Bloggers and assumed context

One problem in dealing with bloggers that have been well known for awhile is that they have an assumed context that they and their readers understand, but can't be found without reading the entire archive. I first noticed this at the Social Architecture conference last fall. I sat next to an A-list blogger at dinner, and kept asking questions that she assumed everyone knew the answer to. She seemed so non-plussed that I finally said "I'm sorry, you are obviously very famous, but I've never read your blog. Can I just ask questions as if I didn't know everthing you've written?" I've started to fall into the same trap. I had lunch with a blogger this week, and we kept trading citations from our respective blogs. I saw this type of citation speak at Harvard, where grad students would respond to someone in class by simply saying "Hegel," and everyone would nod. I was like, "Yeah, so what about Hegel? What did he say? How does it apply?" Sometimes an assumed context can actually get in the way of an engaging conversation.