University of North Carolina School of Law Prof. Andrew Chin has a new blog, ironically entitled voiceless. Prof. Chin modestly suggests he is “blogging from the long tail” although in fact he’s writing about “the legal and technological structures that keep almost all of us voiceless”.
“Blogging from long tail” almost reminds me of the “On fringes of the public sphere”, so that has to be good. Although I should note that someone one asked me, fairly enough, how a sphere could have a fringe, and I’m still working on a good answer.
Per Pascal, God is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere. But Pascal doesn’t have a blog. Nor God.
Mathematically, a sphere is all fringe. (The n-dimensional “sphere” is the boundary of the n+1-dimensional “ball.”)
fringe n.
1. A decorative border or edging of hanging threads, cords, or strips, often attached to a separate band.
2. Something that resembles such a border or edging.
3. A marginal, peripheral, or secondary part:
Definition #3 seems the intended meaning – “marginal, peripheral, or secondary part”.
“the outmost region of the public ball” might be more mathematically precise, but less metaphorically evocative.
I’m reminded of this anecdote: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi879.htm
fringe n.
4. Those members of a group or political party holding extreme views: the lunatic fringe.
Yep, sounds like number three all right 😉