So my brother started a blog some time back. He's not one that I would expect to blog and it got me to thinking...what inspires us as human beings to write personal (sometimes HIGHLY personal) things in a spot where complete strangers can read and comment on your life. I understand the need to create a journal (although I'm really, really bad at that), but a journal is something you record your life and legacy in and hide under the bed or at the bottom of the sock drawer. Blogging is a little like publishing your journal in the newspaper and is becoming more and more popular all the time. Businesses and organizations across the globe now have forums and blogs. So maybe my description of blogging is the explanation for blogging as well. How many of us have gone looking for a sibling's journal, or enjoyed reading the musings and everyday record of life from an ancestor's diary? There is something about reading the inner-most thoughts and feelings of another human being that makes us feel connected. Perhaps, in a world where telephone conversations are conducted by machines and banking is done by ATM, we need more intimacy and humanity in our lives. Perhaps in reading, and creating, blogs we're reaching out. The internet is an amazing place full of life and fun if you know where to look, but because it's accessed by machine, it feels cold to a lot of people. I think that blogs are one of the ways that people have found to make the internet a little more friendly. I know that's one of the reasons that we've started our blog. It allows us to let you know what's going on at the library in a more friendly online format. the question, though, is does it work? I propose an experiment. Comment on this post -- Let us know you're out there and then let us know what you think about blogging in general.