Tony Hung is the editor of the Blog Herald and writes incessantly at his personal blog, Deep Jive Interests. He is also finishing up his residency and preparing to go into medical practice. How he has time to blog is beyond me.

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Tony, you’re quickly becoming a household name among bloggers. Can you tell me why that is?

I have no idea. Actually, I had no idea my name *was* a household name for bloggers! But I suppose for those of whom I am known, it might be because my story’s a bit unique: resident in medicine who blogs about technology when he has the time, and got hired as the editor of the Blog Herald. Or perhaps its the way that I write. Or perhaps there aren’t too many Asian bloggers. Maybe its all three, or some combination of the above. If anyone can tell me I’d love to know. ;)

You’re also the most humble person you know, right? :)

I try and remain grounded when I can ;)

How many writers do you have at the Blog Herald today?

We have about 15 active bloggers on our roster, but that number isn’t really fixed in stone. It might go up or down depending on how we see the content doing. In fact, we are always looking for talent — not sure if this is the right forum, but if you think that you’ve got the right stuff, send me an email: anthony{dot}hung{at}gmail{dot}com … and maybe we can work something out!

Do you see the Blog Herald fulfilling the initial mission that Duncan Riley set out when he established the brand years ago?

Its definitely changed over the brief time that I’ve been at the Blog Herald, but I think we’re trying to bring it back to news and information that is relevant to bloggers. The blogging world has changed since Duncan sold it to Matt Craven and Problogging (formerly BlogMedia), and has only continued to do so after it changed hands once again to Splashpress. Blogging as a medium has exploded, and there’s an incredible diversity of voices — and many of them aren’t even in the English language. At the Blog Herald we want to try and uphold the standard that Duncan left us, and its something we’re always going to try and work towards, particularly being mindful of what our audience wants and needs.

Duncan was always about the news and trying to get stories first. I blasted the Herald when Matt Craven owned it for getting away from that and really being slow. Do you see a more effective strategy being the “Drink from the firehose” method where volume masks lack of breaking stories?

Well, I’ll say this — the Blog Herald is trying to concentrate on issues and information that are relevant to bloggers. Tech related information isn’t directly related to that. What happens on Techmeme may not be related to that, nor is what Mike Arrington writes. In fact, most of the time its not. I think when you’ve refined what it means to be a “herald” for “blogging” it becomes easier to decide on what to concentrate on and what doesn’t make too much sense.

You were quite active at Mesh this year, speaking on a panel. Tell us a bit about your experiences.

It was wild. I sat on a panel with Steve Herrman of BBC interactive, and Paul Sullivan of Orato.com — heavyweights in new media. I think I held my own, but it was a great experience meeting them, and everyone else at Mesh, really, including the guys from b5, such as Jeremy Wright, Gary King, Mark Evans (of course), and you. I ran into a few bloggers, such as David Peralty (of Blogging Pro), and he was such a nice guy. I also ran into Jim Courtney, of SkypeJournal, who, as it turns out, is someone I have one degree of separation with. One of the guys in my class, as it turns out, is his son! Small world, huh? But, on the flipside, it would have been great to run into even more bloggers. Makes you wonder if Toronto is ready for a blogging convention so we could all get together or something … ;)

You are one of the most well known Canadian bloggers around and it’s not even your full time job. Do you ever anticipate blogging full time or will blogging always be “something extra”?

That’s a great question and something I’m asked about all the time. What I will say is that blogging is a part of my life that I can’t quite see myself *not* doing — how much it takes up is something that is in evolution, as I have competing interests for my time, not including my family, friends, and of course, work and school. It will be interesting after I finish this year, as I will probably end up certified and *in* practice somewhere — as I may end up blogging a little more. Or doing other blogging related things. But, hey, you never know ;)

Well, Dr. Hung – I need to put you on The Seat of Heat. Jon Stewart used to do this on the Daily Show and I’ll be asking all of these interviewees the same kind of question. The Seat of Heat forces you to answer a question outside of your area of expertise.

Should Paris Hilton be getting the amount of publicity she is for her reasons stunts and being released from jail early and subsequently being sent back? :)

Interesting question. I think it should be getting publicity, but not because Paris is fabulous and needs the sympathy; rather, we don’t often get the chance to see that the Law is something that should apply to all equally, regardless of wealth or fame. And Paris Hilton’s misadventures are a great example of that.