Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the most outspoken Web 2.0 celebs around, has declared April 3, 2008 the first “Good People Day.” In his vlog, he urges bloggers to post about people who embody awesomeness—and who are we mere schmucks to defy Gary’s will?
If you haven’t, check out Wine Library TV, Gary’s daily wine vlog. I intend to do a piece on the power/knowledge structure of WLTV in the near future, but for now, head over just for entertainment value. Gary himself would make an excellent candidate for a “Good People Day” post, but I feel he won’t be without shout-outs today.
Instead, I think a short piece on the site that inspired us to create the Theory Schmucks is in order. You’ll see a link in our blogroll to a site called “The Language Log.” The purpose of the site is to bring linguistics to the masses—Language Log has a stable of educated linguists on it’s staff, willing to apply their specialist knowledge to the world at large. This ranges from commentary on political and social news to responses to reader questions.
The academic intensity of the articles varies: from anecdotes and comic strips to hard data about meaning shifts and local dialects. The Log doesn’t make assumptions about its readership. The contributors understand that just because a reader will pass up one post doesn’t mean that they won’t read the next post.
By letting users ‘pick their speed,’ so to speak, the Language Log avoids mystifying the study of linguistics—writers like Mark Liberman spend lengthy articles explaining the relevance of data and the correlations that can be made between a highly academic field and real life situations. This way, readers don’t have to drink the kool-aid to get some enjoyment out of a little linguistic play; neither are readers ever made to feel too stupid to grasp what’s being written about.
Some of the most fun to be had while reading the Language Log is reading the in-group arguments and jokes that fly back and forth between the contributors and readers. These few articles show one such bit of banter.
The Language Loggers clearly love what they’re doing—many are professors of linguistics and take time out of their already crammed schedules to have some fun with readers on the internet. It is inspiring to see elite academics stepping out of the Ivory Tower not to lecture, but to engage. They’ve taken what was formerly an insular and stodgy field and made it accessible.
Having started this blog in the spirit of the Language Log, we Theory Schmucks only hope that we can maintain the quality of articles, and respect for our readers, that the Log has managed for years. If you’re looking for the kinds of “good people” Gary V. has dedicated today to, you’ll find few better than the Language Loggers.
Genghis Philip
Gordon Levine