The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

January 23, 2006

Economics professor likes conversing on blog site

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — About 15 months into life as a Web log creator, Phil Miller is still plugging a few new thoughts or suggested readings onto his Market Power blog nearly every day.

Visit Miller’s site (http://marketpower.typepad.com) and you’ll find plenty of topics related to the might of the private marketplace, which is befitting a Web log created by an assistant professor of economics at Minnesota State University.

But you’ll also find a link to another blogger’s “Top 10 Things I Hate About Star Trek.” There’s a link to a review of a book about the “50 most craptastic cars ever to hit the American highway” along with Miller’s thoughts on some crappy cars he’s owned. There’s another link to “a good use” for lousy cars — a video showing what happens when some driverless vehicles are rolled into the backwash of the engines of a Boeing 747.

Miller said he doesn’t feel any obligation to update the blog every day to make sure his readers have something new to look at. It’s not like anybody’s paying for it. Still, he usually adds something.

“I kind of like to write daily,” he said. “Writing helps you think about topics, helps you think at more than a superficial level. ... I prefer to do it first thing in the morning just to wake me up.”

Miller avoids political discussions, but he hits economics from a variety of perspectives — some serious, some lighthearted. Miller’s blog provides thoughts on Venezuela’s leftist president trying to jack up coffee prices paid to farmers, the New York City transit strike, the demise of the Vikings Training Camp LLC, and Elmo learning about the complexities and unintended consequences of central direction of an economy in the video “Elmo Saves Christmas.”

Miller compares blogs by academics to a nationwide or worldwide faculty lounge.

“You get to be part of a conversation,” he said.

As for advice to Leigh Pomeroy and Tom Maertens, the creators of the newest Mankato-based blog, Miller is practical.

“Write well. Check your spelling,” he said. “It’s easy to hit the ‘publish’ button and when you reread it, there’s a lot of little grammatical errors.”

While some bloggers are extremely enthusiastic about the potential of their new communication tool to change the way people learn about the world, Miller is more restrained.

“I don’t know if it’s revolutionary,” he said. “Useful for sure. ... I think it’s opened up a lot of conversation.”

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