judith meskill - soc.media.rocks

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[there are six news stories in this post, on politics and statistics.]
 
Correspondences.org :: News for the people by people: Lost: Voice of Youth. Reward if Found by Melissa Blaustein
...As a 15 year old non fiction student, I'm one to read the news and know what's going on. Recently I've been extremely interested in the recall election and who will be the next governor of my state. However, I'm overwhelmingly alarmed by the complete absence of any sort of acknowledgement of California's youth opinion. Sure, I'm not 18 just yet, and I can't vote, but does this mean that my ideas, values and what I want for my country don't matter? I wonder why children are even mentioned if we are completely irrelevant to anything until we can vote. When I turn 18, I know that I'd be much more likely to vote for someone who cared about me and my peers when I was 15 then someone who miraculously notices me when I turn 18 and am able to vote. The truth is, those under 18 today are the people of tomorrow. Unfortunately, no one really seems to realize that until such a tomorrow occurs.
So now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is our governor (as of 11:14 pm with 46% of the precint reporting) what do the "people of California" have to say about it? I'm sure everyone has an opinion on this controversial issue of governmental recall. But what about those who did not yet qualify to vote? Are we still the people of California, even though legally we are not considered to be? Not only were we not allowed to vote, but no one in the general media and none of the canidates asked; we, the youth of california our opinion. Does this mean that politically speaking we don't matter? I myself can't help but feel that I am powerless.
 
As far as I've seen, according to modern politics, who am i to even be writing this story? All I can say is thank goodness for blogs such as correspondences which allow some of those who might not otherwise be heard to speak out. But in the main stream media, as far as anyone who matters is concerned, all I am is a "youngster".
 
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing all modern media and all political candidates. I simply pose the question; where do I as an adolescent stand? Do my words, my ideas, and my peers words and ideas matter to you? Because simply the sporadic mention of the children and better education just don't do it for me... internet.com :: As The Blogs Churn By Robyn Greenspan
...According to Perseus Development Corp., a significant number of Internet users jumped on the blog [define] bandwagon and then jumped off, as the company found that two-thirds of the 3,634 hosted blogs that were surveyed were inactive.
Interestingly, The National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Blog Census finds almost the exact reverse: of the 1,372,266 Weblogs that are indexed by the NITLE, an estimated 905,695 are active...
Internet Magazine :: George W Bush weblog launches
...The Bush-Cheney 2004 Presidential campaign now has its own official weblog - and guess what? The regularly-updated diary seems to run on the open source weblogging software, Movable Type.
Although weblogs are often used as an opportunity for writers to post interesting links and opinions, many regard the Bush-Cheney weblog as a series of tacked-together press releases made to look like a weblog.
 
There's also no opportunity to comment under each post - usually part of what weaves weblogs together.
 
Whatever your opinion, there's no doubt that once the President himself has a blog, weblogging has gone mainstream...
MIT Technology Review :: Enter The Cybercandidates By Henry Jenkins
...By now, you've probably heard that savvy use of the Internet has helped to push Howard Dean, the previously little known former governor of Vermont, into the front ranks of candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Dean has raised more money online than any other campaign in U.S. political history; his staff is using blogging technology to create a more intimate, real-time relationship with its supporters; and they are deploying "smart mob" style tactics to quickly launch rallies around the country. Dean won 40 percent of the vote in an online "primary" run by MoveOn.org - an event that attracted more voters than the 2000 Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary combined. Pundits are calling Dean the cybercandidate...
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette :: Wesley Clark loses campaign manager over 'growing pains'
...Sterling Newberry, who helped lead one of the two major draft-Clark efforts, told Wired magazine last month that "there has been a tremendous amount of confusion and paucity of information coming from the campaign to blogs [Web logs], news sites and news people who have been Clark supporters."
Newberry said, for instance, that he had not been contacted by the campaign. "I have had some dealings with people who seemed to be associated with the campaign, but they were unproductive, and it wasn't clear what direction they were going."
 
Matthew Stoller, who publishes a daily Clark e-mail newsletter, told Wired, "A movement is a movement, and it can't be controlled through top-down hierarchical methods."
 
COURTING LABOR Fowler has ties to the tech world. He took leave from Tech-Net, a California political organization that represents the technology industry, to join the Clark campaign. Fowler was in charge of Democratic outreach for TechNet. Newsweek magazine has reported that Fowler's ties to Clark go back at least to the spring of 2002, when Clark sought his advice on a presidential run. Clark, meanwhile, was in Tulsa on Tuesday, where he criticized President Bush's war and economic policies while courting union voters. Speaking before about 200 people at the Transport Workers Union Local 514, Clark repeated his promise to repeal Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and use that money - $100 million - to create jobs. Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Freking of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Ron Fournier and Clayton Bellamy of The Associated Press...
FOXNews :: Hollings Retirement a Big Win for Liberty By Radley Balko
...Each time progress has dared to poke its head into the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate, Fritz Hollings has been there to beat it back with a Billy club.
Thanks in part to nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry, he's become a tireless champion of the Luddites. Last year, Hollings introduced an outrageous piece of legislation that would have required every piece of electronics sold in the United States to come outfitted with a copyright protection mechanism. The bill would have significantly increased the cost of everything from car stereos to home computers, and would have thrown a wet blanket over further development of digital technology.
 
Also last year, also with backing from the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollings attempted to circumvent the legislative process and directly persuade the FCC to prevent consumers from recording broadcast television programs in their own homes.
 
Hollings' shameless shilling for the entertainment industry has earned him the title "the Senator from Disney," or "Sen. Ernest 'Fritz' Hollings, D-Disney" in blogging and tech circles...

[there are five news stories in this post.]
 
BizReport :: Explosive Growth of New Web-Based Photo Sharing Platforms Linked Closely to Camera-Phones
...Future Image Inc., the leading provider of information and analysis on new trends in the imaging industry, today announced the results of its investigation into the geometric growth of a new form of multi-author web-based photo sharing. This hot new application, commonly referred to as "photoblogging," has registered tenfold month over month growth rates in both content -- number of images uploaded -- and users in recent months. It is closely related to the explosion in sales of camera- phones, which Future Image tracks closely through a series of research studies.
"Photoblogging is changing the way people share images in profound ways," said Myron Kassaraba, principal author of the report. "The immediacy, the interactive nature, and the ability for people who share a common interest -- whether families, or project teams in a business -- to communicate visually in a shared space, are breakthrough capabilities. The advent of these capabilities changes not only the photo sharing business itself, but also the broader scope of opportunities for imaging companies."
 
"Photoblogs: The New Paradigm for Photo Sharing" is based on extensive research of blogging, photoblogging and online photo journaling services, technologies and applications... The Journal Times Online :: Blogging through D.C.'s fog By Dustin Block
...When the scandal around President Bill Clinton broke back in 1998, I was sitting in my Madison apartment. My laptop was open on, well, my lap, and reports poured out - an intern had sex with the president in the Oval Office. The scandal was so fast that seemingly every hit of the reset button brought a new headline, a new twist in the coming national obsession.
This was the Drudge Report, a one-man Web site that introduced the world to Monica Lewinsky, stains on blue dresses and impeachment - and to the political power of the Internet.
 
Oddly, Drudge's big break, the one that brought him millions of readers every day, had nothing to do with the Clinton's sexual relations with "that woman." Instead, it was a media story.
 
Drudge reported that Newsweek magazine had a story about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, but decided against publishing it. Drudge reported the magazine's decision - he did little reporting on the scandal himself - and ignited the biggest Washington scandal since Watergate. In the process, he changed the way news is reported - a change that echos loudly in the current scandal involving the Bush Administration.
 
Drudge was not, and still is not, the best at what he did or does. He's a miserable writer who is reckless with facts and openly slanted in stories. But he gets a few things right that others still do not understand. They include:
1. People love big headlines. If you go to Drudge's Web site (www.drudgereport.com), you'll see big headlines. For punctuation, he'll often add flashing sirens or post the text in red. Regardless, it's very clear what he thinks is the big story.
 
2. People want their Web sites to be simple. The Drudge Report's design is remedial at best, the type of thing a young programmer could do, but it's also easy to read.
 
3. People want to know what to read. That's his genius: Drudge, or his readers, sift through hundreds of Web sites everyday looking for the best stories. From this searching, the best few are compiled on an hourly basis with links to other Web sites. Drudge writes few of his "stories." Instead, he simply directs people to what's interesting, like a friend who lets you in on a secret. He puts the news in context, meaning anything that appears on his page must be important...
newsobserver.com :: Moblogging: The next big thing By Rachel Leibrock, The Sacramento Bee
...Just when you got comfortable with the term "blogging" - i.e., publishing a regularly updated Web log of links and entries - along comes a new mysterious-sounding term: moblogging.
It's really quite simple, though. Moblogging is the latest way to update your Web log with text, pictures or sound via a properly equipped "smart phone," such as the Nokia 3650 or the Sony Ericcson P800, and a blog host such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) or Typepad (www.typepad.com) that supports the service.

Moblogging works like this: You're somewhere, anywhere, away from the computer, but you want to update your blog. So you whip out your celly, snap a picture, record some sound or message in some text.
 
Push a button to connect to your blog server and voila! - instant update...
MediaDailyNews :: Suppose You Hosted A Blog And Nobody Came By Paul J. Gough
..."Apparently the blog-hosting services have made it so easy to create a blog that many tire-kickers feel no commitment to continuing the blog they initiate," said Jeffrey Henning, who wrote the study for Perseus Development Corp. The study said that abandonment rates were higher for Pitas, BlogSpot and Diaryland and lower for Xanga and LiveJournal; three other sites didn't have enough sample to compare.
The study fleshed out demographics on the blogging population, which it said with 90% being created and written by people between the ages of 13 and 29. Fifty-one percent of bloggers are between 13 and 19, and 39% are between 20 and 29. Just under 6% are between 30 and 39, with 1.3% or under between 10-12, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-69. A slight majority of bloggers (56%) are female, and the study found they're more likely to stick to it than males...
Business Wire :: Six Apart Ltd. Launches TypePad Personal Weblogging Service for New Generation of Webloggers
...Six Apart Ltd., the makers of the highly acclaimed Movable Type weblog software, today launched TypePad(TM), a hosted service providing powerful, yet intuitive tools for creating full-featured private or public weblogs. Built in response to the needs of the next generation of webloggers -- everyday people who wish to use weblogs to communicate with family, friends and topic-focused communities -- TypePad is designed to make it simple for anyone on the Internet to publish easily accessible, media-rich weblogs and photo albums...

Cliques, Clicks, Bullies And Blogs (washingtonpost.com) Rachel Simmons
...Say hello to the newest strain of the bullying virus, technologically updated for the 21st century.
A recent spate of lawsuits against underage music pirates has finally focused adults' attention on teenage ethics and the Internet, but the news about what's been happening while grownups weren't looking is alarming. The Internet has transformed the landscape of children's social lives, moving cliques from lunchrooms and lockers to live chats and online bulletin boards, and intensifying their reach and power. When conflicts arise today, children use their expertise with interactive technologies to humiliate and bully their peers, and avoid reprimand from adults or foes. As parents plead technological ignorance with a my-Danny-hooks-everything-up sort of pride and many schools decline to discipline "off-campus" behavior, the Internet has become a free-for-all where bullying and cruelty are rampant.
 
I've spent the past four years trying to uncover the hidden culture of aggression in America's schools. Students, parents and school administrators have all pointed to Internet bullying as the latest, most vicious trend in children's social cruelty...

[there are five news stories in this post.]
 
WORLD :: Beyond the nightly news By Mindy Belz
...The pencil came of age in the Civil War, the telegraph in World War I, and the transistor radio made tense early days of the Cold War bearable. War in Iraq will be known for popularizing the blogosphere.
Internet weblog chronicles have morphed under the police-blotter approach taken by traditional media in Iraq coverage. Instead of endlessly leading with what bleeds in Iraq, good bloggers are carrying raw footage from the front lines, letting servicemen and Iraqis chronicle the war unfiltered... Forbes.com: Best Travel Blogs Christina Valhouli
Forbes continues their "Best Blogs" series.
 
...While many travelers are able to keep journals on their trips, it is harder for most to update a blog from the road. It's one thing if the bloggers find themselves near a cyber cafe in, say, Amsterdam, but there are not many Internet connections in Outer Mongolia or the Amazonian rainforest...
California Aggie Online :: UCDefault: Campus a fail-safe for many by Zachary Amendt
...Ivy League reject-ees like to share their dejection and euphoria in online weblogs, which are electronic diaries that replace the standard lock-and-key notebook.
This is what username "No Little Bears" said on the Calstuff blog:
 
"Never forget why you go to Berkeley. I never do. There's times I'll walk down Hearst or Bancroft and get hit with the odd, strange, joy that is remembering: I go to College here. I don't want to go anywhere else. I was lucky to be rejected from Harvard, from Columbia. Possibly lucky to be rejected from MIT."
 
But blogs are more than just places for people to vent or brag - they can also help high school students sort out the most appealing universities from the places they'll want to escape from after their first dining commons experience.
 
College undergraduates contribute their experiences and opinions to these blogs, which in turn rate universities based on food service, course difficulty, and - we in Davis know this especially - intensity of manure scents.
 
An entirely new layer of media, blog entries are efficient ways to communicate the strengths and weaknesses of universities...
WORLD :: Blogwatch
...Blogs have helped soldiers in Iraq to provide first-person perspectives. Blogger Chief Wiggles (chiefwiggles.blog-city.com) wrote, "We feel like we are swimming in a sea of honey, hardly able to make any progress as we pull and push with every stroke, with every intention of moving forward along this journey but not sure if we have even moved an inch." Despite the difficulties, Chief Wiggles is optimistic: "We are still very positive about our efforts in the overall scheme of things, knowing deep down inside that each person we touch gets us that much closer to our goal of winning the hearts and minds of these people."...
peerfear.org :: NewsMonster is Hiring
...The NewsMonster team is hiring! Are you fascinated by blogs? Interested in RSS/RDF and aggregation? Think the next big thing might just be FOAF? Do you dream in Java and or C?
Then you should come work on NewsMonster and help us build a killer aggregator!
 
We're hiring one or two senior level engineers with a deep understanding of blog space...

research, aggregate
synthesize and analyze
pollard's prescription...
haitech haiku ©2003 judith meskill
 
inspired by dave pollard's october 1st post - How to Make Your Blog More Valuable to Readers

Independent.co.uk :: As easy as falling off a blog by Andy Goldberg
In this article Andy Goldberg is all over the map in his estimation of weblogs and blogging, it is however apparent that blogging is not for him.
 
...Personal online journals are a dream come true for exhibitionists and computer geeks. But just how useful are weblogs? And how do you set up your own? Andy Goldberg joins the world of blogging. ...
...most blogs are, it must be said, badly written and poorly presented - the kind of drivel that gets read only reluctantly even by the authors' closest friends and family. Even so there are an awfully lot of good blogs - interesting, provocative, and passionate; direct, opinionated and informative. The best ones all have a unique approach or view that sets them apart, and engineer a sense of community among readers. They can be a great way of finding information too often ignored by the mainstream media.
 
Best of all, if you find a writer you like, one who speaks your language, shares your interests and is not overly verbose, it can be like having your own assistant to dig up the stories, sites and views that fascinate you...
 
Perhaps five of the world's bloggers make a living from it. And doing it as a hobby? No thanks - I spend most of my working day at the computer and in my spare time I prefer the hammering and sawing of my home-building project or coaching my daughter's football team.
 
To paraphrase the noted technology writer Clay Shirky, blogging is for those who seek "fame vs fortune" - for people more interested in reaching a wide audience by using cheap nano-publishing tools than in being rewarded financially for what they write...

Business Wire :: FoneBlog -TM- Craze Hits Ireland
...The 'blogging' phenomenon has taken the world by storm over the last two years with millions of blogs or web logs created on topics as diverse as travel to politics to family events. With the massive success of Camera Phones, FoneBlog is bringing this hottest craze to the mobile phone user.
"Camera phone users are looking for new and exciting ways to use their phones. FoneBlog gives them their own personal website so they can send their pictures and share their views and experiences with people throughout the world," said Carol Clavin, Marketing Manager for www.foneblog.ie...

[there are eight blogging news stories in this post, including articles on Microsoft, Amazon, Indiana University, and Autodesk.]
 
Yahoo News :: Progressive Electronics Retailer Leverages Power of Blogs
...Dynamism, the leading U.S. retailer of next-generation electronics from Japan and around the globe, launched a daily Web log, AkibaLive, today. Harnessing the immediacy and interactivity of blogging, Dynamism.com developed AkibaLive.com to educate and entertain passionate technology users about the latest consumer electronics products from Japan and from around the globe. The site, updated 6-8 times a day, provides breaking tech/gadget news from Tokyo and around the globe, live moblogging (or mobile-blogging directly from a photo-enabled cell phone) from tech hotspots like Tokyo's Akiba district, expert product reviews, and shopping links for the most unattainable notebooks, phones, and other gadgets... seattlepi.com Microsoft Blog :: A few favorites
...As this Microsoft weblog gets up and running, I thought it would be good to point to some of the other Web sites and weblogs that track the company. Many of them have been doing it for quite some time...
Mentioned in this article:
 
Watching Microsoft Like A Hawk, Watching Google Like A Hawk, Microsoft Monitor, Microsoft Watch, Microsoft Bloggers, Paul Thurrott's WinInfo, Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows, ActiveWin, Dan Gillmor's eJournal, Dan Gillmor's Silicon Valley Column, The Paul Wall, Microsoft PressPass, Chris Anderson, Chris Sells, John Porcaro, Mike Vernal, Joshua Allen, Beth Goza, Harry Pierson, Robert Scoble, Douglas Purdy, Sara Williams, Diane R, Eric Rudder, Eric Rudder Biography, Sun Bloggers, Simon Phipps, Ken Bereskin, Dave Hyatt, Buzz Andersen, Living Without Microsoft, NewsForge, CNET News.com, Corante, InformationWeek, Good Morning Silicon Valley, and eWEEK.
Computerworld :: Microsoft to lift lid on Longhorn at Professional Developers Conference by Joris Evers
...Microsoft Corp. will share more details on the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) next month. However, the company likely will keep the new user interface, dubbed Aero, under wraps.
Aero may make a cameo appearance in the opening keynote address by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, but it's not finished yet and likely won't be included in the pre-beta release of Longhorn that will be handed out to PDC attendees, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's PDC plans. Also, Aero is not on the calendar of sessions at the show.
 
Perhaps more important to developers is that Microsoft will give PDC attendees the scoop on Avalon, the little-talked-about engine underlying the Longhorn user interface. Microsoft has described the technology as "a brand new client platform for building smart, connected, media rich applications in Longhorn." Developers at the show will be told how to take advantage of Avalon in their applications. ...
 
A buzz around the event is being built up by PDC attendees and Microsoft employees who discuss the event in their weblogs. Microsoft's secrecy around many of the PDC topics has helped build expectations for a show packed with new technology...
USATODAY :: Amazon moves to front line of shaping 'Web services' by Byron Acohido
...Over the past 16 months, Amazon has inspired about 30,000 developers to invent myriad ways to extend Amazon's visibility on the Web. "Amazon basically hired the entire world to create Web services for them," says Calin Uioreanu, a Romanian tech engineer who in his spare time runs several online stores he created to funnel sales to Amazon.
Programmers ranging from hobbyists to skilled professionals have found ways to tie everything from text in word processing documents, to raw MP3 music files, to entries in online journals, called Weblogs, to items for sale on Amazon's Web pages. The incentive: Amazon pays a 5% commission for any sale directed to its system...
IDS: IU Weblogs offer diverse opinions By Alli Stolper
...Indiana University students, faculty and staff are allowed to publish a diverse amount of information on the University personal home page service, as long as it complies with the law and University policy.
But diverse doesn't begin to describe the 31,000 Web sites in the University's personal home directory.
 
The pages vary from business professor Eric Rasmusen's anti-homosexual opinions to sophomore Aubrey Dunnuck's fan art wallpaper of the Gilmore Girls.
 
Personal homepages are not reviewed by the University prior to posting. The University accepts no responsibility for the information published on the free Web pages.
 
Mark Bruhn, chief IT security and policy officer, said he receives complaints about material which looks as if it violates the law or University policy.
 
"If someone complains about something that they see on a personal page, and it's clearly illegal or against some IU policy, my office will tell the page owner to remove it," Bruhn said. In general, Bruhn said he does not have much trouble with controversial material on the pages...
Yahoo News :: Autodesk Enhances Subscription Offering with Web Support and e-Learning
...Autodesk Subscription customers will now be automatically qualified to participate in the AutoCAD beta program, giving them the power to help drive future product functionality. They will also benefit from exclusive webcasts and Web logs (blogs), a Web page made up of short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically. Webcasts will include a variety of topics and speakers and the initial blog will focus on AutoCAD, with other product blogs to follow...
Network Computing Asia :: Web Site Automation Dr Seamus Phan
...If you are in a large organisation with thousands of pages of information that needs to be frequently updated or refreshed, it will be unwise to keep the Web site manually updated.
The running costs will add up and your Web site will soon be bleeding profusely. In this scenario, automation can remove most of the hassle of keeping your content up-to-date.

And why shouldn't you automate? In scenarios where you have little content and you can do with a Weblog (blog) or journal-like script instead, automation will be overkill. There are many nice Web sites, as well as enterprise micro-sites that benefit nicely from blogs instead of full automation.

If you can modularise your Web site into micro-sites and manage running journals or blogs, then you may not want to use more sophisticated Web site automation scripts, since they come with a hefty learning tag...
Charleston: The Post and Courier :: GOOD MORNING LOWCOUNTRY
...We like children and dogs. We are not cat people. We're not morning people, either. Don't call before 10. We like salt water and our favorite journey is the road home. We love to travel but hate airports. We love road trips but never take a map. We seldom make reservations. We like science, math, weather, blogs, world events, strange news, extreme sports and rock and roll. You can contact us if you have nothing better to do at gmlc@postandcourier.com...

[there are four blogging news stories in this post, all political.]
 
The New York Times :: The Role of the Delete Key in Blog by Michael Falcone
...Is a blog still a blog if someone else edits it? A recent policy change at The Sacramento Bee has raised questions about whether taking an editor's pen to a Web log before it is published detracts from very nature of Web logs, or "blogs,'' as the online diaries are called.
Lurking uncertainty about what standards should be applied to Web logs written by journalists bubbled to the surface last week after The Bee's ombudsman made public a recent decision by editors to screen Web log entries of Daniel Weintraub, one of the newspaper's leading columnists, before they are posted on The Bee's Web site.
 
Other bloggers weighed in, many sharply criticizing the new regulations that the editors imposed on Mr. Weintraub's popular "California Insider" blog, widely considered required reading for recall election news... MENAFN.COM - Middle East North Africa :: Knight Ridder Newspapers By Dick Polman
... it's clear that the Web is changing the way national politics is conducted. Campaign aides talk incessantly about conquering the "blogosphere" _ the corner of cyberspace where "bloggers" write daily logs about politics. ("Blog derives from "Web log.) Some campaigns are even courting the best-known bloggers (and, by extension, their online audiences), much the way candidates in the FDR era went hat in hand to the cigar-chomping party bosses.
For any serious presidential candidate these days, it's de rigeur to have a top-notch techno-geek on staff. Ten years ago, bragging rights went to the candidate who hired the best TV ad-maker. But in campaign `08, the big hire could be the tekkie who creates the best candidate blog _ an online journal accessed by the citizenry...
Contra Costa Times :: Bush campaign revs into higher gear By David L. Greene Baltimore SUN
...Mindful of the success Howard Dean has enjoyed in raising money and rallying support over the Internet for his Democratic presidential drive, the Bush campaign has set up a Web site, www.georgewbush.com, that's cleverly designed to make it a cinch to donate money and other support. On the site, people are invited to give money, to call talk shows or write to newspapers in support of the president. (They can download suggested text.) They are also offered flashy campaign literature to post on their personal Web sites or blogs...
AP Wire :: Sharon Davis offers strength, solace to husband's campaign by Beth Fouhy
...In an interview with The Associated Press, Sharon Davis said her goal is to acquaint California voters with the Gray Davis she has known for 25 years.
"I read profiles and I don't even recognize the person I'm reading about," she said. "The person I see when he comes home every night, or the person I see at the office. He's genuinely a good guy, a decent hardworking guy who's had some big challenges."
 
With her dimples and broad smile, Sharon Davis projects a warmth that seems genuine, unforced; she softens her husband's brittle edges. She spends her days traversing the state and delivering speeches, all the while "blogging" her campaign diary to his Web site. In the campaign's effort to humanize the governor, his wife is a powerful tool.
 
"I think she is able to convey a more personable side of Gray and their relationship," said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at University of California, Berkeley...

[there are three stories in this post.]
 
MERIA :: CYBERDISSENT: The Internet in Revolutionary Iran By Babak Rahimi
...Along with a growing internationally acclaimed film industry and an increase in demand for satellite dishes, the internet has become an important medium for interacting with the rest of the world, and this interaction has helped spur several changes in Iranian society. For instance, the rise of "coffee-nets," voice chats that have become an inexpensive way for the young to converse online, challenge the Islamic government and its oppressive imposition of moral guidelines for the separation of the sexes in everyday public places.(17) Another related phenomenon is the 20,000 active internet sites and weblogs (or blogs)--online journals where cyber-diarists meet to chat about the latest news in their personal lives, politics, or sports and enable young Iranians to express themselves freely and anonymously on various subjects.(18) Probing the freedom provided by the internet, internet users--especially women--are finding in blogs an alternative medium for expression that is denied to them in real public spaces.(19) The famous case of a former prostitute's weblog, detailing the underworld life of Iranian society, demonstrates how Iranians are defying the strict moral code imposed by the Islamic government. Such unabashed online diaries offer a rare glimpse into the frustrated lives of Iranian youth who have grown up under strict Islamic laws.(20) In short, the new generation has built online communities where couples meet to chat, young men dress as they wish and young women go uncovered without being harassed... Macworld UK :: Apple's new .Mac gifts entice users
...Apple has added three new exclusive gifts to entice .Mac members in the US. Apple UK has been unable to confirm whether all the latest offerings will extend to .Mac subscribers in the UK. Joining the .Mac offering are a free copy of the iBlog weblog software (available to UK), a free VersionTracker Plus subscription and a US$30 discount on SmartDisk hard drives purchased through the US Apple Store...
OJR article: Red Herring Is Back With New Owner, New Editor ... and New Mission Too by Mark Glaser
..."People don't realize that when we started Business 2.0 -- about the same time as the Standard started -- times weren't that robust," Daly said. "An economic downturn is a great time to start a publication. People are more rational, grounded. Investors are more realistic." He said the new Herring would continue in some ways as its old self, an ideas-based publication with a focus on venture capital news. He said there wouldn't be Weblogs on the site initially, though he's open to adding them in the future...

[This weblogs in the news post contains five separate news items of interest. If you are reading my weblog via RSS, access my full RSS feed to continue reading.]
The New York Times :: For the World's A B C's, He Makes 1's and 0's By Michael Erard
...MICHAEL EVERSON, a 40-year-old typographer who lives in Dublin, considers himself blessed because he has found his life's work: to be an alphabetician to all the peoples of the world. Mr. Everson's largest project to date - a contribution to a new version of Unicode 4.0, an international standard for computerizing text - is cementing his reputation. ... He keeps a photo of a stone inscribed with ogham, an ancient Irish alphabet that looks like hash marks, in a silver frame. ... It is because of Unicode that bloggers can muse in Arabic and domain names can exist in Chinese, or that National Security Agency analysts can scour the Internet for reports on the latest threats in East African newspapers. "Because of Unicode," Mr. McGowan said, "you can plunk down a vanilla off-the-shelf computer into a cafe anywhere in the world and have any user in any language walk up to it and use it for accessing the Web."... The Washington Dispatch :: Leading Recall Journalist Muzzled Exclusive commentary by Garth Eisenbeis
Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub is the proprietor of an excellent weblog covering the California recall called the California Insider. On Sunday the editorial board of the Bee smacked Weintraub because he drew the ire of the Legislature's (Democrat) Latino Caucus with one of his entries from September 1st referring to recall candidate Cruz Bustamante's ties to MEChA.
The Bee had been on the cutting edge of print journalism by offering a blog to readers allowing a free-flow of ideas outside of the print arena; a real-time e-paper, if you will. It is apparent that the Bee's formerly successful experiment has been shelved to satisfy Leftist politicians and an influential special interest group in Sacramento. Bee ombudsman Tony Marcano, late of the New York Times (hint, hint), wrote, "Since these incidents came to light, The Bee has instituted some reforms. Weintraub's blog now goes to the editorial page editor or his deputy before it's posted on sacbee.com. Editors will not be allowed to write items for the Web without another editor's review."...
KRT Wire :: Professor's university blog attracts controversy BY Maureen Ryan, Chicago Tribune
...Rasmusen's blog resides on the server of Indiana University, where he is a professor in the business school. His posted musings on whether homosexuals should be allowed to be teachers, pastors or other kinds of "moral exemplars" have caused a major campus uproar in the past few weeks...
O'Reilly Network :: Back to the Memex [Sep. 25, 2003] by Ethan Cerami
...I recently got a chance to reread Vannever Bush's 1945 Atlantic Monthly article, As We May Think. If you haven't ever read it, it is well worth the read, and still quite thought provoking. You can also check out a biography of Vannever Bush at Wired magazine -- Wired calls him the "Godfather" of the Internet.
In his article, Bush describes a machine called the "Memex." Here's how he describes it: A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.
 
Bush then goes on to describe a machine which is remarkably like the World Wide Web, as it exists today. For example, he describes "trails" between documents (think hyperlinks), indexes of trails (think Google), and publication of trails with commentary (think Blogs)...
AO :: The Blogger Revolt!
Tony Perkins reflects on his first 8 months running a super blog-or whatever you want to call it.
 
...Now that I have had a little experience dealing with these kind of digs, let me say a few things to set the record straight:
1. I have finally learned what a blog is. (Thank you Dave Winer!) It is an amateur author who posts a regular diary on his own site that is unedited, spontaneous, and generally comments on and links to other blog sites. I think the key attribute is the establishment of an individual voice that provides an alternative to traditional media.

2. While AO is built using "blogging" software, it is not a blog in a pure sense. AO is really a combination of professional editorials, reporting and interviews. The difference is that we use our blogging software set-up to encourage participation...

valdis krebs' inflow mapping knowledge creation
weaving well-formed webs...
 
haitech haiku ©2003 judith meskill
This morning I received a comment on my Notable Judiths - Judith Donath post of 31 August 2003 from Valdis Krebs [whom I met virtually in Jerry Ash's AOK: Star Series with Patti Anklam.]
I then did a search on my personal "k-loggers" blogroll [which I have built in the last three months since I began my "Knowledge Notes" weblog] utilizing "Blogs I Read" [courtesy of Micah Alpern] and found the following references to Valdis:
individual posts:
Danah Boyd's connected selves: Mapping and honing our interconnections, Jack Vinson's Blogs and the Tipping Point, Jim McGee's Social Network Mapping and Blogs, Joy London's Social Network Analysis, Lilia Efimova's Blogger social network mapping, Peter Merholz's Interview with social network researcher Valdis Krebs, and Richard Gayle's Political Patterns on the WWW,
multiple posts:
James Robertson's Column Two, Jon Udell's Radio, and Julian Elve's Synesthesia,
and a preponderance of posts:
Patti Anklam's Networks, Complexity, and Relatedness, Phil Wolff's a klog apart, Ross Mayfield's [old Radio] Weblog, Sebastien Paquet's Open Research, and Stephen Dulaney's Blogging Alone.
And this is just in my small corner of the blogging universe. When "googled" Valdis Krebs returns 2,350 hits. [See his article for HR.com on What's Your Google Number]. Maybe Valdis Krebs doesn't need a weblog after all? (^:

Cleveland.com :: Web page comments have students in jam by Jennifer Gonzalez and Scott Stephens Plain Dealer Reporters
...What teenagers write in online diaries can come back to haunt them, as a half-dozen University School students found out this week. The students came under fire after administrators at the exclusive Hunting Valley preparatory school found they had made nasty comments about a fellow student on a "blog" - a Web page that functions as a publicly accessible journal. The episode is the latest of a growing number of incidents in which student musings have turned blogs and chat rooms into the high-tech equivalent of a lavatory wall... Montgomery Advertiser : : Edgewood alum blog guru in NYC By Teri Greene
...Blogging's recent rise in awareness and popularity has resulted in a strange phenomenon: media celebrities who have emerged from the niche world of the blog. Among the most successful of these is a hometown girl, 26-year-old Elizabeth Spiers, who hails from Wetumpka. Now living in Manhattan, this Duke University grad and Wall Streeter-turned-writer has penned the highly praised New York-based "Gawker" blog -- one of a growing number of blogs that actually bring in revenue. It launched last December. As editor, she's updated the site an average of 12 times a day, every day. And now she's hit the big time. Spiers announced Wednesday on her personal blog, www.elizabethspiers.com, that she's leaving Gawker for a permanent writing position at New York magazine. Editors there came to know her through Gawker and wanted her for their own. She'll hand her Gawker duties over to fellow blogger Choire Sicha. "And here's the real kicker," Spiers wrote, "New York magazine wants to start a blog."...
Montgomery Advertiser : : Blogs give writers a voice By Teri Greene
...The addiction is spreading, all the way into Alabama; an informal Web search for Alabama bloggers yielded more than 50 of them, and there are likely many more. But blogging, at least in this part of the country, seems to be at a strange crossroads. While it's a craze for a relative few, blogs remain obscure to many. For every enthusiast, there are probably thousands more who have never even heard the word. ...Which elevates Alabama bloggers, at least as they see it, to a whole new level of cool...
KnoxNews: Bloggers flood net reporting on Isabel By MICHAEL SILENCE, silence@knews.com
...While Hurricane Isabel moved up the eastern seaboard, the keyboards kept clicking to provide an electronic eye on the storm's movement and damage. With candlelight and backup battery power, bloggers, as they are known, provided first-hand accounts, at times taking breaks to deal with the storm's aftermath...
TechTV | Top Five Tips for Webloggers By Brent Todd, The Weblog Review
...Anyone can create a weblog, but that doesn't necessarily make it good. Today on "Call for Help" a veteran blog critic tells us what makes a weblog worth reading.
1. Have good content. Compelling content is what gives people a reason to come back to your site. Don't write in shorthand, valley girl, or h@k0rz.
2. Update frequently. Regular new content is what distinguishes weblogs from static websites.
3. Stay focused on your content. Switching topics randomly can induce some readers to move on to another blog.
4. Create an About page. Give people an idea of who you are, but don't post personal stuff such as your name, address, or work place.
5. Have an original design. Make sure your site is easy to navigate. If you use a template, modify it. Of course, a pretty design doesn't mean the weblog is good. Make sure the design doesn't interfere with the content...
PRESS RELEASE ( PR Web) Social Networking Site Ringo.com Comes Out Of Beta With 200,000 Members
...Social networking site Ringo.com completed a 90 day Beta testing stage this week. Quietly launched in June 2003, Ringo already has 200,000 members, with a growth rate of 10% per week...

ZDNet UK : News :: Search tool scans blogs for business
...Moreover said that blogs can represent a valuable source of business information that springs directly from consumers, rather than traditional media sources. "Weblogs highlight the news that matters as well as providing instantaneous commentary and opinions on a wide variety of topics and events," said Moreover chief executive Jim Pitkow, in a statement... seattlepi.com Microsoft Blog :: More on Sun Java System
Weighing in on Sun's announcement of a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft's Windows operating system for desktop computers:
...various technology-related weblogs are offering commentary on the announcement. See, for example, the personal weblog of Microsoft employee Robert Scoble, a technical evangelist for the next version of Windows who was featured in our earlier story on Microsoft employee blogs. He, in turn, points to others outside Microsoft with views on the subject, including technical consultant and programmer Russell Beattie...
reviewjournal.com -- Opinion: EDITORIAL: FCC rules
...Far from stifling any "diversity of views" in broadcasting, the ownership rules proposed by the FCC would allow new technologies to let a multiplicity of voices flourish. They offer a formal acknowledgement that individuals now receive their information from a multitude of sources; newspapers and network affiliates compete with alternative weeklies, talk radio, 24-hour news channels and Internet Weblogs to inform and entertain...
InfoWorld TechWatch :: John Cleese's day in the Sun by Mark Jones
...blogging live from John Cleese's keynote at SunNetworks ... here's a good slight at Scott McNealy: "And what about Scott's hair cut, you think he could afford a better hair cut than SuperCuts."...
Guardian Unlimited | Economic dispatch | Blogging on
...Victor Keegan reports on the Guardian's experimental linking of editorial comment and the world of the blog during this month's WTO summit...
Editor & Publisher :: Newspapers Try 'Really Simple Syndication'
...One of the newest RSS offerings is from The Telegraph in Nashua, N.H., where nh.com Editor Ernesto Burden's team built a feed for the latest presidential primary news. The Christian Science Monitor offers the entire paper in this format and also lets users subscribe to specific sections such as world coverage or arts, says Joel Abrams, partnership development specialist for csmonitor.com. While the site has no way of tracking individual RSS users, it serves over a million RSS files per month...