Prompt's TechBlog

Publisher Friday Books has come up with a zeitgeisty stocking filler: a book of 'the best writing from the Web' of 2006.

The Blog Digest 2007 claims to be "the ultimate anthology of blog writing from the last twelve months". Compiled by Chicken Yoghurt blog author Justin McKeating, it rounds up some readable and entertaining blog entries from better and lesser known bloggers and sorts them into cheery festive categories like War, Death and Politics.

If, as the book claims, there are now seven million bloggers in the UK, it should find a ready audience - if only among people who want to find out if they're in it. But by isolating blog posts from their original medium, the book effectively destroys what the editor himself considers to be so special about the blogosphere: its interactivity.

"The comment function on your blog allows [readers] to leave messages agreeing or disagreeing with your [post]," says McKeating, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his book prints blog posts without their comments. "This creates a dialogue that becomes part of the article. The piece changes constantly and becomes almost a collaborative work."

The ability to chat with bloggers and their commenters is indeed something that sets blogging apart from the established media, creating a conversational environment where all voices can be heard. A book of the year's best blog posts may provide some light diversion while the turkey digests, but for a real flavour of what blogging is all about, we recommend you save yourself GBP8.99 and hang out in the blogosphere itself.


tags: friday books | blog digest 2007 | justin mckeating