![\"herald\"](\"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/herald.jpg\")
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In preparation for TBEX 2013 (the Travelblog Exchange conference in Toronto, Canada)\u00a0 I’ve been rereading some things I wrote about blogging and the state of travel writing online. I’ve compiled that stuff here — all vanity links, all inside baseball —\u00a0 so if you’re curious about where I stand, this collection of essays pretty much spells it out. I want more readers. I see this as fundamentally different than traffic. Traffic is an anonymous clot of vehicles on the information superhighway. Readers, they\u2019re hanging out at diner counters on the back roads of the internet. Yeah, it\u2019s kind of a clunky metaphor. I\u2019m okay with that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Competing with Astronauts<\/a><\/p>\n Neil\u00a0Armstrong\u00a0walked on the moon, for the love of god, and I think it was a big deal that I went trekking in Ladakh? What is the matter with me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shift<\/a> (The comments on this post are aces.If you bother to read it, read the discussion, too.)<\/p>\n It may surprise you to learn that I don\u2019t think the problem is with sponsorships (or press trips). I think it\u2019s with the work that results from those sponsorships. It\u2019s in that shift from making readers happy to making sponsors happy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am Not a Brand<\/a><\/p>\n But wow, a lot of people are walking around convinced that they do want to sell you something, and that product is their musings on the world, perhaps, in digital format. They would like to sell you their audience especially if you are a potential advertiser, though I would argue that an audience is not yours to sell, they are your garden to tend.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ask Me About Art<\/a><\/p>\n 15 years later \u2013 albeit with some digressions into commercial experiments \u2014 these are still my goals. Write. Get better. Share. Make art. I am first and foremost an artist, writing and blogging is my medium. I still do it for art.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Image: NY Herald composing and linotype room, 1902, Library of Congress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In preparation for TBEX 2013 (the Travelblog Exchange conference in Toronto, Canada)\u00a0 I’ve been rereading some things I wrote about blogging and the state of travel writing online. I’ve compiled that stuff here — all vanity links, all inside baseball —\u00a0 so if you’re curious about where I stand, this collection of essays pretty much … <\/p>\n
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\nStubbornly Clinging to the Organic Web<\/a><\/p>\n