I always passed off Jakob Nielsen as simply a UI geek. No more — the man knows his stuff about blogging and writing, too. This latest essay of his is one I find very relevant in light of my own background as a blogger, and my previous considerable background as a published writer. I find it very hard to disagree with the case Jakob is making here. Reminds me of a piece I wrote a few years ago, for IDG’s Darwin Magazine, putting forth the notion that blogging was not soon going to be adopted by most mainstream businesses — which some in the blogosphere immediately (in the typical knee-jerk reaction it’s become known for) took as a negative attack on blogging. Of course, it wasn’t; for one thing, I said I felt blogging was great for certain kinds of businesses, both large and small, and gave examples.
Now, I feel an echo of sorts happening. Blogging is not a panacea, this essay also reasons — meaning blogging as most people know it: short posts that aren’t very well thought out. However, what will never go out of style, he says (and I wholeheartedly agree), is good writing. That is, lengthier articles actually based on thinking, preparation, and research — and, not unimportantly, that exhibit a real voice.
Here’s what the submitter on Digg (“spinchange”) had to say in his summary of Jakob Nielsen’s great piece….and do read the full piece if you’re at all interested in the topic of blogging :
“To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers. Warning – this is a long article, stuffed with charts and statistical concepts – like standard deviations and utility functions – it flies in the face of guidelines for web writing.”
What are your thoughts on this topic?
“We let everyone take advantage of our widgets — not just webmasters or bloggers who put the code on their pages, but any user of the widgets.” Users will receive a one-time only pop-up dialog when they confirm their vote, comment, etc., and PagePow will prompt them to log in and will briefly explain the benefits of tracking their data.
So, early Saturday morning, I pointed the Passat wagon north for Duluth — board strapped on top. [That was for looks only — I’m a warm water surfer only! 🙂 …and just in case someone wanted to try my vintage 6-ft singlefin stick.] I’d been praying for both good surf and good weather for a couple of days, really hoping the event could get a big turnout. Sadly, neither happened — well, not much in the way of surf, anyway. The weather? It was downright horrible. But nothing stops these guys, so I didn’t let it get to me, either! Actually it started out sunny as I left the Twin Cities, and the forecast there was for 75 F. 
But I knew a nasty low system was just to the north of us, and rain was in the forecast for Duluth — a 70% chance. The forecast high in Duluth had been trending down for a few days and was now only 59 F. Well, it never even came close to that! My car thermometer was at 46 when I pulled into Duluth, and I doubt it got much over 50 before I left. But it was fun, anyway, and I’m really glad I went. I wanted to meet these guys, shoot some pix, and blog about the event, which is officially called the 
It was held at Park Point beach park, a very cool place out on a long, thin sandy penisula stretching straight south from the Canal Park bridge, lined with beach houses and, yes, even some new condo developments cropping up. The road dead-ends at a small airport, and the beach park is just before that. It has a gorgeous, wide sandy beach, lined with birch and pine forest, and lots of park area, with barbeques, and a big log-cabin type public beach building with concessions inside. 
But the weather and surfing conditions were hardly ideal! With temps in the mid-40s, and winds straight onshore from the East at 15 mph+, the wind chill had to be 30 F. Fog was blowing in onto the beach, and I didn’t even realize for a while that it was fogging my lens pretty badly! My exposed hands were freezing — I needed gloves! Very soon after I arrived, I had to ditch the shorts and Rainbows for long pants, socks and shoes, a hooded sweat and jacket — just to survive the hour or so at water’s edge shooting. 
The surfers, however, had all the right equipment (6-mil wet suits) and seemed comfortable in the 45-degree water — where hood, gloves, and booties are mandatory, or you will go numb, guaranteed!
The sport of surfing owes this man a lot, this pioneering waterman from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. The big hardcover biography published on him a few years ago is a classic in many surfers’ libraries. And I was stoked to see Greg honoring the memory of this great man with a fundraising effort at the Coldwater Surf Fest. He even had some cool Tom Blake t-shirts made up, and I just had to have one…
It was a tough ticket to get, as usual, sold out months in advance. A press pass? Hah! I could only dream. The closest I could come was knowing someone who scored a pass — for example, my editor at Conferenza, Gary Bolles (see below for link).
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