# Conference call about democracy and the emergent behavior of blogs

- Author: Joichi Ito
- Date: 2003-02-12T19:41:16Z


I'm going to miss Live from Blogosphere where Doc says they will talk about all of the stuff rippling out of Clay Shirky's comments about blogs and the power laws. Drat. I'm in Tokyo... AND I need to write a paper this weekend. I want to write about democracy and the emergent behavior of blogs. So, I have a plan which may or may not work. I am going to set up a phone bridge for 7am Tokyo time tomorrow morning. You can see what time that is where you live from this table. If you're interested in joining me in my quest for some answers and some thoughts, send me email including your real name, any IM accounts you use and your phone number and I will send you the bridge number and a passcode. I promise I will upload my notes here.

I am particularly interested in emergent behavior of blogs, is there a higher level order developing in blogs because of their 2-way linking nature? How should we measure and visualize this behavior? Are power laws relevant to this line of thinking? Will this change the nature of democracy and media? If so, how?

I know this, short notice, self-centered mini-conference is a bit... well, selfish, but this is an experiment in whether I can use real-time voice to make up for my physical distance from y'all.





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Blogging about Blogging