You may come across some technical terms whilst wandering around Blogs such as RSS or Rich Site Summary:
"RSS is a document type that lists updates of websites or blogs available for syndication. These RSS documents (also known as 'feeds') may be read using aggregators. RSS feeds may show headlines only or both headlines and summaries"
For various other definitions and a good overview of blogs take a look at the About.com webpages. They are irritating in that there is a mess of advertising on their pages.
Whilst you are there it is also worth looking at about.com generally, they have useful sites on all sorts of topics from learning french to panic and anxiety disorders. The full listing of topics is on this index page
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed
Interesting website "Those Dark Hiding Places" for providing ways of accessing the 'Hidden Web'.
"Although many popular search engines boast about their ability to index information on the Web, more of it (dynamically-generated pages, certain file formats, and information held within numerous databases) has become invisible to their searching spiders. Much of the Web is hiding information from us, but we can access this hidden content!...
"Because much of this information is not accessible to many general search engines' software spiders, we need to look for specific search tools that will lead us to this hidden content. Some of these tools include directories, searchable sites, free Web databases, and a few general and many specialized search engines."
Definitely worth a look at
"Although many popular search engines boast about their ability to index information on the Web, more of it (dynamically-generated pages, certain file formats, and information held within numerous databases) has become invisible to their searching spiders. Much of the Web is hiding information from us, but we can access this hidden content!...
"Because much of this information is not accessible to many general search engines' software spiders, we need to look for specific search tools that will lead us to this hidden content. Some of these tools include directories, searchable sites, free Web databases, and a few general and many specialized search engines."
Definitely worth a look at
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Is it all over for blogs?
Article on the future of blogging by technology analyst Bill Thompson in BBC online, Friday, 8 August, 2003:
"It seemed to me that the number of useless postings and blog entries was starting to increase and there was less and less there that was really of interest ...
"Perhaps the blogs, after a brief time when they were seen by some as a wholly new wave of internet development, are losing their appeal. In fact there have been bloggers and blogging tools available since 1997 when the term was coined by Jorn Barger.
But blogging has been mainstream for two years - how many days can someone keep on posting to their LiveJournal site, or visiting Blogger to add more details about their cat's mysterious illness? Or it may be that the blogs are going through the same thing as UseNet, the internet's original bulletin board system....."
"It seemed to me that the number of useless postings and blog entries was starting to increase and there was less and less there that was really of interest ...
"Perhaps the blogs, after a brief time when they were seen by some as a wholly new wave of internet development, are losing their appeal. In fact there have been bloggers and blogging tools available since 1997 when the term was coined by Jorn Barger.
But blogging has been mainstream for two years - how many days can someone keep on posting to their LiveJournal site, or visiting Blogger to add more details about their cat's mysterious illness? Or it may be that the blogs are going through the same thing as UseNet, the internet's original bulletin board system....."
Problems for Blogs and jobs
Blogger grounded by her airline
By Jo Twist BBC News Online science and technology reporter
"A US airline attendant is fighting for her job after she was suspended over postings on her blog, or online diary. Queen of the Sky, otherwise known as Ellen Simonetti, evolved into an anonymous semi-fictional account of life in the sky. But after she posted pictures of herself in uniform, Delta Airlines suspended her indefinitely without pay. Ms Simonetti was told her suspension was a result of "inappropriate" images. Delta Airlines declined to comment. "
Jeffrey Matsuura, director of the law and technology programme at the University of Dayton, said personal websites can be hazardous for both employers and their employees.
"There are many examples of employees who have presented some kind of material online that have gotten them in trouble with employers," he said. It was crucial that any policy about what was and what was not acceptable was expressed clearly, was reasonable, and enforced fairly in company policy. "You have to remember that as an employee, you don't have total free speech anymore," he said.
"This blogging thing is obviously a new problem for employers and they need to get a policy about it. If I had known it would cost me my job, I would not have done that."
Full story at BBC News Online
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?
Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital? Social Networks, Participation, and Community Commitment
BARRY WELLMAN, ANABEL QUAN HAASE, JAMES WITTE, KEITH HAMPTON
AMERICAN BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST, Vol. 45 No. 3, November 2001 436-455
This article concludes that:
" People’s interaction online supplements their face-to-face and telephone communication without increasing or decreasing it. However, heavy Internet use is associated with increased participation in voluntary organizations and politics. Further support for this effect is the positive association between offline and online participation in voluntary organizations and politics. However, the effects of the Internet are not only positive: The heaviest users of the Internet are the least committed to online community. Taken together, this evidence suggests that the Internet is becoming normalized as it is incorporated into the routine practices of everyday life."
"There are no single Internet effects. In this era of spatially dispersed community, the Internet fills needs for additional interpersonal contact that supplement in-person and telephone contact. At a time of declining organizational participation, the Internet provides tools for those already involved to increase their participation. Yet, at a time when networked individualism reduces group social cohesion, extensive involvement with the Internet apparently exposes participants to situations that weaken their sense of community online."
BARRY WELLMAN, ANABEL QUAN HAASE, JAMES WITTE, KEITH HAMPTON
AMERICAN BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST, Vol. 45 No. 3, November 2001 436-455
This article concludes that:
" People’s interaction online supplements their face-to-face and telephone communication without increasing or decreasing it. However, heavy Internet use is associated with increased participation in voluntary organizations and politics. Further support for this effect is the positive association between offline and online participation in voluntary organizations and politics. However, the effects of the Internet are not only positive: The heaviest users of the Internet are the least committed to online community. Taken together, this evidence suggests that the Internet is becoming normalized as it is incorporated into the routine practices of everyday life."
"There are no single Internet effects. In this era of spatially dispersed community, the Internet fills needs for additional interpersonal contact that supplement in-person and telephone contact. At a time of declining organizational participation, the Internet provides tools for those already involved to increase their participation. Yet, at a time when networked individualism reduces group social cohesion, extensive involvement with the Internet apparently exposes participants to situations that weaken their sense of community online."
Virtual community: no ‘killer implication’
Virtual community: no ‘killer implication’
ANDREW FEENBERG & MARIA BAKARDJIEVA
new media & society Vol6(1):37–43 2004
ANDREW FEENBERG & MARIA BAKARDJIEVA
new media & society Vol6(1):37–43 2004
"Online sociability is a fact of everyday life. According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project report (2001), 84 percent of all American internet users contacted an online group at least once and 79 percent of these users remained in regular contact with at least one group.
Benedict Anderson’s notion of imagined community: ‘All communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined’. Anderson argues that
communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined.... recently, the internet has exploded with imagined communities that are based on the swift interactive exchange of electronic text."
Types of online community studies
- Online forums - found to be often instrumental or inconsequential. "They give rise to specialized relationships, not all embracing solidarities. They are driven by fleeting interests, not unconditional commitments."
- Local communities online - studies which examine the ways in which existing local communities employ the internet to discuss relevant local issues and to build stronger bonds among citizens and neighbours
- Online communities as a business prospect - business organisations who want to use online community to stimulate team work and productivity,or to make money in other wasy (eg online gaming communities)
The article concludes that "civic life and political involvement in most Western societies have not experienced quite as significant a boost as some optimistic forecasters expected. So far the
internet has not had the large-scale democratizing consequences that was envisioned. On the other hand, the atomizing and isolating effects that were feared by pessimistic observers appear greatly exaggerated. Most of us know people who regularly frequent a professional or hobbyist virtual group, deriving ample benefit and pleasure from participation without shutting themselves off from face-to-face meetings, parties and occasional drinks in good company"
Two findings:
- studies of the origin and functions of online groups demonstrate the remarkable power of the medium to enable new forms of sociability.
- studies that enquire into the motives for joining and contributing to these groups demonstrate consistently that online participation offers unique opportunities for actively and interactively pursuing identity-related projects that used to be impossible, and even inconceivable.
The online world have found new ways for people to express situated personal experiences, needs and problems. This in turn undermines the distinction between ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ life
"Online groups are indeed a qualitatively new medium. It is time for researchers to realize that they must position themselves as participants in the process of development by placing their results at the disposal of the online communities that they study."
Communities of Care and Caring: The Case of MSWatch.com
Communities of Care and Caring: The Case of MSWatch.com
ROBERT WEIS et al, Journal of Health Psychology, 1359–1053(200301)8:1]
Vol 8(1) 135–148; 029449
Abstract
Can a health-care website stimulate its members to become a ‘community of care and caring’, facilitating both medical ‘information’ and personal ‘support’? This study of MSWatch.com, a website designed for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, provides conceptual distinctions about ‘ties’ to a ‘community’ and raises questions about communications designed to serve patients with Multiple Sclerosis.
An online survey of members of the website shows that members tend to:
(1) make use of both its health-care information (care) and support (caring) functions, especially the former;
(2) evaluate the website more highly overall if they make use of both information and support; (3) use the website the most during early stages of the disease; and
(4) enhance their ties to the virtual community through using communication information and support
In 1997 nearly half of US users spent some time looking for health information on the Internet, in year 2000 nearly 60 percent reported using the Internet to get medical information.
the MSWatch website had 16,416 members and a total of 943 users responded to the survey.
The study makes a distinction between 'care' and 'caring' components of the discussion board:
ROBERT WEIS et al, Journal of Health Psychology, 1359–1053(200301)8:1]
Vol 8(1) 135–148; 029449
Abstract
Can a health-care website stimulate its members to become a ‘community of care and caring’, facilitating both medical ‘information’ and personal ‘support’? This study of MSWatch.com, a website designed for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, provides conceptual distinctions about ‘ties’ to a ‘community’ and raises questions about communications designed to serve patients with Multiple Sclerosis.
An online survey of members of the website shows that members tend to:
(1) make use of both its health-care information (care) and support (caring) functions, especially the former;
(2) evaluate the website more highly overall if they make use of both information and support; (3) use the website the most during early stages of the disease; and
(4) enhance their ties to the virtual community through using communication information and support
In 1997 nearly half of US users spent some time looking for health information on the Internet, in year 2000 nearly 60 percent reported using the Internet to get medical information.
the MSWatch website had 16,416 members and a total of 943 users responded to the survey.
The study makes a distinction between 'care' and 'caring' components of the discussion board:
- Care - crucial information about treatment. Communication that provides information (e.g. about treatment options) – top down
- Caring - moral support at a time when victims and their families need it most. communication that contributes to building relationships between people, ie ‘support’ Bottom up
Self-help groups have become an increasingly important component of health care -‘supporting’, encouraging, caring and nurturing.
'Virtual community care' - Internet is profoundly and irreversibly revolutionizing patient–physician relationships and sees the creation of Internet-based partnerships between physicians and patients.
The Bridging and Bonding Role of Online Communities
"The Bridging and Bonding Role of Online Communities"
Pippa Norris, Press/Politics 7(3) Summer 2002
Summary of article:
"Many believe that any erosion in the traditional face-to-face sociability and personal communications or Gemeinschaft in modern societies represents a threat to the quality of civic life, collaborative social exchanges, and the community spirit. Whether the Internet has the capacity to supplement, restore,or even replace these social contacts remains to be seen. As an evolving medium that is still diffusing through the population, it remains too early to predict the full consequences of this technology. Nevertheless, the Pew survey evidence among existing users allows us to explore whether those Americans who are most active in online groups feel that it widens their experience of community (by helping them to connect to others with different beliefs or backgrounds) or whether it deepens their experience (by reinforcing and strengthening existing social networks). The analysis suggests that in general, the Internet serves both functions, although the strength of this effect varies in important ways by the type of online group in America.
Online participation has the capacity to deepen linkages among those sharing similar beliefs as well as serving as a virtual community that cuts across at least some traditional social divisions."
Pippa Norris, Press/Politics 7(3) Summer 2002
Summary of article:
"Many believe that any erosion in the traditional face-to-face sociability and personal communications or Gemeinschaft in modern societies represents a threat to the quality of civic life, collaborative social exchanges, and the community spirit. Whether the Internet has the capacity to supplement, restore,or even replace these social contacts remains to be seen. As an evolving medium that is still diffusing through the population, it remains too early to predict the full consequences of this technology. Nevertheless, the Pew survey evidence among existing users allows us to explore whether those Americans who are most active in online groups feel that it widens their experience of community (by helping them to connect to others with different beliefs or backgrounds) or whether it deepens their experience (by reinforcing and strengthening existing social networks). The analysis suggests that in general, the Internet serves both functions, although the strength of this effect varies in important ways by the type of online group in America.
Online participation has the capacity to deepen linkages among those sharing similar beliefs as well as serving as a virtual community that cuts across at least some traditional social divisions."
The relationship between online and offline communities: the case of the Queer Sisters
The relationship between online and offline communities: the case of the Queer Sisters
Joyce Y.M. Nip
Media, Culture & Society 2004 SAGE Publications Vol. 26(3): 409–428
This article is a case study (1999-2000) of a bulletin board on the world-wide web and the women’s group who founded it in Hong Kong, the Queer Sisters. It found that the community formed on the bulletin board differed significantly from the original Queer Sisters over major goals and norms. The main difference being that the online community was much more about developing and maintaining personal relationships, whilst the original group was much more committed to political activism
Joyce Y.M. Nip
Media, Culture & Society 2004 SAGE Publications Vol. 26(3): 409–428
This article is a case study (1999-2000) of a bulletin board on the world-wide web and the women’s group who founded it in Hong Kong, the Queer Sisters. It found that the community formed on the bulletin board differed significantly from the original Queer Sisters over major goals and norms. The main difference being that the online community was much more about developing and maintaining personal relationships, whilst the original group was much more committed to political activism
The article applies 'Medium theory' in which technology is seen as an important context in which communication takes place
- considers technology as a shaper of the communications environment.
- The new environment created by communications technology is considered a more important influence than the content transmitted by the technology.
- contends that the type of media and patterns of use encourage certain behaviours, social interactions, social identities and structures of social life
- Applied to the Internet, interconnectivity and interactivity are considered to reconfigure time and space, and in turn this reconfigures the individual and networks of relationships.
"Whether online communities qualify as genuine communities is an issue of disagreement. Instead of going into arguments, it is more important to recognize the existence of the new forms of human association on the Internet. One may judge not whether something is or is not a
community, but rather the degree to which something is a community."
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Health Groups on the Internet
For the online community report that you have to do, some of you may be looking at groups based around chronic disease. There is an interesting article on BBC online, 17/10/04, "Warning on internet health advice"
"People with chronic disease should think twice before relying on the internet for health advice, research suggests. A University College London study found many would be in a better condition if they had simply listened to their doctor's advice.
The study found interactive computer tools do improve medical knowledge. But there was no evidence they change behaviour positively, and some that they left people in worse health.
The UCL team reviewed the effect of interactive web tools - known technically as Interactive Health Communication Applications (IHCAs) - on people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and asthma. In total they looked at 28 studies covering 4,042 participants.
Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Murray said she was surprised that the tools seemed to boost medical knowledge, but, if anything, have a negative effect on the users' health.
Dr Murray said one reason for this apparent paradox may be that titbits of information may lull users into a false sense of security. Thus they become less motivated to control their condition in the way they would be if faced with a blunt instruction from a doctor. Alternatively, users may become so steeped in information that they make treatment choices on their own, contradicting advice from their doctors.
The UCL team defined an IHCA as a computer-based information source combined with one or more additional services, such an on-line support group, chat room or tailored advice based on data provided by the user"
"People with chronic disease should think twice before relying on the internet for health advice, research suggests. A University College London study found many would be in a better condition if they had simply listened to their doctor's advice.
The study found interactive computer tools do improve medical knowledge. But there was no evidence they change behaviour positively, and some that they left people in worse health.
The UCL team reviewed the effect of interactive web tools - known technically as Interactive Health Communication Applications (IHCAs) - on people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and asthma. In total they looked at 28 studies covering 4,042 participants.
Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Murray said she was surprised that the tools seemed to boost medical knowledge, but, if anything, have a negative effect on the users' health.
Dr Murray said one reason for this apparent paradox may be that titbits of information may lull users into a false sense of security. Thus they become less motivated to control their condition in the way they would be if faced with a blunt instruction from a doctor. Alternatively, users may become so steeped in information that they make treatment choices on their own, contradicting advice from their doctors.
The UCL team defined an IHCA as a computer-based information source combined with one or more additional services, such an on-line support group, chat room or tailored advice based on data provided by the user"
Inside the ivory tower
Interesting Guardian article "Inside the ivory tower" by Jim McClellan, 23-09-04
"Blogging is allowing academics to develop and share their ideas with an audience beyond the universities, but not everyone is convinced...."
And not unlike this blog:
"University tutors are also experimenting with blogs as teaching tools, using them to disseminate links and information to classes, sometimes as places where students can collaborate on group projects.
"Blogging is allowing academics to develop and share their ideas with an audience beyond the universities, but not everyone is convinced...."
And not unlike this blog:
"University tutors are also experimenting with blogs as teaching tools, using them to disseminate links and information to classes, sometimes as places where students can collaborate on group projects.
blogs as an object of academic study
There is an interesting collection of articles about blogging at the University of Minnesota called "Into the Blogosphere".
"This online, edited collection explores discursive, visual, social, and other communicative features of weblogs. Essays analyze and critique situated cases and examples drawn from weblogs and weblog communities...."
Particularly relevant articles include Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere ,Weblog Journalism: Between Infiltration and Integration, and Blogs as Virtual Communities...
"This online, edited collection explores discursive, visual, social, and other communicative features of weblogs. Essays analyze and critique situated cases and examples drawn from weblogs and weblog communities...."
Particularly relevant articles include Culture Clash: Journalism and the Communal Ethos of the Blogosphere ,Weblog Journalism: Between Infiltration and Integration, and Blogs as Virtual Communities...
Monday, October 18, 2004
Anonymous Work Blogs Blogring
Another sub-genre of blogs are those which are written by people at work, but anonymously as they tend to be very disparaging (or just honest) about the everyday practices that they observe. The Anonymous Work Blogs Blogring which lists such blogs is constructed on good old blogger technology (like my blog) and are mainly UK based. The vary from Diary of a Fast Food Life based at a UK branch of Burger to A Policeman's Blog .
There are a series of interviews with ananoymous workplace bloggers at the Guardian Online Blog
There are a series of interviews with ananoymous workplace bloggers at the Guardian Online Blog
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
It really is worth having a look at Wikipedia the free, online community developed encyclopedia. For example, if you search for "blogs" it comes up with an extensive and well organised report on the history of blogs, the various types (personal, political, corporate,collaborative etc), plus extensive links.
Here is a sample section about warblogging:
"Through 2003, weblogs gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping or spinning news stories. The triggering event was the sudden emergence of an opposition to the Iraq war which was not rooted in the traditional anti-war left. The blogs which gathered news on Iraq, both left and right, exploded in popularity, and Forbes magazine covered the phenomenon. The use of blogs by political candidates, particularly Howard Dean and Wesley Clark cemented their role as a news source, while the increasing number of experts who blogged, including Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong gave the blog world a cachet among regular journalists. The Adam Smith Institute's entering of the blogosphere helped blogs become a regular stop of UK politicians and opinion-formers. Blogs also arose amongst soldiers serving in the Iraq war. Such milblogs have become the modern version of a war correspondent.
The Iraq War was the first "blog war" in another way - bloggers in Baghdad gained wider readership, and one published a book of his blog. Reading the thoughts of people who were "on the spot" provided a counterpoint, if not a counterweight, to official news sources. Blogs were often used to draw attention to obscure news sources, for example posting links to the traffic cameras in Madrid as a huge anti-terrorism demonstration filled the streets in the wake of the M11 attacks. Bloggers would often provide nearly instant commentary on televised events, which became a secondary meaning of the word "blogging," such as "I am blogging Rice's testimony," i.e. "I am posting my reactions to Rice's testimony to my blog as I watch it."
Here is a sample section about warblogging:
"Through 2003, weblogs gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping or spinning news stories. The triggering event was the sudden emergence of an opposition to the Iraq war which was not rooted in the traditional anti-war left. The blogs which gathered news on Iraq, both left and right, exploded in popularity, and Forbes magazine covered the phenomenon. The use of blogs by political candidates, particularly Howard Dean and Wesley Clark cemented their role as a news source, while the increasing number of experts who blogged, including Daniel Drezner and J. Bradford DeLong gave the blog world a cachet among regular journalists. The Adam Smith Institute's entering of the blogosphere helped blogs become a regular stop of UK politicians and opinion-formers. Blogs also arose amongst soldiers serving in the Iraq war. Such milblogs have become the modern version of a war correspondent.
The Iraq War was the first "blog war" in another way - bloggers in Baghdad gained wider readership, and one published a book of his blog. Reading the thoughts of people who were "on the spot" provided a counterpoint, if not a counterweight, to official news sources. Blogs were often used to draw attention to obscure news sources, for example posting links to the traffic cameras in Madrid as a huge anti-terrorism demonstration filled the streets in the wake of the M11 attacks. Bloggers would often provide nearly instant commentary on televised events, which became a secondary meaning of the word "blogging," such as "I am blogging Rice's testimony," i.e. "I am posting my reactions to Rice's testimony to my blog as I watch it."
HACKING THE SYSTEM TO BYTES: THE INTERNET IN SOCIAL STRUGGLE
For an analysis ofpolitical blogs, in particular, anti-capitalist blogs which draw upon the expertise of a subculture of politically-minded computer ‘hacktivists’, take a look at:
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging", new media & society, Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, Feb 2004; 6: 87 - 95.
"In opposition to the capitalist strategy of globalization-from-above, subcultures of cyberactivists have been attempting to carry out globalization from- below, developing networks of solidarity and propagating oppositional ideas and movements throughout the planet. Against the capitalist international of transnational corporate-led globalization, a ‘Fifth
International’ of computer-mediated ctivism is emerging ......"
" bloggers have demonstrated themselves as technoactivists favoring not only democratic self-expression and networking, but also global media critique and journalistic sociopolitical
intervention....."
"many group blogs exist, such as American Samizdat, Metafilter and BoingBoing, in which teams of contributors post and comment upon news stories, events, and issues of the day. One of the most important is the everexpanding series of international Indymedia sites, erected by activists for the public domain to inform one another both locally and globally...."
"Post-11 September, with the wars upon Afghanistan and Iraq, the phenomenon of ‘Warblogging’ arose to become an important and noted genre in its own right....One blogger, the now famous Iraqi Salam Pax , gave outsiders a dose of the larger unexpurgated reality as the bombs exploded overhead in Baghdad."
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging", new media & society, Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, Feb 2004; 6: 87 - 95.
"In opposition to the capitalist strategy of globalization-from-above, subcultures of cyberactivists have been attempting to carry out globalization from- below, developing networks of solidarity and propagating oppositional ideas and movements throughout the planet. Against the capitalist international of transnational corporate-led globalization, a ‘Fifth
International’ of computer-mediated ctivism is emerging ......"
" bloggers have demonstrated themselves as technoactivists favoring not only democratic self-expression and networking, but also global media critique and journalistic sociopolitical
intervention....."
"many group blogs exist, such as American Samizdat, Metafilter and BoingBoing, in which teams of contributors post and comment upon news stories, events, and issues of the day. One of the most important is the everexpanding series of international Indymedia sites, erected by activists for the public domain to inform one another both locally and globally...."
"Post-11 September, with the wars upon Afghanistan and Iraq, the phenomenon of ‘Warblogging’ arose to become an important and noted genre in its own right....One blogger, the now famous Iraqi Salam Pax , gave outsiders a dose of the larger unexpurgated reality as the bombs exploded overhead in Baghdad."
Nick Coleman: Blogged down in Web fantasy
For an entertaining rant against what he calls "blog mush", read "Blogged down in Web fantasy" by veteran journalist Nick Coleman in the US journal, the Star Tribune, September 29, 2004.
Here is a flavour:
"A lot of the attack against the mainstream media is coming from bloggers, which is like astronomers being assaulted by people who swear that aliens force them to have sex with Martian.....
Blogs, are to journalism what ticks are to elephants. Ticks may make the elephants nuts, but that doesn't mean they will replace them...
Do bloggers have the credentials of real journalists? No. Bloggers are hobby hacks, the Internet version of the sad loners who used to listen to police radios in their bachelor apartments and think they were involved in the world....."
Here is a flavour:
"A lot of the attack against the mainstream media is coming from bloggers, which is like astronomers being assaulted by people who swear that aliens force them to have sex with Martian.....
Blogs, are to journalism what ticks are to elephants. Ticks may make the elephants nuts, but that doesn't mean they will replace them...
Do bloggers have the credentials of real journalists? No. Bloggers are hobby hacks, the Internet version of the sad loners who used to listen to police radios in their bachelor apartments and think they were involved in the world....."
Weblogs as a Bridging Genre
Another interesting article "Weblogs as a Bridging Genre " (2005 forthcoming), and website - blognininja
"This paper presents the results of a quantitative content analysis of 203 randomly-selected weblogs, comparing the empirically observable features of the corpus with popular claims about the nature of weblogs, and finding them to differ in a number of respects. Notably, blog authors, journalists and scholars alike exaggerate the extent to which blogs are interlinked, interactive, and oriented towards external events, and underestimate the importance of blogs as individualistic, intimate forms of self-expression. Based on the profile generated by the empirical analysis, we consider the likely antecedents of the blog genre, situate it with respect to the dominant forms of digital communication on the Internet today, and suggest possible developments of the use of weblogs over time"
"This paper presents the results of a quantitative content analysis of 203 randomly-selected weblogs, comparing the empirically observable features of the corpus with popular claims about the nature of weblogs, and finding them to differ in a number of respects. Notably, blog authors, journalists and scholars alike exaggerate the extent to which blogs are interlinked, interactive, and oriented towards external events, and underestimate the importance of blogs as individualistic, intimate forms of self-expression. Based on the profile generated by the empirical analysis, we consider the likely antecedents of the blog genre, situate it with respect to the dominant forms of digital communication on the Internet today, and suggest possible developments of the use of weblogs over time"
Blogging & the US election
BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson is keeping a weblog about the forthcoming US presidential election on 2 November. In his latest blog he reflects on the impact of blogging on " msm" (mainstream media). Here is an edited version of it:
"bloggers love to heap contempt of the Mainstream Media, or the MSM, as they call us.
Conservative bloggers really had a party trashing Dan Rather and CBS for basing a story about President Bush's military record on false documents......
I'm a little, but not all that surprised, that the MSM is a little tetchy about bloggers. For years, I've had to deal with folks treating me as somehow less of a journalist because I publish on the internet. Somehow, pixels aren't as honest as print. But I always cut the newspaper folks some slack. I started off as one of them, and I knew that some of the mudslinging came from fear.
As a recent New York Times piece on bloggers pointed out, DailyKos and another blog, schaton, together have more readers than the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ouch.
I'm a bit surprised journos have not embraced blogs, their own and others. Again I understand. The MSM is just beginning to get two-way media. It all used to be one way. We told you the truth, and that is definitely truth with a small "t", and we occasionally heard back from you, letters to the editor, calls of complaint, that kind of thing. But a lot of journalists still aren't all that into audience participation. For me, that's what I love about the internet is that it's really a conversation, and I think the better for it."
"bloggers love to heap contempt of the Mainstream Media, or the MSM, as they call us.
Conservative bloggers really had a party trashing Dan Rather and CBS for basing a story about President Bush's military record on false documents......
I'm a little, but not all that surprised, that the MSM is a little tetchy about bloggers. For years, I've had to deal with folks treating me as somehow less of a journalist because I publish on the internet. Somehow, pixels aren't as honest as print. But I always cut the newspaper folks some slack. I started off as one of them, and I knew that some of the mudslinging came from fear.
As a recent New York Times piece on bloggers pointed out, DailyKos and another blog, schaton, together have more readers than the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ouch.
I'm a bit surprised journos have not embraced blogs, their own and others. Again I understand. The MSM is just beginning to get two-way media. It all used to be one way. We told you the truth, and that is definitely truth with a small "t", and we occasionally heard back from you, letters to the editor, calls of complaint, that kind of thing. But a lot of journalists still aren't all that into audience participation. For me, that's what I love about the internet is that it's really a conversation, and I think the better for it."
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Weblogs and the epistemology of the news...
Useful (if overlaid with unecessary academic jargon) article for the blogging assignment:
Weblogs and the Epistemology of the News: Some Trends in Online Journalism,
DONALD MATHESON, New Media & Society 2004 6: 443-468
"This article explores one possible direction in which Anglo-American news journalism is evolving on the internet, using as its focus the growth of news weblogs since 1998. Online journalism is regarded by many commentators as a site where outmoded and unsatisfactory news reporting traditions might be revised and renewed...."
Weblogs and the Epistemology of the News: Some Trends in Online Journalism,
DONALD MATHESON, New Media & Society 2004 6: 443-468
"This article explores one possible direction in which Anglo-American news journalism is evolving on the internet, using as its focus the growth of news weblogs since 1998. Online journalism is regarded by many commentators as a site where outmoded and unsatisfactory news reporting traditions might be revised and renewed...."
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Blogging goes to work article
From The Economist , Mar 11th 2004
This article looks at whether blogging might be useful in business:
"Will blogging—the practice of maintaining an online diary, or weblog—revolutionise journalism? Do the world's bloggers really constitute a “second superpower”, the only force on earth capable of keeping America's neo-imperialist government in check? Or is the blogging craze just an example of sound and fury signifying nothing—a re-run of the late-1990s fad for personal websites, only with easier-to-use publishing software?....."
The article goes on to look at Socialtext who make a corporate version of a wiki—a web page that can be edited by any reader (the word means “quickly” in Hawaiian):
"Wikis offer a middle ground between e-mail and a conventional web page, which makes them useful for collaborative projects, particularly those involving far-flung teams. Rather than maintaining multiple copies of a document and sharing ideas by e-mail, a wiki allows members of a team to pool their thoughts more easily. Wikis are not particularly new, but are now beginning to demonstrate the potential to replace other forms of groupware."
This article looks at whether blogging might be useful in business:
"Will blogging—the practice of maintaining an online diary, or weblog—revolutionise journalism? Do the world's bloggers really constitute a “second superpower”, the only force on earth capable of keeping America's neo-imperialist government in check? Or is the blogging craze just an example of sound and fury signifying nothing—a re-run of the late-1990s fad for personal websites, only with easier-to-use publishing software?....."
The article goes on to look at Socialtext who make a corporate version of a wiki—a web page that can be edited by any reader (the word means “quickly” in Hawaiian):
"Wikis offer a middle ground between e-mail and a conventional web page, which makes them useful for collaborative projects, particularly those involving far-flung teams. Rather than maintaining multiple copies of a document and sharing ideas by e-mail, a wiki allows members of a team to pool their thoughts more easily. Wikis are not particularly new, but are now beginning to demonstrate the potential to replace other forms of groupware."
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Free online access to Sage publications until Oct 31st
Sage Publications has a range of online journals which are very useful for social scientists. Until October 31st 2004 they have given free access to these journals. To get access click here .
For example, if you put in the search terms "online communities", hits include:
Joyce Y.M. Nip, "The Relationship between Online and Offline Communities: The Case of the Queer Sisters", Media Culture Society, May 2004; 26: 409 - 428
Sarah Flicker, Dave Haans, and Harvey Skinner, "Ethical Dilemmas in Research on Internet Communities", Qual Health Res, Jan 2004; 14: 124 - 134.
Hans Pruijt "Social Capital and the Equalizing Potential of the Internet", Social Science Computer Review, May 2002; 20: 109 - 115.
Those are in the first 10 hits of 1978 found!
For example, if you put in the search terms "online communities", hits include:
Joyce Y.M. Nip, "The Relationship between Online and Offline Communities: The Case of the Queer Sisters", Media Culture Society, May 2004; 26: 409 - 428
Sarah Flicker, Dave Haans, and Harvey Skinner, "Ethical Dilemmas in Research on Internet Communities", Qual Health Res, Jan 2004; 14: 124 - 134.
Hans Pruijt "Social Capital and the Equalizing Potential of the Internet", Social Science Computer Review, May 2002; 20: 109 - 115.
Those are in the first 10 hits of 1978 found!
Powerpoint on the Digital Divide
The powerpoint presentation I would have used as part of last Monday's session is available to download. Just click on the link that is on the course web page about the digital divide. I hope to be with you in person, next Monday, all being well...
Researching an online community (1)
I thought I’d give some advice on how to go about finding a suitable online community to research
Read through the course page on identity and community to be aware of what you are looking for and the theoretical issues that you need to address. In particular what is meant by “community”, how the concept of “social capital” is used, and what ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ ties are
Some issues:
• Online groups need a social context to be meaningful - shared values, interaction, time shared
• networks can extend beyond usual geographic boundaries
• online links enables collaboration, but more effective with people you already know face to face (strong v weak ties)
• do you get a careful debate online or a meaningless din?
• social capital could be the prerequisite for rather than the consequence of effective Internet activity.
• can virtual communities fill the gap left by the decline of traditional face-to-face communities?
• is the Internet is a complement to frequent FTF contact, or a substitute for it ?
• do not assume that all online groups are cyber-communities, many are just ‘drive by’ places where there is little or no attachment to other members
I will raise more issues relevant to your online community assessment in the class session I give on this. My next post will discuss how to find a relevant online community and what you should do then
Read through the course page on identity and community to be aware of what you are looking for and the theoretical issues that you need to address. In particular what is meant by “community”, how the concept of “social capital” is used, and what ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ ties are
Some issues:
• Online groups need a social context to be meaningful - shared values, interaction, time shared
• networks can extend beyond usual geographic boundaries
• online links enables collaboration, but more effective with people you already know face to face (strong v weak ties)
• do you get a careful debate online or a meaningless din?
• social capital could be the prerequisite for rather than the consequence of effective Internet activity.
• can virtual communities fill the gap left by the decline of traditional face-to-face communities?
• is the Internet is a complement to frequent FTF contact, or a substitute for it ?
• do not assume that all online groups are cyber-communities, many are just ‘drive by’ places where there is little or no attachment to other members
I will raise more issues relevant to your online community assessment in the class session I give on this. My next post will discuss how to find a relevant online community and what you should do then
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Dislocation - to the class, and to my kneecap
I managed to dislocate my kneecap whilst lugging timber around this afternoon (Sunday), preparing for the bonfire we always have in deepest Chorlton. I managed to push the kneecap back into position and crawl back to the house (it must be that film about survival in the Andes that did it), but I am now all bandaged up and on crutches after a visit to A&E.
I have an appointment at the fracture clinic first thing tomorrow so will not be able to give the lecture tomorrow in GM3.37 But, hey, this is a course about Cyberspace, so that shouldn't be too big a loss. Read the notes on the digital divide and start thinking about the Blogging exercise and the online community project. Make sure you read my Blog as I have added a fair amount of stuff, and as I am now immobile, I will probably add lots more I will get in touch with you individually about meeting up with you about the course work. You can always contact me by email too
I have an appointment at the fracture clinic first thing tomorrow so will not be able to give the lecture tomorrow in GM3.37 But, hey, this is a course about Cyberspace, so that shouldn't be too big a loss. Read the notes on the digital divide and start thinking about the Blogging exercise and the online community project. Make sure you read my Blog as I have added a fair amount of stuff, and as I am now immobile, I will probably add lots more I will get in touch with you individually about meeting up with you about the course work. You can always contact me by email too
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Lineage - the world's most popular interactive online game
To give some idea of the popularity of online games, take a look at Lineage which is the most popular single interactive online game in the world right now, ahead of Sony's Everquest and Electronic Arts' Ultima Online. In Lineage, gamers playing princes, wizards and elves fight one another to the death in mini-armies or clans, headed by guild masters, to gain control of the castles that dot the virtual world
"Two million people, out of a population of 46 million, have active Lineage accounts. And when day turns to evening, close to 100,000 Koreans can be found glued to computer terminals around the country, playing the game simultaneously. School kids in Seoul routinely doze through classes after playing all night. Parents either don't know or can't stop them."
see "Where Does Fantasy End?", TIME Magazine, June 4, 2001, VOL.157 NO.22
"Two million people, out of a population of 46 million, have active Lineage accounts. And when day turns to evening, close to 100,000 Koreans can be found glued to computer terminals around the country, playing the game simultaneously. School kids in Seoul routinely doze through classes after playing all night. Parents either don't know or can't stop them."
see "Where Does Fantasy End?", TIME Magazine, June 4, 2001, VOL.157 NO.22
Friday, October 08, 2004
Malaysia backtracks on its bloggers
Here is a good example of how Blogs can enter the world of politics and censorship. This story, "Malaysia backtracks on its bloggers", from the online Asia Times, gives an example from Malaysia:
"The recent reaction by authorities to disparaging comments posted on a popular weblog here reflect contradictory attitudes toward the creation of a more liberal society and appear to have dented Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's reformist credentials in the eyes of some Malaysians.
The abusive comments, made by a visitor to the popular Screenshots blog managed by Jeff Ooi, an e-business consultant and columnist for a business journal, drew flak from government officials for insulting Islam Hadhari, which the government is trying to promote as a progressive understanding of Islam, in light of money politics within the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). The allegations of money politics and vote-buying claim that candidates at the party's Supreme Council election had given huge sums of money to delegates in order to secure support.
Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar has warned that authorities could take action against Ooi under the feared Internal Security Act (ISA), which provides for indefinite detention without trial...."
"The recent reaction by authorities to disparaging comments posted on a popular weblog here reflect contradictory attitudes toward the creation of a more liberal society and appear to have dented Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's reformist credentials in the eyes of some Malaysians.
The abusive comments, made by a visitor to the popular Screenshots blog managed by Jeff Ooi, an e-business consultant and columnist for a business journal, drew flak from government officials for insulting Islam Hadhari, which the government is trying to promote as a progressive understanding of Islam, in light of money politics within the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). The allegations of money politics and vote-buying claim that candidates at the party's Supreme Council election had given huge sums of money to delegates in order to secure support.
Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar has warned that authorities could take action against Ooi under the feared Internal Security Act (ISA), which provides for indefinite detention without trial...."
Icerocket - blog search
An up-and-coming search engine called Icerocket has started to provide a specialist Blog search:
"Blake Rhodes, CEO of IceRocket, notes on his blog “Hopefully by now everyone knows what a blog is, it’s a personal weblog where people can express their thoughts and views, an online diary of sorts. 2005 will be the year of the blog, mark my words, many people are just finding out about them and soon everyone will be blogging. We felt it was about time that a search engine created a section specifically for searching Blogs, so we did it.”
IceRocket’s Blog Search index works from a database of RSS feeds from blogs only. When asked what made IceRocket get into blog searching Rhodes told the Search Engine Journal “It is something we have been planning for a while now. Both Mark and I love Blogs, we recently launched an official IceRocket blog (BlogIceRocket.com) and of course Mark has his blog (Blogmaverick.com). As I have said before 2005 will be the year of the blog and we felt someone needed to provide a blog search.”
Source: Search Engine Journal, 7/10/04
"Blake Rhodes, CEO of IceRocket, notes on his blog “Hopefully by now everyone knows what a blog is, it’s a personal weblog where people can express their thoughts and views, an online diary of sorts. 2005 will be the year of the blog, mark my words, many people are just finding out about them and soon everyone will be blogging. We felt it was about time that a search engine created a section specifically for searching Blogs, so we did it.”
IceRocket’s Blog Search index works from a database of RSS feeds from blogs only. When asked what made IceRocket get into blog searching Rhodes told the Search Engine Journal “It is something we have been planning for a while now. Both Mark and I love Blogs, we recently launched an official IceRocket blog (BlogIceRocket.com) and of course Mark has his blog (Blogmaverick.com). As I have said before 2005 will be the year of the blog and we felt someone needed to provide a blog search.”
Source: Search Engine Journal, 7/10/04
"They read it on a blog and they think it's true"
One of the hazards of the 'blogosphere' is that conspiracy theories and rumours can take on a life of their own. Take this example, reported in the Detroit Free Press, "A conspiracy to get Bush? No, just blog legend", Friday, October 8, 2004:
"The fast-growing universe of political blogs is taking a hit to its credibility over a flap involving a few dozen misprinted absentee ballots in a tiny Michigan community.
In one precinct in the city of Alma (population 9,275) in rural Michigan's Gratiot County, 69 absentee ballots were misprinted so the arrows didn't line up properly next to the places to vote for President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. The problem was immediately discovered, says the Michigan Secretary of State's Election Division. The 69 bad ballots were reprinted and redistributed and steps were taken to make sure that those 69 ballots could not be counted should someone find and turn one in.
No other place in the state had the problem.
So that's the end of the story, right? Nope.
Enter the blogosphere. Someone in Alma got hold of one of the misprinted ballots, scanned it and posted it on the Net and -- faster than you can say conspiracy -- it was picked up and run by blogs all over the world. Many of the blog postings and comments voiced outrage and urged people to protest, claiming the problem was a political dirty trick to make Kerry votes count for Bush...."
"The fast-growing universe of political blogs is taking a hit to its credibility over a flap involving a few dozen misprinted absentee ballots in a tiny Michigan community.
In one precinct in the city of Alma (population 9,275) in rural Michigan's Gratiot County, 69 absentee ballots were misprinted so the arrows didn't line up properly next to the places to vote for President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. The problem was immediately discovered, says the Michigan Secretary of State's Election Division. The 69 bad ballots were reprinted and redistributed and steps were taken to make sure that those 69 ballots could not be counted should someone find and turn one in.
No other place in the state had the problem.
So that's the end of the story, right? Nope.
Enter the blogosphere. Someone in Alma got hold of one of the misprinted ballots, scanned it and posted it on the Net and -- faster than you can say conspiracy -- it was picked up and run by blogs all over the world. Many of the blog postings and comments voiced outrage and urged people to protest, claiming the problem was a political dirty trick to make Kerry votes count for Bush...."
Thursday, October 07, 2004
New media and internet activism
There is a good article available through Ingenta -
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging",
by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, in new media & society, Vol6 (1): 87–95, 2004
"The examples in this article suggest how new media developments in
technoculture make possible a reconfiguring of politics and culture and a
refocusing of politics on everyday life. In this conjuncture, the ideas of Guy
Debord and the Situationist International are especially relevant, with their
stress on the construction of situations, use of technology, media of
communication, and cultural forms to promote a revolution of everyday life,
and to increase the realm of freedom, community, and empowerment."
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging",
by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, in new media & society, Vol6 (1): 87–95, 2004
"The examples in this article suggest how new media developments in
technoculture make possible a reconfiguring of politics and culture and a
refocusing of politics on everyday life. In this conjuncture, the ideas of Guy
Debord and the Situationist International are especially relevant, with their
stress on the construction of situations, use of technology, media of
communication, and cultural forms to promote a revolution of everyday life,
and to increase the realm of freedom, community, and empowerment."
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
The Baghdad Blogger
The classic example of a political blogger - Salam Pax from Baghdad:
From the Globeandmail.com, Canada, wed Oct 6th 2004, "A weblog's trip to fame" :
"Two years ago, Salam Pax was in his parents' house in suburban Baghdad, preparing for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On Sept. 7, he wrote the following entry on his weblog: "I'm preparing my emergency lists these days -- any suggestions are welcome. At the moment I have: Candles Alcohol (maybe red wine?) Good books Crunchy munchies. I think that will get me thru [sic] the bombing quite nicely."
Pax's droll, incisive and increasingly frustrated bulletins soon became an international phenomenon. Every day, thousands of people visited what became known as the Baghdad Blog (http:dear_raed.blogspot.com) to read daily updates by this mysterious young man. The topics he wrote about, in fluent English, ranged from the CDs in his collection (Bjork, David Bowie and Coldplay are favourites), to open criticisms of both Saddam's regime and the U.S.-led coalition troops.
After his identity was revealed by a Guardian journalist (there was speculation he was a CIA agent or a Baath Party plant), Pax parlayed his writing into a book of collected blogs, a bi-monthly column for The Guardian and an on-going stint as a video reporter for Newsnight, the current-affairs TV program on BBC Two.
At first, the blog was simply a way for Pax to keep in touch with his friends Raed, who had moved from Baghdad to Jordan to study for his master's degree in architecture, and Ghaith, known only as "G" in the blog, who disappeared after refusing to do military service. The three had graduated from architecture school together in Vienna. And like many of the diatribes, which have become such a hot phenomenon on the Web, Pax's first few blogs were filled with banter and banalities that would hardly interest anyone outside the trio.
As the situation in Iraq became more heated, however, Pax decided he should start documenting the events that were happening around him, such as the feverish stockpiling of food in the weeks before the invasion, fluctuations in the value of the dinar and the fear that surrounded him. He soon began commenting on bits of news he was reading and the blog became steadily more political. As an English-based Iraqi who had spent many years abroad, a homosexual and an atheist, Pax wrote with an outsider's view that helped his Western readers relate.
"My man Salam," William Gibson, the Vancouver-based, sci-fi author wrote on his own blog. "I'm a total fan. Tells it like he sees it, and sees it like I can't."
"It worries me," says Pax, who stopped writing his blog last May. "I don't want people to come looking for answers. I have no idea what's happening in Iraq these days . . . Believe me, I am more confused about what Iraqis want these days than you are, and I'm an Iraqi."
"We are trying to get on with our lives. I hate it when people say to me 'You Iraqis are doing nothing for yourselves, you expect people to do everything for you.' No, we're not. We're really trying as hard as we can. The thing is, we lost a government. There are no laws. We need basic support."
He spares no vitriol for the U.S. troops. But for all the continuing violence and hatred and misunderstanding and uncertainty, Pax still says the U.S. invasion was worth it.
"We have hope now. It used to be Saddam, the son of Saddam, the son of the son of Saddam for the rest of your life. Now you actually have hope for something better if we can get our act together and work out our differences. . . .
"Life does go on and you have to hope that some day we'll have our country back."
From the Globeandmail.com, Canada, wed Oct 6th 2004, "A weblog's trip to fame" :
"Two years ago, Salam Pax was in his parents' house in suburban Baghdad, preparing for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On Sept. 7, he wrote the following entry on his weblog: "I'm preparing my emergency lists these days -- any suggestions are welcome. At the moment I have: Candles Alcohol (maybe red wine?) Good books Crunchy munchies. I think that will get me thru [sic] the bombing quite nicely."
Pax's droll, incisive and increasingly frustrated bulletins soon became an international phenomenon. Every day, thousands of people visited what became known as the Baghdad Blog (http:dear_raed.blogspot.com) to read daily updates by this mysterious young man. The topics he wrote about, in fluent English, ranged from the CDs in his collection (Bjork, David Bowie and Coldplay are favourites), to open criticisms of both Saddam's regime and the U.S.-led coalition troops.
After his identity was revealed by a Guardian journalist (there was speculation he was a CIA agent or a Baath Party plant), Pax parlayed his writing into a book of collected blogs, a bi-monthly column for The Guardian and an on-going stint as a video reporter for Newsnight, the current-affairs TV program on BBC Two.
At first, the blog was simply a way for Pax to keep in touch with his friends Raed, who had moved from Baghdad to Jordan to study for his master's degree in architecture, and Ghaith, known only as "G" in the blog, who disappeared after refusing to do military service. The three had graduated from architecture school together in Vienna. And like many of the diatribes, which have become such a hot phenomenon on the Web, Pax's first few blogs were filled with banter and banalities that would hardly interest anyone outside the trio.
As the situation in Iraq became more heated, however, Pax decided he should start documenting the events that were happening around him, such as the feverish stockpiling of food in the weeks before the invasion, fluctuations in the value of the dinar and the fear that surrounded him. He soon began commenting on bits of news he was reading and the blog became steadily more political. As an English-based Iraqi who had spent many years abroad, a homosexual and an atheist, Pax wrote with an outsider's view that helped his Western readers relate.
"My man Salam," William Gibson, the Vancouver-based, sci-fi author wrote on his own blog. "I'm a total fan. Tells it like he sees it, and sees it like I can't."
"It worries me," says Pax, who stopped writing his blog last May. "I don't want people to come looking for answers. I have no idea what's happening in Iraq these days . . . Believe me, I am more confused about what Iraqis want these days than you are, and I'm an Iraqi."
"We are trying to get on with our lives. I hate it when people say to me 'You Iraqis are doing nothing for yourselves, you expect people to do everything for you.' No, we're not. We're really trying as hard as we can. The thing is, we lost a government. There are no laws. We need basic support."
He spares no vitriol for the U.S. troops. But for all the continuing violence and hatred and misunderstanding and uncertainty, Pax still says the U.S. invasion was worth it.
"We have hope now. It used to be Saddam, the son of Saddam, the son of the son of Saddam for the rest of your life. Now you actually have hope for something better if we can get our act together and work out our differences. . . .
"Life does go on and you have to hope that some day we'll have our country back."
Bill Gates backs blogs for businesses
BBC News , 21 May 2004
Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said.
In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.
He said blogs had advantages over other, older ways of communicating such as e-mail and websites.
More than 700 Microsoft employees are already using blogs to keep people up to date with their projects.
Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said.
In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.
He said blogs had advantages over other, older ways of communicating such as e-mail and websites.
More than 700 Microsoft employees are already using blogs to keep people up to date with their projects.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
International Conference on Communities & Technologies
Just to indicate how the issue of online communities and c0mmunities online is of increasing interest and importance, take a look at the issues being covered at the Second International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) being held in Milan, Italy, 13-16 June, 2005; http://www.cct2005.disco.unimib.it/
The relationship between communities and technology is an increasingly important research topic as the number of communities turning to technology for online and face-to-face support grows. The Second InternationalConference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) conference provides a forum for stimulating and disseminating research about all facets of community and technology support for communities.
To be successful this field requires multidisciplinary research effortsinvolving researchers from different fields of applied computer science (Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, Human ComputerInteraction, Information Systems), the social sciences (Economics,Management Science, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Ethnography,Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Economics) and many application areas, such as Education, Business, Medicine and civic engagement.
Communities are social entities whose participants share common goals,needs, interests, and practices: they constitute the basic units of social experience. For a number of reasons, researchers are increasingly interested in the topic of communities.
First, within a global knowledge-based society,communities play a pivotal role. Problems such as new forms of politicalparticipation and civic engagement, maintenance of cultural identity, or theintegration of minorities need to be tackled on the community level.
Second, communities also re-shape the processes of learning and sharing knowledge in and among organizations, formal and informal groups. The Internet and the Web make communication possible across national boundaries and between cultures in ways that could not happen before. Furthermore, mobile devices, particularly advanced phone technologies, promise to open the Internet to people who have been denied access for financial, technical and cultural reasons. For information technologies to support communities research is needed to understand the social, technical and usability needs of participants.
Many topics need to be addressed including: trust-building, maintaining social relations, social capital, visualization of social relationships, matching participants, bridging between physical and electronically-mediated interaction, cultural needs.
The conference offers an opportunity to present and discuss empirical and conceptual research. Topics covered include, but are not restricted to, the following subjects:
Social science approaches to communities and technologies:
* models and theories
* online communities and organization theory
* communities and social network analysis
* ethnographic studies of virtual communities
Social dimensions of community technologies:
* privacy and security
* empathy and trust
* participation and non-participation
* community learning
Local communities and social capital:
* technologies and social capital development
* community informatics / digital cities
* case studies of community building and development
* cross-cultural communities
* communities and NGO's
* local, rural and regional communities
Communities in organizations and business:
* communities and business models
* consumer communities and electronic commerce
* online consumer and brand communities
* communities and knowledge management
Communities and innovation:
* communities of practice and communities of interest
* communities and innovation
* open source communities
* epistemic communities and technology development
Technologies for community support:
* virtual, networked and mobile community formation and development
* novel forms of technology support
* design and development methods
* technical architectures
* interoperability among community systems
* virtual community support for education, business, government, civic activities, etc
* light-weight technologies
* visualization
The relationship between communities and technology is an increasingly important research topic as the number of communities turning to technology for online and face-to-face support grows. The Second InternationalConference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) conference provides a forum for stimulating and disseminating research about all facets of community and technology support for communities.
To be successful this field requires multidisciplinary research effortsinvolving researchers from different fields of applied computer science (Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, Human ComputerInteraction, Information Systems), the social sciences (Economics,Management Science, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Ethnography,Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Economics) and many application areas, such as Education, Business, Medicine and civic engagement.
Communities are social entities whose participants share common goals,needs, interests, and practices: they constitute the basic units of social experience. For a number of reasons, researchers are increasingly interested in the topic of communities.
First, within a global knowledge-based society,communities play a pivotal role. Problems such as new forms of politicalparticipation and civic engagement, maintenance of cultural identity, or theintegration of minorities need to be tackled on the community level.
Second, communities also re-shape the processes of learning and sharing knowledge in and among organizations, formal and informal groups. The Internet and the Web make communication possible across national boundaries and between cultures in ways that could not happen before. Furthermore, mobile devices, particularly advanced phone technologies, promise to open the Internet to people who have been denied access for financial, technical and cultural reasons. For information technologies to support communities research is needed to understand the social, technical and usability needs of participants.
Many topics need to be addressed including: trust-building, maintaining social relations, social capital, visualization of social relationships, matching participants, bridging between physical and electronically-mediated interaction, cultural needs.
The conference offers an opportunity to present and discuss empirical and conceptual research. Topics covered include, but are not restricted to, the following subjects:
Social science approaches to communities and technologies:
* models and theories
* online communities and organization theory
* communities and social network analysis
* ethnographic studies of virtual communities
Social dimensions of community technologies:
* privacy and security
* empathy and trust
* participation and non-participation
* community learning
Local communities and social capital:
* technologies and social capital development
* community informatics / digital cities
* case studies of community building and development
* cross-cultural communities
* communities and NGO's
* local, rural and regional communities
Communities in organizations and business:
* communities and business models
* consumer communities and electronic commerce
* online consumer and brand communities
* communities and knowledge management
Communities and innovation:
* communities of practice and communities of interest
* communities and innovation
* open source communities
* epistemic communities and technology development
Technologies for community support:
* virtual, networked and mobile community formation and development
* novel forms of technology support
* design and development methods
* technical architectures
* interoperability among community systems
* virtual community support for education, business, government, civic activities, etc
* light-weight technologies
* visualization
Monday, October 04, 2004
"there is no more knowledge; there is only information"
Interesting article by Mark Edmunson, "All Entertainment All the Time" in the Poets and Writers Review. It offers interesting insights into higher education in America (and here). For example, he shows how the Web has changed the way students research and think:
"Now that computers are everywhere, each area of inquiry in the humanities is more and more defined by the computer’s resources. Computers are splendid research tools. Good. The curriculum turns in the direction of research. Professors don’t ask students to try to write as Dickens would were he alive today. Rather, they research Dickens. They delve into his historical context; they learn what the newspapers were gossiping about on the day that the first installment of Bleak House hit the stands. We shape our tools, McLuhan said, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Many educated people in America seem persuaded that the computer is the most significant invention in human history. Those who do not master its intricacies are destined for a life of shame, poverty, and neglect. More humanities courses are becoming computer-oriented, which keeps them safely in the realm of cool, financially negotiable endeavors. A professor teaching Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper,” which depicts the exploitation of young boys whose lot is not altogether unlike the lot of many children living now in American inner cities, is likely to charge his students with using the computer to compile as much information about the poem as possible. They can find articles about chimney sweepers from 1790s newspapers; contemporary pictures and engravings that depict these unfortunate little creatures; critical articles that interpret the poem in a seemingly endless variety of ways; biographical information on Blake, with hints about events in his own boyhood that would have made chimney sweepers a special interest; portraits of the author at various stages of his life; maps of Blake’s London. Together the class might create a Blake—Chimney Sweeper Web site: www.blakesweeper.edu.
Instead of spending class time wondering what the poem means, and what application it has to present-day experience, students compile information about it. They set the poem in its historical and critical context, showing first how the poem is the product and the property of the past—and, implicitly, how it really has nothing to do with the present except as an artful curiosity; and second how, given the number of ideas about it already available, adding more thought would be superfluous.
By putting a world of facts at the end of a key-stroke, computers have made facts, their command, their manipulation, their ordering, central to what now can qualify as humanistic education. The result is to suspend reflection about the differences among wisdom, knowledge, and information. Everything that can be accessed online can seem equal to everything else, no datum more important or more profound than any other. Thus the possibility presents itself that there really is no more wisdom; there is no more knowledge; there is only information. No thought is a challenge or an affront to what one currently believes."
"Now that computers are everywhere, each area of inquiry in the humanities is more and more defined by the computer’s resources. Computers are splendid research tools. Good. The curriculum turns in the direction of research. Professors don’t ask students to try to write as Dickens would were he alive today. Rather, they research Dickens. They delve into his historical context; they learn what the newspapers were gossiping about on the day that the first installment of Bleak House hit the stands. We shape our tools, McLuhan said, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Many educated people in America seem persuaded that the computer is the most significant invention in human history. Those who do not master its intricacies are destined for a life of shame, poverty, and neglect. More humanities courses are becoming computer-oriented, which keeps them safely in the realm of cool, financially negotiable endeavors. A professor teaching Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper,” which depicts the exploitation of young boys whose lot is not altogether unlike the lot of many children living now in American inner cities, is likely to charge his students with using the computer to compile as much information about the poem as possible. They can find articles about chimney sweepers from 1790s newspapers; contemporary pictures and engravings that depict these unfortunate little creatures; critical articles that interpret the poem in a seemingly endless variety of ways; biographical information on Blake, with hints about events in his own boyhood that would have made chimney sweepers a special interest; portraits of the author at various stages of his life; maps of Blake’s London. Together the class might create a Blake—Chimney Sweeper Web site: www.blakesweeper.edu.
Instead of spending class time wondering what the poem means, and what application it has to present-day experience, students compile information about it. They set the poem in its historical and critical context, showing first how the poem is the product and the property of the past—and, implicitly, how it really has nothing to do with the present except as an artful curiosity; and second how, given the number of ideas about it already available, adding more thought would be superfluous.
By putting a world of facts at the end of a key-stroke, computers have made facts, their command, their manipulation, their ordering, central to what now can qualify as humanistic education. The result is to suspend reflection about the differences among wisdom, knowledge, and information. Everything that can be accessed online can seem equal to everything else, no datum more important or more profound than any other. Thus the possibility presents itself that there really is no more wisdom; there is no more knowledge; there is only information. No thought is a challenge or an affront to what one currently believes."
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Robin Hamman
I am hoping that Robin Hamman will be coming to give a talk later in the term. Robin runs cybersoc.com which is "an online resources for social scientists and internet professionals interested in the study of cyberculture, cyberspace, computer mediated communication and online communities"
Robin currently works as a Community Producer at the BBC and his written several articles on online communities. His most recent is a talk he gave "Global Networks act local" at a conference in Warsaw. He makes the argument that "instead of using the internet to act globally, many users today are more interested in using the internet to make new local connections or to supplement existing communication between themselves and people they are already familiar with"
He refers to the BBC'c "Where I Live" websites as an example of the Internet being used for local information and reinforcing local ties. Another local example would be Manchester Community Information Network (MCIN) of which I am chair. More about MCIN later, but just to observe that it has established 13 local 'community wide webs' in Manchester, based round geographical areas (eg: Cheetham info) or communities of interest (eg: the deaf community gateway)
Robin currently works as a Community Producer at the BBC and his written several articles on online communities. His most recent is a talk he gave "Global Networks act local" at a conference in Warsaw. He makes the argument that "instead of using the internet to act globally, many users today are more interested in using the internet to make new local connections or to supplement existing communication between themselves and people they are already familiar with"
He refers to the BBC'c "Where I Live" websites as an example of the Internet being used for local information and reinforcing local ties. Another local example would be Manchester Community Information Network (MCIN) of which I am chair. More about MCIN later, but just to observe that it has established 13 local 'community wide webs' in Manchester, based round geographical areas (eg: Cheetham info) or communities of interest (eg: the deaf community gateway)
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