Diario El Pais, Cali,Colombia.
elpais.com.co
Febrero 27, 2004


Descubriendo el fenómeno Weblog y más ...



El español Ignacio Escolar es periodista del medio gráfico y televisivo y referente global del fenómeno weblog.
Su página, www.escolar.net , es una de las más visitadas de todas las disponibles en español.

Ignacio Escolar es periodista freelance especializado en Internet. Colabora, entre otros medios, con El Mundo, Muy Interesante y Geo o Gsmbox.es

Se ocupa de la sección "El Navegante" en los informativos de Telecinco, el único espacio diario de noticias tecnológicas en la televisión española. Mantiene el weblog escolar.net y es el ganador del primer premio de periodismo digital José Manuel Porquet.

Escolar es un personaje muy reconocido en el mundo de los weblogs hispanos. "Con un weblog cualquiera puede comunicar globalmente. Estamos ante una forma de comunicación más parecida al habla que a cualquier otra cosa", dice.

¿Qué es un weblog?

Es una serie de pequeños artículos o comentarios que crean mensajes ordenados cronológicamente con una periodicidad de publicación que no siempre es fija, sino que depende de la voluntad del editor. El público que lee participa en la elaboración del contenido.

Un weblog puede ser unipersonal, colectivo o grupal, hecho por un conjunto de editores; puede ser comunitario, es decir, alimentado por los lectores; o puede ser un “wiki”, caso en el que la diferencia entre el editor y el colaborador se desdibuja totalmente y todos meten mano a la página.

Y como ahora todo el mundo puede comunicarse globalmente y sin tantos inconvenientes, Ignacio Escolar no duda en afirmar que aunque internet ya es un medio de comunicación consolidado, aún falta mucho camino para dejar atrás todas las profecías obsoletas.

El signo $, la nefasta diferencia

Ignacio Escolar ha trabajado en papel, televisión, radio e
Internet. Pero para él lamentablemente, la principal diferencia acaba siendo las nefastas condiciones laborales que, por regla general, padecen los periodistas online, los primos pobres de la profesión.

El perfil del redactor digital

Para Escolar no es necesario que un periodista digital sepa programar, aunque debe tener unos conceptos básicos de lenguaje html y una noción más o menos clara acerca del funcionamiento técnico de internet.

"Eso sí, creo que el periodista que no sabe utilizar el correo electrónico, moverse en internet y buscar información en la Red de forma rápida y eficaz -independientemente de si trabaja para el papel, para la tele o para un diario digital- es hoy un analfabeto", constata.

¿La imagen o el texto?

Este creador de weblogs cree que ambos aspectos son importantes. Hay noticias que se cuentan mejor con imágenes que con palabras y viceversa. Dependiendo de la información hay que primar uno u otro lenguaje.

No al copy-paste

Hace falta que aumente sustancialmente el número de internautas para que las estructuras de negocio permitan pagar redacciones que elaboren información de mejor calidad.

Escolar lamenta que hoy las versiones digitales de los medios tradicionales en lengua española suelan vivir más de las agencias y del papel que de la información propia.

"Cuando el negocio sea mayor, si es que algún día llega a serlo tal y como ahora lo concebimos, llegará el momento en el que las cabeceras digitales sean tan respetadas como las de papel. En el caso de los medios puramente online, hace falta tiempo y dinero", anota.

Cobrar sí, pero lo exclusivo

Este español considera que se debe cobrar, pero no al lector directamente. Al menos no por toda la información. La publicidad paga la información en la radio y en la televisión, y nadie se plantea que estén "regalándo la información".

"Creo que los diarios online de información general de pago, como Elpais.es, están equivocados. El único tipo de información que sí se puede cobrar directamente al lector es aquella valiosísima y exclusiva", agrega.

Por lo cual concluye que la información general, las noticias del día que aparecen repetidas en otras dos mil páginas web, no lo es.

El impacto y futuro de los weblogs

Con los weblogs puede pasar cualquier cosa: modificar el sistema democrático, provocar un cambio sobre la estructura del trabajo y/o la estructura económica, etc.

"Lo importante es que, al incentivar la participación popular, abren una nueva posibilidad de cambio. Y, a medida que la libertad de expresión se practique más y más, la relación entre los gobernantes y los gobernados será otra. En España, por ejemplo, tenemos un pueblito muy chiquito en el que los ciudadanos discuten cada resolución a través de la red", finaliza.

What's up with blogging, and why should you care?

By Dan Farber,Tech Update
February 22, 2004

What's all the fuss about blogging? It looks and smells mostly like writing, self-expression conveyed in a chronological format that invites comments and the inclusion of a variety of media types and links, similar to a Web page or e-newsletter. In fact, blogs (weB LOG) provide a way for non-programmers or HTML jockeys to present their writings, ramblings, diaries, rants, marketing spiel, political advocacy, research or whatever online communication with simple, yet increasingly powerful tools.

Are blog tools and the art of blogging revolutionary? No, but they are clearly superior to antecedent tools for online expression. e a way for non-programmers or HTML jockeys to present their writings, ramblings, diaries, rants, marketing spiel, political advocacy, research or whatever online communication with simple, yet increasingly powerful tools.

Are blog tools and the art of blogging revolutionary? No, but they are clearly superior to antecedent tools for online expression. Radio Userland, TypePad, Moveable Type and Blogger, among others, continue to innovate with new features and presentation capabilities.

Many blogging advocates believe that blogs are the most significant democratizing force since the rise of the Internet itself. Who needs the New York Times if you have access to a mass of literate, informed bloggers. Combine blogs with social networks and presence services (such as instant messaging and global positioning), and you have a new person-to-person, information-sharing connection fabric.

Veteran blogger Glenn Reynolds, describes blogging as "universal publishing."

"Modern technology -- especially the combination of easy Web publishing, cheap Web hosting, and rapidly spreading access to broadband Internet -- means that a single individual can compete with Big Media organizations on a surprisingly equal footing, if he or she picks the area carefully," Reynolds wrote. "While there will be lots of attention given to warblogs and blogs focusing on national politics between now and the Presidential election in the fall, I think that over the long term it's blogs focused on other areas that have the most potential for growth, and for affecting the world on a day to day basis."

If individual blogs compete with established media outlets, so much the better. But, it's less about competition, and more about harnessing the content of blogs as a complement to established media and communications outlets. In fact, the more forward thinking media companies and corporations are integrating internal as well as external blogs into their mix as a way to leverage the immediacy and depth of the blogging world.

Steve Outing of the Poynter Institute says that blogging will bring media Web sites more personal, less institutional voices. "Strong new voices will emerge from the blogging world--they already are. Some will be coerced to take jobs with mainstream media companies; the 'blogosphere' is a great recruiting ground for journalistic talent." says that blogging will bring media Web sites more personal, less institutional voices. "Strong new voices will emerge from the blogging world--they already are. Some will be coerced to take jobs with mainstream media companies; the 'blogosphere' is a great recruiting ground for journalistic talent."

Blogging concepts are also finding their way into enterprise-class, collaborative applications. SilkRoad Technology's Silkblogs combines content management and security features with blog templates for applications such as real-time crisis management. For example, if a company had a fire or security problem, rather than e-mails flying back and forth, all the relevant information could be posted and accessible via a Silkblogs information space. It takes good advantage of the simplicity and journaling framework of blogs as a part of a communications portal.

In the "classic" sense, however, blogging is more personality than application driven. Outing cites personality as the most important attribute of a blogs, followed by insight, humor, serendipity, a narrow focus and great writing. He suggests that local newspapers, for example, could improve their online city guides by cranking up "the trendiness meter" with more edgy, raw, opinionated blogger talk.

Edgy and subjective are in opposition to the more staid, objective leanings of traditional journalism or the needs of corporate communications. It's a culture clash that will require some compromises on both ends of the spectrum.

"If a media conglomerate hires a blogger, then it needs to adjust its culture to accommodate that style of journalism," Outing says. "I think that can be done. Look at Dan Gillmor's tech blog for the SJ Mercury/SiliconValley.com. He gets very opinionated on politics, even though it's a tech feature. However, the tendency for media companies is to have all their journalists adhere to high standards of objectivity, which is antithetical to blogging. I suspect the two will find a way to meet in the middle when it comes to conglomerate-funded blogging."

Similarly, some corporations are supporting the practice of blogging among employees to provide an outlet for creativity, opinion, dialog, as well as propaganda. Microsoft's most well known blogger, Robert Scoble, is a technical evangelist for Longhorn, the next version of Windows. His popular blog is not vetted by Microsoft's guardians of the faith, but he admits to consulting occasionally with public relations to make sure he isn't leaking non-disclosure information.

Importantly, the millions of voices in the blog wilderness are becoming more accessible via RSS (Rich Site Summary) feeds, RSS aggregators> and RSS search engines like Feedster and Technorati. With RSS feeds and trackers, a company can keep track of what the influential, blog-enabled world is saying about its product and services or about a competitor.

Technorati, which is in beta, provides a pulse of the blogging universe by listing links into pages, and ranks pages by freshness and authority. RSS aggregators and search engines offer trackers, or watchlists, which are custom queries updated on a regular basis.

The combination of blogs, RSS and intelligent searching--and future generations of those technologies and concepts-may not be the 21st century equivalent of the Gutenburg printing press, but they will play an increasing important role in forming the opinions that lead to decisions big and small across personal and professional spheres.

You can write to me at dan.farber@cnet.com. If you're looking for my commentaries on other IT topics, check the archives.