What is this?

The term blog is a contraction, actually more like a double contraction, of the term Web log. For many it is a personal journal; for some, a professional endeavor. Most of the big newspapers have online editions that include a collection of blogs. They look a lot like op-ed columns. For me this blog is a hobby that falls somewhere in between. It is a hobby that I hope satisfies a public need, albeit a very local public need. And because it is a hobby, by definition, I do it because I enjoy it. Like most of the hobbies from my past, if it stops being fun, I simply won't do it anymore.

I have been told that I am competing with our local newspaper. I find this hard to believe. This undertaking has no paid staff and makes zero dollars. It has never been my intent to compete with the newspaper. In fact, I have been complimentary to the paper and may even have referred some readers. My blog includes a link to their online edition and I have sometimes deferred to their in-depth coverage of an issue that I only had the time and resources to scratch the surface of. Other times, I have covered stories that, it seems, they have had no interest in covering. In a way, I am a supplement to the newspaper, a sort of front-end supplement. By that I mean, since the Internet gives me the means to provide up-to-the-minute coverage of breaking news, and the local paper is a weekly, I can break a story and tell my readers that they can expect to read more about it when the paper comes out. That's an odd way to compete.

So let me declare it right now: I am not competing with the Yellow Springs News; I intend them no harm; and I urge you to read the paper every week! If you don't have a subscription, get one right now! I believe you can even do it online. If they think I am competition, they can easily start their own blog. If I am dragging them kicking and screaming into the 21^st century, perhaps I have provided an additional service to the community. Someday, we are all going to get our news this way. And on another someday, even more advanced technology will supplant this way of delivering news. That's life in the computer age.

There was an interesting article in the online edition of the New York Times, yesterday: 'Hyperlocal' Web Sites Deliver News Without Newspapers. It all boils down to how to make a buck out of reporting the news. It seems the guy who has no interest in making money off something has always been a threat.