The nice thing about guest to a class like ours is that the guest can range around quite a bit and we’re small enough to absorb and even revel in that ranging. I sent Doc down memory lane by bringing up the fact that when he lived here in the early 70s that he was part of an intentional community, Oxbow. Doc is still interested in community and not completely accidential ones that build around physical proximity. So off we go.

Unlike the talk for this afternoon, Doc was allowed to tell his story with digressions and questions along the way. We were helped out by questions from some of the folks who work with me at ibiblio.org as well as Cori Dauber and Richard Vernon. (Richard was once Doc’s editor at Linux Journal).

I am still not sure if blogging and bloggers even when aggregated by Technorati constitute something called a “community.” I am becoming more convinced than before that blogging can become a part of ‘everyday life’ (thanks Barry Wellman) and can facilitate the creation, growth, and maintenance of communities. Perhaps blogs are one of the better examples of the ‘strength of weak ties.’