TrippingWords unalterated verbiage

Isabelle Edwards tripped on Tue Nov 24,  2009  at  09:15 PM

A very philosophical piece! Some bits are bit profound but the idea is clear. But I think the real beauty of this blog Josh lies in your writing, which is really quite magnificant. Are you a literature major?Keep up the great work.

Josh tripped on Wed Nov 25,  2009  at  10:19 AM

Thanks for the kind words. I major in media and politics, but I have a keen interest in design.

Thanks again for the comment.

Josh

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) tripped on Thu Nov 26,  2009  at  09:01 PM

Poignant and beautifully written! I guess blogging is a ritual and thats why we need to mix it up a little and that explains the blogazine phenomenon. I think it was pioneered first as an aretistic direction but it was taken over the top by Smashing Magazine.

I like the wit in “Now a smashing hit”. subtle but it does the job!

Josh tripped on Fri Nov 27,  2009  at  01:04 PM

Thanks John. Appreciate the comments. A new article should be up pretty soon!

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) tripped on Fri Nov 27,  2009  at  07:07 PM

Blogging is neither a ritual, nor is it something that is done in a changing manner (every time it is carried out).

Rather, it is a marriage of the both, wouldn’t you say. A changing ritual, perhaps? A ritual is, in my opinion, a term that is too strongly associated with routine. Blogging, on the other hand, can be done at the comfort of the blogger’s convenience. It is ritualistic in the sense that the dynamics of blogging remains the same (and can be considered rituals): logging into the account, and typing the post, etc. But the content, the way the message is put across, and the subject matter in each post is ever-changing, yes?

The blog genre. Would we consider that a ritual aspect of the blog or not? Depends on the blog, yes? A blogger who rants about everything in general would not consider his genre of blog to be ritualistic. Whereas a music blog would be quite the ritualistic one.

What do you think?

Josh tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  04:39 AM

Hi there,

You have made some very valid points!

As for me, I’ve always defined rituals through form and not content. Blogging is a practice (form) but its content (the subject matter blogged about) may always vary. I guess there are varying definations of rituals.

The beauty of rituals is that (like you mentioned) it is never stable or structured. There is change in its ‘patterned’ configuration.

Thanks for the great response!

Josh

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  07:10 AM

I guess that the very thought, desire, or inspiration to blog, on a basis that confers a sense of routiness or periodicity, could, in itself, manifest or be perceived as a ‘ritual’.  In that sense,  blogging could be a ‘routine’ undertaking, and hence a ‘ritual’. However, the contents of such a ritualistic act, may not necessarily fit the definition of “a ritual” or “being ritualistic”. But, this shortcoming does not render that act deprieved of the sense of being ritualistic’. By reason of the above, while a ritual may be a rountine of sorts, ‘a fixed time’ at which the routine is to be carried out is not a mandatory pre-requisite for the act to be rendered as a ritual. Like a term of art, there is an element of ‘recoilness’ to the dimension of the meaning of the term, “ritual”. Hence, the extent of the dimension can be made dependent very much on the extent to which an individual chooses to stretch or compress that ‘recoilness’.

Josh tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  12:25 PM

Thanks for the theoretically astute response. While regularity and consistency seem to have an almost synonymous relationship with ritual practices in an orthodox sense, rituals are, for me, defined by how these practices collectively validate certain ‘truths’ about the social world. Rituals by their inherent nature endorse or legitimise certain perceptions and render older ones obsolete. It’s this constant cycle of legitimisation which re-affirms their very essence as ritual practices. The “Blogazine” phenomenon provides a key example of how ritual practices evolve and validate presiding perceptions, i.e, that uniquely designed blogazines are signalling the demise of the traditional blog post.  What do you think?
Thanks again for the poignant reply.

Tristian Briggs tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  12:46 PM

These posts have really made me think differently about ritual. I’ll never feel the same way ‘brushing my teeth again! Haha some very very interesting content here on this website

Marzist345 tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  01:08 PM

I like how Josh used Anthropology in reference to design. Design is in fact a kind of ‘sociology’ - hence more specific terms like web usability and so on. Design is about ‘studying’ people.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  01:37 PM

Josh, you have made a very intellectually sound argument! Kudows to your brevity and logical deduction. ur a rising philosopher!

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  02:23 PM

Thanks for the comments.

@Marzist345 Design is a kind of sociology. Most definitely. It is an interaction with social ideas.

stili.st tripped on Sat Nov 28,  2009  at  06:46 PM

hi!

very nice read, i think its always important to question your thought patterns and not just replace with another pattern. i like it too, how your are refering to the smashing mag article with your subtitle

have a nice day

Josh tripped on Sun Nov 29,  2009  at  06:20 AM

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, reflecting on rituals is indeed “questioning yout thought patterns”. well said!