Why 'The Agora'?

In Ancient Greece, the agora was originally the central marketplace of the polis. It became the civic heart of a Greek city-state, the place where citizens met to conduct civic and religious affairs, to trade, and discuss politics. In Athens, the Agora was where democracy flowered, where the philosophers taught, and where great works of pottery, sculpture and architecture were both created in workshops and displayed. Weblogs have the potential to assume a similar role on the web. They can be a place where all are free to post, to comment and to muse aloud. Dialogs can begin within weblogs, and between different blogs. Posters can filter the web, and highlight information that interests them and their readers. Ideally, weblogs can become a crowded, boisterous place where thousands of conversations take place, where arguments are begun and settled and where we all can participate more fully in the diversity of thought that exists all around us.