I gave a talk a year-and-a-half or so on “Websites for Missouri Lawyers” at the Missouri Bar Annual Meeting. For several months, I felt that there had been no reaction to it whatsoever. It was like the pebble thrown in the pond that caused no ripples.
Evan Schaeffer in a post today reminded me that my talk that day actually inspired (I love that word) him to start blogging. Evan, of course, has inspired many others to start blogging, especially law students.
He reminded me that there are family trees in blogging that you can trace back to root sources.
In my own case, my blog grew out of several years of reading Dave Winer’s Scripting News email newsletter. Even though Dave and I have never spoken, it’d be difficult for me to attribute the start of my blogging to anyone other than Dave. I’d be honored to place my name under his blog family tree if he would allow me to do so.
In addition, Ernest Svenson and Denise Howell were important role models and their blogs were influences on mine from the beginning. Jerry Lawson was another big influence on the start of my blog, and is fond of reminding me that I first mentioned that lawyers should think about using blogs two years before I started my own blog. Sabrina Pacifici also shared her invaluable experience and expertise with me before I started.
Thank you, Evan, for making me feel like that talk was one of the most important presentations I ever gave and let’s keep the ripples flowing.