Collective journalism and community

David Weinberger found an interesting quote from Arianna Huffington in relation to blogging and newsmakers.  But I think it has just as much to do with the conversation about blogging and communities that has been bouncing around the last few weeks.

When bloggers decide that something matters, they chomp down hard and refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting. The only way to get them off a story is to cut off their heads (and even then you'll need to pry their jaws open). They almost all work alone, but, ironically, it's their collective effort that makes them so effective. They share their work freely, feed off one another's work, argue with each other, and add to the story dialectically.

Change "story" to "idea" and you have what we see in the larger community of bloggers.  Usually interesting ideas are percolating in many blogs, and they coalesce and fragment in an ongoing cycle.  Maybe bloggers are already passionate enough to be putting themselves into the world this way.