Blog

Well, I've finally gone and started a blog. I've worked on the Internet and its predecessors continuously for 30 years, and I never thought I'd see the day that I would want to use something like this. Having been inundated with technology since childhood, I'm a little bit conservative: I still feel print journalism is more useful and relevant than the Web and that we should focus on local media. While I see the benefits, I have tended to look down on blogs. But here I am. I want to talk about issues in the 43rd Ward.

Relevant trivia: Naturally, I know that the BBS was born in Chicago. (I personally got Mayor Daley to issue a proclamation for the 25th anniversary of the BBS.) Dozens of other innovations that are used every day online were developed here and at nearby universities. But I only recently learned that blogging was invented by my old friend Jorn Barger, an ancient fixture in Chicago computer circles and an expert in artificial intelligence theory. He had what he called a web log for his notes on AI, and someone shortened the name to 'blog. Jorn really gets around, so I wasn't too surprised that I didn't know. But I was surprised when I mentioned this to his ex-roommate last night and he didn't know!