Quote of note:

Now let's see if the blogosphere can self-organize itself to find them.

Is that the goal?

Blogging Beyond the Men's Club
Since anyone can write a Weblog, why is the blogosphere dominated by white males?
By Steven Levy

...Does the blogosphere have a diversity problem?

Viewed one way, the issue seems a bit absurd. These self-generated personal Web sites are supposed to be the ultimate grass-roots phenomenon. The perks of alpha bloggers voluminous traffic, links from other bigfeet, conference invitations, White House press passes are, in theory, bequeathed by a market-driven merit system. The idea is that the smartest, the wittiest and the most industrious in finding good stuff will simply rise to the top, by virtue of a self-organizing selection process.

So why, when millions of blogs are written by all sorts of people, does the top rung look so homogeneous? It appears that some clubbiness is involved. Suitt puts it more bluntly: "It's white people linking to other white people!" (A link from a popular blog is this medium's equivalent to a Super Bowl ad.) Suitt attributes her own high status in the blogging world to her conscious decision to "promote myself among those on the A list."

By the way, Jeff Jarvis is right:

OK, OK. I'm white. Very white. Pale white. Pasty white. Wonder-Bread white. Gray-haired, white-bearded white. Never-in-the-sun white. Just white. That picture up in the corner is color-corrected to give me the appearance of a healthy tone. It's a Photoshop lie. Actually, I'm vampirish. Bloodless. Practically transparent. Colorless. Odorless. Tasteless (just ask the FCC). White.

I know because I've seen him. But Abiola is right too.

it's especially absurd in his case because he's gone to such lengths to promote Iraqi bloggers, all of whom have two personal qualifications that help bolster the plausibility of his foreign policy views - they're Arabs and they're Muslims. Does Jarvis really believe people would care half as much about what the chaps at Iraq the Model, Salam Pax or Healing Iraq have to say if they weren't perceived as having greater standing to speak about the country by virtue of their religion and nationality? No one is suggesting that the likes of Jeff Jarvis link to X number of women, blacks or Hispanics per day on pain of death, but it's self serving nonsense to spout the "colorblind" line that Jarvis does, as we don't live in a colorblind world.

PPS: Oh, and one final thing - let's have no more whining about the "Mainstream Media" (aka MSM) ignoring the diversity of opinions out there from people who get all defensive when their own aversion to diverse voices is pointed out to them. If the big name bloggers feel it to be their right to link only to people of similar demographic qualifications, why shouldn't the New York Times or CNN only provide a forum for latte-sipping, tree-hugging,  gay-marrying, war-protesting liberals? A lot of people seem to forget that these are private organizations, not public bodies with a mandate to reflect the views of everyone.

As proof, let's look at what Mr. Jarvis presents as proof that he's color/gender blind.

This week -- thanks to fellow bloggers -- I was delighted to find a new Afghan blogger (who, by the way, writes about women finally free to get an education... you want to talk feminist issues try that one!). I found lots of new Lebanese blogs here, here, here, here (and even here) celebrating the possibility of self-determination. I learned a lot from an Egyptian blogger. I worried over the fate of Bahraini bloggers in jail (I think they may be male... does it matter?) I watched a blogger get excited after I quoted her on TV and now she's appearing on TV (by the way, she's unwhite and unmale and -- here's the real shocker -- unleft). I went to an event in D.C. and met a blogger who fits a similar description. I became addicted to a new blogger who covers nothing but freedom all around the world. Thanks to a blogging friend -- yes, unmale (but ungay) -- I found a new page devoted to making money for unstraight bloggers. I watched a Muslim, lesbian, female, Canadian journalist on TV and linked to her. I linked to the most decidedly unmale blogger alive. I linked to a bunch of bloggers I don't know criticizing big, bad big media and I have no idea what they look like, only what they're saying. I defended an unmale journalism student getting in trouble for questioning very male jocks. I attacked two guys who appear to be male and white. I celebrated la difference. Oh, yeah, and I fought for the right of an unmale star to hug an unwhite star on national TV and not get in trouble with the FCC over it. All that since the aforementioned Harvard confab.

Methinks he does protest too much.