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Blogs are a familiar feature on the internet - where users post content in an accumulating manner, with comments, and search options, etc. They facilitate expression and exploration, and via attached comments, also debate and synthesis.


Reading and
Navigating Blogs

Our blogs are quite powerful. Each writer can post, as is typically the case. Sustainers who have the option can also post, however. All Blogs appear in the blog system, and sometimes also in content boxes the top page of ZNet - and always via the left menu of the top page - and can be found via searches, etc.

Commenting on blogs follows the blogs, attached at the bottom, and blog comments, like all others, are also visible in many places that show comments including in the forum system. In addition, the entire blog system gathers content for everyone - but one can look at the accumulating content in many ways.

  • For example one can look at one writer's efforts - so one is seeing what is effectively a blog system for that one writer, or Sustainer.
  • One can also look at the content by topic, seeing blogs that are tagged as being about a certain topic - or place, as well. Thus, when doing that, it is a blog system about a topic, or a place, with many contributors.
  • One can look at only writer blogs, or only sustainer blogs, as well.
  • One can look at blogs for particular Groups, too.

All this is easily done using the left menu. Searches allow even more variables and refinements.


Creating Blog Posts

If you are a Sustainer with permission, and are logged in, you will see a link in the left menu for you to post a blog - and you can use that to post one, and then tag it various ways (such as with a topic or place, or a group tag), and once you do, it is in the system with you as the author.

You can also use the console button to the left to post a blog - anytime and from anywhere in the site, as long as you are logged in.

Meanwhile, enjoy the blogs - and, by the way, if you are a Free Member or a Sustainer with a ZSpace page, of course you can put one or more content boxes on it, pulling blog links of any sort you may want to filter for, for example, by you or by your friends or by others - and by topic, about places, for groups, etc.

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Justin George's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/movingpast
Bio: Hi, I live in Melbourne, Australia, and I think I first came across Znet courtesy of the linear notes of a Propagandhi album along time ago. Soon after that Michael Albert gave a talk at my univer... (More)

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ZSpace and ZSpacers

By Justin George at Feb 07, 2008

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From my surfing around the new ZNet, ZSpace in particular, Ive felt a certain cautiousness from people's profiles and writings. So I thought Id write about it and put it out there for others. It feels that people are being somewhat guarded in revealing much about themselves, their thoughts and feelings about day to day life. I understand that there could be several reasons for this, some of the few I could think of include-
  • That new ZNet features are still being introduced and hence people are perhaps holding off on involving themselves with the new systems until they are fully operational;
  • that ZNet being a site of serious political, social and economic analysis and discussion that people are limiting contributions to only issues of importance in such areas;
  • It could that people who use ZNet have lives that are only dominated by such concerns and that their writings on such topics truly reflect their thoughts and feelings on a daily basis;
  • Users see ZNet as a website for their social justice actions and writings and use other websites such as Myspace or Facebook for socialising and personal expression;
  • ZSpace does not yet have enough active users and so any perceived reservations on users behalves is an illusion due to smaller numbers than expected.
  • None or all of the above
Im not desiring to know the intricate details of people's lives and feelings (though if people do want to share I encourage them), nor am I desiring everyone on ZSpace to become great friends. What Im sensing (and this could very well be my insecurities projected onto the mostly nameless and faceless Z users) is a self-censoring, a relative silence when it comes to communicating and expressing themselves in more personal, daily ways.

While this isnt problematic by itself as such, considering that ZSpace is mostly a means for political and activist engagement, I do think that a large part of the success of other social networking sites such as Facebook is partly due to them providing forums for people to express themselves and share their thoughts and feelings in a safe but public way. So I think that the ultimate success of ZSpace and the many new features on ZNet is predicated on people becoming comfortable sharing themselves (in whatever capacity they deem appropriate) to create an engaged online community, which I feel requires interaction beyond polite notes and the semi-regular posting of involved political writings.
Not because such things are unimportant or not welcome, but because such actions are always filtered parts of our self, requiring time to create, leaving quiet voids in activity on ZSpace as people scurry away for a few days to write something they hope is worthy to sit next to the latest Chomsky article. Which again is all applaudable and I will be doing the same myself, but to attract people to ZSpace it needs to feel exciting, to have a buzz of activity associated with it, to be welcoming and personable, to allow people to see that activists and Leftists have fun, can joke and chat about the mundane just as much as they can about an ideology or world crisis. 
ZSpace is exciting in that it has the potential to achieve a balance- that thoughtful, concerned people can share an essay or discuss an issue but also talk about a favourite band or sport or movie. Facebook and the like are somewhat vacuous because they lack any real concern about ways to improve our world, and ZSpace and its users should be mindful not to compensate too much in the other direction, providing only in-depth blogs on the various problems in today's societies. For doing that misses that enjoyment and fun are part of our movement and in many ways why we seek social change. ZSpace offers ways to engage with people new to the wider movement and provides a means to engage with progressive ideas, actions and people hopefully in a welcoming way, allowing involvement at their own pace. What I hope to see is a balance of creating a true sense of community and an exchanging political works.

Thats why Im excited about ZSpace, in that I hope to make bonds with people struggling to change the crappy nature of the world, and learning not only from them but also about them. I hope to feel part of a community of people moving towards better ways of living and I think for that to be a success we need to embrace the resource/tool of ZSpace rather than feel intimidated or limited by it and hence only posting essays and articles.
I hope my feelings are due to ZSpace being new, and I have already started interacting and engaging with people around the globe, but I thought Id share my thoughts and hope that it might spark people to correct my perceptions if Im mistaken, or misunderstanding the purpose of ZSpace or if Im right to encourage others to share and embrace the possibilities.

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Cat

Re: ZSpace and ZSpacers

By Cat, Tolstoys at Feb 10, 2009 18:54 PM

Ah Justin,

I will personally validate most of those bulleted items you have noted. I won't publish things, yet, that I have wanted to publish. "Letters to my nephew" for example.

It is so easy for me to speak my mind or say whtever I want on a site where I can care less about the opinions of people. Oh so hard to put forth ideas on a site where I care what anyone thinks about me.

I hope that you put some of this into the Z Consumer's Coucil group. It's basically why I made my suggestions for more "connected" forums. Getting to know one's comrades is important.

Let me say, this post has not been without difficulty!

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Re:

By George, Justin at Feb 11, 2009 06:11 AM
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Cat, its appreciated. I hope to read some more of your writings someday. I'll consider reposting this for ZCC discussion. I'm amazed that ZSpace is a year old, doesn't seem that long ago when I wrote this :D I hope that it continues to grow and we all can network and get to know each other better, I think it makes things more enjoyable and it improves the quality of the work All the best!

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Re: ZSpace and ZSpacers

By George, Justin at Feb 10, 2008 06:10 AM

Hi Jamie,

I agree with your comments, I think I wasnt as clear I wanted to be in my blog. What I was hoping to convey with my blog was that I hope that just because ZNet\'s core is superb political and social commentary and analysis, that people not  feel that only such discussion is warranted, welcomed, encouraged.

I think that while we\'re politically engaged, people are more than just political analysis. I especially feel that the \'Left\' in general needs to connect with the \'average\' person not involved with progressive politics in any meaningful way, which like Albert has written, means that the we on the Left have to be more engaging with everyday interests, and connecting with people on things that they care about such as a football game, a crappy boss etc. Hence I hope that ZSpace users can show that there are other aspects of themselves, of their lives that they can express and share and relate back to their political and social perspective. I would assume that most users share the same core perspectives as ZNet in some form and interact with the world via such values, perspectives and ideas. So my blog was more intended to address the need for people involved in radical politics to share some of the \'everyday\' thoughts, activities, feelings they experience as a means of not only creating an online community on ZNet but also as a means of engaging with people not already involved in radical politics. So what I was trying to express was that such efforts at community building are a way to expand our political activism and movements.

I appreciate your comments and I think its great that we now how the means to interact and talk about such things with each other online with these great new features. I hope we can talk more

Cheers

Justin

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Hi

By Sw, Jamie at Feb 09, 2008 08:38 AM

I suppose it\'s about what people expect from the site. I come to Znet primarily for the superb political and social commentary and analysis. What makes Z different to sites like MySpace and Facebook is that we have a lots of well-informed progressive thinkers and activists who log on each day to read the likes of Chomsky, Podur etc. The great potential of the new interactive features of the site - the blogging system, the forums, and so on - is that they can enable all these individual activists and commentators to begin talking to each other and thus develop a community full of interesting political thought and critique. That\'s what I would like to see ZSpace become. Right now things are a bit quiet, with not enough comments on articles and blogs and in the forums, but I hope that will change as more people sign up and existing subscribers get to grips with the new site features.

As for the things you mention above: I personally am not particularly interested in having a community of people to talk to about non-political issues. I suspect many people are, though, and this will in any case come about as a natural comcomitant to the development of the community more generally. People who enjoy discussing political issues will develop a personal relationship and start talking about other things as well.

So, I agree with you that it is important to develop a sense of community. I think the community here will develop primarily on the basis of political discussion and activism, but will inevitably (if it gets large enough, that is) develop the kind of Facebook/MySpace social networking aspects you discuss above as well.

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