I had one of those meetings today that you come away from feeling very pensive. Plenty of things to think about, almost all about myself.

I had agreed to meet with Dr Adam Reed, a guy from the University of Surrey who has been interviewing a lot of people who keep online diaries. David put him on to me, and from looking at the impressive list of links on his site it seems he has met just about every online journal keeper in London.

We sat around his tape recorder on the grass in Soho Square for an hour and a half while he asked me questions about why I write this site, how much it relates to the ‘real’ me and how I felt I fit in with the rest of the blogging ‘community’. Now, looking back on it, a few things are clearer in my mind.

• I have one rule when writing my journal that is more important than any other: never address the audience. Always write for yourself. If you are the only intended audience then talking to that audience means talking to yourself - the first sign of madness.
• I don’t have a list of links other peoples’ sites on this site, as is the case with the traditional journal. I don’t know why. I have resolved to produce one in the near future.
• I have often wondered how clear the ‘complete entry…’ link at the bottom of each day on the front page is. Adam didn’t realise that this meant only half of each entry was shown on the front page of the site and that visitors should click there to read the whole thing. I need to either find a way to make this clearer, or put complete entries on the page instead.
• The entries on this site are generally too long. When I started it, it was so that I could give visitors a reason to return, and I could exercise my writing in areas other than IT. It’s grown a lot since then, and become something of a monster. The first seven months alone take up 130 pages of A4 when printed. Shorter, more succinct entries should be the order of the day.
• I don’t believe that weblogs or online journals in any way represent the democratisation of the masses. Sure, they are a way for people to have their own say when they would be unable to do this through the conventional media, but they do not carry the weight and authority of the printed or broadcast word. Do they therefore give their writers power to voice their opinions, or merely the appearance that this is what they do. If the latter, then surely they do more to quell the restless masses than to give them what they want.
• This site is a diversionary tactic that gives me an excuse not to be writing the book.

And Adam’s view of the interview? From his site:

MEESTER NIK: thanks to Nik for agreeing to be interviewed. I like his site and it was interesting to talk to someone who could compare his blogging to his professional journalism and broadcasting. It was also interesting to meet someone who is slightly detached from the blogging community.

Returned to the office at the end of the interview to find an email from Tony Hart’s agent. He’d asked for a list of topic areas we would want to cover with him on the show, so I sent five subjects that I thought he would easily be able to cope with:

• Why he decided to set up the service.
• What response has been like so far.
• Whether he finds that his customers are of a certain type (particular age, particular regions etc)
• What kind of takeup there has been from outside of the UK
• Whether he intends to expand the service in any way.

All fairly basic stuff, I thought. Apparently not:

Sorry, Nik. Tony will find the questions far too technical for him to answer. As I explained to you, I (his business partner/manager/agent) take care of all the technological side of things. The most technical part that Tony engages in is to receive the faxes I send to him. I could answer your questions, but Tony will not agree to face this type of questioning. If you want to talk to him about his career, what he is doing now, and some superficial questions about his website - like: 1: What type of correspondent sends you emails? 2.Have you influenced their choice of career? 3. Do you get emails from overseas? 4. Do a lot of visitors to your website take up your offer of [blatant advert removed]? This kind of question would be understood by Tony. You would need to give details of the website, as you say. Reply quickly, and I will set up the interview, but your questions must be clear and simple. But the bulk of the chat would need to be about his career, and matters of fact - like his two BAFTA awards etc., You can get a lot of guidance from our website, but remember that Tony has only ever read a print-out of his website, once, because he has never surfed the web in his life. An email is a mystery to him.

Now the BAFTA awards aside I can’t really see much difference between my subject areas and the ones his agent wants me to talk about.

It’s a disappointment, but The Lab is about technology, not BAFTA awards, so I’ve had to call it off.

:o(

1. Back from Morocco
   The bonus of backdating blog posts is that you can write up your notes when you get back from travelling and post them on...
   
   
2. New blog
   In the early hours of Monday morning, I do some blogging on the radio, in a regular slot on Through the Night on LBC. It's...
   
   
3. RIP journalism
   I was interviewed by Danny Bradbury about Blogging for a Canadian radio show today. Hopefully a copy of it should be up on the show's...