People use blogs to tell their side of a story. But what are the ramifications when a person blogs a court trial? This article in Law.com talks about some famous trials that have been/are being blogged. Companies such as Microsoft and PeopleSoft use Web pages or blogs to head off the media and communicate directly with shareholders and customers. Martha Stewart has one, too. Sure, the defendents and plaintiffs get to explain their cases, but it's not in their best interest to say anything that would taint the trial, let alone anything that would taint the jury. My best guest as to why this type of blog is useful is that it can present the subject in an empathetic light, to maintain the support of customers and fans. It can also keep the subject in the public eye while the subject is in prison. So when the subject gets out of prison, there's no need to reintroduce them to the market. [Link][comments?][Karma: 16 ( + / - )]
Another reason why we must free up the information channels (of which blogs can be a part): Fear of Death Wins Minds and Votes, Study Finds The above Reuters article talks about a study that measures how the fear of death influences one's choice for president. One of the researchers even brings up how imminent threats always seem to pop up soon after President Bush or his administration goofs up. And with the help of the consolidated media, who are afraid go against the president, this fear is drummed into us all day long. So pay no attention to those people hiding behind the national threat rainbow. Turn off the TV, step back, and reflect on the facts for yourself. [Link][comments?][Karma: 11 ( + / - )]
After reading Lessig's book (Free Culture), I've realized that blogs are important because:
One light bulb that Lessig turned on for me is that media companies don't just want a tight grip on their own copyrights; they want a tight grip on all other copyrights out of their fear of competition. Most content protected by copyright is either out of print and not saleable or is lost in a black hole because no one knows who holds the copyright. To search for the copyright holders and attain rights of use would cost more money than the content would sell for. If not for the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, about 98% of all content protected by copyright would have fallen into public domain. The public would have had the means to create mad amounts of derivative works based on this newly freed content. Just like Walt Disney did when he created Mickey Mouse. [Link][comments?][Karma: 15 ( + / - )]
Lawrence Lessig, in his book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, talks about the importance of archiving as much of our knowledge and products of our creativity as we can. He believes that all creativity, not just creativity bought and sold in the marketplace, is important, because from it, we can understand "... who we are, and where we came from, and how we have made the mistakes that we have ..." If archiving all of the products of our creativity is important, what about archiving our creative process? Blogs could record this process. Not only will the creator benefit from reading how he or she created the product, but the world can benefit as well. We could all create innovative things based on each others' experiences. It's a utopia, I know. We'd also have to ensure that these blogs are stored somewhere redundant and disaster tolerant so that future generations can benefit. And depending on the blogger, this might constitute copyright infringement, since archives are a collection of copies. But the copyright issue is for another post. [Link][comments?][Karma: 3 ( + / - )]
Joe Trippi, former manager of Howard Dean's presidential campaign, in an interview in Mother Jones, compared the campaign’s use of blogs and the Internet to Open Source. Trippi’s point was that the blog created a feedback loop between Dean and his supporters. The supporters gave Dean suggestions and ideas, and Dean used some of those ideas in his campaign. The story was Slashdotted here and it got a lot of emotional responses. Many people did not appreciate Trippi comparing Dean's campaign to Open Source, especially since Dean did so badly in the primaries. The Slashdotters would like to be compared with a more successful project. The way Dean’s campaign worked can be compared to a messy Open Source project. Anyone who ran a project the way Trippi did might be heckled out of the Open Source community. If he really did it the Open Source way, Trippi would have published the campaign’s plans to the community for a review and QA cycle before executing the plans. Instead, the community threw out a bunch of ideas, Dean and Trippi picked a few to use, and then executed the plan. That’s the equivalent of someone sending a bunch of code to an Open Source project leader, who adds the code to the software, and then releases the software without letting the community test it. There’s a good chance that the software would be quite buggy and not work. Update: When I said, "...and then releases the software without letting the community test it..." I meant releasing the software to the general public, bypassing the Open Source community. Update 2: And anyway, I doubt that many Deaniacs had ever managed a political campaign before. Their advice might have been pie-in-the-sky and not of practical use to Trippi. Conversely, Open Source projects are usually made up of members who've actually coded software and can give practical advice. [Link][3 comments][Karma: 8 ( + / - )]
David Hornik, in CNet, implores the software industry to quit their yakking about the business potential of blogs and start developing the software needed to keep the social networking ball rolling. Hornik attends social networking panels and it seems like all they talk about is the potential of blogs to generate ad revenue and the utopia social networking software will create. Are the developers actually studying how groups effectively communicate with each other (much research has been done on this subject; I’m reading about it right now) or are they just going to create what they think is a bright, shiny killer app, plop it down, and expect people to use it to its best potential? If they want to sell social networking software to business, they’ll have to gather requirements and research the benefits that the business world can get out of it. [Link][comments?][Karma: 15 ( + / - )]
I'm reading the chapter "Innovation Implementation in Work Teams" by Michael A. West in the book, Group Creativity. (I'm reading this book for background on the effects that teamwork has on creativity. This is relevant to blogs that allow people to comment; the commentors and blogger act as a team, which produces the content of the blog.) Anyway, for you fans of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Mr. West tells us how 3M's Post-it notes were invented: An employee of 3M discovered Post-it notes because he sang in the church choir and needed some effective way of marking the place of hymns between services. Knowing of an adhesive with poor properties (it didn't stick well) being explored at 3M, he had the idea of using it on small strips of paper to mark the hymnal. [Link][comments?][Karma: 8 ( + / - )]
The new Break Up News blog allows people to post brief announcements, much like wedding announcements, about their break ups. They can announce either recent break ups or older ones that have been stewing for years. The creator and moderator is Flint Wainess, an LA screenwriter who also announced his own breakup. The Daily News story about the site is here. Most of the announcements are damn funny. Hopefully they'll stay on the funny, healthy side and not degenerate to bitter, dried-up resentment. Anyone can comment on the posts, which opens up endless possibilities of over-analyzing the break up with your ex or a handful of strangers. |
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