I just went through quickly Otakon’s list of panels, and AX2006‘s list of panels. It’s an impulsive thing, but it just struck me as odd–
Where are the bloggers?
I vaguely recall last there there was a blogging panel at Otakon, correct? There is a webcast/podcast panel this year at Otakon, and I didn’t catch anything even remotely like that on the AX list.
I fully realize such sort of thing could come from all kinds of reason, many of them irrespective of anything substantive to the nature of anime blogsphere. For instance, I know Otakon at least have fairly lax standards with panel applications, and I think if you can get a crowd going you can be pretty motivated. However panel applications have a short window of opportunity, and it is actually hard to get a decent audience at a con with a lot of other worthwhile stuff to do. Perhaps more frequently a panel exist because a dedicated individual, who knows how the system works, was on the ball with the application and promotion in a small venue (like a mailing list, or on a website itself, or a forum), as a semi-official “gathering.” There is a general-public aspect to it, but it tends not to draw as many people. And certainly even if the interest is there, without that key, catalytic individual, it doesn’t happen.
The bothersome thing for me is that we have plenty of huge internet communities with big Otakon panels–4chan.org, for starters. Granted the average /b/-tard probably does not read anime blogs, most of the /a/-tards probably do. Maybe it’s time for an animenano or blogsuki panel? I know it has readers, and some go to cons. If not, why not?
Enough conspiracy theories for one day…
July 28th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
[…] Call for bloggers? I’ve long figured it’s just a matter of time before we see an anime blogging panel at a major industry convention. The reason it hasn’t happened yet, I think, is because the anime blogging community is still quite young, and was a fairly decentralized place prior to the launch of Blogsuki. And, let’s face it: as great as Animenano is, it’s still only a couple of months old – and the vast majority of the blogs listed there are less than a year old. So, yeah, it’s a young community, us few old-timers notwithstanding. Next con season, perhaps? […]
July 28th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Y’know, that’s all true. I think especially when a good bulk of the fan-based English bloggers are located in Asia, let alone our Australian or European friends, it becomes kind of difficult. However, if you look beyond fan-based blogs, just about most of the major companies, even Japanese ones, have dev blogs and the like. I really think there is a lot to say about the anime blogsphere generally for bloggers and readers alike.
It also makes sense why we have 2 podcast-related panels…? Or anime-based internet radio? Eh. I’ll just restate my original position in that con panels are not always good indication of actual fan interest because a lot of other miscellaneous things get in the way.