What is blogging? A newsletter story.
Posted on: May 22, 2010
Who all has ever read a newsletter? I mean a tried-and-true, got-it-in-the-mail newsletter? I may have touched one, once. I think I may have even read a few articles from it. But I’ve read plenty of blogs or e-newsletters. The funny thing is, isn’t the digital version exactly the same as the original?
My bubbie (Polish/Yiddish/Jewish version of saying “grandma”) told me of her amateur printer’s club. She writes a story, mails it in, and a month or so later gets it, and a bunch of other people’s stories, mailed back to her. I mean snail-mail here. She swears by the tactility of holding her newsletter. Also, the only computer in her house is a laptop my father brings with him when he visits her, so even if the younger members of the club made a royal ruckus to get rid of the physical newsletter, called a “bundle,” and just go digital, she still couldn’t participate. She’s not alone either. There are a few members of her club that don’t own computers. (Don’t freak out. Yes, there are still people like that out there.)
And there is a digital component already. Many of the younger members just e-mail the newsletter around. Personally, I think they should all just have a mutual blogroll or a group on LiveJournal. The little stories they send back and forth and print for their newsletters are really just blog posts. In fact, this article, yeah, the one you are reading right now, will probably be Bubbie’s entry for this next round of stories, edited slightly. I suppose I’ll get the thrill of seeing my name in print.
If you are like me, then when I said that a blog and a physical newsletter are the same thing, you probably went, “Nuhuh! I can add to my blog all the time, I can comment on other blogs and respond to comments on mine. Completely different!”
I said that to Bubbie. Her response? She explained to me that that is exactly what she does with her newsletter, only via the mail. She writes responses to other stories, which get included in the bundle. The authors can reply to her in the next bundle. As for the time-factor, she told me she can send in stories as often as she wants and not be limited in number. Of course, it is at the speed of the US Postal Service.
What really got me, however, was that online or offline, e-mailed or blogroll, this amateur printers association would probably look just the same. The only difference is that the elderly folk, like Bubbie, wouldn’t be able to participate with computers. I almost have to ask who would win in a situation without the “bundles.” Probably the computer manufactuerers.
