Two initial observations about BlogHer:

1) This is, bar none, the best swag bag I’ve ever received at a conference. It came with a thumb drive, which I needed since I lost my last one. Awesome.

2) In the opening remarks, one of the organizers said “everyone is a journalist here.” I will be interested to see what implications that has on participation in the various discussions. Even though they said that people shouldn’t write about/photograph/identify people who don’t want to be, the tone of what she said was there’s no reasonable expectation of anonymity here.

Check Cunning Minx’s site for a recap of dinner last night, where the sex bloggerati congregated to discuss planting undercover agents in the Republican Party to perform reconnaissance missions. Just kidding. Or am I?

They were doing some sort of speed dating schmoozing activity, which I just couldn’t handle, so I went off to the side to blog. Here we are avoiding socializing:



Photo by hyku

10:30, moving on…now we’re going to Always Aroused Girl’s session called “Digital Exhibitionists or Chroniclers of Their Time: Will Naked Bloggers Make History?”

Update 10:54 a.m. Discussion in the Digital Exhibitionists session centering around blogging as an exercise in providing an anthropological record. I agree that it is (or can be) extremely valuable, but I may play devil’s advocate in a second and bring a counter argument. That being, people are usually only presenting a limited window into their personality on a blog, and one that they want people to see at that. Anybody concerned about this providing a distorted view of history? Will let you know what people say when it’s time for audience participation.

Update 11:09 a.m. Audience participation starting. The session is good, but being dictated to the audience too much thus far. Hopefully this will change in the second half.

Update 11:12 a.m. Woman behind us brings the proper counter-argument to my counter argument with an interesting anecdote: that sometimes as a mommy blogger she feels like throwing her baby out the window. That’s not what you’d read in a parenting book, but it’s how she felt. She’s “telling her own damn story” instead of someone reconstructing it later.

Update 11:19 a.m. Blast from the past: the Sarcastic Journalist is in this session. Her husband Brian used to comment here all the time. She was fired from her job for blogging. Her advice is you’re never really anonymous on the Internet.

“It is not fun explaining at a job interview that I called my boss (expletive) (expletive) (expletive).”

Update 11:39 a.m. Discussion of blogs breaking stereotypes. Woman from Culture Kitchen talks about experience of people saying how dare you, as one of the most popular Latino bloggers, come out as an atheist. “Religion’s a big deal in this country.”

Update 11:46 a.m. Someone asked a question very similar to the counter-argument I had in mind. One of the panelists, who is a documentary filmmaker and not a blogger, answered, “none of these personal records are complete because people censor themselves and want to talk about some things and not others.”

So, yeah, call it a valuable piece of the story but not the whole story.

Update 11:48 a.m. “Racial conversations have a stopping point.” People get to a certain point and move on. She is called “exotic” by many people, and doesn’t consider it a compliment. She will keep talking about race until people quit calling her that.

Update 11:52 a.m. FYI, discussion has shifted to being entirely audience-driven. Good.

Update 11:59 a.m. Session over. Off to lunch? Prize drawing?

Update 1:31 p.m. Finished lunch in the main ballroom, where sex clubs and fisting were among the topics of discussion. Now we’re in “Privacy, Exposure and Risk: Can You Maintain Safer Spaces Online?”

Update 1:42 p.m. Tara mentioned that her whole life is online, that she’s benefited from that, and isn’t worried about the risks. I’ve also found the benefits of being open about my blog to outweigh the risks. My employer knows about my blog, and as long as I don’t mention anything about them or their clients, they don’t care. See: SJ’s point earlier.

Susie Bright: “Being out there is one of the best defenses you have. … it makes it harder for people to twist your words or blackmail you.”

Update 1:49 p.m. SB: Safety as a euphemism for dissent. In the 70s, if someone said “you’re making me feel unsafe, it often meant I don’t agree with you and I’m trying to shut you up.”

Susie is weary of people talking about “safe spaces” on the internet. I see why Amber thinks so much of her now. She is very, very sharp.

Update 1:54 p.m. SB: “I feel like women are encouraged to stay offline because of this fear.”

Susie encourages people to have thicker skin, says that most bullies are full of it.

Update 2:01 p.m. Audience member who is a journalist: if someone says I want to cut off your head and pee down your throat on your blog, it’s one thing. But it’s a whole other thing when it’s attached to your home address.

Where is the line between don’t be intimidated and what is a real threat? Panelist says the line is the law.

Update 2:04 p.m. Panelist says chances of threat materializing are practically non-existent, but there is the slightest chance. Same audience member had an online stalker, said the only way she got rid of him was to have a security consultant approach him and tell him to back off.

Update 3:07 p.m. Susie Bright: trolls thrive on attention. Cut the attention off, and they whither.

Update 3:11 p.m. What will a mommy blogger’s kid think about being blogged after they’re old enough to understand what’s happening? Good question.

That transitioned back into a question about children’s safety online, and a couple of people mentioning that something bad is exponentially more likely to happen to a child in the mall or the grocery store than on MySpace. But the media fixates on MySpace.

Update 2:20 p.m. From a mom who writes a blog about postpartum depression: “No one will derail me from my cause. I don’t give a crap what they say.” … “If these people (employers) are going to judge you, you don’t want to work with them anyway.”

To discuss her condition honestly, she needed to share some dark thoughts she had, she said, including wanting to throw her child out the window.

Update 2:26 p.m. SB: “Sometimes we face people who are on a crusade to shut you up.” … “but I’d say 90 percent of what we face with online bullying has to do with jealousy.” … “I think (jealousy) is the secret emotion behind this.”

Panelist disagrees, says she thinks it’s mostly boredom.

Update 2:32 p.m. Blogger from Wired magazine talks about a blogger who didn’t get hired because someone who read their blog thought they’d be divisive after reading. Turns out the person hired instead was crappy.

It’s the company’s loss, but it should also be a cautionary tale because some people don’t have job options like this particular blogger did.

Update 2:34 p.m. Member of the audience talking about becoming an accidental public figure. Be prepared to be on the front page of the business section of the New York Times if you’re wiling to put yourself out there.

Update 2:40 p.m. Tara talking about hoping we can cut the crap and be ourselves. If everybody were open and honest, then there wouldn’t be a stigma on people who are.

Update 2:43 p.m. Session ending soon, people packing up. Need to get my laptop charger back from Dave.

Update 3:13 p.m. Finally made it to the session on “Does blogging need an intolerance intervention?” but got sidetracked on my way here. This is the part where you call off the revolution, I guess. I went looking for a bathroom and went the wrong way, walking down a long hall. There were restrooms, but they were locked. Then I saw that several birds had made their way into the building, and they looked funny splashing around in a water fountain, so I took a few photos of them that I’ll post to Flickr in a few minutes.

Once I got a photo I was satisfied with, I realized I’d been gone for a few minutes and thought I should head back for the session, but I looked outside and there was Navy Pier, with several gorgeous sites that I wanted to photograph. Those will also go to Flickr in a few minutes.

I’m falling down on the job blogging this session, but I’m glad I got outside. The weather was crappy this morning, but it’s beautiful out now.

Update 3:37 p.m. Photos uploaded! Click my Navy Pier tag to see more. They’re just cell phone photos, so I can’t quite rationalize making a whole set for them yet. Here’s a sample:

Navy Pier

Update 3:54 p.m. I have found myself unable to tune in this session after frolicking around outside on the pier. There was a beer garden out there, and a live band to go with the aforementioned beautiful weather.

Somebody may as well have waved a shiny in front of my face, and I may as well be staring at it slack-jawed, pawing at it.

Update 4 p.m. One woman in the back just talked about how a troll on her site had tried to use Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer for political gain, and that that was the last straw that forced her to ban him from her site.

She said she “used to be a first amendment absolutist,” but isn’t anymore after that experience. I think people often confuse moderating their own site with freedom of speech. You’re not free to come to my house and shit in my pool. You are, however, free to install a pool at your own house and shit in it. I think community moderation policies and freedom of speech issues are sometimes confused incorrectly.

Update 4:43 p.m. Chilling in the Yahoo Internet café. Think I’m done with sessions and blogging for the day. Dinner tonight at 8.