By JR Breen
Contributing Writer
In the near future, popular blogs may combine to form ``conglomerate blogs,'' a new type of media. Or they may become so commonplace that they lose their appeal altogether.
In either scenario, professional news gathering, as undertaken by mainstream media, will remain central to whatever way society receives and analyzes its information.
This is the prediction of Robert Koehler, the most popular English language blogger and one of the most influential expatriate commentators on Korea.
``There is a lot of white noise out there which gets people annoyed,'' he said. ``There is so much information out there, you don't know what's crap and what's not. Over time, I see a gradual getting away from this to blogging conglomerates.''
``But of course the opposite might happen as well,'' he added. ``We might get to the point where literally everyone has a blog.''
Whatever happens, though, news gathering remains the fuel sustaining the blogosphere. ``Without mainstream media most commentary blogs would cease to exist overnight.''
Koehler, 34, who is from New York, came to Korea in 1997 and taught English for six years in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gwangju, learning fluent Korean in the process.
It was during this time that he met his Mongolian wife, Solongo, and later worked at the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, before taking on the position of executive editor at Seoul Selection magazine.
Koehler's blog ``The Marmot's Hole'' covers a combination of headline news, expat and local news and quirky features. It became so popular that several other bloggers now contribute to it. They in turn receive traffic on their own blogs via links from The Hole, as its fans affectionately call it. The site gets approximately 4,000 visitors a day.
Koehler began The Hole six years ago when he was teaching at Gwangju University, inspired to do so by the freshness of the medium. Modest about its success, he attributes it to the fact that he was one of the first on the blogging scene.
He said, ``2003 was a time when blogging was really starting to take off, I thought it looks like an interesting idea, might as well well try.
``As to why my blog might be the most influential of the Korea bloggers, well its been around since 2003…so I have a bit of a head start.''
Despite being an avid practitioner, Koehler sees the end of blogging is nigh, and that the world is waiting for the next ``innovation'' in communication.
``I'm surprised blogging as a medium has lasted as long as it has,'' he said, ``I still think we're waiting for what the next big innovation is going to be.''
Koehler, who came here as a graduate student, admits he did not expect to particularly enjoy his time in Korea. But now, 13 years later, he has engrossed himself in the culture. He famously wears traditional ``hanbok,'' and mostly eats Korean food, with a taste for boshintang, or dog soup.
In October, he brought out a guide book on Seoul, which has already been widely praised.