able to follow the vlog post’s content 100%. It also shows others that accessibility for EVERYONE isn’t a hassle, and isn’t difficult.
So while I’m uncertain about where we’ll go in the deaf blogosphere/DeafBlogLand, I do know that we aren’t necessarily adopting a trend/fad a few months/years after everyone else. We have a future, and it is ours to develop as we see fit.
Hey, I never expected DeafBlogLand to become “the” term to use and I think its really cool that it’s become widely used. *grin* I think it cements the idea that we need a place of our own and we may have found it online, and to me “the deaf blogosphere” doesn’t communicate that nearly as well. But please *do* use whatever term you prefer.
Anyhow, I found it intriguing how you went beyond all the obvious and oft-trotted out reasons why video blogging (I can’t stand the word vlog - haven’t figured out why) could be such a boon for us as a people to point out how it can be used to reach a larger audience and as a tool in our fight for social justice on so many levels. Thanks for a great post, as usual, mon ami!
I think it’s cool too.
You’re probably right about “deaf blogosphere” not communicating “our” corner of cyberspace well, but DeafBlogLand sounds like something I’d find at McDonald’s. Still, everyone else seems to like it, so I’ll probably gradually warm to it.
The word “vlog” is ok with me, but it does make me think of Henry Vlug- not sure how he feels about that… but yes, I think that while the type of vlogs Joey, Todd, and others do are worthy and important, Joseph has demonstrated that through synthesis of history, culture, and language, we now have a tool we can use to further advance civil rights and deaf awareness. There’ll always be traditional bloggers, like me, but I think an intelligent, savvy, eloquent person could probably take things so much farther through vlogging.
Thanks for the kind words towards my vlogging endeavors, Mr. Sandman! Yes, vlogging has been a little bit different experience than I anticipated; For starters, they’re a whole lot harder to edit, as there’s no ‘backspace’ or ‘del’ key to get rid of unwanted signs!
I think that a mixture of both, blogging/vlogging, would be a sensible approach, and I already see this happen on a couple of blogs having video content.
Hm - interesting perspective. I can see what you mean about the McD’s connotation… *singsong* Get your McDonaldland cookies he-ere!
But I think I’ll ignore that in favor of the “claiming a place of our own” connotation. ;^)
Back to the *original* point you were making… Our own corner of cyberspace, DeafBlogLand, *ducking Mr Sandman’s tomatoes* is evolving rapidly and I think you and Todd are right in that a synthesis of written English and signed ASL utilized by people who are eloquent, intelligent, and articulate users of both languages would take us to dizzying new heights. L’chaim! To us, the Teeming Millions!