Berkeley Arts & Letters and Berkeley Cybersalon Present

Wednesday, July 29

Salon.com co-founder SCOTT ROSENBERG on

SAY EVERYTHING:

How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, and Why It Matters

“Elegantly accessible . . . This fair and fascinating account should delight.” ¹

You’ve heard all the arguments about blogging, pro and con. Blogs are a wondrous innovation, keys that have unlocked a vast treasury of self-expression and allowed underdogs everywhere to challenge giants. No, wait! Blogs are a scourge that is debasing journalism, undermining traditional authority, drowning us all in meaningless chatter, and destroying civilization as we know it.

Over the last dozen years, while everyone was arguing about blogging, the new medium came into its own. What started as the passion of a handful of geeky pioneers evolved into the pursuit of millions. That is the story Scott Rosenberg tells.

 SAY EVERYTHING chronicles blogging’s unplanned rise and improbable triumph, tracing its impact on politics, business, the media, and our personal lives. What blogging has become, Rosenberg says, is a new kind of public sphere -- one in which we can think out loud together.

• What good is blogging? Why write if only a few people will ever read your words?
• Do blogs encourage us to reveal our true selves or tempt us to experiment with false identities?                                               Is anonymity a boon or a curse? 
• Now that everyone can say everything, how do we find what matters? 
• Who is Justin Hall and why does he loom so large in the history of blogging? And who were the pioneers of political blogging, “mommyblogging,” and other genres of blogging?
• Are blogs destroying traditional journalism—and can blogs replace those outlets?
• Is blogging being eclipsed by social networks like Facebook and Twitter? 
• Is the new phenomenon of “lifelogging,” in which everything we see, hear, and read is automatically recorded for future reference, going to supplant blogging— and would that be a good thing?

Join the conversation with us.

7:30 PM

Berkeley Arts & Letters and Berkeley Cybersalon @

The Hillside Club

2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley

$10. general, $5. Hillside members and students at Brown Paper Tickets

(Tickets at the door pending space available)

Scott Rosenberg is a cofounder of Salon.com, where he long served as managing editor, and is the author of Dreaming in Code

^{1 Kirkus, starred review}

Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard

Scott Rosenberg in Salon

If you missed some of our spring talks, you’ll find a number of them here, at FORA.TV, with more to be posted. Enjoy!

Berkeley Arts & Letters Fall 2009 series:

We are summer-vacationing by putting our fall programs into place.

We hope you’ll share our excitement

when the season’s events are posted later this summer!