Blog Speech

Speech 9
Speak with persuasion
Mr Toastmaster, fellow members and guests.
To blog or not to blog?
That is the question.
Whether 'it's nobler to sit down at your computer and write an internet diary
Or better to keep your thoughts to yourself and avoid hassles with cranks predators and your boss
Forgive my tinkering with Shakespeare, but I believe that little speech sums up nicely the dilemma facing many Australians as we move into the 21st century.
Blogs - web logs - are becoming increasingly popular as more and more households connect to the internet.
Bloggers - people who write blogs - pour out their thoughts on subjects ranging from their family pets to the middle east, from surfing to origami.
But to some critics this is a dangerous business.
They say keeping a blog exposes you to the possibility of being stalked by a sexual predator; that you will be pestered by weirdos who will abuse you about your posts; that you will regret revealing intimate thoughts on-line; that you will be sacked if you keep a blog that mentions work.
Some of those of statements have a grain of truth in them, but blogging can be a overwhelmingly positive experience. Being a blogger can bring a richness to your life and become an outlet for self expression.
I'd like to tell you why all of us should consider keeping a blog.
If you're not familiar with where blogs came from let me give you a quick potted history.
Blogs are part of the internet, the worldwide network of computers that most of us now rely on to send and receive emails, trade goods on eBay and keep abreast with the latest news.
The net had its roots in the late 1960s when an Amercian government agency called ARPA developed a small linked network of computers.
Other organisations slowly followed suit and by the early 1980s universities began linking their together. The internet as we know it, linking continents open to commerical use, evolved from the early 1990s.
Most sources agree that the first blogs - then called on-line diaries - evolved about 1994. One of the first bloggers was Justine Hall, a university student who in the mid-1990s began writing regularly about video games.
The first sites were poorly read and early blog writers were often considered a little eccentric - geeky if you like.
But slowly the fad began to gather steam.
In 1997 the term web log was coined by a controversial diary writer called John Barger. This was quickly abrieviated to blog.
As internet use grew, blogs started attracting immense amounts of traffic. Popular writers began getting millions of visitors and the image of the blogger became cooler.
Over the past five years there has been an explosion in blog writing. Web hosts such as myspace and blogspot have made it simple to start a blog. You just hop on the internet, visit their sites, follow a few prompts and within five minutes you're blogging. You have your own site where you can paste pictures and text. Net users can then visit your blog and leave comments.
To give you an example on how much blogging has exploded one American blog site Xanga had 100 web diaries in 1997 compared to 50,000,000 in 2005.
Myspace has just launched in Australia and this is expected to prompted hundreds of thousands more Australians to begin experimenting with blogs.
I have a personal blog I've been playing with for about three or four months. Through my work I am also due to start a blog dealing with issues related to science.
Opponents of blogs will tell you they are dangerous things.
Because blogs are in a public forum and available for anyone to read, it's true parents should teach their kids to be weary of approaches by visitors to their sites.
Kids should not meet anyone they've talked to over the web without parental supervision.
Similiarly, bloggers can find themselves visited for the odd ratbag who uses abusive language. Like driving on the road, there are idiots on the net and they're best ignored.
Another tip is to be cautious of the way you describe your work. On a few occasions bloggers have been sacked for identifying the company they work for and talking about it in an unflattering way.
And of course, don't discuss personal things on the net if you're not happy with them being out there in the public domain.
But despite a small downside I would urge everyone to consider writing a blog.
Why?
It's free and and it's fun.
Just like a diary you can be as expressive as you want. You can blow off steam on something that irritates you or sing the praises of a pleasant experience.
You can review the local restaurant or a film you liked. You can support your football team or favourite band.
You can post pictures of your favourite surfing spots as I do on my blog or your child's art work or your visions for a space station.
You can talk about going to the ship or tell readers how you'd make the world a better place.
You may only have two or three or a dozen people who read your blog. And there's nothing wrong with that. It can be a way of keeping friends posted on what you're doing.
But if it grows you may have readers across the country and the world. You could meet friends and learn about other cultures.
If your blog becomes popular you may have the opportunity to influence public opinion. It's the ultimate form of self-expresion.
So to be blog or not to blog?
I say be a part of a positive and dynamic social trend and blog away!