Just a Gwai Lo fun within prescribed limits http://justagwailo.com/node/4058/atom/feed 2007-03-19T07:30:04-07:00 Without Any Specialized Knowledge http://justagwailo.com/filter/2005/03/19/outsiders 2005-03-19T13:25:40-08:00 2007-03-19T07:30:04-07:00 Richard Maki: “Growing up, I've always been one of the "other": not white, not "really" American, not even African American, not a man, certainly not Swiss, and not even "really" Japanese. Therefore, I suppose that my tolerence level for being excluded, intentionally or not, is rather high. Now, I admit that I used to care a lot more about this, and so I pushed myself to participate a lot more in the mainstream of at least the Web Design Community. Nowadays because my focus has changed, both professionally and personally, I don't care nearly as much, and I write whatever I feel like, especially on this site. I can certainly understand the frustration of feeling excluded from something. Nevertheless, I can't help feeling uncomfortable with the sometimes strident clamour about these issues, and for creating more and more groups and subgroups of "what's in" as defined by a few.”

Maki is talking about articles suggesting that men dominate blogging and points to Rebecca Blood's notes about actual research showing that if men make up a majority of bloggers, it is a bare majority. Maki writes more about being an outsider in general, and as Bill James writes about 'inside baseball', it's not necessarily better being an insider or an outsider, but different. It's probably a fair statement that a large minority (possibly even a majority) of bloggers are outsiders to the subjects they discuss. I certainly include myself in that group, talking about grime or dating without any specialized knowledge of or without much experience in the subject. That doesn't stop me, and nor should it, really. I have opinions on things just like everybody else does, and they are reflected more in what I point to than what I actually come out and say, because it's easier for me to let people call bullshit on them than it is to let people call bullshit on me.

]]> Maki: “Growing up, I've always been one of the "other": not white, not "really" American, not even African American, not a man, certainly not Swiss, and not even "really" Japanese. Therefore, I suppose that my tolerence level for being excluded, intentionally or not, is rather high. Now, I admit that I used to care a lot more about this, and so I pushed myself to participate a lot more in the mainstream of at least the Web Design Community. Nowadays because my focus has changed, both professionally and personally, I don't care nearly as much, and I write whatever I feel like, especially on this site. I can certainly understand the frustration of feeling excluded from something. Nevertheless, I can't help feeling uncomfortable with the sometimes strident clamour about these issues, and for creating more and more groups and subgroups of "what's in" as defined by a few.”

Maki is talking about articles suggesting that men dominate blogging and points to Rebecca Blood's notes about actual research showing that if men make up a majority of bloggers, it is a bare majority. Maki writes more about being an outsider in general, and as Bill James writes about 'inside baseball', it's not necessarily better being an insider or an outsider, but different. It's probably a fair statement that a large minority (possibly even a majority) of bloggers are outsiders to the subjects they discuss. I certainly include myself in that group, talking about grime or dating without any specialized knowledge of or without much experience in the subject. That doesn't stop me, and nor should it, really. I have opinions on things just like everybody else does, and they are reflected more in what I point to than what I actually come out and say, because it's easier for me to let people call bullshit on them than it is to let people call bullshit on me.

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