JezCollins

My main interest is in music and how popular music gives rise to cultural identity and can be seen as means of cultural memory. This means being immersed in music and music culture which inevitably means knowing about ' music scenes'. These are often organised around location, shared or similar likes or genres of music. So for example the Heavy Metal scene in Birmingham was grouped around a core group of musicians in the city, playing at a number of venues who attracted an audience who identified themselves through the music, the clothes etc. 

So what to make of the title of this post? Has it come to come to pass that we now have blogging scenes based on location, similar interests or subjects. Is blogging the new rock 'n' roll?

The opportunities afforded by the internet to create local scenes around shared, and sometimes disparate, subjects and to share individual and collective thoughts with a wide range of audiences can lead to cities being defined by the activity of its blogging and online activity. In the scramble for post-industrial cities to position themselves in the global marketplace, connectivity across the spectrum – individual, communal, business, civic and so on – is seen as a key tool. It tells us that the city is forward thinking, aware of the paradigm shifts in communication technologies and a place to ‘do business’.

On the surface, Birmingham has a small but very active and visible blogging scene. From the self reverential Birmingham It’s Not Shit (www.birminghamitsnotshit.co.uk/) and it’s originator Jon Bounds who has several online personas, to Podnosh’s (Nick Booth) http://podnosh.com/ which works with third sector and local councils and his Social Media Surgeries (http://socialmediasurgery.com/) to utilize social media effectively for social improvement. Birmingham is also home to Created In Birmingham (http://www.createdinbirmingham.com/) a local blogsite that aggregator creative and cultural activity in the city to highlight the cultural offer. Such has been the success that is has now resulted in the creation of a physical shop where local practitioners sell their work. There is also Karen Strunks, a local photographer, Karen started the 4am project (http://4amproject.org/)  where like minded people photographed Birmingham at, well, 4am. The 4am project concept is now being taken to New York due to its success and the ability of people from across the world to actually see the photographs on the social sharing site Flickr and take their own at 4am (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/4amproject).

These are just the tip of the active community who often have network and social events, Birmingham Social Media Café and Brum Bloggers being just two of these. There is some anecdotal evidence that shows these communities of blogging activity have raised the profile of Birmingham in other, mainly European, perspectives.

I would however like to end this brief introduction to Birmingham’s blogging scene by highlighting that I believe there is much more research to be done to understand who is blogging and why and what is the reach and connectivity in the city itself. It is my contention that the opportunities offered by the internet are not as widely available as is often advertised and that there are large portions of the city who are excluded from contributing to the ‘scene’ for numerous reasons. I’d welcome comments and thoughts on this and hopefully we can start to explore this in the weeks to come.