GREEN BAY, Wis. — As I was leaving Lambeau Field, I tuned into an interesting discussion about the rise and importance of blogs on Wisconsin Public Radio’s MediaTalk. Host Dave Berkman was speaking with Henry Farrell, an assistant professor at George Washington University.

The conversation seemed to be hitting all the right notes, with some interesting points about political blogs, starting and following blogs, etc. I wanted to ask a question that’s becoming a concern for many people trying to find information on the Internet — the increasing prevalence of blogs in search engine results.

I asked my query in three different ways before Farrell tackled my real question. Based on the conversation, it seemed that he thought I was asking how important content filters to the top of blogs — which is an important point. However, I was more interested in how someone searching online for something specific can sort the wheat of solid content from the chaff of secondary blogs.

I did appreciate his response and his perspective about the state of search engines in the era of the blog. My phone connection was understandably cut before I could thank Farrell for his response. After all, I don’t think many people usually get to ask so many questions on a radio talk show.

Ultimately, I think the discussion was quite fascinating — especially for those who may not visit blogs all that often or else visit blogs but not even know it.

BTW, Farrell and others contribute to CrookedTimber.org, a site dedicated to philosophy and other discourse. Farrell pointed out that, despite the name, the site does not discuss wood. For that, you’ll have to go here. 😉