Interview #16: Damien Mulley
Published Thursday, January 26, 2006 by Kevin Breathnach | E-mail this post
Damien Mulley, the man behind the Irish Blog Awards, has become something of a self-proclaimed 'it' guy of the Irish blogosphere. Of course, the statement seemed in jest, but we just don't know, do we? A Law student in UCC, Damien blogs at Mulley.net and the Irish Blog Awards' blog. He also runs various aggregators, including the Gay-Agenda. We expect you know already, but details concerning the awards can be found here.
What is you favourite novel?
There's never really one but a seminal piece that got me seriously reading and pushed me into literary discovery was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Gibson was a good node to start with and I followed the links to his influences and peers and discovered the likes of William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard. Saying that, only recently did I read The Northern Lights Trilogy and I was blown away. Amazing books and a beautiful story. I've bought them and given them out as presents to 3-4 people at this stage.
What popular political myth would you like to dispel?
That politicians are lazy and overpayed. I'd disagree. Sure, there are the ones that do SFA but it still takes a heck of a lot of work to get voted in and the good oliticians work very very long hours. If it was a simple 9-5 job then yes they might be classed as getting too much money.
Have you ever regretted a post?
I've regretted not making posts as I didn't have time, but no, never regretted a post but have sometimes thought of doing further research on some issues and generally I do.
Simon or Garfunkel?
That's an ecumenical matter.
Ever thought about giving up?
Lord no. If I have time I'll be giving opinions and interacting with people with similar and opposing views for a long long time. Maybe it hasn't happened for other people but I've found that reading blogs and blogging has improved my life in tiny but positive ways. I've met a good few new friends, I've been shown new ways of looking at things and I found other people who laughed at the boggersphere neoligism.
Will you be blogging in three year's time?
I'll be loud mouthing in some guise. I'm sure blogging will be about still. Three years flies!
Do you think the Irish Blog Awards can achieve anything, or are
they just a bit of fun?
*Looks all serious* Everything I do has purpose. :) I think we are about to reach the tipping-point for blogs in Ireland, not as a new revolution but just a new way of conversing and sharing opinion and working with people. I don't think it can change the world or make companies millions but it might change attitudes just ever so slightly and might teach people that their voice can matter. I don't think people in Ireland speak up for themselves enough and maybe one of the reasons is they think people won't listen but a blog allows you to reach someone that says "I hear ya".
So, back to the point, we're at the tipping point and it would be good to influence in a positive way all the new people coming to our frontier and showing them what we see as quality writing and blogging and the fun people. The awards I think can do this and if people don't care then that's fine too. It would be good too to have a big meeting with each other and the prizes are the bribes for this meeting!
Tell us about your involvement with Digital Rights Ireland.
Well back last summer I made a post or two saying we needed a group to defend our online rights in Ireland. A group like the EFF group but for Ireland. Others took me up on the idea and we started working to forming a group that would do just that. Digital Rights Ireland was born from the work. They officially launched on Dec 8th to great press coverage. I'm no longer involved with them as of this week due to time commitments but there's a whole bunch of really great minds in the group so expect to hear some brilliant things as a result of their work in 2006.
What advice would you give to a novice blogger?
Plough away. Don't worry if you feel amateur to start with and think what you write is rubbish, it's not. Look around the community and see what others are saying and how they say it. Find ideas that you like and writing styles that you like and bring them into own writing to enhance it. But at the end of the day be individual and think for yourself in all things.
Can, and should, blogging go mainstream in Ireland?
It can go mainstream and I think it can have a place in some sections of "mainstream". But I think that the philosophy of blogging, with everyone allowed to comment on what you write and point to what you write and quote what you write will be assimilated more into mainstream. I'm a big fan of Jeff Jarvis and his ideas of the newsroom of the future are well worth a read. As I said earlier, blogs are a great way of enabling the voice of the individual to be heard.
As the new 'it' guy of the blogosphere, justify the act of blogging; it's really just of a waste of time, isn't it?
It depends on what you do with the rest of your time. It can be what you make of it. One good post just once a month from one blogger can be worth more than the inane rantings of some moany little insecure man every second day. Blogging is like Google Image Search with Safe Search turned off. All unfiltered (except in China) so you get to be the judge and pick what you like or don't like. Imagine being able to just subcribe and unsubscribe to TV channels at will?
Interviews with bloggers thoughout the Irish 'sphere will appear here every Thursday. Previous interviews can be found here.
What is you favourite novel?
There's never really one but a seminal piece that got me seriously reading and pushed me into literary discovery was Neuromancer by William Gibson. Gibson was a good node to start with and I followed the links to his influences and peers and discovered the likes of William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard. Saying that, only recently did I read The Northern Lights Trilogy and I was blown away. Amazing books and a beautiful story. I've bought them and given them out as presents to 3-4 people at this stage.
What popular political myth would you like to dispel?
That politicians are lazy and overpayed. I'd disagree. Sure, there are the ones that do SFA but it still takes a heck of a lot of work to get voted in and the good oliticians work very very long hours. If it was a simple 9-5 job then yes they might be classed as getting too much money.
Have you ever regretted a post?
I've regretted not making posts as I didn't have time, but no, never regretted a post but have sometimes thought of doing further research on some issues and generally I do.
Simon or Garfunkel?
That's an ecumenical matter.
Ever thought about giving up?
Lord no. If I have time I'll be giving opinions and interacting with people with similar and opposing views for a long long time. Maybe it hasn't happened for other people but I've found that reading blogs and blogging has improved my life in tiny but positive ways. I've met a good few new friends, I've been shown new ways of looking at things and I found other people who laughed at the boggersphere neoligism.
Will you be blogging in three year's time?
I'll be loud mouthing in some guise. I'm sure blogging will be about still. Three years flies!
Do you think the Irish Blog Awards can achieve anything, or are
they just a bit of fun?
*Looks all serious* Everything I do has purpose. :) I think we are about to reach the tipping-point for blogs in Ireland, not as a new revolution but just a new way of conversing and sharing opinion and working with people. I don't think it can change the world or make companies millions but it might change attitudes just ever so slightly and might teach people that their voice can matter. I don't think people in Ireland speak up for themselves enough and maybe one of the reasons is they think people won't listen but a blog allows you to reach someone that says "I hear ya".
So, back to the point, we're at the tipping point and it would be good to influence in a positive way all the new people coming to our frontier and showing them what we see as quality writing and blogging and the fun people. The awards I think can do this and if people don't care then that's fine too. It would be good too to have a big meeting with each other and the prizes are the bribes for this meeting!
Tell us about your involvement with Digital Rights Ireland.
Well back last summer I made a post or two saying we needed a group to defend our online rights in Ireland. A group like the EFF group but for Ireland. Others took me up on the idea and we started working to forming a group that would do just that. Digital Rights Ireland was born from the work. They officially launched on Dec 8th to great press coverage. I'm no longer involved with them as of this week due to time commitments but there's a whole bunch of really great minds in the group so expect to hear some brilliant things as a result of their work in 2006.
What advice would you give to a novice blogger?
Plough away. Don't worry if you feel amateur to start with and think what you write is rubbish, it's not. Look around the community and see what others are saying and how they say it. Find ideas that you like and writing styles that you like and bring them into own writing to enhance it. But at the end of the day be individual and think for yourself in all things.
Can, and should, blogging go mainstream in Ireland?
It can go mainstream and I think it can have a place in some sections of "mainstream". But I think that the philosophy of blogging, with everyone allowed to comment on what you write and point to what you write and quote what you write will be assimilated more into mainstream. I'm a big fan of Jeff Jarvis and his ideas of the newsroom of the future are well worth a read. As I said earlier, blogs are a great way of enabling the voice of the individual to be heard.
As the new 'it' guy of the blogosphere, justify the act of blogging; it's really just of a waste of time, isn't it?
It depends on what you do with the rest of your time. It can be what you make of it. One good post just once a month from one blogger can be worth more than the inane rantings of some moany little insecure man every second day. Blogging is like Google Image Search with Safe Search turned off. All unfiltered (except in China) so you get to be the judge and pick what you like or don't like. Imagine being able to just subcribe and unsubscribe to TV channels at will?
Interviews with bloggers thoughout the Irish 'sphere will appear here every Thursday. Previous interviews can be found here.
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