Convention Retrospective, part 1

Okay, here we go.  Back in our seat in Blogger’s Row, where fistfights
are about to break out over seating space. Part of the problem is that
the joint is absolutely packed to the rafter’s for this, the final night
of the Convention, the frenzied build-up to the Kerry acceptance speech
rocking the joint with manic energy. The other reason, we suspect, is that word has leaked out that we have the only functioning, publicly accessable Wi-Fi web in the Hall. There are sure a lot more than 35 laptops up here on Blogger’s Row tonight.

We have notes for a good half dozen
posts waiting in our notebook, the prose is flowing, but we are dead
on our feet and fading fast. On the way into the hall we were mesmerized
by a line of slot machines along one side of a main concourse.  Wow!
When did they legalize THOSE babies in the Commonwealth? Turns out they
were Compaq flat screen email stations. So before things get out of hand,
lets get to the blogging!

As a member of the Freshman Class of Major Party Nominating Conventions,
we would like to take this moment to do a little meta-blogging, and comment
on the effects of having blogger here, their success or failure, and
what it all means. What better place than here in the placid eye of the
political hurricane, guarding our seat at Ground
Zero, to get a little perspective from the whole thing and sum it up
in a few rash generalizations.

First of all, the various aggregators set up to collect and collate
all of the postings from the convention bloggers (some including bloggers
on the outside) have been performing an invaluable service both to the
bloggers and their readers. Personally, I like the one set up by Dave
Winer, called Convention
Bloggers. We love being able to check up on what everyone else is
posting as we all sit here staring at our screens, and you get a wonderful
kaleidoscope of views on each of the speakers as they parade on stage.
The strange and secret process used by the Convention organizers to select
the Bloggers has yielded a true variety of political positions, blogging
styles and levels of seriousness.

The buzz around the Row is that for the really astute political analyses
and cutting irreverence for which blogger are known we will have to wait
until next week, after the pundits have had time to digest, reflect,
sleep and then in the peace and solitude in which they are accustomed
to work, tell us all what it meant. We hope the aggregators are still
up and running next week.

In fact, we hope the aggregators are still up and running a MONTH from
now, during the REPUBLICAN Convention. The Republicans will be having
Bloggers, too. However, instead of soliciting applications, they have
hand picked and invited about 20 individuals who they feel will fit right
in.

We doubt that many of the Bloggers here will also be among the anointed
20 in NYC, although Dave Winer is
reporting that Jay
Rosen has been invited.  On
the other hand, we are sure this crew, political junkies all, will have
a
lot to
say
about
the
Republican
gab
fest in
5 weeks, and it would be fascinating to follow their comments and comparisons
as they watch along on cable TV.

Plus, we absolutely MUST add the invited Republican bloggers to the
list.  How fascinating to read and integrate what they write with
what the bloggers who had been in Boston will write.

The possibilities for using aggregation to collect and juxtapose information
streams from otherwise independent sources are staggering and expanding
as fast as people can think.