understand why people are blogging and using flickr and doing 43things

So, I’ve been reading about how conservative hack Jeff Gannon got a daily press pass and was able to lob softball partisan questions to George W. Bush at his press conference. I’m starting to understand the beauty of this blogging thing… and I’m starting to see what the legitimate bloggers (ie. investigative journalist blogs) can do for the Fourth Estate. These liberal bloggers were able to uncover the identity of the guy and are no doubt on the case to find out how he could have possibly gotten into a press conference without being a journalist from an accredited news organization.

I read background on the story from Salon.com which took me to blogsites like MediaCitizen. And was linked to an NPR story and raw interview here. In the last minute of the raw interview, you can hear Gannon say how journalism isn’t really hard.

I still don’t understand some of the terminology of blogging (like “backtracking”) nor do I completely understand its structure, but I like what these bloggers have done to keep the White House on its toes.

Now, if only the White House can be held accountable.

I have computer knowledge that’s updated to about 1999. I am completely lost when it comes to anything MP3-ish and the purpose of blogging is almost completely incomprehensible to me.

But then I read about 43things.com and there’s something appealing about it to me. I definitely like making lists. And that I can get help or sympathy from other people trying to achieve the similar goals makes it seem less daunting a project.

That said, I don’t get why the time code when I post on 43things.com to livejournal.com is eight hours ahead. I don’t understand why my flickr photos won’t show up here. And I should probably figure out how to link flickr and livejournal, too.