Blogs
February 03, 2010
* Pew Research: Social Media and Young Adults

Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults: "Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application."

February 02, 2010
* Congress and Twitter - A Growing Relationship

Congress Is All Atwitter, Daniel Newhauser, Roll Call: "Since the microblogging Web site Twitter launched in 2006, tens of millions of people have logged on and churned out billions of 140-character messages called tweets. And Congress has certainly embraced the trend. In fact, by early last year, some 20 Members were using the site, according to Tweet Congress, which monitors Members’ Twitter use. The current count, the group says, is 162 (plus 16 committees and seven caucuses). But computer-savvy political junkies already know that. Whether politicians are using Twitter to its full potential is another matter entirely."

February 01, 2010
* Homeland Security Haiti Social Media Disaster Monitoring Initiative

Privacy Impact Assessment for the Office of Operations Coordination and Planning Haiti Social Media Disaster Monitoring Initiative, January 21, 2010: "The Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS), National Operations Center (NOC), has launched a Haiti Social Media Disaster Monitoring Initiative (Initiative) to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and its components involved in the response, recovery, and rebuilding effort resulting from the recent earthquake and after-effects in Haiti. The NOC is using this vehicle to fulfill its statutory responsibility to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture for the federal Government, and for those state, local, and tribal governments, as appropriate, assisting with the response, recovery, and rebuilding effort in Haiti. OPS may also share information with international partners and the private sector where necessary and appropriate for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The NOC is only monitoring publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards to collect information used in providing situational awareness and to establish a common operating picture....[a partial list] of the types of sites that the NOC is reviewing in order to improve its situational awareness and common operating picture related to Haiti earthquake [is available on last page of document].

  • Related postings on Haiti
  • January 22, 2010
    * NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out Into Space

    News release: "Astronauts aboard the International Space Station received a special software upgrade this week - personal access to the Internet and the World Wide Web via the ultimate wireless connection. Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer made first use of the new system Friday, when he posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account, @Astro_TJ, from the space station. Previous tweets from space had to be e-mailed to the ground where support personnel posted them to the astronaut's Twitter account. "Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s" This personal Web access, called the Crew Support LAN, takes advantage of existing communication links to and from the station and gives astronauts the ability to browse and use the Web. The system will provide astronauts with direct private communications to enhance their quality of life during long-duration missions by helping to ease the isolation associated with life in a closed environment."

    January 20, 2010
    * State of the Twittersphere January 2010

    State of the Twittersphere January 2010: "So what’s the State of the Twittersphere today? Twitter’s growth is slower. Growth has fallen from a high of 13% in March of 2009 to 3.5% in October 2009, the most recent month for which we have data...In the more recent period, experienced users makeup a larger portion of the population."

    January 18, 2010
    * Report: Social Networking in Government: Opportunities & Challenges

    Report: Social Networking in Government: Opportunities & Challenges, Human Capital Institute, January 2010

  • "Social networking (SN) has become the new online rage. Blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have provided creative ways to recruit, engage, connect and retain employees. They have also provided an opportunity to facilitate strategic knowledge sharing across organizations and government agencies. Most SN tools are Web-based and provide a variety of ways for users who share interests and/or activities to interact. Users can share best practices and build communities of practice. These tools provide email and instant messaging services — constant connectivity. SN tools can help with the current challenges facing today’s government agencies such as brain drain from a retiring workforce, the need to create inter-agency knowledge sharing and an increased need to imbed talent tools where the work is getting done."
  • "Sixty-six (66) percent of government workplaces use some type of SN tool — and sixty-five (65) percent of those are using more than one tool."
  • January 09, 2010
    * Book Review - The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security

    The New York Review of Books - Who's in Big Brother's Database? By James Bamford - The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the, National Security Agency, by Matthew M. Aid, Bloomsbury.

  • "...this library expects few visitors. It's being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency — which is primarily responsible for "signals intelligence," the collection and analysis of various forms of communication—to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails: Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital "pocket litter." Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome. Just how much information will be stored in these windowless cybertemples? A clue comes from a recent report prepared by the MITRE Corporation, a Pentagon think tank. "As the sensors associated with the various surveillance missions improve," says the report, referring to a variety of technical collection methods, "the data volumes are increasing with a projection that sensor data volume could potentially increase to the level of Yottabytes (1024 Bytes) by 2015."["Data Analysis Challenges" (December 2008), p. 13.] Roughly equal to about a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of text, numbers beyond Yottabytes haven't yet been named. Once vacuumed up and stored in these near-infinite "libraries," the data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons, supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may be—or may one day become—a terrorist. In the NSA's world of automated surveillance on steroids, every bit has a history and every keystroke tells a story."

  • December 31, 2009
    * FTC, Partners Launch Consumer Protection Week Web Site, Blog

    News release: "The Federal Trade Commission has launched its Web site and blog for National Consumer Protection Week 2010, which will be held March 7-13. Consumer.gov/ncpw, encourages people to learn about their rights as consumers, and promotes free resources to help them protect their privacy, manage money and debt, avoid identity theft, understand credit and mortgages, and steer clear of frauds and scams. The twelfth annual consumer protection week is a partnership between the FTC and other government agencies and consumer groups. This year’s theme, Dollars & Sense: Rated “A” for All Ages, highlights the importance of using good consumer sense at every stage of life – from grade school to retirement. The site for the event features a page for kids and parents, and highlights games, videos, and other Web sites that teach kids practical lessons about the role of business and government in their everyday lives."

    December 19, 2009
    * EPIC Defends Privacy of Facebook Users: Files Complaint with the Federal Trade Commission

    News release: "EPIC has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the FTC to open an investigation into Facebook’s revised privacy settings. The EPIC complaint, signed by nine other privacy and consumer organizations, states that the "changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations." EPIC cites widespread opposition from Facebook users, security experts, bloggers, and news organizations. A previous EPIC complaint to the FTC, concerning the data broker industry, produced the largest settlement in the FTC's history. For more information, see EPIC: In re Facebook and EPIC Facebook Privacy."

    December 10, 2009
    * Guardain UK: The 100 essential websites of 2009

    "Here we go again … our latest list of the 100 best websites sees short attention spans, the rise of Twitter, more browser wars and celebrity gossip sites setting the news agenda."

    December 01, 2009
    * "Creative Destruction" or Just "Destruction", How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?

    "The Federal Trade Commission will hold two days of workshops on December 1 and 2, 2009, to explore how the Internet has affected journalism. The workshop will assemble representatives from print, online, broadcast and cable news organizations, academics, consumer advocates, bloggers, and other new media representatives."

    November 30, 2009
    * New on LLRX.com - Access to Social Websites in The Legal Environment - Fall 2009

    Access to Social Websites in The Legal Environment - Fall 2009 - Part 1: Survey of Law Librarians in Selected Firms, County/State Law Libraries and Law Schools.

  • To ascertain the current use of social websites/media in law firms, a survey was conducted among Law Librarians entitled Computer Use in Your Organization. In addition to the responses from law firm Law Librarians, several Law Librarians from law schools and county/state government law libraries also responded as did an independent Law Librarian. The opinions of Law Librarians was sought since they are typically among the first professionals in the legal environment to explore, use and recommend new computer innovations and trends useful to attorneys, judges and legal scholars regarding information gathering, information sharing, electronic legal research and current awareness. Part 1 of the Survey details the responses of fifty-six Law Librarians regarding computer use in their organizations. Part 2 will review the responses and take a close look at the implications of the responses and what, if any, patterns can be predicted for 2010."
  • November 09, 2009
    * The Application Usage and Risk Report - An Analysis of End User Application Trends in the Enterprise

    The Application Usage and Risk Report - An Analysis of End User Application Trends in the Enterprise, Fall Edition 2009, Palo Alto Networks: "Social networking, blogging/microblogging, cloud-based productivity and collaborative applications are just a few of the applications that are making the cross over from personal to corporate use as a means of improving productivity. This report shows that the use of these applications is commonplace across a worldwide sample of
    more than 200 organizations in a wide range of industries.
    Some specific findings from the research include:

    • Twitter session use grew more than 250 percent from the Spring 2009 edition of the Application Usage and Risk Report, published in April.
    • Facebook use increased 192 percent while Facebook Chat (released in April 2008) was the fourth most commonly detected chat application, ahead of Yahoo! IM and AIM.
    • SharePoint collaboration is ubiquitous – bandwidth consumed by SharePoint, specifically the documents component, increased 17-fold from the previous report in April.
    • Blogging and wiki editing increased by a factor of 39, while total bandwidth consumed increased by a factor of 48."

    November 08, 2009
    * 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study

    2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study "was designed to assess current trends in the use of social media in North American businesses. Based on 2,948 valid responses to our online Business Social Media Benchmarking Survey during August and early September, 2009, the results provide a very useful benchmark for where businesses, and business people, are finding value in social media across different activities and sites. The study was focused on social media utilization – how people and companies are using social media in a work context today – and not on adoption. All study participants currently used social media in their day-to-day jobs as a resource for business-relevant information and/or worked for a company currently managing, developing or planning social media initiatives."

    October 29, 2009
    * Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies, v1.0

    Guidelines for Secure Use of Social Media by Federal Departments and Agencies, v1.0 Issued By: ISIMC [Information Security and Identity Management Committee] - Effective Date: 09.17.2009

  • Abstract: The use of social media for federal services and interactions is growing tremendously, supported by initiatives from the administration, directives from government leaders, and demands from the public. This situation presents both opportunity and risk. Guidelines and recommendations for using social media technologies in a manner that minimizes the risk are analyzed and presented in this document. This document is intended as guidance for any federal agency that uses social media services to collaborate and communicate among employees, partners, other federal agencies, and the public."

  • October 21, 2009
    * Pew Report: Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009

    Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009, by Susannah Fox, Kathryn Zickuhr, Aaron Smith - Oct 21, 2009

  • "Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service. Three groups of internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social network website users, those who connect to the internet via mobile devices, and younger internet users – those under age 44."
  • Pew study: Nearly 1 in 5 Net users is tweeting - Twitter’s growth partially due to those on the go who use mobile Internet
  • October 14, 2009
    * Pew: Democratization of Online Social Networks

    Senior Research Specialist Amanda Lenhart's slideshow presentation, The Democratization of Online Social Networks: A look at the change in demographics of social network users over time, given at AoIR 10.0 in Milwaukee, WI on October 8, 2009.

    October 05, 2009
    * FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials

    News release: "The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980. Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor."

    October 01, 2009
    * Department of Justice launches Justice.gov

    "The Department of Justice launches Justice.gov today in an effort to increase openness and transparency in government. Utilizing a variety of online tools, we will be able to share news and information, not just on our own web site, but through popular social networks Twitter, YouTube and MySpace and Facebook. The Justice presence on these social networks will allow Americans to interact with the Department in entirely new ways. The new Justice.gov has incorporated more multimedia than ever before. You’ll find a photo gallery and video library that will be regularly updated with new content from across the Department of Justice. And of course, The Justice Blog will be a hub of information for the Department."

    September 28, 2009
    September 26, 2009
    * TwitterTerms of Service - You Own Your Tweets

    Terms of Service - "These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the services and Twitter’s websites (the “Services”), and any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”). Your access to and use of the Services is conditioned on your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. By accessing or using the Services you agree to be bound by these Terms...Your Righst: You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed)."

    September 23, 2009
    * Social Networking and Constituent Communication: Member Use of Twitter During a Two-Week Period in the 111th Congress

    CRS Report - Social Networking and Constituent Communication: Member Use of Twitter During a Two-Week Period in the 111th Congress

    September 20, 2009
    * Survey: Substantial Growth in Online Social Networking by Lawyers Over the Past Year

    2009 Networks for Counsel Study - A Global Study of the Legal Industry’s Adoption of Online Professional Networking, Preferences, Usage and Future Predictions - Sample Composition: "The survey was administered to 1,474 counsel – 764 private practice lawyers and 710 corporate counsel –in May and June of 2009; 33 countries were represented. Financial Services, Manufacturing and Healthcare were the top three industries represented."

  • Key Findings: "Networking remains critical to the legal industry, yet resource constraints make it more difficult than ever; Use of social networking sites has grown significantly over the past year, with three‐quarters of all counsel now reporting they are members of a social or professional network.."
  • Related, via Bloomberg: Lawyer Fees Cut as Company Counsel Network for Tips - "Cash-strapped in-house attorneys are swapping such ideas and other information on Web sites like those owned by LinkedIn Corp., which connects professionals around the world. Corporate lawyers’ use of social networks -- some invitation-only -- grew about 50 percent in 2009, LexisNexis said after surveying 1,474 attorneys."
  • September 12, 2009
    * Online Opinions by Lawyers Via Tweets and Blogs Can Have Serious Ramifications

    New York Times - A Legal Battle: Online Attitude vs. Rules of the Bar: "And with thousands of blogs and so many lawyers online, legal ethics experts say that collisions between the freewheeling ways of the Internet and the tight boundaries of legal discourse are inevitable — whether they result in damaged careers or simply raise eyebrows."

    September 08, 2009
    * New Political Realtiy of Web 2.0 - Connecting With the Public Via Microblogging

    Newsweek: Who’s Winning the Twitter Wars? How Democratic and Republican politicians use the popular microblogging service.

  • "For the foreseeable future, Republicans will continue to broadcast their message widely,while the left-most wing of the Democratic Party mounts a quiet, steady defense. Strategists on both sides agree that Twitter—or at least, the short-form communication that Twitter has pioneered—will be crucial to campaigns for years to come. It turns out that a powerful message can indeed be delivered with only 140 characters."
  • August 31, 2009
    * New on LLRX.com - The Government Domain: Tracking Congress 2.0

    The Government Domain: Tracking Congress 2.0 - With the 111th Congress of the United States reconvening on September 8th, e-gov expert Peggy Garvin highlights new tools and sources that enhance and expand your ability to track and monitor the action.

    August 30, 2009
    * New on LLRX.com: Crowd Competition and Community Standards at the #AALL2009 Conference

    Re-Hashing the Hash Tag - Crowd Competition and Community Standards at the #AALL2009 Conference: Roger V. Skalbeck and Meg Kribble describe how the majority of social media activity during the 2009 AALL conference took place on Twitter, and how this technology impacts the profession and the free exchange of information, moving forward.

    August 16, 2009
    * Commentary Focuses on Powerful Brain "Seeking" Systems and Internet Usage

    Via Slate: Seeking How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that's dangerous, by Emily Yoffe. "...Actually all our electronic communication devices—e-mail, Facebook feeds, texts, Twitter—are feeding the same drive as our searches. Since we're restless, easily bored creatures, our gadgets give us in abundance qualities the seeking/wanting system finds particularly exciting...If humans are seeking machines, we've now created the perfect machines to allow us to seek endlessly."

    August 15, 2009
    * DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum

    DoD Web 2.0 Guidance Forum - Value of Web 2.0 Capabilities: "In examining how the Department of Defense should take maximal advantage of Web 2.0 capabilities (including social networking services, social media, wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, etc.), we are looking at how Web 2.0 capabilities can be used to improve current and future Department operations. Operations in this sense include both broad business and warfighting processes. Specifically, we are looking for insight from various Defense interest groups and think tanks, including Veterans groups, industry groups and individuals who have insights they can share regarding how Web 2.0 capabilities can be used to transform how the Defense Department operates."

    August 12, 2009
    * EPIC Forces Disclosure of Government Contracts with Social Media Companies, Privacy Terms Missing

    "In response to an EPIC Freedom of Information Act Request, the Government Services Administration released several contracts between the federal government and web 2.0 companies, including agreements with Blip.tv, Blist, Google (YouTube), Yahoo (Flickr), and MySpace. EPIC also obtained amendments to agreements with Facebook, Slideshare.net, Vimeo.com, and AddThis.com. The contracts do not address the privacy obligations of social media companies. The GSA letter to EPIC explained that “no specific Web 2.0 guidance currently exists,” but provided EPIC with Training Slides that raise privacy issues. The GSA Agreement with Google actually states that, “to the extent any rules or guidelines exist prohibiting the use of persistent cookies in connection with Provider Content applies to Google, Provider expressly waives those rules or guidelines as they may apply to Google.” Some of the agreements also permit companies to track users of government web sites for advertising purposes."

    August 09, 2009
    * UK Military Releases Online Engagement Guidelines

    DMC-PR-05-07-02 dated 5 August 2009, Version 1.0, Online Engagement Guidelines

  • "Summary - 1. Service and MOD civilian personnel are encouraged to talk about what they do, but within certain limits to protect security, reputation and privacy. An increasingly important channel for this engagement, and to keep in touch with family and friends is social media (such as social networking sites, blogs and other internet self-publishing). Personnel may make full use of these but must:..."
  • August 02, 2009
    July 27, 2009
    * Ten Great E-Gov Web Sites Called Out

    GNC.com: "The days of a Web presence being an optional component for agencies are long gone. For most citizens, the primary way of interacting with their government is through Web sites. By and large, agencies have responded to that demand by creating richer, more interactive sites. A lot has changed since Government Computer News created its first list of 10 great government Web sites last year. For one thing, social networking has moved into the mainstream, and to maintain a presence in the communities they serve, the smartest agencies have established footholds on Twitter, Facebook and other such sites." Here is the latest: Great .Gov Web Sites 10 sites that take online government to the next level."

    July 14, 2009
    * Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media

    Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media: Lawyer, writer and blogger Nicole Black advises fellow professionals about important core techniques and goals to consider before jumping on the “social media” bandwagon.

    July 05, 2009
    * Web 2.0 Collaboration: Tools for the Next Generation of Public Service

    Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools for the Next Generation of Public Service - Driving high performance through more engaging, accountable and citizen-focused service

  • "Web 2.0 technologies and services have spread around the world at an amazing pace and are used by millions of people every day. Many public service organizations are also adopting Web 2.0 applications to improve their ability to collaborate and serve citizens more effectively. Accenture believes that Web 2.0 technologies are finding resonance among governments today because they are, in fact, supportive of a broader evolution in public service: a new relationship with government that is about genuine engagement of people in their own governance."
  • June 30, 2009
    * Reports: Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media

    UberCEO: Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media - "...top CEOs in the country appear to be mostly absent from the social media community. That's the result from research we conducted over the past several weeks. We looked at Fortune's 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog. The results show a miserable level of engagement."

  • A Look at the Fortune 100 CEO's and Their Online Image and Communications, June 2009
  • Social Media Slackers - Fortune 100 CEOs
  • June 21, 2009
    * FTC Proposed Guidelines to Monitor Blogs For Commerical Claims and Payments

    Federal Trade Commission, 16 C.F.R. Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising..."In order to limit its potential liability, the advertiser should ensure that the advertising service provides guidance and training to its bloggers concerning the need to ensure that statements they make are truthful and substantiated. The advertiser should also monitor bloggers who are being paid to promote its products and take steps necessary to halt the continued publication of deceptive representations when they are discovered..."

  • See also related Forrester report, March 2, 2009 - Add Sponsored Conversations To Your Toolbox - Why You Should Pay Bloggers To Talk About Your Brand, by Sean Corcoran with Josh Bernoff, Jeremiah Owyang, Tom Cummings, and Jennifer Wise: "Kmart gave some bloggers a free shopping spree in exchange for a blog post about the experience — a practice we call sponsored conversation. With appropriate protections for disclosure and authenticity, this practice will take its place alongside public relations and advertising activities in the blogosphere. Marketers should take advantage of sponsored conversation as an entrée into the online conversation. To succeed, you should get to know the bloggers you plan to work with and set expectations across your organization."
  • June 16, 2009
    * Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent

    Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture, and Dissent - By Bruce Etling, John Kelly, Robert Faris, and John Palfrey - Internet & Democracy Case Study Series, June 2009. Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2009-06

  • "This study explores the structure and content of the Arabic blogosphere using link analysis, term frequency analysis, and human coding of individual blogs. We identified a base network of approximately 35,000 active Arabic language blogs (about half as many as we found in a previous study of the Persian blogosphere), discovered several thousand Arabic blogs with mixed use of Arabic, English and French, created a network map of the 6,000 most connected blogs, and with a team of Arabic speakers hand coded over 4,000 blogs. The goal for the study was to produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab Middle East, and its relationship to a range of emergent issues, including politics, media, religion, culture, and international affairs."
  • * YouTube and Google's new technology platform - Citizentube

    Official Google Blog: "...Citizentube, a special YouTube blog devoted to chronicling the way that people are using video to change the world. If you've followed news and politics on YouTube, you might have noticed that we started Citizentube as a video channel on the site a few years back, but we soon realized that keeping track of all the phenomenal uses of YouTube by posting our own videos just wasn't fast enough — so now we're blogging, too. We generally focus on two types of posts: the compelling political and social uses of YouTube that we see the community bubble up every day, and our own programming initiatives and partnerships in the political, news, and nonprofit arenas."

    June 04, 2009
    * Open Government Initiative Discussion Phase: Transparency Principles

    Beth Noveck, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government: "...this initial public engagement process on open government policy will take place in three phases (brainstorming, discussion, drafting). Following this initial process, we will distill the input received here, from submissions of proposals in From the Inbox, and from government experts and develop a set of draft recommendations for both public and inter-governmental review. These recommendations will, in turn, help to guide the development of government-wide policy on transparency, participation, and collaboration."

    May 09, 2009
    * The Future of Journalism Communications, Technology, and the Internet

    On May 6, 2009 the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held the following Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet hearing: The Future of Journalism. Witness statements:

    • Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience, Google Inc.
    • Alberto Ibargüen, President and Chief Executive Officer, John S. And James L. Knight Foundation
    • David Simon, Author, TV Producer and Former Newspaperman
    • Steve Coll, Former Managing Editor, The Washington Post
    • James Moroney, Publisher/CEO, The Dallas Morning News
    • Arianna Huffington, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post

    April 15, 2009
    * Pew Report - The Internet's Role in Campaign 2008

    "Some 74% of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election. This marks the first time that a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey has found that more than half of the voting-age population used the internet to get involved in the political process during an election year. Several online activities rose to prominence in 2008. In particular, Americans were eager to share their views on the race with others and to take part in the online debate on social media sites such as blogs and social networking sites."

  • The Internet's Role in Campaign 2008 - A majority of American adults went online in 2008 to keep informed about political developments and to get involved with the election. April 2009
  • March 11, 2009
    * New Open Source Project Monitors Flows of Media

    "Media Cloud is a system that lets you see the flow of the media. The Internet is fundamentally altering the way that news is produced and distributed, but there are few comprehensive approaches to understanding the nature of these changes. Media Cloud automatically builds an archive of news stories and blog posts from the web, applies language processing, and gives you ways to analyze and visualize the data. The system is still in early development, but we invite you to explore our current data and suggest research ideas. This is an open-source project, and we will be releasing all of the code soon. You can read more background on the project or just get started: Visualizations / What Are Your Research Ideas? / Keep Up-To-Date with Media Cloud."

    March 10, 2009
    * Upcoming: Competitive Intelligence Workshop at Computers in Libraries 2009

    Post-Conference Workshop on Competitive Intelligence, April 2, 2009 - 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM, Sabrina I. Pacifici, Law Librarian, & Founder/Editor/Publisher, LLRX.com and beSpacific.com

  • Librarians, competitive intelligence (CI) experts, and knowledge specialists will all benefit from this seminar focused on key, reliable, low-cost, as well as free, resources, services, tools, techniques and applications, including social networking sites, blogs, wikis, intranets, email alerts, RSS, and even IM. Whether you are managing daily current awareness services, tracking the global financial crisis, or keeping your organization current about trends, competitors, and opportunities, learn how to build, maintain, and leverage CI initiatives that serve teams, communities, and organizations and improve business processes.

  • March 07, 2009
    * WSJ: How to Twitter

    The Decoder: "Twitter is a mass text-messaging service that allows you to send short 140-character updates -- or "tweets" -- to a bunch of people at once. They are your "followers." It was designed to be read on a cellphone, though many people read it online, too."

    March 02, 2009
    * House Committees Take the Lead on Using Social Media to Ensure Transparency

    News release: "House Committees on Science and Technology, Education and Labor, Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming are the first four Congressional Committees to join Twitter. These Committees use Twitter as a new tool to reach their audience and ensure transparency between the government and the public."

    February 26, 2009
    * New Era of Transparency as OMB Launches Redesigned Website and Blog

    Peter Orszag - Discipline, Efficiency, Prosperity - Peter Orszag, Director: "Welcome to my first blog post at the Office of Management and Budget. In this blog, I want to open up OMB even more to the public and share with you what we’re doing to address the many challenges that we face as a nation. I know that, for many people, blogs are the easiest way of receiving information – so this blog may prove to be useful even if it simply provides a convenient way of keeping up with information from OMB that is already available in other formats. President Obama is committed to ensuring a direct link between citizens and our federal government. Especially in light of our difficult economic times, I am committed to ensuring that OMB’s work is accessible. Although OMB is extensively discussed in the media and elsewhere, the blog will allow me to communicate and explain our work directly. Today, we’re releasing the overview of the President’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget."

    * Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Overview Document

    Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Overview Document - A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America’s Promise, Office of Management and Budget, February 26, 2009 [146 pages, PDF], "provides a description of the Obama Administration’s fiscal policies and major budgetary initiatives. This document is an overview of the full Fiscal Year 2010 Budget expected to be released this spring."

  • White House Blog: "The overview for the proposed budget released by the President today is as good an example of that as you could find. For just a few examples: It sets aside more than $630 billion over ten years as a down payment towards fundamental health care reform. It makes permanent the $800 "Making Work Pay" tax cut for working families. It begins a comprehensive transformation of our energy supply by committing to a cap-and-trade system to be worked out in conjunction with Congress. The President has made clear he believes all of these issues are intertwined, so addressing these issues together represents a new comprehensive vision for the country’s future."
  • February 14, 2009
    * Pew Internet: Twitter and status updating

    "In the past three years, developments in social networking and internet applications have begun providing internet users with more opportunities for sharing short updates about themselves, their lives, and their whereabouts online. Users may post messages about their status, their moods, their location and other tidbits on social networks and blogging sites, or on applications for sending out short messages to networks of friends like Twitter, Yammer and others. As of December 2008, 11% of online American adults said they used a service like Twitter or another service that allowed them to share updates about themselves or to see the updates of others."

  • Twitter and status updating, February 12, 2009
  • January 31, 2009
    * Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Launches New Media Index

    "The New Media Index is a weekly report that captures the leading commentary of blogs and social media sites focused on news and compares those subjects to that of the mainstream press. PEJ is launching the New Media Index as a companion to its weekly News Coverage Index. Blogs and other new media are an important part of creating today's news information narrative and in shaping the way Americans interact with the news. The expansion of online blogs and other social media sites has allowed news-consumers and others outside the mainstream press to have more of a role in agenda setting, dissemination and interpretation. PEJ wanted to find out what subjects in the national news the online sites focus on, and how that compared with the narrative in the traditional press...The Project also tracks the most popular news video on YouTube each week."

    January 30, 2009
    * Media Tracking of the 44th President Leverages Web 2.0 Spin

    Politico 44, dubbed "a living diary of the Obama Presidency," provides readers with an aggregated melange of government documents, issue oriented media coverage in print and video, and well, gossip.

    January 25, 2009
    * New Washington Post Site Profiles Obama Administration Officials, Members Eexecutive Branch and Congressmen

    Washington Post site, a work in progess: WhoRunsGov.com offers a unique look at the world of Washington through its key players and personalities. It’s your window into how deals get made and policy is shaped in the new Obama administration that is remaking the nation’s capital."

    January 20, 2009
    * Dramatic Change Comes to WhiteHouse.gov

    "Welcome to the new WhiteHouse.gov. A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.

    Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement. Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration's online programs will put citizens first. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities:

    Communication...This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.

    Transparency...The President's executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that’s just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President’s policy priorities.

    Participation...One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it."

  • Online specialists praise, question White House Web site
  • * Presidential Proclamation: A National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation

    A National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation: "...I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century."

    January 04, 2009
    * U.S. Air Force Leveraging Web 2.0 Apps - Twitter and Blogs

    Via David Meerman Scott's blog WebInkNow, news about forward thinking and actionable PR and IT business process improvement from the U.S. Air Force: "David Faggard, Chief of Emerging Technology at the Air Force Public Affairs Agency in the Pentagon [in response to a direct message via Twitter], indicated that "the Air Force employs 330,000 communicators! Their mission is to use current and developing Web 2.0 applications as a way to actively engage conversations between Airmen and the general public. Yes, that’s right, the goal of the program is that every single Airman is an on-line communicator." Note, this post includes a very useful Air Force blog assessment flowchart.

    December 29, 2008
    * Israeli Consulate Organizes Citizen "Press" Conference on Twitter

    News release: [December 30, 2008] "from 1-3 pm, David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York will host a LIVE Citizen "Press" Conference on Twitter in order to directly answer the public's questions regarding the current situation in Israel and Gaza. This is the first time that a government is holding such a conference on Twitter. "We are constantly getting questions from the public regarding the situation in Israel and Gaza," David Saranga, Consul for Media and Public Affairs, explains, "so we are answering the public's call and holding a Citizen Press Conference on the social networking site, Twitter, to answer these questions directly." Twitter users can take part in the Citizen "Press" Conference by going to http://www.twitter.com/IsraelConsulate and directing their messages to @israelconsulate and including the tag #AskIsrael. Questions will be answered on Twitter, with a link to IsraelPolitik if the answer exceeds Twitter’s maximum length of 140 characters."

    December 18, 2008
    * Papers Explore News and Information as Digital Media Come of Age

    "The transformation of the media world is well underway, facilitated by the spread of digital tools. A myriad of innovative new media organizations have sprung up to take advantage of the opportunities that stem from low-cost distribution networks. Meanwhile the economic base of many of the large media companies continues to erode. Despite the demonstrated success of many new media enterprises, the euphoria over the rise of participatory media has been tempered by concerns over the quality and credibility of online media, the possible fragmentation of audiences, a decline in editorial standards and the persistent challenge of effectively reporting the news. Over the past year, researchers at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society have reached out to a broad range of media experts to help in this assessment of the changes in new media over the past several years and to take a sober look at the successes and ongoing challenges.

  • The Media Re:public series comprises an overview paper, seven issue papers and four case studies: view download options."
  • December 06, 2008
    * Obama Transition Project Staff Announces Transparency Policy

    “Seat at the Table” Transparency Policy: "As an extension of the unprecedented ethics guidelines already in place for the Obama-Biden Transition Project, we take another significant step towards transparency of our efforts for the American people. Every day, we meet with organizations who present ideas for the Transition and the Administration, both orally and in writing. We want to ensure that we give the American people a “seat at the table” and that we receive the benefit of their feedback. Accordingly, any documents from official meetings with outside organizations will be posted on our website for people to review and comment on. In addition to presenting ideas as individuals at www.change.gov, the American people deserve a “seat at the table” as we receive input from organizations and make decisions. In the interest of protecting the personal privacy of individuals, this policy does not apply to personnel matters and hiring recommendations."

    November 25, 2008
    * HHS' AIDS.gov to Use Blogs, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks to Deliver HIV Information for World AIDS Day 2008

    News release: "The HHS Office of HIV/AIDS Policy's AIDS.gov will recognize the 20th annual World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 with a special focus on reducing HIV/AIDS-related stigma and promoting HIV testing through blogs, virtual worlds, and social networks. This World AIDS Day will also mark the second anniversary of AIDS.gov, an online gateway to all federal domestic HIV/AIDS information and resources."

    November 22, 2008
    * NYT on Twitter and Microblogging

    New York Times: "Whether sharing project updates with colleagues or reaching out to customers, workers are communicating in a new medium that keeps messages very short. Commonly called microblogging, it started as a way to share personal information with friends and family. But micromessages are gaining ground at work, becoming popular for both internal and external exchanges."

    October 30, 2008
    * Don't Have a Cow, Give a Cow Instead

    Don't Have a Cow, Give a Cow Instead

  • Darlene Fichter, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada: "Giving Small" is the story of how I started to focus more time and attention on "gifting" in my day to day life. You might be thinking why not "Give Big"? Yep, I'm a fan of the show. But it can be intimidating to think that you need to "give big" to give. I think like anything you start off small, learn and then maybe you can figure out how to give big. This blog is intended to document by journey into "gifting" and exploring small ways we can give gifts to others whether it's close to home or around the world, whether it's time or ideas or money or cows or chickens."
  • October 26, 2008
    * Gartner and Nielsen Reports - Impact of Social Networking in Government and
    • Gartner Says Citizen Social Networks Will Complement, and May Replace, Some Government Functions, Egham, UK, October 23, 2008 — "By 2011, 70 per cent of social computing deployments in government that achieve business benefits will do so in unplanned or unexpected ways, according to Gartner, Inc. Government organisations around the world are showing great interest in social computing, yet deployment so far is relatively limited...Today, the primary role of social networks for governments is to facilitate the exchange of information and to establish novel collaboration patterns, often across organisational boundaries."
    • Nielsen Online Media Alert - Fastest Growing Social Networks for September 2008: Twitter.com, Tagged.com and Ning Lead in Year-Over Year Audience Growth
      • U.S. Department of State: Major Programs of the Office of eDiplomacy: "Diplopedia wiki - Launched in September 2006, Diplopedia is the State Department's internal unclassified online encyclopedia. Just as people create and edit articles on public wikis on the Internet, Department personnel are using Diplopedia to create a broad, informative and expanding reference tool for knowledge-sharing about the Department, its programs and offices, and other international affairs subjects."
    October 02, 2008
    * New Homepage for Google Blog Search

    Official Google Blog: "Today, we're pleased to launch a new homepage for Google Blog Search so that you too can browse and discover the most interesting stories in the blogosphere. Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we're now showing categories on the left side of the website and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event. Grouping them in clusters lets you see the best posts on a story or get a variety of perspectives. When you look within a cluster, you'll find a collection of the most interesting and recent posts on the topic, along with a timeline graph that shows you how the story is gaining momentum in the blogosphere."

    September 30, 2008
    * Senate To Vote Wednesday on Financial Bailout Plan
    • RollCall.com: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) set up a vote on a Wall Street rescue plan for Wednesday night. The $700 billion package to buy up troubled mortgages will include tax-extender legislation and a $150,000 increase on the amount of deposits the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insures. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), sent out an alert saying the measure would be subject to a filibuster-proof, 60-vote threshold."
    • New York Times: Senate to Vote Wednesday on Bailout Plan: "The Senate tax bill would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power. The bill would also extend the business tax credit for research and development, expand the child tax credit, protect millions of families from the alternative minimum tax, and provide tax relief to victims of recent floods, tornadoes and severe storms."
    • Related postings on financial system
    • And for additional perspective, Economics Blog Directory & Ranking
    * Politically-interested Internet Users' Perceptions of Blog Credibility

    Johnson, T. J., Kaye, B. K., Bichard, S. L., & Wong, w. J. (2007). Every blog has its day: Politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of blog credibility. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 6.

  • "This study employs an online survey to examine U.S. politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of the credibility of blogs. The article focuses on the influence of blog reliance compared to motivations for visiting blogs in determining blog credibility. The study found that blogs were judged as moderately credible, but as more credible than any mainstream media or online source. Both reliance and motivations predicted blog credibility after controlling for demographics and political variables. Reliance proved a consistently stronger predictor than blog motivations. Also, information-seeking motives predicted credibility better than entertainment ones."
  • September 28, 2008
    * New on LLRX.com: Book Review - We're All Journalists Now

    LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age - Heather A. Phillips highlights attorney John Gant's contention that one's title, income, and employer are at best side issues in determining who is a journalist in the day-to-day realities of issuing press passes as well as in larger policies such as the extension of shield laws.

    September 24, 2008
    * State of the Blogosphere - 2008

    "Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report...will be released in five consecutive daily segments. Since 2004, our annual study has unearthed and analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, we resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. For the first time, we surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially."

    September 01, 2008
    * Google Launches New Beta Browser for Windows

    The Official Google Blog: "As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome [September 2, 2008] in more than 100 countries."

    August 24, 2008
    * UK Government Plans Massive Personal Data Collection Effort

    Surveillance made easy, NewScientist.com news service, Laura Margottini: "This data allows investigators to identify suspects, examine their contacts, establish relationships between conspirators and place them in a specific location at a certain time."

    So said the UK Home Office last week as it announced plans to give law-enforcement agencies, local councils and other public bodies access to the details of people's text messages, emails and internet activity. The move followed its announcement in May that it was considering creating a massive central database to store all this data, as a tool to help the security services tackle crime and terrorism."

      Related links:
    • UK House of Commons, Communications Data Bill: "The purpose of the Bill is to: allow communications data capabilities for the prevention and detection of crime and protection of national security to keep up with changing technology through providing for the collection and retention of such data, including data not required for the business purposes of communications service providers; and to ensure strict safeguards continue to strike the proper balance between privacy and protecting the public.
    • Siemens - Lawful Interception (Monitoring Center, Intelligence Platform) - "Authorized groups need to have direct access to communications between suspects, whether it is individuals, groups or organizations. Only then can they take appropriate action, detect, prevent and anticipate crimes and guarantee peace and security."
    * Association of Research Libraries: Social Software in Libraries

    News release: "The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Social Software in Libraries, SPEC Kit 304, which provides an overview of ARL libraries’ implementation of software that people use to connect with one another online...In the last few years, the use of social software has grown enormously. While a growing number of libraries have adopted social software as a way to further interact with library patrons and library staff, many things are unclear about the use of social software in ARL member libraries. This SPEC survey was designed to discover how many libraries and library staff are using social software and for what purposes, how those activities are organized and managed, and the benefits and challenges of using social software, among other questions.

    For this study, social software was broadly defined as software that enables people to connect with one another online. The survey asked about 10 types of applications: (1) social-networking sites; (2) media-sharing sites; (3) social-bookmarking or tagging sites; (4) wikis; (5) blogs; (6) sites that use RSS to syndicate and broadcast content; (7) chat or instant messaging services; (8) VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol) services; (9) virtual worlds; and (10) widgets."

    The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec304web.pdf.

    July 01, 2008
    * The Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs

    Criminal Justice Degree Guides: "The Top 100 Law and Lawyer Blogs Law blogs, also known as blawgs, are plentiful these days. In fact, there are probably thousands to choose from and more appear each week. For that reason, it may be difficult for you to narrow down which ones are worth a regular read. Whether you are a lawyer, law student or merely interested in the subject, we’ve attempted to cut through the chaff and provide you with what we regard as the top 100 law and lawyer blogs listed below. It was very difficult to choose only 100 blogs from the myriad of successful law blogs. In an effort to remain fair, you will find a variety of subjects covered with the following blogs. Not only are high-profile general law blogs included, niche blawgs are also offered for your consideration. Since it would be impossible to rank them according to importance, they are categorized according to subject and then alphabetized."

  • beSpacific is in great company along with the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, and the International Economic Law and Policy Blog among a wide range of outstanding topical blogs well worth your review.
  • June 17, 2008
    * World Information Access 2008 Report

    "The World Information Access 2008 Report presents important trends in the distribution of information and communication technologies around the world. The 2008 WIA Report explores information access by looking at trends in the blogger arrests worldwide, diversity in the ownership of media assets in the 15 largest media markets in the Muslim world, and the ideological diversity of political content online in 74 countries with large Muslim populations." Howard, Philip N, and World Information Access Project. World Information Access Report - 2008. 3. Seattle: University of Washington, 2008.

  • Complete 2008 Briefing Booklet: "Unfortunately, one way to assess the political importance of blogging around the world is through the growing number of blogger arrests. Since 2003, 64 citizens unaffiliated with news organizations have been arrested for their blogging activities. The topics of these blog posts vary, as do the kind of criminal charges and punishments handed down. Altogether 940 months of jail time has been served by
    bloggers around the world. China, Egypt and Iran account for more than half of all the arrests since 2003."
  • June 04, 2008
    * Outbound Email and Data Loss Prevention in Today's Enterprise, 2008

    Proofpoint’s Outbound Email and Data Loss Prevention in Today’s Enterprise, 2008 report - ["the survey was fielded in the US, UK, France, Germany and Australia to explore global concerns.]

    "Email remains the most important medium for communications both inside and outside the enterprise. But the convenience and ubiquity of email as a business communications tool has exposed enterprises to a wide variety of legal, financial and regulatory risks associated with outbound email. Enterprises continue to express a high level of concern about creating, managing and enforcing outbound messaging policies (for email and other communication protocols) that ensure that messages leaving the organization comply with both internal rules, best practices for data protection and external regulations. In addition, organizations remain very concerned about ensuring that email (and other electronic message streams) cannot be used to disseminate confidential or proprietary information...The results show that data protection concerns are not confined to the US and that globally, email, webmail, FTP, blogs message boards, media sharing sites and social networking sites are a source of concern as well as real-world risk for IT professionals working in large enterprises."

    May 19, 2008
    * New on LLRX.com

    Keeping Up with Class Actions: Reports, Legal Sites and Blogs of Note - "Staying current on the latest cases and news in the area of class actions can be challenging, but Scott Russell's guide to reliable subscription based publications, free legal sites and blogs that offer timely news, analysis and selected copies of court filings, is a valuable resource. — Published May 19, 2008"

    May 09, 2008
    * BlogHer/Compass Partners 2008 Social Media Study

    The BlogHer/Compass Partners 2008 Social Media Study - Women and Social Media.

      "Blogging has become a mainstream method of communication
    • 36.2 Million women participate in the blogosphere weekly
    • 15.1 Million women are publishing at least one post weekly
    • 21.1 Million women are reading and/or posting comments to blogs
      weekly"

    April 27, 2008
    * Science 2.0 - Commentary on Open Access Science Practices

    Science 2.0 - Is Open Access Science the Future? Is posting raw results online, for all to see, a great tool or a great risk? By M. Mitchell Waldrop: "Science 2.0 generally refers to new practices of scientists who post raw experimental results, nascent theories, claims of discovery and draft papers on the Web for others to see and comment on. Proponents say these "open access" practices make scientific progress more collaborative and therefore more productive. Critics say scientists who put preliminary findings online risk having others copy or exploit the work to gain credit or even patents. Despite pros and cons, Science 2.0 sites are beginning to proliferate; one notable example is the OpenWetWare project started by biological engi­neers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

    April 06, 2008
    * Universal McCanns Global Research Into Impact of Social Media

    "This project is an ongoing commitment by Universal McCann to measure consumer usage, attitudes and interests in adopting social media platforms and is the largest exploration of its kind. It aims to provide the facts behind the hype...This report (Wave 3) surveyed 17,000 internet users in 29 countries and was completed in March 2008.

    Power to the people, Social Media Tracker, Wave 3.0, March 2008 - Wave 3 Highlights:

      Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development. If you are online you are using social media
    • Asian markets are leading in terms of participation, creating more content than any other region
    • All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves
        Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3
      • 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content
      • 55% of users have uploaded photos
      • 22% of users have uploaded videos

    • Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and as a collective rival any traditional media
    • 73% have read a blog
    • The blogsphere is becoming increasingly participatory, now 184m bloggers world-wide
    • China has the largest blogging community in the world with 42m bloggers, more than the US and Western Europe combined."

    March 30, 2008
    * YouTube reveals video analytics tool for all users

    News release: "...we're releasing YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. (You can see this...announcement on the Google blog and on the YouTube blog...) This tool will help anyone who uploads videos to YouTube better understand and serve their audiences. For example, users might use Insight to tailor upload strategies to increase their videos' view counts and improve their popularity on the site. And partners who increase their videos' popularity also increase the number of monetizable views their videos get, and as a result, generate more revenue."

    March 23, 2008
    * Upcoming Computers in Libraries Workshop - Monitoring & Current Awareness: Mining Blogs & RSS for Research

    Workshop 8 – Monitoring & Current Awareness: Mining Blogs & RSS for Research, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Sunday April 6, 2008 - Sabrina I. Pacifici, Law Librarian, Founder/Editor/Publisher, LLRX.com and Author, beSpacific.com.

  • This workshop focuses on identifying and leveraging the best of free and low-fee web sites as well as web-related services to support your research enterprise, be it solo or collaborative. It includes “best of the web” for CI (competitive intelligence), legislation, news, government documents, academic and industry sponsored data.
  • * AIDS.gov Has a New Look

    "The new AIDS.gov home page provides easier access to site information and offers new features." Prominently displayed at the top right side of the page are links to: a well designed and organized Blog, Podcasts to which users may listen and for which transcripts are provided, RSS Feeds to the podcasts, resource announcements and alerts. Also included are AIDS/HIV related feeds from other e-gov sites. All around, this is a tremendous step forward in e-gov design, with improved site navigation, useful and accessible content and thoughtful implementation of current applications.

    March 12, 2008
    * First Online Free Expression Day Launched on Reporters Without Borders Website

    "Reporters Without Borders calls on Internet users to come and protest in virtual versions of countries that are Internet enemies...There are 15 countries in this year’s Reporters Without Borders list of “Internet Enemies” - Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. There were only 13 in 2007. The two new additions to the traditional censors are both to be found in sub-Saharan Africa: Zimbabwe and Ethiopia...There is also a supplementary list of 11 “countries under watch.” They are Bahrain, Eritrea, Gambia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen."

  • "Reporters Without Borders is making a new version of its Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents available to bloggers today to mark Online Free Expression Day. The handbook offers practical advice and techniques on how to create a blog, make entries and get the blog to show up in search engine results. It gives clear explanations about blogging for all those whose online freedom of expression is subject to restrictions, and it shows how to sidestep the censorship measures imposed by certain governments, with a practical example that demonstrates the use of the censorship circumvention software Tor."
  • March 11, 2008
    * Tail Report - Survey of Web Revenue

    "Tail Report has launched with the goal to map out how money is made in the blogosphere. Tail Report works by asking users to anonymously submit information about their site's traffic, rank and monthly revenue. In return, the user receives a custom report detailing what other websites are making and how their revenue compares based a number of factors, such as traffic, rank, number of RSS subscribers, age, number of employees, content, and ad networks."

    March 01, 2008
    * New Air Force Policy Limits Use of Blogs on the Job

    US Air Force shoots down blogs, airmen frustrated, by Ryan Paul: "The United States Air Force has stirred up controversy with a new Internet filtering policy that aims to prevent Air Force personnel from reading blogs while on the job. The ban has been implemented by the Air Force Network Operations Center (AFNOC), which houses the Air Force Cyber Command. The block is said to extend to virtually every web site that contains the word "blog" in the address, but doesn't impede access to sites that are deemed by AFNOC to be "reputable media outlet[s]".

    January 31, 2008
    * New TSA Blog: Evolution of Security

    "This blog is sponsored by the Transportation Security Administration to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process."

    January 30, 2008
    * WSJ Launches New Environmental Blog

    "Environmental Capital provides daily news and analysis of the business of the environment. It tracks how growing green concern, particularly over climate change, is roiling established industries and spurring new ones – and how that shift is affecting investors, consumers and the planet." [Note: does not require a subscription]

    January 27, 2008
    * Guide to Lesser Known Technology Web Sites

    Top 60 Little-Known Technology Web Sites, By Charles Babcock, Thomas Claburn, John Foley, W. David Gardner, Antone Gonsalves, Nicholas J. Hoover, K.C. Jones, Elena Malykhina, Richard Martin, Paul McDougall, Marianne McGee, Chris Murphy, Cora Nucci, Art Wittman, and Serdar Yegulalp, InformationWeek, January 26, 2008

  • "Our guide to great blogs and Web sites worth adding to your bookmarks. The selection ranges from obvious picks like Technabob and Search Engine Watch to more obscure destinations such as Location One, istartedsomething, and GottaBeMobile."
  • January 26, 2008
    * W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft, Future of Web Content

    Press release: "W3C...published an early draft of HTML 5, a major revision of the markup language for the Web. The HTML Working Group is creating HTML 5 to be the open, royalty-free specification for rich Web content and Web applications. The group operates entirely in public with nearly five hundred participants, including representatives from W3C Members ACCESS, AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera."

    January 23, 2008
    January 22, 2008
    * Money Race Widget Empowers Bloggers

    "Citizens can now track fundraising for over 1,500 congressional candidates with free widgets for blogs, social networking pages, and personal web sites. MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan watchdog group, released today customizable widgets – portable chunks of code that allow content to be displayed on any web page – that make political fundraising more transparent. Bloggers and reporters will be able to easily share the campaign finance data for any number of congressional races with their audiences." [Peggy Garvin]

    January 20, 2008
    * Brodeur Journalists Survey Identifies Blogs’ Influence on Traditional News Coverage

    "A survey of U.S. journalists by Brodeur, a unit of Omnicom Group suggests that blogs are not only having an impact on the speed and availability of news, but also influence the tone and editorial direction of reporting. The survey is part of an ongoing research project by Brodeur in conjunction with Marketwire to dissect and understand the impact that social media and blogs are having on traditional news delivery. The online survey was conducted among a random sample of North American reporters and editors, and was focused on understanding how social media and blogs influence their work."

    January 13, 2008
    * Science 2.0: Great New Tool, or Great Risk?

    Scientific American: Wikis, blogs and other collaborative web technologies could usher in a new era of science. Or not. By M. Mitchell Waldrop: "The explosively growing World Wide Web has rapidly transformed retailing, publishing, personal communication and much more. Innovations such as e-commerce, blogging, downloading and open-source software have forced old-line institutions to adopt whole new ways of thinking, working and doing business. Science could be next. A small but growing number of researchers--and not just the younger ones--have begun to carry out their work via the wide-open blogs, wikis and social networks of Web 2.0. And although their efforts are still too scattered to be called a movement--yet--their experiences to date suggest that this kind of Web-based "Science 2.0" is not only more collegial than the traditional variety, but considerably more productive."

    January 02, 2008
    * TechPresident Presents 2007 Campaign Web Index

    "TechPresident presents our 2007 Campaign Web Index, a year-end study of which campaigns are best at using the various elements of the web. For the survey we've tapped the very brightest minds working in tech and politics, who happen to be our own bloggers and other friends (some respondents have asked to remain anonymous). Check out their votes and opinions for who's best at online video, advertising, social networking, rapid response, and much more. Some of their responses may surprise you, and some may be entirely predictable."

    December 16, 2007
    * Political Bloggers at Newspaper Sites in Drivers Seat for 2008 Campaign Coverage

    Editor and Publisher: "Yet it remains something newspapers are embracing as the 2008 presidential campaign hits its stride and the primaries loom. Campaign blogs were once left to partisans and non-journalists; now, along with the L.A. Times, at least five other daily papers have assigned to political blogs full-time reporters who post and edit items almost daily. Dozens of other newspapers have reporters posting regularly, on a part-time basis."

    * Tenth Anniversary of Blogging, December 17, 2007

    Via Wired: Top 10 Tips for New Bloggers From Original Blogger Jorn Barger: "Jorn Barger of Robot Wisdom coined the term "weblog" Dec. 17, 1997 -- 10 years ago Monday -- to describe the daily list of links that "logged" his travels across the web. In the decade hence, Barger feels that he's gained some wisdom of his own about blogging. Here's Barger's top 10 tips for novice bloggers..."

    December 11, 2007
    * Acceptance Speech, Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

    Acceptance Speech, Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize in Literature 2007, December 7, 2007: "...We are in a fragmenting culture, where our certainties of even a few decades ago are questioned and where it is common for young men and women who have had years of education, to know nothing about the world, to have read nothing, knowing only some speciality or other, for instance, computers. What has happened to us is an amazing invention, computers and the internet and TV, a revolution. This is not the first revolution we, the human race, has dealt with. The printing revolution, which did not take place in a matter of a few decades, but took much longer, changed our minds and ways of thinking. A foolhardy lot, we accepted it all, as we always do, never asked "What is going to happen to us now, with this invention of print?" And just as we never once stopped to ask, How are we, our minds, going to change with the new internet, which has seduced a whole generation into its inanities so that even quite reasonable people will confess that once they are hooked, it is hard to cut free, and they may find a whole day has passed in blogging and blugging etc."

    November 12, 2007
    * Dark Web Terrorism Research Sponsored by University of Arizona

    The University of Arizona Artificial Intelligence Lab Dark Web project: "Based on our actual spidering experience over the past 5 years, we believe there are about 50,000 sites of extremist and terrorist content as of 2007, including: web sites, forums, blogs, social networking sites, video sites, and virtual world sites (e.g., Second Life). The largest increase in 2006-2007 is in various new Web 2.0 sites (forums, videos, blogs, virtual world, etc.) in different languages (i.e., for home-grown groups, particularly in Europe). We have found significant terrorism content in more than 15 languages...We believe our Dark Web collection is the largest open-source extremist and terrorist collection in the academic world."

    November 06, 2007
    * Participative Web and User-Created Content: Web 2.0, Wikis and Social Networking

    "The Internet is becoming increasingly embedded in everyday life. Drawing on an expanding array of intelligent web services and applications, a growing number of people are creating, distributing and exploiting user-created content (UCC) and being part of the wider participative web. This study describes the rapid growth of UCC and its increasing role in worldwide communication, and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are the new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are the associated challenges? Is there a government role, and what form could it take?"

  • Free PDF e-book from OECD: Participative Web and User-Created Content: Web 2.0, Wikis and Social Networking, Pages: 124, ISBN 978-92-64-03746-5, Published: October 2007
  • October 26, 2007
    * 2007 World Press Freedom Index

    Press release: "Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running...Outside Europe - in which the top 14 countries are located - no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists. Of the 20 countries at the bottom of the index, seven are Asian (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea), five are African (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea), four are in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestinian Territories and Iran), three are former Soviet republics (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and one is in the Americas (Cuba)."

  • Worldwide Press Feedom Index 2007
  • October 09, 2007
    * "Wiki the Vote" Project on Congresspedia Profiles Congressional Candidates in the 2008 Election

    "On Tuesday, the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation launched a new collaborative, citizen-driven project on Congresspedia to build profiles on the hundreds of challengers for congressional seats, which will compliment the existing profiles on every member of Congress. The project is non-partisan and, in true open-source fashion, is free for anyone to participate - even the candidates themselves...We've started with nearly 300 basic profiles of candidates that 2008RaceTracker has identified as definitely running. We've also created a series of state-based portals that list all the candidates from each state and all the local blogs we could find that cover Congress at least occasionally - while Congresspedia is limited to confirmed facts, we're a big believer in the blogosphere and want to direct as many citizens as possible to the blogs written by the folks that know the candidates best - the locals."

    September 25, 2007
    * State Department Launches First Blog

    "Welcome to the State Department's first-ever blog, Dipnote...With the launch of Dipnote, we are hoping to start a dialogue with the public. More than ever, world events affect our daily lives--what we see and hear, what we do, and how we work. I hope Dipnote will provide you with a window into the work of the people responsible for our foreign policy, and will give you a chance to be active participants in a community focused on some of the great issues of our world today." [Posted by Sean McCormack]

    Related news:

  • The State Department YouTube channel

  • New York Times: At State Dept., Blog Team Joins Muslim Debate
  • September 18, 2007
    * Recent CRS Report - Congress and the Internet: Highlights

    Congress and the Internet: Highlights, August 29, 2007 (24 pages, PDF), by Walter J. Oleszek. "Today, every lawmaker is an "electronic legislator" to one degree or another because the major functions of Congress - representation, lawmaking, and oversight - are all affected by technology..." [via OpentheGovernment.org]

    September 16, 2007
    * DHS Releases National Preparedness Guidelines

    Press release: "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today publication of two important tools to organize and synchronize national efforts to strengthen preparedness: (1) the National Preparedness Guidelines, which establish a vision for national preparedness and provide a systematic approach for prioritizing preparedness efforts across the Nation; and (2) the Target Capabilities List, which describes the collective national capabilities required to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies."

  • National Preparedness Guidelines, September 2007 (PDF, 51 pages)

  • See also the Department of Homeland Security Leadership Journal that "provide a forum to talk about our work protecting the American people, building an effective emergency preparedness and response capability, enforcing immigration laws, and promoting economic prosperity."
  • September 06, 2007
    * FEC Applies Media Exemption to Political Blogs

    Press release: "The Federal Election Commission announced today that it has unanimously resolved two complaints alleging that Internet blog activity is subject to Commission regulation, finding that the activity is exempt from regulation under the media or volunteer exemption. In Matter Under Review (MUR) 5928, the Commission determined that Kos Media, L.L.C., which operates the website DailyKos, did not violate the Federal Election Campaign Act. The Commission rejected allegations that the site should be regulated as a political committee because it charges a fee to place advertising on its website and it provides “a gift of free advertising and candidate media services” by posting blog entries that support candidates. The Commission determined that the website falls squarely within the media exemption and is therefore not subject to federal regulation under the Act...In MUR 5853, the Commission rejected allegations that Michael L. Grace made unreported expenditures when he leased space on a computer server to create a “blog” which advocated the defeat of Representative Mary Bono in the November 2006 election. The Commission also rejected allegations that Grace coordinated these expenditures with Bono’s opponent in the race, David Roth, and found that no in-kind contributions to Roth’s campaign resulted from Grace’s blogging activity. The Commission also found that the respondent did not fraudulently misrepresent himself in violation of 2 U.S.C. § 441h."

    * Google Adds New Features to Book Search, Advanced Search and Google Reader

  • Google Launches New Features to Collect, Share, and Discover New Books - ComputerWorld: "Users may now..."create and search their own library built on Google Book Search, so they can organize, annotate and do a full text search through the books they have chosen...share their expertise by allowing them to annotate their libraries with labels, write reviews, rate books and then share their collections with others by sending them a link to their libraries...Explore popular passages...Select, clip and post text, allowing users to grab selections of text from out-of-copyright books to share their favorite passages or quotes with others." [Google Book Search blog posting]

  • PC World - "starting today, there's a search box at the top of Google Reader."

  • Search Engine Roundtable: "The Google Advanced Search page has added new date parameters to the date option drop down. Prior, I believe they only had the option to choose by the past 3, 6 or 12 months. Now you can also search by past 24 hours, week, month or 2 months."
  • August 26, 2007
    * Current Awareness Search Engine Indexes 1,400 RSS Feeds on Library Related Topics

    "LibWorm Beta is intended to be a search engine, a professional development tool, and a current awareness tool for people who work in libraries or care about libraries. LibWorm collects updates from about 1400 RSS feeds (and growing). The contents of these feeds are then available for searching, and search results can themselves be output as an RSS feed that the user can subscribe to either in his/her favourite aggregator or in LibWorm's built-in aggregator...Each feed searched by LibWorm has been assigned a category, so when you browse by Feed Category, you're seeing all the content from the feeds that have been assigned to that category. Subjects are pre-built searches, usually of greater complexity than the user interface currently supports, for common subjects of interest to libraryfolk." This site is free.

    * Medical RSS Filter Engine Offers Over 4000 Authoritative RSS Feeds

    "MedWorm is a medical RSS feed provider as well as a search engine built on data collected from RSS feeds...MedWorm collects updates from over 4000 authoritative data sources (growing each day) via RSS feeds. From the data collected, MedWorm provides new outgoing RSS feeds on various medical categories that you can subscribe to, via the free MedWorm online service, or another RSS reader of your choice, such as Bloglines, Newsgator, Google Reader or FeedDemon." Users may construct free text key word searches, or search for an exact phrase, and may further specify inclusion of content from the following areas: news, consumer, journals, organizations, info and blogs. This service is free.

    August 13, 2007
    * New Research Promotes the Value of Banks Developing Social Media Presence

    Press release: "One of the latest reports from Javelin Strategy & Research shows why financial institutions must engage in blogging now, and provides specific steps for assessing this powerful new brand-building and customer-connection capability into 2008-10 strategic plans. According to the study of over 3,500 consumers, one in five online consumers read blogs, yet blogs are offered by less than 1% of financial institutions. Result: banks are largely losing control of discussion about themselves in the ‘blogosphere’. Old-line bankers will find that none of the long-standing customer interaction rules apply to blogging, yet the new capability offers crucial, low-cost marketing benefits available through no other method."

    August 11, 2007
    * Iraqi State Library Again in Danger

    The Guardian: "Thousands of rare books and manuscripts in Iraq's national library and archive, one of the country's most important cultural institutions, are in peril after the occupation of the building by Iraqi security forces, the library's director said yesterday."

  • Related: Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive: July 2007 via the British Library website.
  • August 03, 2007
    * New Texas Digital Library's Blog

    "I would like to announce the launch of the Texas Digital Library's (TDL) blog, The Scholar's Space, featuring a team of four contributors (including me), with more to come over the next few months. The Scholar's Space joins scholarly communications blogs sponsored by friends at other colleges and universities, and national and international organizations. We'll be providing commentary on newsworthy items related to TDL participants' local and global interests in academic processes and systems of research -- from providing access to data and information, to online collaboration and new approaches to reporting out results and public archiving of papers and data." [Georgia Harper, Scholarly Communications Advisor, University of Texas at Austin Libraries]

    July 30, 2007
    * TechnoLawyer BlawgWorld 2007

    TechnoLawyer BlawgWorld 2007: "BlawgWorld 2007 is the best way to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs). It features 77 remarkable essays from 77 of the most influential blawgs. Each blogger handpicked their best essay of the year for inclusion in the eBook. The 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a revolutionary new way to find Solutions to Problems your law firm is experiencing. Specifically, it contains 185 Problems and corresponding Solutions. Each Problem is written in the form of a question from the point of view of a law firm and organized by topic. Topics include case management, depositions, discovery, document management, legal research, time-billing, and many more — 58 topics in all." (366 pages, PDF)

    July 22, 2007
    * Bivings Report: American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity?

    Posted on July 19, 2007, By Erin Teeling in Newspaper Study, Bivings, Research (TBG): "We have recently completed the 2007 study of America’s top 100 newspaper websites, entitled American Newspapers and the Internet; Threat or Opportunity? As the newspaper industry continues to suffer declines in readership and circulation, using the Internet to expand a newspaper’s reach is becoming more and more important. While many industry experts fear that the Internet will spell the end of newspapers as we know them, our team here at TBG feels that the Internet presents newspapers with a unique opportunity to make up for lost circulation and readership. This study explores these concepts, as well as the difficulties facing newspapers regarding online advertising, shrinking staffs, and reaching out to consumers...research data is available in Excel format here."

    July 09, 2007
    * MotherJones Examines Role of Web 2.0 in Political Campaigns

    "Open-source politics is the idea that social networking and participatory technologies will revolutionize our ability to follow, support, and influence political campaigns. Forget party bosses in smoky backrooms—netroots evangelists and web consultants predict a wave of popular democracy as fundraisers meet on MySpace, YouTubers crank out attack ads, bloggers do oppo research, and cell-phone-activated flash mobs hold miniconventions in Second Life..." [Table of Contents for this issue]

  • Interviews with Bloggers, Politicos, and Netizens on Politics 2.0
  • June 27, 2007
    * The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0

    The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0, David C. Wyld, Associate Professor Southeastern Louisiana University (99 pages, PDF)

  • Description: "Dr. Wyld examines the phenomenon of blogging in the context of the larger revolutionary forces at play in the development of the second-generation Internet, where interactivity among users is key. This is also referred to as "Web 2.0." Wyld observes that blogging is growing as a tool for promoting not only online engagement of citizens and public servants, but also offline engagement. He describes blogging activities by members of Congress, governors, city mayors, and police and fire departments in which they engage directly with the public. He also describes how blogging is used within agencies to improve internal communications and speed the flow of information. Based on the experiences of the blogoneers, Wyld develops a set of lessons learned and a checklist of best practices for public managers interested in following in their footsteps. He also examines the broader social phenomenon of online social networks and how they affect not only government but also corporate interactions with citizens and customers."
  • June 24, 2007
    * Washington Post Launches Blog Series on "Most Influential and Power Man Ever to Hold Office of Vice President"

    WashingtonPost.com: "Over the past six years, Cheney has shaped his times as no vice president has before. This...four-part series...explores his methods and impact, drawing on interviews with more than 200 men and women who worked for, with or in opposition to Cheney's office. Many of those interviewed recounted events that have not been made public until now, sharing notes,e-mails, personal calendars and other records of their interaction with Cheney and his senior staff. The vice president declined to be interviewed."

  • Sunday, Part 1: Part 1 - Working in the Background: A master of bureaucracy and detail, Cheney exerts most of his influence out of public view."

  • Monday, Part 2: Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power

  • Cast of Characters - Read about the important people in and out of government who have had an impact on Vice President Dick Cheney's career.

  • Narrated Photo Gallery - Cheney's Life & Career - Starting as a junior aide on Capitol Hill, Dick Cheney built unmatched Washington resume as White House chief of staff, House minority whip and secretary of defense.

  • Narrated Photo Gallery - Cheney as Vice President: Vice President Dick Cheney usually wields his considerable power behind the scenes and is often the last person to talk to the president before important decisions are made.
  • June 22, 2007
    * Enterprise 2.0 Whitepaper

    Donald Tapscott's White Paper: Winning With The Enterprise 2.0, "addresses the advantages and challenges of implementing E2 technologies." (62 pages, PDF)

    June 20, 2007
    * Links to Live and Archived Blogs from the U.S. Government Portal

    Via USA.gov, find active and archived blogs from U.S. federal agencies. Currently linking to 10 active sites, including Library of Congress Blog, Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog, and Health Marketing Musings.

    June 10, 2007
    * Privacy Ranking Report of Internet Service Companies

    Source: "Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance by governments and corporations. PI is based in London, and has an office in Washington, D.C. Together with members in 40 countries, PI has conducted campaigns throughout the world on issues ranging from wiretapping and national security activities, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching, police information systems, and medical privacy, and works with a wide range of parliamentary and inter-governmental organisations such as the European Parliament, the House of Lords and UNESCO."

  • Background report from Privacy International - "A Consultation report: This report has been prepared by Privacy International following a six-month investigation into the privacy practices of key Internet based companies. The ranking lists the best and the worst performers both in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 across the full spectrum of search, email, e-commerce and social networking sites.
    The analysis employs a methodology comprising around twenty core parameters. We rank the major Internet players but we also discuss examples of best and worst privacy practice among smaller companies. The report was compiled using data derived from public sources (newspaper articles, blog entries, submissions to government inquiries, privacy policies etc), information provided by present and former company staff, technical analysis and interviews with company representatives. Because the 2007 rankings are a precedent, Privacy International will regard the current report as a consultation report and will establish a broad outreach for two months to ensure that any new and relevant information is taken into account before publishing a full report in September."

  • Interim results are available here in PDF format, 6 pages

  • Related: An Open Letter from Privacy International to Google, 10/06/2007
  • June 06, 2007
    * HHS Blog Coordinated With Pandemic Preparedness Forum

    PandemicFlu.gov: "On June 13, Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is convening a Leadership Forum in Washington, DC on pandemic preparedness. This interactive forum will bring together highly influential leaders from the business, faith, civic and health care sectors to participate in dynamic discussions to help Americans become more prepared for a possible influenza pandemic. In order to extend the value of this one-day conference, the Department of Health and Human Services is also hosting a blog summit on preparing for a pandemic. This five-week online event, beginning on May 22, is part of an ongoing effort by the Department to help Americans become more prepared for a pandemic. The blog summit provides an opportunity to have an open conversation and shape the thinking about how to communicate the critical need for preparedness at home and within workplaces and communities."

    June 03, 2007
    * LexisNexis Releases Survey on Information Professionals Use of Web 2.0 and KM

    Press release: "LexisNexis, a leading provider of information and services solutions, today announced the results of a nationwide survey to provide insights into how Information Professionals (IPs) are adding value to their organizations through technology and knowledge management...The survey revealed an interesting breakdown and frequency of information sources accessed...nearly four in ten access Weblogs at least weekly (39%), and more than a third access wikis (34%)...More than nine in ten surveyed access news Web sites (92%), and company Web sites (93%) at least weekly (or more often). Video or audio podcasts were rarely accessed. Less than two in ten access video podcasts (16%), or audio podcasts (15%)."

    May 29, 2007
    May 28, 2007
    * Universities Expand Into Social Networking and Social Computing Courses

    WSJ free feature, At Some Schools, Facebook Evolves From Time Waster to Academic Study: "After years of worrying about how much time freshmen spend on Facebook, schools are incorporating the study of social networking, online communities and user-contributed content into new curricula on social computing. The moves, like other academic expansions into fields like videogame design, are part of an effort to keep technology studies relevant to students' lives – and to tap subjects with entrepreneurial momentum. Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are among the tech companies that have invested in schools' social computing programs."

  • Related: Frontiers of Innovation in Community Engagement: News Organizations Forge New Relationships with Communities, A Report from the Center for Citizen Media, by Lisa Williams with Dan Gillmor, Jane MacKay, March 2007 - "This report looks at the first generation of traditional-media innovators in the arena of community engagement: bringing the community into the journalism itself, beyond blogs and comments."
  • May 25, 2007
    * New Technorati Search Includes User-Generated Video, Photos, Podcasts, Music, Games

    Technorati Blog: "We've streamlined a blogsearch-only homepage at search.technorati.com (an easy shortcut is s.technorati.com ...With this launch, we also provide you with more context around more stuff like videos, music, and blogs. Over time, these pages will become richer and more comprehensive as we add more information about the thing itself, like where it was published, who links to it, what other things are similarly tagged, and more...We currently track over 250 million videos, blogs, photos, podcasts, events, and other social media objects in addition to more than 80 million blogs..."

    May 22, 2007
    * Social Isolation and American Workers: Employee Blogging and Legal Reform

    Social Isolation and American Workers: Employee Blogging and Legal Reform, by Rafael Gely and Leonard Bierman, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT), Volume 20, Number 2, Spring 2007.

  • Abstract: "Despite the work environment's central role in providing social engagement, employees in the American workplace are more socially isolated than ever before. Americans are moving more frequently, living farther from work, spending more time alone, marrying later, divorcing more often, and enjoying fewer close relationships with friends and family members. This Article argues that off-duty employee blogging is uniquely able to address the American worker's increasing social isolation -- in effect, to create a 'virtual union hall.' Such blogging therefore deserves stronger legal protections than those currently in place, which actually impede the goal of reducing social isolation. In this Article, we detail the current legal status of off-duty bloggers under the National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board case law, state statutory law, and state common law. We then examine various options for reform in those areas. Finally, we argue that, for several reasons, state legislative action is currently the most promising avenue for affording increased legal protection to off-duty bloggers. In particular, we suggest that existing state statutes that currently protect legal, off-duty employee conduct from employer retribution should be broadened to encompass off-duty blogging, provided that the bloggers do not unduly interfere with legitimate employer interests."
  • May 14, 2007
    * Sabrina Takes A Vacation - Really

    After 5 uninterrupted years of writing this blog each day, I will be taking a brief vacation - no web, no email, no phone. Returning May 22.

    May 12, 2007
    * New Official Blog on Google Earth and Google Maps

    A new world unfolding - Posted by John Hanke, Director, Google Earth & Maps

    May 07, 2007
    * LLRX.com Launches Redesigned Site With Enhanced Features and Usability

    I created and launched LLRX.com in 1996 and have always strived to maintain a site dedicated to sharing best practices on a range of research and technology related issues relevant to legal professionals. Keeping these goals in mind, launching the newly designed LLRX.com, which premiered with the April 2007 issue, was an endeavor over one year in the making, involving alot of discussion, review, design, redesign, testing, and tweaking...some of which is still underway. To my friends who indulged repeated refrains of, "but does this look better than this," thank you. And a very special thanks to Darlene Fichter, whose genius has been an inspiration which helped me bring my site to where it is today.

    The other part of this journey is thanks to the terrific team at Justia - Tim and Stacy, Danilo, Nick, et al. - who provided the programming expertise to compliment my research, publishing and usability experience. Converting a decade of content coded by 'yours truly' was a challenge in and of itself, but we also crafted a new site design, navigation structure and search features.

    We preserved the best of the old site, such as the Court Rules Forms and Dockets database, while grounding the new site in an open source content management system, Drupal, providing enhanced layout, navigation and usability, and offering more options to access the depth of source materials that are hallmarks of the site. This is accomplished via drop down menus that appear on the top navigation bar, topical navigation choices that consistently appear on the far right hand side of each page, and by employing the new Google Custom Search so that readers may query for content on LLRX, LLRX and beSpacific [my blog on law and technology news, updated daily], or for results from the legal web. Also, a "printer friendly" option has been added to make it easier to read articles once you have printed them.

    Authors may submit an article directly to me any time, so I will take the opportunity now to invite authors, new and returning, to contribute their expertise, via presentations, guides, articles, and columns, to the LLRX global community numbering over 120,000 readers each month. Thank you for participating in this community, and I look forward to hearing from you. Best --- Sabrina.

    May 06, 2007
    * Boucher Introduces Free Flow of Information Act

    Press release: "The bill provides a privilege in federal court proceedings for reporters to refrain from revealing their confidential sources of information. The privilege is similar in nature to that currently offered by 32 states and the District of Columbia. The ability to assure confidentiality to people who provide information is essential to effective news gathering and reporting on highly sensitive and important issues. Typically, the best information about corruption in government or misdeeds in a private organization will come from someone on the inside who feels a responsibility to bring the information to light. But that person has a lot to lose if his or her identity becomes known. In many cases, the person responsible for the corruption or the misdeeds can punish the source through dismissal or more subtle forms of punitive action if the source’s identity becomes known. And so it is only by assuring anonymity to the source that a reporter can gain access to the information in order to bring it to public scrutiny."

  • Statement of Congressman Boucher

  • Copy of the Bill - Free Flow Information Act of 2007

  • Section by Section Overview

  • News.com: Bills propose reporter's shield for bloggers
  • May 04, 2007
    * Military Concerns Result in New Blogging Regulation

    Wired reports the "U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer...The new rules (PDF) obtained by Wired News require a commander be consulted before every blog update."

  • Via Center for Media and Democracy, "Steven Aftergood posted a related U.S. Army presentation on "OPSEC in the Blogosphere."

  • And following, this press release: "Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) today sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting the department reexamine a regulation that will restrict military personal from participating in internet blogs. The Senators believe that a better balance can be found between protecting the release of secure information, while allowing troops to individually express themselves using this new medium."
  • April 25, 2007
    * Research Study on Business Journalism Blogging Released by Reynolds Center

    Press release: "Three-fourths of the nation's largest newspapers now offer blogs on business-related topics, according to a study released today by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. These popular online Web journals written by reporters get breaking news to readers more quickly, according to 60 percent of the business bloggers who responded to the study. However, more than half of respondents also said this also takes away from their regular reporting time."

  • Content Analysis and Survey

  • PowerPoint

  • April 15, 2007
    * New Survey on Civic Engagement Among Young Men and Women

    New national study from Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service: Civic Engagement Among Young Men and Women. "The new fact sheet shows how young men and women perform on the 19 measures of civic engagement. Utilizing data from the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey, and several other sources, we provide new information on the civic engagement of youth, confidence in government, and following public affairs and the news, by gender. Generally we find that young men are among the most engaged in a wide range of political activities despite lower voter turnout rates, and young women are among the most engaged in civic activities such as volunteering, and also the most likely to vote."

  • Press release on the Fact Sheet: "Facebook was a popular channel for advocacy activity. On average, both college and noncollege students belonged to almost four Facebook advocacy groups. According to the Tufts study, Facebook tends to be used more for advocacy of Democratic political candidates and liberal or Democratic causes than for Republican candidates or conservative or Republican causes. While about one in four young people read blogs on political issues, many fewer said they read candidates’ blogs."
  • April 05, 2007
    * State of the Blogoshpere Report, April 2007

    David Sifry's annual State of the Blogosphere report: "Technorati is now tracking over 70 million weblogs, and we're seeing about 120,000 new weblogs being created worldwide each day. That's about 1.4 blogs created every second of every day." Archive of reports dating back to October 2004 are linked here.

    March 22, 2007
    * Usability Issues Assist Online Editors Seeking Better Connection With Readers

    Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design:

  • "Featured finding #1: Rewrite + reformat = remember

  • Featured finding #2: Precise and relevant editing = successful design

  • Featured finding #3: Photos edited for relevance = photos viewed"
  • [via Darlene Fichter]

    March 18, 2007
    * ICANN Launches Public Participation Website

    "This is the online participation website for the meeting [Lisbon meeting for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) is being held between 26-30 March 2007]. Available here will be: a rundown of each meeting complete with full details, including panellists; topics for discussions; links to resources and presentations; and links to webcasts and audiocasts where available. At the same time, blogs, chatrooms, polls and forums will help people both at the meeting and dotted around the globe to share information and interact with one another."

    March 12, 2007
    * Project for Excellence in Journalism's State of the News Media 2007

    "The fourth edition of the Project's Annual State of the News Media report released March 12. This year, the report includes a unique topographical analysis of journalism Web sites. The report also reveals changes ahead for the blogosphere, cable news, and in the ambitions of news organizations generally."

  • See also Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Today's Journalists Less Prominent - Fewer Widely Admired than 20 Years Ago, Released: March 8, 2007
  • March 10, 2007
    * Commentary on Journalism: Bloggers vs. MSM

    Who's a Journalist These Days? "Journalists with the "Big Ego disease" often point at bloggers and other people without press passes and accuse them of not being "real journalists." But bloggers who provide analysis about newsworthy events are journalists." By Mark A. Phillips

    March 04, 2007
    * Bipartisan Presidential Commission to Conduct Review of Walter Reed Conditions, and Hearings on Privatization of Hospital Services

    From the transcript of the President's Radio Address, released March 2, 2007: "As we work to improve conditions at Walter Reed, we're also taking steps to find out whether similar problems have occurred at other military and veterans hospitals. So I'm announcing that my Administration is creating a bipartisan Presidential Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the care America is providing our wounded servicemen and women. This review will examine their treatment from the time they leave the battlefield through their return to civilian life as veterans, so we can ensure that we are meeting their physical and mental health needs. In the coming days, I will announce the members of this commission, and set a firm deadline for them to report back to me with their recommendations."

    Related news and upcoming hearings:

  • Army Times: Walter Reed woes bring turmoil at the top

  • Military Times coverage of the controversy at Walter Reed

  • Former Head of Walter Reed Hospital to Testify Before National Security Subcommittee: "Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman John Tierney sent a letter to Major General George W. Weightman, former Commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, regarding the privatization of support services at Walter Reed and its impact on the conditions at Walter Reed. In addition, Chairman Waxman signed a subpoena to compel Major General Weightman's testimony at the Subcommittee’s March 5 hearing, but the subpoena was not served when new Acting Secretary of the Army Peter Geren authorized General Weightman to testify before the Committee without compulsory process."

  • Internal Walter Reed Memo Identifying Problems

  • See also Wounded Warriors...a collection of veterans coverage from the McClatchy Washington Bureau, McClatchy Newspapers, and other sources.
  • February 26, 2007
    * Free, Open Source Site Covering Congressional Bills, News, Gossip and Elected Officials

    "OpenCongress brings together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress. Small groups of political insiders and lobbyists know what's really going on in Congress. Now, everyone can be an insider. OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement. OpenCongress is a joint project of the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation."

  • "OpenCongress brings together, for the first time in one place, all the best data on what's really happening in Congress: Official Congressional information from Thomas, made available by GovTrack.us: bills, votes, committee reports, and more. News articles about bills and Members of Congress from Google News. Blog posts about bills and Members of Congress from Google Blog Search and Technorati. Campaign contribution information for every Member of Congress from the website of the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org. Congress Gossip Blog: a blog written by the site editors of OpenCongress that highlights useful news and blog reporting from around the web. The blog also solicits tips, either anonymous or attributed, from political insiders, citizen journalists, and the public in order to build public knowledge about Congress."
  • * Site Offers Free Searching and Viewing of Major Broadcast News Videos

    "The Tyndall Report monitors the weekday nightly newscasts of the three American broadcast television networks: ABC World News with Charles Gibson, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams...The Tyndall Blog monitors and comments on each night's newscasts and links to the stories that the networks aired."

  • Links to a range of reliable, free and fee-based Television and Radio News Transcripts are available in Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide, by Sabrina I. Pacifici.
  • * Commentary on Impact of Citizen Bloggers in Legal and News Spheres

    Legal Times - free article - You Read It Here First? What's new about blogs covering trials is also old. What's daring is often dicey. by James McGrath Morris, Legal Times, February 26, 2007.

    February 13, 2007
    * Blogs Front And Center in Presidential Fundraising Campaign Efforts

    WSJ free feature today: Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere: "Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular with political junkies and potential donors. With 18 candidates vying for the most open race for the White House in 80 years and front-runners on both sides announcing plans to forgo public financing, the 2008 election promises to be a huge revenue opportunity, not just for TV broadcasters."

    January 31, 2007
    * Pew Internet Survey Tracks Increased Use of Document Tagging Online

    Pew Internet & American Life Project press release: "A December 2006 survey has found that 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day online, 7% of internet users say they tag or categorize online content."

    January 23, 2007
    * Study Focuses on Understanding the Political Influence of Blogs

    Understanding the Political Influence of Blogs: A Study of the Growing Importance of the Blogosphere in the U.S. Congress, April 2006, by T. Neil Sroka.

  • Abstract: "Using a survey of congressional offices conducted between January and March 2006, I attempt to gain a picture of the readership, usage, and opinion of blogs and blogging on Capital Hill, in order to make the case for blogging’s direct effect on the modern legislative process. I conclude that, although more study is needed to know how blog readership and usage directly impact policy decisions, the high levels of blog readership and the widely held view that blogs function as the “watchdog” of the mainstream media clearly suggest that the blogosphere has a much stronger voice being heard by legislators than previously considered."
  • January 18, 2007
    January 17, 2007
    * Online Journalism Review Launches New Column on News Websites

    "Today OJR welcomes Nora Paul of the University of Minnesota and Laura Ruel of the University of North Carolina as contributing writers on the site. Each month, Nora and Laura will examine current research on news website user interfaces and storytelling techniques. Their articles will help news site producers and editors pick the best ways to package their information to increase their site's traffic and influence."

  • News site Web design: What works? What doesn't?
  • January 02, 2007
    * Maryland Courts Watcher Blog

    Maryland Courts Watcher Blog "posts the synopses of all published opinions issued by the Court of Appeals and Court of Special Appeals of Maryland and synopses of all opinions that are openly available on the Internet from other courts in Maryland."

    * Wall Street Journal Launches Redesigned Print Copy and Website

    The majority of the site remains subscription only, but today's launch, which is accompanied by an free online Reader's Guide (8 pages, PDF) detailing all the changes, includes the following free access additions: a new, highly interactive and content rich Market Data Center, a new blog, The Wealth Report ("Robert Frank looks at the lives and culture of the wealthy"), and continued access to the currently established daily Free Features.

  • See also Paul Steiger: What Is the Role of the Print Newspaper?
    "The managing editor of the Wall Street Journal insists that the print edition of the financial newspaper shows "significant vigor" even though audiences "increasingly live on the Web." He adds: "We'll do more" blogs."
  • January 01, 2007
    * Hoover's Blog

    Hoover's blog, Bizmology, was launched back in late July 2006, and has occasional but interesting business news postings.

    December 29, 2006
    * Google Blog Search Surpasses Technorati

    Hitwise reports that Google Blog Search "the market share of visits to Google Blog Search surpassed visits to Technorati for the week ending 12/23/06."

    December 19, 2006
    * Sabrina Pacifici Profiled in Law Practice Magazine, December 2006

    The December 2006 issue of ABA's Law Practice Magazine features a profile of Sabrina I. Pacifici, founder, editor, publisher of LLRX.com and author of beSpacific. After a decade of publishing the free webzine on law and technology resources, and with more than four years and 11,000 postings on beSpacific.com, I am delighted to continue my active participation in such a expert profession, both here and abroad, which values innovation, creativity, contribution and community. Thank you for all your support, and I look forward to publishing your articles in 2007.

    * Topical Blogs Offer Last Minute Shopping Ideas

    WSJ free feature: Blogs for Shoppers, From Fashion to Food, Sites, Track Deals and Offer Ideas For Stumped Gift Givers

  • See also Kathy Biehl's After Hours columns on LLRX.com, which include her 2006 Holiday Gift Guide
  • December 16, 2006
    * Time magazine's "Person of the Year" is .....All Those Who Participated in Social Networking

    "...for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you." [Link]

    December 15, 2006
    * FEC Collects $630,000 In Civil Penalties From Three 527 Organizations

    Press release: "The Federal Election Commission announced today that it has reached settlements with three 527 organizations accused of violating the federal campaign finance laws during the 2004 presidential election. The League of Conservation Voters 527 and 527II, MoveOn.org Voter Fund, and Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth have collectively paid almost $630,000 to settle charges that they failed to register and file disclosure reports as federal political committees, and accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions. The Commission approved all three conciliation agreements by a vote of 6-0."

    December 13, 2006
    * Gartner Releases 10 IT Predictions for 2007 and Beyond

    Press release: Among the predicitions, is the following - "Blogging and community contributors will peak in the first half of 2007. Given the trend in the average life span of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, there are already more than 200 million ex-bloggers. Consequently, the peak number of bloggers will be around 100 million at some point in the first half of 2007."

    November 30, 2006
    * OYEZ Project Blog Provides Quick Access to Range of Supreme Court Documents and Data

    With a wide range of content formats, from podcasts to RSS and searchable databases, the OYEZ blog is a unique and content richs online resource to locate cases, information on the justices, Listen to or download the official version of recent oral arguments, and read court related news.

    November 27, 2006
    * Report on Election Night 2006 Coverage by Selected Blogs, Newspapers and TV News

    Election Night 2006 An Evening in the Life of the American Media, November 27, 2006 - by the Project for Excellence in Journalism: "For the blogosphere, a fairly smooth election night made things something of a disappointment. For top newspaper Web sites, finding the balance between speed and offering a rich narrative still has to be reconciled. For television, slow results and a lack of prepared material tilted coverage toward chatter, especially for the cable networks. Perhaps the destinations best suited to Election Night 2006 were the Web sites of TV news operations, plus one aggregator. They offered a combination of quick access to results plus the ability of users—largely through access to exit poll data or Associated Press material—to plumb a wealth of statistical information on their own. These conclusions—plus five lessons about the media—are among the findings of a widespread review of media outlets on Election Night 2006." [Note that this report profiles only 6 blogs - not a balanced or comprehensive approach in the context of the vast resources available to the broadcast news sites as well as newspaper sites.]

    November 20, 2006
    * New on LLRX.com for November 2006 - Part 2

    The complete November 2006 issue is available at www.llrx.com

    There are 15 new articles in total, so please visit the homepage for links to and abstracts of all this month's content. Many thanks to all the authors, and have a safe and happy holiday.

  • Leveraging Blogs, RSS, News Alerts and Different Search Engines to Expand Your Research, by Sabrina I. Pacifici

  • Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets!, by Barbara Fullerton, Sabrina I. Pacifici and Aaron Schmidt

  • The Directorate of Legal Research at the Library of Congress: A Treasure Hidden Under a Bushel Basket, by Michael Ravnitzky

  • The Government Domain: A Cornucopia of Government Search Engines, by Peggy Garvin

  • Commentary: Mountaintop Removal Sites - "Strip Mining on Steroids", by Beth Wellington

  • Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros - Reviews: Dragon Speaking Naturally 9 and Adobe Acrobat 8, by Brett Burney
  • November 07, 2006
    * Expanding Impact of Legal Blogs and Lawyer Advertising Standards

    Chicago Tribune: Lawyers face right to blog - "Online journals that contain legal discussions and background information are challenging traditional practices on attorney advertising."

    October 31, 2006
    * U.S. Intel Community Using Innovative Tech to Expand Homeland Security

    U.S. News reports on a range of new programs sponsored by DHS that leverage innovative technology applications (wikis and blogs) and educational programs to expand and improve the effectiveness of homeland security goals and objectives.

  • Reuters: Gov't unveils a Wikipedia for spies - Analysts can add and edit content on government's classified Web site
  • October 26, 2006
    * Google Launches Blog Alert

    Via Official Google Blog: "...the new Blog Alert, which notifies you about new blog search results. We've also added a Comprehensive Alert, which can show results from multiple sources (including Google News, the web, and blogs) so you get fuller information whenever your favorite topics appear online."

    * Bloggers' FAQ on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

    Press release: "Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released tips for bloggers who want the inside story on government agencies. The Bloggers' FAQ on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) outlines how to use open government laws to get access to records kept by federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or the Food and Drug
    Administration (FDA)...The guide walks bloggers through making a FOIA request -- addressing what to ask for, which government offices must
    comply, and what you can and cannot obtain through FOIA. It also explains how to put requests on the fast track and get processing fees waived."

  • The Bloggers' FAQ on the Freedom of Information Act

  • See also the complete Legal Guide for Bloggers

  • National Journal Beltway Blogroll: A Guide To Enterprise Blogging
  • October 25, 2006
    * UK Mass Blog Is Historical Record of National Life

    "One Day in History is a one off opportunity for you to join in a mass blog for the national record. We want as many people as possible to record a 'blog' diary which will be stored by the British Library as a historical record of our national life. You can enter your diary of the 17 October until 31 October." The Times Online reported that as of October 22, 2006 there were more than 35,000 blog diary received, with a goal of 50,000. According to Ivo Dawnay, Communications Director, The National Trust, this project is envisioned "as a vast digital collage of a dynamic society in an age of great uncertainty and change: an invaluable resource for historians one hundred, even three hundred years hence."

    * World of Milblogging May Come to Premature End

    The Boston Herald reported on new policies that have been implemented to monitor and limit the content of military blogs published by personnel in Iraq, in the interests of operational security.

    October 24, 2006
    * EU Politicians Test Web 2.0 Applications to Reach Constituents

    Business Week: Europe's Politicians Embrace Web 2.0 - "Seeking new ways to engage with voters, European politicians have taken to blogging and podcasting to get their messages out."

    October 21, 2006
    * Study Examines Readership of Political Blogs

    Institute for Policy, Democracy and the Internet: The Audience for Political Blogs: New Research on Blog Readership, by Joseph Graf, October 20, 2006. (14 pages, PDF)

    October 18, 2006
    * Microsoft Releases Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP

    Press Release, October 18, 2006: "Microsoft Corp. today released to the public Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 for Windows XP, the latest version of the world’s most popular Web browser. Customers can upgrade and browse the Web with confidence knowing that the new browser provides a greater level of security, makes everyday tasks easier, and works well with the Web sites they visit."

  • Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Fact Sheet

  • Forrester Research - Internet Explorer: Just Do it - Oct. 12, 2006

  • WSJ free article, Microsoft Upgrades Internet Explorer -- But Not Much Is New, by Walt Mossberg

  • ComputerWorld review: Just Say Yes to Internet Explorer 7
    Power users may not like it, but IE7's vastly improved features and security make it an essential upgrade
  • October 13, 2006
    * Draft Paper, Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation

    Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation, Public DRAFT September 21, 2006, R. David Lankes, Joanne Silverstein. Produced for the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy. Information Institute of Syracuse. Syracuse University’s school of Information Studies.

  • There are three ways to provide comments on the public draft: Read and E-Mail; Read and Join the Online Forum; The full text of the proposal has been placed on a Wiki. Register and you can get in and edit any part of the draft.
  • October 11, 2006
    * FTC Launches Blog in Advance of Upcoming Tech-Ade Hearings

    Press release: "The Federal Trade Commission is hosting a blog to provide information and a forum for feedback about its public hearings on "Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade," to be held November 6-8, 2006, in Washington, DC. The public hearings will examine how evolving technology will shape and change the habits, opportunities and challenges of consumers and businesses in the coming decade, and will feature experts from the business, government and technology sectors, consumer advocates, academicians, and law enforcement officials."

  • Tech-Ade Website

  • Tech-Ade Blog
  • October 09, 2006
    * CEO Seeks SEC Approval to Satisfy Fair Disclosure Requirement Using Websites and Blogs

    Excerpt of letter sent by Sun Microystems, Inc. CEO Jonathan Schwartz to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, on October 2, 2006:

  • "As adopted, Regulation Fair Disclosure's requirement of widespread dissemination can be met through the filing of a Form 8-K or "through another method (or combination of methods) of disclosure that is reasonably designed to provide broad, non-exclusionary distribution of the information to the public." (17 C.F.R Sec. 243.101(e)(2)) To date, the SEC has not taken the position that the Regulation's "widespread dissemination" requirement can be satisfied through disclosure through the web-postings alone. While that may have been a pragmatic approach in 2000, we believe that the proliferation of the Internet supports a new policy that online communications fully satisfy Regulation FD's broad distribution requirement."
  • [The full text of this letter was posted on Jonathan Schwartz's blog, along with a preface in support of disseminating financial disclosure data via a company's website or blog.]

    October 02, 2006
    * Wiki Tracks Fortune 500 Companies With Blogs

    "This is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products." [Simone Yu]

    September 14, 2006
    * CDT's Internet Watch List

    "Nine Legislative Efforts that Must Be Stopped in 2006 - As Congress mounts its final push before the midterm elections, a number of bills that threaten the bedrock of Internet privacy and civil liberties could either come up for votes or worm their way into larger legislative packages that end up being rushed into law. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) compiled the Internet Watch List so that lawmakers, journalists and Internet activists can keep close tabs on the dangerous legislative efforts that cannot be allowed to succeed in the so-called "silly season" at the end of the 109th Congress."

    September 11, 2006
    * Online Legal Scholarship: The Medium and the Message

    Jack M. Balkin, Online Legal Scholarship: The Medium and the Message, 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 20 (2006). "...blogging by legal experts has intervened in the debate in a new way, helping to inform not only the public but also the mainstream media and key players about complicated issues."

  • See also Blogs are liberating the profession from dull writing -
    They're emerging as a powerful tool for lawyers and law professors
    , by Douglas A. Berman.
  • August 30, 2006
    * Presentation on 3 Must-Use Online Tools for Journalists

    3 Must-Use Online Tools for Journalists, Amy Gahran's handout [HTML and PDF] from the annual conference of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). [via Center for Media and Democracy]

  • Also from the SPJ conference, Tech Trends: A User's Guide to Software, Hardware, and Other Tools Revolutionizing Journalism, by Jeff South
  • August 25, 2006
    * Law Librarians Writes About Her Trial Advocacy Blog

    Mary Whisner, A Blog's Life, 98 Law Libr. J. 559 (2006).

    * Google Webmaster Central

    Google Webmaster Central: "Welcome to your one-stop shop for comprehensive info about how Google crawls and indexes websites. You can learn here how to ensure that your site is easily crawled and indexed and access tools that will enable you to diagnose crawling issues, study statistics on how your site is doing in our index, and tell us how you'd like your site to be crawled and indexed."

    See also:

  • Webmaster Central blog
  • August 24, 2006
    August 15, 2006
    * DHS Grant to Rutgers Project to Identify Possible Terrorist Activity

    "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has received a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead a consortium researching advanced information analysis and computational technologies to protect the nation. The university's Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) will head a consortium that will focus on finding patterns and relationships in data, such as news stories, open-source Web logs, and other accessible information, to quickly identify emerging indicators of possible terrorist activity, and rate the consistency and reliability of the sources. Such information could give officials more lead time to investigate and potentially thwart terrorist plans. DIMACS director Fred Roberts stated, "We will develop real-time streaming algorithms to find patterns and relationships in communications, such as among writers who may be hiding their identities, and to rate information sources for their reliability and trustworthiness." Rutgers will undertake nine research projects in its first year and will also create educational programs around the technology it develops." [fact sheet on the project]

    August 13, 2006
    * President of Iran Launches Blog Concurrent With Blocking Websites and Blogs

    As reported by Reuter's [via this ABCnews.com link], Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a blog on this website, which English speaking users may read by clicking the second icon located under the photo of the president, located on the far right hand side of the home page.

  • See also this related AP article, Iranian censors clamp down on bloggers.
  • August 11, 2006
    * Human Rights Watch Report on Chinese Internet Censorship

    Press release: "In the 149-page report, "Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship, Human Rights Watch documents how extensive corporate and private sector cooperation – including by some of the world's major Internet companies – enables...China's system of Internet censorship and surveillance."

  • Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship Report, August 10, 2006
  • August 08, 2006
    * State of the Blogosphere, August 2006

    State of the Blogosphere, August 2006, by David Sifry. "50 Million Blogs and Counting."

  • Kevin Burton's Feed Blog - Technorati's Numbers are Wrong
  • August 07, 2006
    * Resource on Marketing Your Practice with a Blog

    Blawg: Marketing Your Practice with a Weblog, by Jim Calloway and Tom Mighell.

    August 03, 2006
    * Opposition to Mandatory Government Warning Labels on Web Content

    "CDT today urged lawmakers to reject legislation that would force Internet speakers to place government-sanctioned warning labels on a broad range of online content. "Mandatory labeling of legal online content under threat of criminal sanction is ineffective, unwise, and unconstitutional," CDT wrote in a pair of letters sent to the leaders of the Senate Commerce and Appropriations Committees. The language has been attached to a major telecommunications bill and more recently to an appropriations package. As written, the provision would apply to a broad range of Internet content, and could force online publishers to tag legal, and often socially valuable, material with a "digital scarlet letter." CDT supports voluntary labeling efforts and has long endorsed the use of voluntary parental control tools such as filters."

  • CDT Letter - Commerce [PDF] August 03, 2006

  • CDT Lettter - Appropriations [PDF] August 03, 2006

  • Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, referred to the Senate, 7/27/2006.

  • Related legislation: S. 3499 - A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to protect youth from exploitation by adults using the Internet, and for other purposes; and S. 3432 - A bill to protect children from exploitation by adults over the Internet, and for other purposes.
  • August 02, 2006
    * Yahoo Launches Corporate Blog

    Joining more than a dozen product blogs, Yahoo launched a corporate blog on August 1: "We want to share insights into our company, our people, our culture, and the things that occupy our cluttered minds. We’ll cover emerging trends, provide some behind-the-scenes commentary, profile interesting Yahoos, spotlight our beloved users..."

    July 28, 2006
    * French Cited As Fervent Bloggers

    France's mysterious embrace of blogs, by Thomas Crampton International Herald Tribune: "Already famed for angry labor strikes and philosophical debates in smoke-filled cafés, the French have now brought these passions online to become some of the world's most intensive bloggers."

    July 24, 2006
    * New Blog Focuses on Tech Policy, Civil Liberties

    "CDT launched PolicyBeta, a new blog dedicated to expanding the dialogue about technology policy, civil liberties and preserving democratic values in the digital age. PolicyBeta will feature regular posts on issues ranging from domestic surveillance to spyware, and will provide CDT experts an opportunity to discuss in detail the latest trends and developments affecting the technology policy debate. CDT is encouraging journalists, technologists, academics and interested individuals to visit the blog regularly and participate in the discussion."

    * Collaborative Reference Work in the Blogosphere

    Collaborative Reference Work in the Blogosphere, by Jeffrey Pomerantz (16 pages, PDF): "This paper explores the use of blogs as a platform for providing reference service, and discusses Lycemum, and open source software project from ibiblio.org, for this purpose."

    July 23, 2006
    * Posting By CIA Contractor on Enterprise Blog Results in Termination

    Washington Post: Top-Secret World Loses Blogger - CIA Contractor Is Fired When Internal Post Crosses the Line

    July 19, 2006
    * Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity Blog

    "Rudd Sound Bites, the weblog of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, aims to encourage global discussion of front burner news and the most critical issues regarding food policy and obesity. Rudd Sound Bites has eleven regular contributors who are faculty members and affiliates of the Rudd Center...The Rudd Center's mission is to change the world's diet through policy, science, and dialogue."

    * Pew Internet Project Releases New Report on Bloggers

    Press release: "A national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family."

  • Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers, July 19, 2006 (33 pages, PDF)
  • * More Corporations Plan to Implement Blogs According to New Report

    Press release: "JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, reveals that 35 percent of large companies plan to institute corporate Weblogs this year. Combined with the existing deployed base of 34 percent, nearly 70 percent of all site operators will have implemented corporate blogs by the end of 2006. According to a new report, Corporate Weblogs: Deployment, Promotion, and Measurement, currently 64 percent of executives spend less than $500,000 to deploy and manage corporate Weblogs."

    July 17, 2006
    * 2006 Workplace E-Mail, Instant Messaging & Blog Survey

    Press release: "E-mail mismanagement continues to take a hefty toll on U.S. employers, with costly lawsuits--and employee terminations--topping the list of electronic risks. As recent court cases demonstrate, e-mail can sink businesses--legally and financially. Last year, the inability to produce subpoenaed e-mail resulted in million dollar--even billion dollar--lawsuits against U.S. companies. In fact, 24% of organizations have had employee e-mail subpoenaed, and 15% of companies have gone to court to battle lawsuits triggered by employee e-mail. That's according to the 2006 Workplace E-Mail, Instant Messaging & Blog Survey from American Management Association (AMA) and The ePolicy Institute."

    July 06, 2006
    * Commentary on Style and Substance in Website Writing and Design

    Putting the White Back in Strunk and White, by Christina Wodtke. "Style and appropriateness may seem like an odd duo, but they are not. Style is the natural result of the over-abundance of energy and unique perspective a designer—creative person—is gifted and cursed with. Appropriateness is what helps them guide it in its application."

    July 04, 2006
    * Knight Science Journalism Tracker

    "The Knight Science Journalism Tracker is a new Web-based service for journalists who cover science, environment and health... It's a service of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships. Our goal is to provide a broad sampling of the past day's stories in these areas and, where possible, of press releases or other news tips related to generation of news in the general circulation news media. Our goal is to have a new batch of posts up each day by 1 pm Eastern time."
    [Note: the archives date back to April 27, 2006]

    * Air Force Funds Blog Study

    "The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has begun funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism. Drs. Brian Ulicny, senior scientist, and Mieczyslaw Kokar, president, Versatile Information Systems Inc., Framingham, Mass., will receive approximately $450,000 in funding for the three-year project titled, Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information." [Link]

    June 17, 2006
    * Microsoft Security Response Center Blog

    Microsoft Security Response Center Blog

    June 11, 2006
    * Law Professors and Blogging

  • The Law Professor as Public Intellectual, by Cynthia Cotts, The American Lawyer, June 1, 2006

  • Blawgs on a Roll - Legal reporting is sometimes decried as boring and inaccurate. But a band of savvy law professors have changed all that, by Dahlia Lithwick, The American Lawyer, June 1, 2006

  • Related article, New York Times, October 7, 2005 - Opening Arguments, Endlessly discusses and highlights blogs about and by lawyers.
  • June 06, 2006
    * Copy Editor Shines As Copy Blogger

    American Journalism Review: Style Wars in Cyberspace - Copy editors take to the blogosphere. "The undisputed king of copy bloggers is Bill Walsh of the Washington Post, whose cantankerous posts on language, usage and style (theslot.blogspot.com) have won him a devoted following."

    June 05, 2006
    * Commentary Highlights Digital Strategies of Web 2.0 and Educational Impact

    Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 32–44.

    June 01, 2006
    * Ask.com Blog and Feed Search

    "Ask.com today introduced Blog and Feed Search, a new service designed specifically for searching posts, feeds and news published to the "blogosphere."

    May 25, 2006
    * LC Web Capture Project

    "The Library of Congress preserves the nation's cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The Library's traditional functions of acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and the American people to foster education and scholarship extend to digital materials, including Web sites...In 2004, the Library’s Office of Strategic Initiatives created a Web Capture team to support the goal of managing and sustaining at-risk digital content. The team is charged with building a Library-wide understanding and technical infrastructure for capturing Web content. The team, in collaboration with a variety of Library staff, and national and international partners, is identifying policy issues, establishing best practices and building tools to collect and preserve Web content."

    May 24, 2006
    May 18, 2006
    * Global Poll Ranks Media More Trustworthy Than Governments

    BBC Poll, Trust in Media press release: "More people trust the media than their governments, especially in developing countries, according to a ten-country opinion poll for the BBC, Reuters, and The Media Center." [thanks to D.C.]

  • "National TV was the most trusted news source overall (trusted by 82%, with 16% not trusting it) - followed by national/regional newspapers (75% vs 19%), local newspapers (69% vs 23%), public radio (67% vs 18%), and international satellite TV (56% vs 19%). Internet blogs were the least trusted source (25% vs 23%) – with one in two unable to say whether they trusted them."

  • BBC/Reuters/Media Center Poll, Trust in Media (22 pages, PDF), May 3, 2006
  • May 14, 2006
    * Eight Reasons Solo Lawyers Should Use Law Libraries

    Eight Reasons Solo Lawyers Should Use Law Libraries, by Mary Whisner.

    May 04, 2006
    * Blog Postings on Newspapers Sites on the Increase

    AP: More Web Sites Feature Outside Blogs: "The Web sites of dozens of newspapers are starting to feature outside blog postings on travel, health and other topics in a further blurring of the line separating traditional and new media."

    May 03, 2006
    * Podcasting Legal Guide

    Podcasting Legal Guide - Rules for the Revolution (38 pages, PDF), by Colette Vogel and Mia Garlick. Published under a Creative Commons license, with an accompanying wiki.

  • "The purpose of this Guide is to provide you with a general roadmap of some of the legal issues specific to podcasting...and covers only US-based legal questions."
  • May 02, 2006
    * Collaborative Blog Focuses on Health IT Issues

    HealthNex blog, sponsored by IBM, is a joint effort by industry and consumer groups, focused on sharing resources pertaining to e-health records and other IT related issues (such as RFID technology and patient privacy).

    April 21, 2006
    * KM at CIA Now Includes Extensive Use of Blogs and Wikis

    FCW reports that the CIA network is hosting more than "1,000 internal blogs and an internal wiki with about 10,000 pages..."

    April 19, 2006
    * Scope of Gov't Intel Gathering Expands to Blogs

    Washington Times: "The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin."

  • Related reference: Intelligence Reform: Making It Happen, National Press Club, DNI John D. Negroponte, April 20, 2006
  • April 16, 2006
    April 11, 2006
    * Windows Launches Live Academic Beta

    "Windows Live Academic is now in beta. We currently index content related to computer science, physics, electrical engineering, and related subject areas. Academic search enables you to search for peer reviewed journal articles contained in journal publisher portals and on the web in locations like citeseer. Academic search works with libraries and institutions to search and provide access to subscription content for their members. Access restricted resources include subscription services or premium peer-reviewed journals. You may be able to access restricted content through your library or institution."

  • Windows Live Academic Information: Librarians

  • Windows Live Academic Information: Publishers

  • Windows Live Academic Search Blog

  • IDG News Service: Microsoft readies search services to rival Google
  • April 10, 2006
    * Blogs Join Mainstream Media Through Syndication Service

    As reported by AP today, newspapers including the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Austin American-Statesman will carry topical blog content from over 600 sites, provided through a syndication agreement with BlogBurst.

    April 09, 2006
    * New York Times Expands Into Blogging

    The Public Editor - The Times's New Blogs: More Information, Fewer Filters, by Byron Calame.

    * BBC Blog Network

    "Welcome to the new home for all of the BBC's weblogs. Although we have had blogs for a number of years, most notably our Scottish community site; Island Blogging and the excellent Ouch, this is the first attempt at bringing you a complete list, some news of new launches by journalists, DJs, and radio shows, as well as links and tips to help you find your way around."

    April 01, 2006
    * A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

    A Taxonomy of Legal Blogs

    March 28, 2006
    * How Blogs Shape the Media, Politics

    Journalist David Kline discussed the growing influence of blogs on politics and the news media during a March 20-24 rolling webchat.

  • New website from State Dept. on emerging media forthcoming at this URL
  • March 27, 2006
    * New FEC Rules on Political Speech

  • AP: FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics

  • New FEC Rules (96 pages, PDF)
  • Supplement to FEC Rules (13 pages, PDF)
  • Two-Page Summary of FEC Rules (PDF)

  • March 24, 2006 posting, FEC Issues Draft Final Rules on Use of Internet In Connection with Federal Elections
  • March 26, 2006
    * Aggregation of Blogs From Around The World

    Global Voices: A country-by-country aggregation of world blogs: Translations of and links to selected postings from blogs around the world.

  • See also A Daily Survey of What the International Online Media Are Saying, by Jefferson Morley.
  • March 24, 2006
    * FEC Issues Draft Final Rules on Use of Internet In Connection with Federal Elections

    Following up on several related postings on bloggers and campaign speech, today the FEC issued a 96 page document (PDF) promulgating its final rules that impact the publication of campaign related information. Declan McCullagh has more details and commentary.

  • March 22, 2006 - The Commission Has Published Interim Final Rules on Definitions of Federal Election Activity in Today's Federal Register

  • March 23, 2006
    * Library Journal's 2006 Movers & Shakers

    The March 15, 2006 issue of Library Journal included a special supplement, Movers & Shakers 2006 - The People Shaping the Future of Libraries. I am honored and delighted to be included in this diverse group of professionals, all of whose work I respect and admire. I was recognized in the Innovators category, for my two sites, LLRX.com and beSpacific. Thank you to all my readers and contributors for your unflagging support, and for sharing your ideas, experiences and expertise, over these past ten years. May the next 10 be just as fulfilling and productive. With my regards - sp.

    March 22, 2006
    * CIA Warns Bloggers About Obtaining Agency Approval

    USNews.com: "The CIA's Publications Review Board is sending out terse reminders to agency veterans reminding them of the rules requiring that any writings--even blogs--must first get agency approval."

    March 16, 2006
    * Key Features Enhance Website Design and Usability

    Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them, by Donna Maurer.

    * CALL Conference Blog Launched

    Steve Matthews, Michael Lines and Connie Crosby have launched a first ever blog for the CALL conference. [thanks Connie]

    March 14, 2006
    * Advocacy Groups Support Protections for Blogger's Speech on the Net

    Op-Ed in Roll Call by CDT Officials Supports Protecting Bloggers without Opening Soft Money Loopholes in the Campaign Finance Laws: "H.R. 4900 protects bloggers and small speakers far better than does H.R 1606, and by design, it does not create other loopholes in the campaign finance laws. Those who truly want to protect bloggers and ordinary citizens should support H.R. 4900. Those whose real goal is to undermine campaign finance laws should support H.R. 1606, which provides only limited protection to online speakers."

  • Related reference, House Cmte. Approves Exemption For Bloggers From FEC Regulations
  • March 13, 2006
    * State of the News Media 2006

    Project for Excellence in Journalism: "The State of the News Media 2006 is the third in our annual effort to provide a comprehensive look each year at the state of American journalism. Our goal is to put in one place as much original and aggregated data as possible about each of the major journalism sectors (Newspaper, Online, Blogs, Network TV, Cable TV, Local TV, Magazines, Radio, Ethnic)."

  • A Day in the Life of the Media - Blogs: "In one sense, blogging is all about transparency — embedded link upon embedded link. But if one is looking for sourcing in a journalistic sense — an original source — there is a lot missing. Bloggers link to others but tell readers very little about who those fellow bloggers are, their backgrounds or what if any expertise, relationship or bias they may have on the subject at hand. And if the original blogger who raised an issue is passing something along second hand, by the time it may get to the fourth reference it requires some diligence to realize the absence of a direct source in the first place."
  • March 09, 2006
    * House Cmte. Approves Exemption For Bloggers From FEC Regulations

    H.R. 1606, To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to exclude communications over the Internet from the definition of public communication, was passed by the House Administration Committee today, by voice vote.

  • Press release: "The Committee on House Administration (CHA) by unanimous voice vote Thursday approved legislation that would free bloggers and other Internet communicators from possible regulation by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). Chairman Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., said the Online Freedom of Speech Act (H.R. 1606) was necessary to "allow bloggers and other online activists to express their views on the Internet without fear of running afoul of our campaign finance laws."
  • Chairman Ehlers opening statement


  • Related resources:
  • Small Donors to 2004 Campaigns Marked Watershed Says Report

  • Advocacy Group Proposes Legislation to Protection Online Political Speech
  • March 02, 2006
    * Which Newspapers Blog Best?

    According to surveys conducted by NYU Prof. Jay Rosen and members of his blogging 101 class, the list of Best Blogging Newspapers in the U.S. is topped by the Houston Chronicle.

    * Advocacy Group Proposes Legislation to Protection Online Political Speech

    "CDT today offered a legislative proposal that would exempt the vast majority of individual speakers on the Internet from campaign finance laws, without creating loopholes that could be easily exploited by state political parties and large donors. CDT drafted the proposal in response to mounting efforts in the House of Representatives to pass a measure (HR 1606) that doesn't go far enough to protect the rights of political speakers on the Internet. That bill was offered in response to a proposal by the Federal Elections Commission to apply campaign finance laws to Internet communications."

  • Analysis of CDT's Campaign Finance Proposal to Protect Online Political Speech

  • FEC Proposed Rule on Internet Communications
  • February 18, 2006
    * The Mashup of MSM and Blogs

    New York Times: That Which We Call a Blog...

  • Referenced in the article is the recent Technorati posting on how many blogs the site is now tracking.
  • February 15, 2006
    * Blogging, Business Models and E-Commerce

    Blogs to Riches - The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom, by Clive Thomson, New York Magazine.

    Related references, all from the 2/20/2006 issue of New York Magazine:

  • Linkology - How the Most-Linked-To Blogs Relate (see also this related graph, which is in PDF)

  • A Timeline of the History of Blogging

  • Five Blogs to Check Out

  • February 11, 2006
    * Blogger Reports on Rare Weekend Email About Upcoming Briefing on Spy Program

    The Brad Blog posted the text of an e-mail message to House Judiciary Committee members and staff alerting them to an "Unclassified briefing by DOJ on NSA surveillance program" to "be held at 3 pm on Monday, Feb 13th." Escalating bipartisan congressional demands to be provided with more extensive documentation on the domestic surveillance program has apparently resulted in heightened awareness that that this issue is not fading from interest.

    February 08, 2006
    February 07, 2006
    * Site is Tracking More Than 27 Million Blogs

    Follow-up to posting yesterday, Gallup Internet Poll Reports E-mail Remains Dominant With Blogs Making Decent Showing, related news and statistics on the State of the Blogosphere, February 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth.

    February 06, 2006
    * Gallup Internet Poll Reports E-mail Remains Dominant With Blogs Making Decent Showing

    Press release: Mail and News Are Main Internet Attractions Some e-commerce picking up; blogs still marginal, by Lydia Saad: "A recent Gallup Poll examining Americans' online habits finds e-mail use almost universal among the three-quarters of U.S. adults who use the Internet. Checking the news and weather ranks second on the list of 13 Internet activities measured, although not as many Americans surf for news frequently as e-mail frequently."

    January 31, 2006
    * Microsoft Outlines Policy on Censorship of Blogs By Foreign Governments

    Press release: Microsoft Outlines Policy Framework for Dealing with Government Restrictions on Blog Content

    January 26, 2006
    * Blogging Slowly Makes Headway on the Hill

    Congress catching on to the value of blogs

    January 22, 2006
    * 90% of Net Users Send and Receive Email

    Pew Internet & American Life Project press release, January 22, 2006: "Internet access is the norm for most Americans, up to age 70, and all age cohorts of internet users (ages 12 and older) are equally likely to use email; about 90% of all internet users send or receive email. Given the many other variations in internet use among different age groups, it is notable that this basic communications tool is almost universally used. Internet users ages 12 to 28 years old have embraced the online applications that enable communicative, creative, and social uses. Teens and Generation Y (age 18-28) are significantly more likely than older users to send and receive instant messages, play online games, create blogs, download music, and search for school information."

  • Data Memo, Generations Online (6 pages, PDF)
  • January 21, 2006
    * MSN Blog Post Explains Search Data Provided to DOJ

    Following up on the news this week, Google Fights DOJ Order to Produce Records of Database Searches, this related posting Privacy and MSN Search states the the facts as follows:

  • "Over the summer we were subpoenaed by the DOJ regarding a lawsuit. The subpoena requested that we produce data from our search service. We worked hard to scope the request to something that would be consistent with this principle. The applicable parties to the case received this data, and the parties agreed that the information specific to this case would remain confidential. Specifically, we produced a random sample of pages from our index and some aggregated query logs that listed queries and how often they occurred. Absolutely no personal data was involved."

  • Legislative reference: Child Online Protection Act
  • January 18, 2006
    * Three New Columns Offer Range of Valuable Resources to LLRX.com Readers

    I am delighted to announce the addition of three new columns on LLRX.com, authored by leading professionals from different spheres of our community.

  • Law librarian and blogger Connie Crosby writes about The Tao of Law Librarianship, the second installment of which is titled Do-It-Yourself Professional Development.

  • Faulkner's Practical Web Strategies for Attorneys, by Frederick L. Faulkner IV, is a monthly review of technologies, strategies, and techniques that can help you and your firm take advantage of the Web. Fred is the Web Manager for the American Bar Association.

  • E-Discovery Update - by Fios Inc., is a particularly timely resource that will be the collective work of a rotating group of electronic data compliance experts. This column will be of special interest to attorneys, IT and litigation support professionals.
  • January 13, 2006
    * Wiki Provides Global Guidance to Keep Free Speech Alive

    Spirit of America sponsors The Anoniblogging Wiki: "This wiki contains our five initial guides on how to blog more safely [targeted to citizens in Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Malaysia and Zimbabwe]. Across the globe, countries that discourage free speech have followed their citizens into the blogosphere. According to one count, in the last two years at least 30 bloggers (and there are no doubt more) have been interrogated, arrested, tortured and sentenced to long prison terms for the "crime" of speaking critically about their governments. Regardless of your culture, your country, your politics or religion, we believe you deserve to speak your mind without falling afoul of state power. Unfortunately, what you deserve and what you get are not always the same thing. So, for those of you who wish to speak out on your blogs, but who do not wish to risk imprisonment or worse for doing so, we have prepared guides that will help you to blog more safely by blogging more anonymously."

    January 10, 2006
    * Guide to Malware Reviews and Evaluates Threats and Industry Responses

    Malware - Future Trends, by Dancho Danchev,10/01/06 (26 pages, PDF).

  • "Malware has truly evolved during the last couple of years. Its potential for financial and network based abuse was quickly realized, and thus, tactics changed, consolidation between different parties occurred, and the malware scene became overly monetized, with its services available on demand. What are the driving forces behind the rise of malware? Who’s behind it, and what tactics do they use? How are vendors responding, and what should organizations, researchers, and end users keep in mind for the upcoming future?..."

  • January 08, 2006
    * Wiki Tracks Fortune 500 Adoption Of Public Blogs

    Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki: "This is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products." Currently there are 19 listings that include links to the respective blogs.

    January 03, 2006
    * WSJ.com Launches New Law Page and Law Blog

    The Law Page is a new, centralized webpage from which readers may link to a range of information and commentary on law and business related issues that the Journal is aggregating from current content as well as additional sources. This includes news links from Mealey's.com, and a new column, The FLaw, on law firm management (note: most of this content is available by subscription only, but there are also links to WSJ free features). The cornerstone of the content is the new Law Blog.

  • Posting by WSJ Law Blog author Peter Lattman: "Our mission: to scour the universe for compelling stories in two related areas: business and law, and the business of law. Law and business is a broad intersection, encompassing such current news as the Enron trial, the Merck litigation and the RIM patent dispute. The business of law is focused on law firms and in-house law departments. We'll write about industry news and legal trends, with a sprinkle of good old-fashioned gossip." The blogs' RSS feed includes headlines and truncated entries.
  • December 29, 2005
    * US Military Personnel Using Blogs To Communicate About Iraq Conflict

    Sydney Morning Herald: US military finds soldiers' blogs too close for comfort: "In a development that is worrying US military commanders in Iraq, a growing number of US soldiers - 200 at the last count - have set up their own blogs, or internet diaries, and are updating them from the battlefield."

    December 26, 2005
    * Blawg Review Awards 2005

    Thanks to Kevin Heller, Mike Cernovich, and Evan Schaeffer, whose Blawg Review Awards 2005 recognized beSpacific as best Legal Support Blog. Take a look at the terrific blogs that were recognized in 43 categories. Thanks also for recognizing beSpacific in Dennis Kennedy's 2005 Best of Legal Blogging Awards, in the Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs. Kudos to the terrific bloggers mentioned: The Law Librarian Blog, Out of the Jungle, Law Dawg Blawg, WisBlawg, Vancouver Law Library Blog, Stark County Library Blog, Library Boy, LawLibTech, Connie Crosby, BarclayBlog, and Slaw.ca

    * Washington Post Extends Free Access to Content

    As reported by ClickZ News, the Washington Post.com will now provide access to articles for a 60 day period following publication, according to James M. Brady, Executive Editor. Prior to this, articles were archived after 14 days. Extending access to readers, via blogs and RSS, is credited as a key reason for the change.

    December 11, 2005
    * Commentaries Contrast Use of Blogs By Politicians and Scientists

  • New York Times: Conservative Blogs are More Effective

  • Nature - Science in the web age: Joint efforts: "At its best, academia is a marketplace of ideas. But many scientists are reluctant to embrace the latest web tools that would allow them to communicate their ideas in new ways, says Declan Butler."

  • December 06, 2005
    November 30, 2005
    * Microsoft Offers Free PC Security Beta Application

    Windows OneCare Team Blog: "WOC is devoted to helping users' get their machines in a secure and healthy state."

  • Windows OneCare™ Live beta
  • November 29, 2005
    * Several Dozen Corporations Embrace Blogging To Expand Customer Relationships

    The Blogosphere Beckons: Should Your Company Jump In? Harvard Management Communication Letter, Vol. 2, No. 4, November 2005.

    November 25, 2005
    * Internet Played Key Role in Katrina Relief Effort and As News Source

    Press release: "In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes, 13 million Americans made donations to relief efforts online and 7 million set up their own hurricane relief efforts using the internet. In addition to using the internet to respond directly to the crisis, 50% of online users sought out news and information online, with most (73%) of their newsgathering happening at Web sites of the mainstream media. Sources such as blogs and international news sites served as important news supplements, with one quarter of those who got Katrina news online turning to one of these sources."

  • Relief donations after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the use of the internet to get disaster news (6 pages, PDF)

  • WSJ free feature: An overwhelming majority of Americans say they have contributed to charities in the last year, a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive personal-finance poll shows, with nearly half of them contributing to disaster relief.
  • November 21, 2005
    * FEC Will Not Regulate Bloggers, For Now

    Draft Advisory Opinion 2005-16, Fired Up! LLC, by counsel, Marc E. Elias and Brian G. Svoboda, Agenda Document No. 05-55. Circulated November 14, 2005 for Open Meeting on November 17, 2005, at which time it was unanimously adopted.

  • "Fired Up qualifies as a press entity. Its websites are both available to the general public and are the online equivalent of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication as described in the Act and Commission regulations....because Fired Up is a press entity, and neither it nor its websites are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate, the costs Fired Up incurs in carrying or covering a news story, commentary or editorial on its website are exempt from the definitions of "contribution" and expenditure."


  • Related documents:
  • Request for Advisory Opinion by Fired Up, August 22, 2005

  • Comment from Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center and the Center for Responsive Politics, November 16, 2005

  • Comment from Adam Bonin on behalf of Duncan Black, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and Matt Stoller, November 16, 2005

  • November 14, 2005
    * Review of Three Popular Blogging Applications

    Blog Software Smackdown: The Big 3 Reviewed, by Vinnie Garcia.

    November 10, 2005
    * Survey Says Majority of CEOs Find Blogs Useful for KM and Marketing

    Burson-Marsteller press release: "The results of the fifth annual 2005 PRWeek/Burson-Marsteller CEO Survey reveal that while blogs are increasingly making headlines, only seven percent of CEOs are actually blogging and many are skeptical about starting a blog themselves. Despite the low numbers, 59 percent of CEOs said blogs are useful for internal communications, and 47 percent said blogs are effective for external audiences."

    November 09, 2005
    * IBM Launches Competitive Intelligence Tool to Monitor Digital Opinions

    IBM press release: "IBM today introduced a new software solution that enables businesses to make sense of the explosion of information from emerging social networks on the Web to deliver new insight into brand reputation and customer, competitor and public opinion about their company. The proliferation of blogs, news feeds, consumer review sites, newsgroups and articles published daily on the Web has created a phenomenon where public opinion about an organization spreads worldwide, faster than ever before. These sources are filled with insight from consumers, experts and competitors that can be analyzed and used by businesses to make better decisions on products, services and business strategies. This creates a tremendous opportunity for organizations to carefully monitor their image and more quickly address business opportunities, threats, quality concerns or changing public perception."

    * Blogs and Law Firms Find Compatability

    'Blawg' use in law firms is on the rise

    November 04, 2005
    * Visibility of Political Bloggers Continues to Increase

    Rolling Stone: The New Web Slingers - Politcal bloggers scoop the mainstream media on Plamegate.

  • "Bloggers now routinely break the major stories of the day. And their reports are getting sucked into the twenty-four-hour news cycle...Bloggers go where the mainstream media fears to tread."

  • November 02, 2005
    * Google Adds Two New Product Blogs

    The newest additions to the Google product blogs, now numbering ten, are:

  • Inside Google Desktop Blog: "We'll be using this blog as an easy way to make announcements and share all kinds of information - including developer tips, in-depth feature descriptions, user feedback, and ideas on how to get more out of Google Desktop."

  • Google Video Blog: "Google Video is growing so fast that we think a blog is the best way to showcase some of the great videos that catch our attention. Each week we'll highlight a handful of videos that share a common theme."
  • November 01, 2005
    * Forbes Attacks Blogs

    Forbes targets what is calls "attack bloggers" with a very broad brush, in a trio of articles as follows:

  • Attack of the Blogs, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05 - "Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo."

  • Fighting Back, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05

  • Who is Pamela Jones?, Daniel Lyons, 11.14.05
  • October 31, 2005
    * Join Your Colleagues At BlawgThink 2005

    If you are interested in a community based learning experience on legal blogging, whether you are a librarian, attorney, marketing, CI or IT expert, take a look at the agenda for the upcoming BlawgThink 2005. Veteran blogger or novice, this forum offers a creative, interactive agenda, with presentations by, and conversations with, a range of experts who will look at all facets of the ever expanding and knowledge rich realm of blogging.

    October 30, 2005
    * Saddam Hussein Trial Blog

    "As arguably the most important war crimes proceedings since Nurem­berg, the trials of Saddam Hussein are likely to constitute a "Grotian Moment" — defined as a legal develop­ment that is so signi­fi­cant that it can create new customary inter­national law or radically transform the inter­preta­tion of treaty-based law. This Website features key documents related to the Iraqi High Tribunal, answers to frequently asked questions, and expert debate and public commentary on the major issues and develop­ments related to the trials of Saddam Hussein and other former Iraqi leaders."

    * Study Reviews Role of Wikis and Blogs in Intelligence Community Info Sharing

    Andrus, D. Calvin, The Wiki and the Blog: Toward a Complex Adaptive Intelligence Community. Studies in Intelligence, September 2005.

  • "US policy-makers, war-fighters, and law-enforcers now operate in a real-time worldwide decision and implementation environment. The rapidly changing circumstances in which they operate take on lives of their own, which are difficult or impossible to anticipate or predict. The only way to meet the continuously unpredictable challenges ahead of us is to match them with continuously unpredictable changes of our own. We must transform the Intelligence Community into a community that dynamically reinvents itself by continuously learning and adapting as the national security environment changes. Recent theoretical developments in the philosophy of science that matured in the 1990's, collectively known as Complexity Theory, suggest changes the community should make to meet this challenge. These changes include allowing our officers more autonomy in the context of improved tradecraft and information sharing. In addition, several new technologies will facilitate this transformation. Two examples are self-organizing knowledge websites, known as Wikis, and information sharing websites known as Blogs. Allowing Intelligence Officers and our non-intelligence National Security colleagues access to these technologies on SIPRNet, will provide a critical mass to begin the transformation."
  • October 25, 2005
    * Internet Librarian Conference, Monterey California, October 24-26

    Live Blog Coverage of Presentations and Events at IL from the Info Today Blogging Crew

    October 19, 2005
    * Enterprise Blogging Catches On

    Executive Summary from the Guidewire Group Market Cycle Survey, October 2005: Blogging in the Enterprise (8 pages, PDF)

    Key findings (140 individual survey respondents):

  • "Corporations of all sizes across a wide array of industries are adopting blogging technologies and practices. 89% of respondents are either blogging or are planning to blog."

  • "Smaller companies have been quicker to adopt blogging as a part of their communications strategies, followed by mid-sized."

  • "Internal blogs are used for communication within a company - knowledge-sharing (63%)"
  • * Blogs Increasingly Become Target Of and Vehicle for Spam

    From the Wall Street Journal free content today: 'Splogs' Roil Web, and Some Blame Google.

  • Definition of splog from Wikipedia.
  • October 18, 2005
    * Blog Usability Review

    Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, October 17, 2005: "Weblogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author...The more focused your content, the more focused your readers. That, again, makes you more influential within your niche. Specialized sites rule the Web, so aim tightly."

    October 16, 2005
    * Google.org – the philanthropic arm of Google

    "Google.org will include the work of the Google Foundation, some of Google’s own projects using Google talent, technology and other resources, as well as partnerships and contributions to for-profit and non-profit entities. While we continue to define the goals, priorities and approach for Google.org, we will focus on several areas including global poverty alleviation, energy and the environment."

  • From the Official Google Blog, About Google.org

  • October 14, 2005
    * Website Copyright Infringement Extends to Images on Blogs

    From WSJ free features today, Photo Agencies Scour the Web For Copyright Violations.

    October 11, 2005
    * Yahoo Adds Blogs to News Search

    From the October 10, 2005 Yahoo! Search Blog: "Today we've begun the integration of blogs in Yahoo! News Search. Now when you search on Yahoo! News you will see blog results as well as content from thousands of trusted news sites. [Note: search results from blogs are displayed in a box labeled Blogs Beta, that appears at the far right hand side of the search engine result screen.] The experiences and opinions published on blogs make a great addition to the mainstream news people read everyday. And major world events are further fueling the growth of blogs as platforms for anyone who wants to have a public voice. At times, even everyday bloggers beat the mainstream media to a story."

    October 07, 2005
    * Google RSS and News Reader Launched Today

    Google launched a beta version of Google Reader, a service that requires users to have a gmail account.

  • Google Reader Help FAQ
  • October 06, 2005
    * Delaware Supreme Decision Upholds Anonymity of Blogger

    Key Ruling Backs Blog and Web Rights

  • Delware Supreme Court, John Doe No. 1 v. Cahill et. al., October 5, 2005 (33 pages, PDF)

    Related links:
  • Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents

  • Updates to Recent White Paper on Blogging Anonymously
  • October 02, 2005
    September 27, 2005
    * SurfWax Service Easily Scans RSS Feeds

    A new service from SurfWax: Scan Top RSS Feeds by Title: (updated hourly; covers past seven days; sorted by date)

    September 23, 2005
    * Blog Launched With Focus on Real ID Act of 2005

    MIT Online Forum: The Real ID Act of 2005: "This is a facilitated discussion of the problems and prospects related to the Real ID Act of 2005, enacted by Congress and signed by the President. For purposes of this online discussion, we are focused on the driver license and identity management aspects of the legislation, and not on the immigration and other aspects of the law."

    * Blogs and Web Mapping Services Respond With Immediacy During Disasters

    From AP: Hurricane Rita Pushes Blogs, Podcasts and Rich Maps to Forefront of Media's Efforts

    Related links:

  • Stormwatchers - Citizen journalists covering Hurricane Rita, sponsored by the Houston Chronicle

  • News updates from the Times Picayune, Nola.com

  • Rita map

  • September 22, 2005
    * New Blog Focuses on Global Response to American Foreign Policy

    Joining the recently launched national security affairs blog at the Washington Post is another new blog, the World Opinion Roundup. The author, journalist Jefferson Morely, mines web sources from around the world, providing perspective, commentary, and documentation of U.S. and international policies on critical issues. [thanks Margot]

    * Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents

    From Reporters Without Borders, a new resource: Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents (46 pages, PDF):

  • "Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest. Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles."
  • September 20, 2005
    * Business Week Highlights "Best of The Web"

    From BusinessWeek.com, Editor's Picks for Best of the Web, with a discrete number of choices in categories ranging from research, to blogs, tech news, politics, shopping and music.

    * New National Security Affairs Blog

    The September 14 launch of William M. Arkin's blog, "Early Warning", with its focus on "national and homeland security," was noted by Secrecy News for establishing what promises to be a significant and useful online archive of government documents not readily available otherwise.

  • See also Arkin's book, Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World
  • September 14, 2005
    * Google Launches Beta Blog Search Engine

  • Google Blog Search

  • About Google Blog Search: "Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice...Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger; our blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results; and you can search not just for blogs written in English, but in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and other languages as well."

  • See also The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture and New Google feature sorts through blogs
  • September 12, 2005
    * CBSNews.com Launches "Public Eye" Blog

    As a follow-up to my July 12, 2005 posting, CBSNews.com Morphs Into 24/7 On Demand Broadband Service, see
    the organization's new blog, Public Eye, launched today.

  • A Short Pre-History Of Public Eye
  • September 09, 2005
    * UK Open Rights Group Begins Work

    UK digital rights group sets up - "The main aims of the Open Rights Group are: to foster a grassroots community of campaigning volunteers; to connect journalists and the press with digital rights experts and activists."

    September 07, 2005
    * Librarians Helping Librarians With Hurricane Recovery

  • "This blog [AALL LawLibAssist] gives members of the American Association of Law Libraries the opportunity to offer assistance to their friends and colleagues. FOR NOW, send posts to Kathie Sullivan at sims713@hotmail.com and your information will be added."

  • American Library Association, Libraries and Hurricane Katrina and ALA Hurricane Katrina Library Updates
  • September 06, 2005
    * Specialized Blog Search Engines Vie for Visitor Traffic

    WSJ free feature: New Search Engines Help Users Find Blogs

    * Depository Library Council Publishes Vision Statement

    The members of the Depository Library Council (DLC) are pleased to announce that our vision discussion paper entitled The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries.

  • See also the DLC Vision Outline Blog
  • August 31, 2005
    * E-Gov Hurricane Katrina Recovery Resources, Along With Blogs, Websites Inform Public

    FirstGov has posted a new website that includes the following topical areas which in turn include numerous useful links: What To Do If You Are A Victim; How To Help Victims; and Disaster Cleanup and Agency Resources.

  • NOAA Atlantic Hurricane Searchable Database, with interactive maps of Atlantic hurricanes since 1900

  • From National Geographic, A Photo Gallery: New Orleans People, Pets Flee Flood. [Robert Jacoby]

  • From Editor and Publisher, BLOGGING THE HURRICANE, Updates All Day from the Scene as the Disaster Spreads

  • Telecom Providers Help Weather Katrina's Aftermath
  • August 30, 2005
    * Lawsuit on Blog's Comments Targets Decency Act and Trade Secrets

    WSJ free feature: Blogger Faces Lawsuit Over Comments Posted by Readers.

    August 28, 2005
    * Gartner identifies Trends for Technology Adoption

    "Gartner...released its 2005 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, assessing the maturity, impact and adoption speed of 44 technologies and trends over the coming decade." [press release]

  • Key collaboration technologies in the "hype cycle" include: Podcasting, Peer to Peer (P2P) voice over IP (VoIP), Desktop Search, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Corporate Blogging, and Wikis.

  • August 24, 2005
    * Seattle Newspaper Pioneers Digital Journalism

    Modernizing the Newspaper Editorial Page is an expansive, informative article that discusses how the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has embraced technology applications and new mechanisms for interacting with readers that have resulted in innovative changes to its publication style, its impact on the community, and the subject matter of its content.

    * Many Facets of Blogs Useful For Journalists

    How journalists use blogs.

    August 17, 2005
    August 10, 2005
    * Inventor of First Website Shares Perspective on Blogs

    From BBC News, Berners-Lee on the read/write web: "In August 1991, Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the first website. Fourteen years on, he tells BBC Newsnight's Mark Lawson how blogging is closer to his original idea about a read/write web."

    August 08, 2005
    * Blogs Gain Momentum In Online Competition for Views

    Press Release: "50 Million Americans Visited Blogs During the First Quarter 2005, According to New comScore Study."

  • Behaviors of the Blogosphere: Understanding the Scale, Composition and Activities of Weblog Audiences


  • Related reference:
  • Will Blogs Go Bust?

  • August 04, 2005
    * Yahoo Debuts Free Audio Search Beta

    "With over 50 M audio files available, Yahoo! Audio Search is the most comprehensive audio search product on the Web. Now you can find, learn about and listen to a diverse selection of audio spanning popular and hard to find music, interviews, speeches, newscasts, podcasts, and even sound effects." [FAQ]

  • From the Yahoo! Search Blog, The World is Listening provides details about the new search tool and plans for additional features in future.

  • August 03, 2005
    * Technorati Announces New Stats on the State of the Blogosphere

    State of the Blogosphere, August 2005, Part 1: Blog Growth, Posted by Dave Sifry on August 02, 2005. "As of the end of July 2005, Technorati was tracking over 14.2 Million weblogs, and over 1.3 billion links."

    August 01, 2005
    * Quick and Useful Guide to Business Blogging

    From Inc.com, The Top 10 Things You Should Know Before You Blog offers practical and sound tips to assist small businesses in the effective and successful creation and maintenance of blogs to communicate with consumers.

    July 28, 2005
    * New Collaborative Blog on Canadian Legal Research

    "Slaw is a co-operative weblog about Canadian legal research and the impact of technology on it. Our audience includes practicing lawyers, legal librarians, legal academics and students — anyone, in short, who uses IT in researching the law. The aim is to share information, offer advice and instruction, and occasionally provoke." [Connie Crosby]

    July 27, 2005
    * Forbes Best of The Web Directory

    Forbes Best of The Web Directory includes recommendations on more than 3,000 websites and blogs, on topics that include investing, health, e-commerce, management, travel and careers.

    July 26, 2005
    * Searching Podcasts

    "What is Podscope? Podscope is the first search engine that actually allows you to search for spoken words within any audio or video file. We're starting with podcasts and will be adding all types of multimedia in coming months."

  • Press release: Podscope Search Engine to Index Entire Spoken Podcast Universe; First Spoken Word Index Search Engine Will Cover All Non-Music Audio and Video Podcasts by August 31, 2005
  • July 22, 2005
    * Institute for Global Security, Law and Policy's Website

    "Case Western Reserve University School of Law is proud to announce the launch of the Institute for Global Security, Law and Policy’s website. The site features a blog providing analysis of critical global security issues as well as links to legal and policy commentary, other blogs, and news summaries across the Internet...The site reflects Case School of Law's commitment that the recently created Institute become the leading resource and research center for issues of global security."

    July 21, 2005
    * Public Awareness of New Technologies and Terminology Lagging

    Public Awareness of Internet Terms, 7/20/2005: "The average American internet user is not sure what podcasting is, what an RSS feed does, or what the term phishing means." The data memo is 7 pages, PDF.

    * Coping With Information Overload and Remaining Productive

    Driven to distraction by technology: "The typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction. The problem is that it takes about eight uninterrupted minutes for our brains to get into a really creative state."

  • See also RSS Goes Corporate - Information overload also affects companies, and they're more likely to pay for a cure.
  • July 15, 2005
    * Comparison of RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0

    RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0, Compared: "People who generate syndication feeds have a choice of feed formats. As of mid-2005, the two most likely candidates will be RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0. The purpose of this page is to summarize, as clearly and simply as possible, the differences between the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 syndication languages."

    July 12, 2005
    * CBSNews.com Morphs Into 24/7 On Demand Broadband Service

    The 3 page press release (PDF), CBS Unveils Changes, Web Strategy. "CBS News will move from a primarily television and radio news-based operation to a 24-hour, on-demand news service, available across many platforms, drawing on the experienced, worldwide, award-winning resources of the Division. The new CBSNews.com will include: an on-demand, 24-hour news network in the digital broadband space; a blog to be called "Public Eye" designed to provide greater openness and transparency into the newsgathering process; a newly-configured homepage including The EyeBox, an on-page video player showcasing the free broadband video of CBSNews.com including over 25,000 clips -- and video yet to be broadcast on the network..."

    * WSJ Explores Potential Conflicts When Journalists Maintain Personal Blogs

    A free feature from today's WSJ: Should Newspapers Sponsor Blogs Written by Reporters?

    July 11, 2005
    * Selected SLA Annual Conference Presentation Materials Now Available Online

    Selected PowerPoint presentations of sessions from the Business & Finance Division, Information Technology Division, Military Librarians Division, and Science-Technology Division, from the SLA 2005 Conference, Toronto, Ontario CANADA, June 5-8, 2005 are available free at via this Link.

    July 07, 2005
    * Citizen Blogs on London Bombings Have Global Impact

    From WSJ free content today: Bloggers and Photographers Chronicle Chaos in London

    July 06, 2005
    * EFF Adds Labor Section to Blogging Guide

    As a follow-up to my June 5 posting, Advocacy Group Publishes Legal Guide for Blogger, today EFF announced the addition of a labor law section to its guide.

  • "The Bloggers' FAQ on Labor Law addresses legal issues arising from workplace blogging, including union organizing, protections for political blogging away from the workplace, and whistle-blogging."
  • July 04, 2005
    * Online Retailers Employ Blogs With Caution

    The pros and cons of e-tailers using blogs are reviewed in this New York Time article today.

    June 28, 2005
    * Hearing on FEC Regulation of Internet and Blogs

    Prepared Remarks to the FEC June 28, 2005, by kos:"...It isn't my position that the government should never regulate any Internet communications. It is my position that the Internet is so different than television, radio, and print media, that the current campaign finance regime doesn't fit and different techniques must be employed.."

  • Bloggers Go Mainstream to Fight Regulation: "Web log founders who built followings with anti-establishment postings are now lobbying the establishment to try to fend off government regulation."

  • Advocacy Group Files Comments on FEC's Proposed Regulation of Internet Speech
  • June 24, 2005
    * Microsoft Announces Its New OS and Browser Will Implement RSS

    The Microsoft Development Center has extensive and detailed documentation on RSS implementation in Longhorn: "This paper describes RSS in the context of a vision for how web content is and will be consumed, explores opportunities enabled by incorporating RSS functionality into applications and outlines the Windows platform services that make this easy."

  • See also RSS in Longhorn
  • June 23, 2005
    * Trend Spotting and Marketing Insights Gained Through Blog Posts

    WSJ Free Content today, Marketers Scan Blogs For Brand Insights

    June 21, 2005
    * 2005 TechnoLawyer @ Awards Announced

    Thanks to all the readers whose support resulted in a Finalist award for beSpacific in the category of Favorite Practice Area Blog.

    June 16, 2005
    * Blog from US Attorney in WD of Missouri

    "Welcome to the media blog for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Missouri. Consider this an online press briefing, sort of a virtual courthouse steps, where reporters and editors can find more information they need to make coverage decisions. This site doesn't replace our existing "official" Web site, where we will continue to post news releases and other information."

    * Charting the Course of the Blogging Process

    From Dave Pollard's blog, how to save the world, this chart documents the "blog process."

    June 14, 2005
    * Corporate Blogs Are All The Rage, Sort Of

    Recent suggested reading on enterprise blogs, and corporate blogs for public consumption:

  • Establishing a Weblog On Your Organization's Intranet (PDF): Sabrina I. Pacifici and Dennis Hamilton's presentation from the SLA Annual Conference in Toronto is a ying and yang study of blogging enterprisewide behind the corporate firewall, with examples of blogs, and numerous references to a wide range of sources that serve as a pathfinder on the various avenues and options available to those interested in leveraging this application.

  • Writing the codes on blogs - Companies figure out what's OK, what's not in online realm
  • * MIT Weblog Survey

    MIT Weblog Survey: "This is a general social survey of the greater weblog community being conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our goal is to help understand the way that weblogs are affecting the way we communicate with each other. Specifically we are interested in issues of demographics, communication behaviors, experience with weblogs and other technology, and the meaning of various types of social links within the blogosphere." [Andy Baio's links]

    June 13, 2005
    * Advocacy Group Publishes Legal Guide for Bloggers

    Press release: EFF Announces its New Legal Guide for Bloggers - "The Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF) is pleased to release a document that informs bloggers of their legal rights. EFF's Legal Guide for
    Bloggers
    is a collection of frequently asked questions (FAQs)designed to educate bloggers about their legal rights in a number of areas, including libel law, copyright law, and political advocacy."

    June 08, 2005
    * Technolawyer's Favorite Practice Area Blog Awards Countdown

    Many thanks to all the readers whose support has made beSpacific a 'contender' in the Favorite Practice Area Blog category of the 8th Annual Technolawyer @ Awards. For those who would like to vote and have not done so (there are 3 days remaining), here is the Official Ballot for the 2005 Technolawyer @ Awards.

    June 03, 2005
    * Advocacy Group Files Comments on FEC's Proposed Regulation of Internet Speech

    Follow-up to several postings on the FEC and bloggers (here, here, and here), news today from the Center for Democracy and Policy:

  • "In two sets of comments filed today with the Federal Election Commission, CDT urged the FEC to declare that the online political speech of bloggers and other ordinary citizens is exempt from the burdens of campaign finance laws. CDT submitted its own detailed comments (49 pages, PDF) on the FEC proposals. In addition, working with the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI) of George Washington University, CDT submitted a Statement of Principles (15 pages, PDF) on behalf of 1,115 leading organizations, blogs, and individuals. The Principles set out guidelines that the FEC and Congress should follow in applying campaign finance laws to individuals."
  • June 02, 2005
    * Law Libraries and Law Librarians Who Are Blogging

    Law Library Blogs and Blogs by Law Librarians or Law Library Associations - Compiled by Bonnie Shucha - Updated 6/2/05.

    * Yahoo Publishes Employee Blogging Guidelines

    Comments on the guidelines and a link to the PDF version, posted by Jeremy Zawodny.

    June 01, 2005
    * The Changing Landscape of Corporate Blogging

    From Wall Street Journal free features, Blogging Becomes A Corporate Job provides a general overview of how several companies, including Microsoft and Stonefield Stonyfield Farm Inc., are diversifying their marketing and corporate communications with the addition of talented bloggers to their workforce.

  • Related posting, People who underestimate weblogs, comments on the explosion in the number of blogs, as well as on the recent Pew Internet blog report, which apparently only included 40 sources as the basis of its sample survey.
  • May 31, 2005
    * Official Ballot for the Technolawyer @ Awards

    Never done this before, but...first time for everything (lyric by Roger Miller), please visit http://www.technolawyer.com/tlballot2005.htm and cast your ballot for beSpacific, and for LLRX too! Thanks.

    May 26, 2005
    * Commentary on the Scope, Impact and Business of Blogging

    WSJ free content today: Measuring the Impact of Blogs Requires More Than Counting

    May 25, 2005
    * Are Facts Lost Underfoot in the Rush to Blog on Scandals

    From the New York Times, Are Bloggers Setting the Agenda? It Depends on the Scandal. Refers to the Pew Internet and American Life Project report issued last week, "Buzz, Blogs and Beyond: The Internet and the National Discourse in the Fall of 2004."

    May 17, 2005
    * Range of Responses to NYTimes Online Fee Announcement

    Yesterday I posted a link to the New York Times announcement of a new fee-based service to access a selected range of current and archival content, effective September 2005. Bloggers, journalists, newspaper execs and financial analysts offer their responses: Business People Like 'NYT' Plan to Charge on Web; Bloggers Don't.

    * Impact of Political Bloggers on 2004 Campaign Examined in New Research Project

    A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Buzz, Blogs and Beyond: The Internet and the National Discourse in the Fall of 2004 (32 pages, PDF), "PIP and BuzzMetrics examined the interplay of blogs, online citizen chatter in newsgroups, the mainstream news media and official political spin from the Democrat and Republican election camps. They also conducted a case study of the "Rathergate" scandal involving CBS News and unauthenticated memos about George W. Bush’s record in the National Guard." [Link]

    May 16, 2005
    * IBM Encourages Enterprise Blogging And Sets Guidelines for Authors

    From this posting by James Snell, a member of the IBM's Software Standards Strategy Group: "...IBM today is publishing an announcement on its Intranet site encouraging all 320,000+ employees world wide to consider engaging actively in the practice of "blogging"...So with IBMers blogging both inside and outside our Intranet environment, recognizing full well that it was time to formalize their support for what many of us had been doing for quite some time, the corporate communications and legal teams worked collaboratively with the IBM Blogging Community to draft the Corporate Blogging Guidelines copied below. The core principles -- written by IBM bloggers over a period of ten days using an internal wiki -- are designed to guide IBMers as they figure out what they're going to blog about so they don't end up like certain notable ex-employees of certain notable other companies."

    May 11, 2005
    * Updates to Recent White Paper on Blogging Anonymously

    EFF recently published a white paper on blogging anonymously, and today posted additional information in response to reader feedback, and encouraged an ongoing dialogue on the issue.

    May 09, 2005
    * Will the New York Times Launch a Blog?

    Editor and Publisher reports on the recommendations of an 19 member internal audit committee whose 16 pages report includes the following: "Consider creating a Times blog that promotes interaction with readers." Also of note, the report states, "...we must strengthen and better define the boundary between news and opinion."

  • The report, "Preserving Our Reader's Trust" (16 pages, PDF)

  • From the New York Times, Times Panel Proposes Steps to Build Credibility
  • * Patient Blogs - A New Hospital Marketing Tool?

    Computerworld reports on how a North Carolina hospital system has launched blogs authored by patients that communicate their experiences with specific medical procedures and treatment regimes.

    May 06, 2005
    * Challenges to the News Business Addressed in Commentary and Surveys

  • When Those Pesky Blogs Undermine NPR News

  • From the Carnegie Reporter, Spring 2005, What's the future of the news business? This report to Carnegie Corporation of New York offers some provocative ideas.

  • PowerPoint slides on the survey data above
  • April 30, 2005
    * Presentation: What blogs are vs. What they are not

    Doc Searls' closing keynote at Les Blogs, Paris, 25 April 2005

    April 27, 2005
    * Greatest Number of Links By Bloggers Are to Yahoo

    According to new stats by BlogPulse, Yahoo News ranks at the top of the list of sources to which bloggers most frequently link, with the New York Times a close second. Interesting, as Yahoo News is an aggregator and the Times is a primary publisher, although it too aggregates stories, from AP.

    April 24, 2005
    * Lessig's Book On Cyberspace Law Updated Via Open Source Wiki

    "Lawrence Lessig first published Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace in 1999. After five years in print and five years of changes in law, technology, and the context in which they reside, Code needs an update. But rather than do this alone, Professor Lessig is using this wiki to open the editing process to all, to draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update; a first of its kind." [Link]

    April 22, 2005
    April 18, 2005
    * Polls Says Growing Number of Adults Familiar With Political Blogs

    The Harris Poll® #27, April 13, 2005 - "Two-fifths of U.S. Adults Who Are Online Have Read Political Blogs - But less than one in 10 have ever posted a comment on a blog."

    April 14, 2005
    April 12, 2005
    * Bloggers Brief in Apple v. Does Case

    From EFF, Bloggers Speak Up in Apple Case: "Groups working to protect journalists' press freedoms, the creator of a blog-search tool, weblog publishers, and more than a dozen individual online journalist/bloggers filed a friend-of-the-court brief (PDF) [April 11] in Apple v. Does -- the case in which Apple Computer is seeking to unmask online journalists' confidential sources for articles about forthcoming Apple products."

  • Related reference: News organizations support bloggers in Apple trade secrets case
  • April 08, 2005
    * Guide to Weblogs in Special Libraries

    Weblogs: Their Use and Application In Science and Technology Libraries (12 pages, PDF), by Geoff Harder and Randy Reichardt.

    * BBC Campaign Weblog

    "Welcome to the Election Monitor, the BBC News website's campaign weblog. From now until polling day, we will be bringing you first-hand reports from around the country from our team of correspondents, as well as the best of the newspapers, choice morsels from the web, and your e-mails." Also provides an RSS feed.

    April 07, 2005
    * Privacy Group Publishes Guide to Blogging Anonymously

    From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)

  • "The guide covers basic measures people can take to keep their blogs anonymous and explores what the law says about discussing work-related issues online."

  • Useful comments on the information in the aforementioned guide are available on this posting, Blogging Anonymously? Yes, But Not This Way. The author addresses the challenges to anonymity on the web from search engine indexing. The suggestion to implement a password and user name is a good one that works (I did this in 2002 when I was creating the archive for beSpacific before launching it in 2003).
  • April 06, 2005
    * New Report on PR Impact of Blogs

    Press release: "A newly published white paper on blogs from Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm, and Intelliseek, a marketing intelligence firm and provider of one of the Internet's leading blog portals, explores the importance of the blogging phenomenon for public relations and marketers and provides a first-of-its-kind directory of influential bloggers, segmented by industry."

  • Trust MEdia…How Real People Are Finally Being Heard (22 pages, PDF)
  • * FEC Proposed Rule on Internet Communications

    Summary: The Federal Election Commission requests comments on proposed changes to its rules that would include paid advertisements on the Internet in the definition of "public communication." These changes to the Commission's rules would implement the recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. Federal Election Commission, which held that the current definition of "public communication" impermissibly excludes all Internet communications... [Federal Register: April 4, 2005, Volume 70, Number 63, Page 16967-16979]

  • Related reference - The Internet: Definitions of "Public Communication" and "Generic Campaign Activity" and Disclaimers
  • April 03, 2005
    April 01, 2005
    * Interactive Forum on Evolution of Media

    Brookings Briefing - The Impact of the New Media A Live, Inter@ctive Discussion & Webcast (Full Transcript: Available as a PDF file)

    March 31, 2005
    * Review of Legal Blogs

    From the DC Bar, Do You Blog?, by Sarah Kellogg

    March 29, 2005
    * "Persistent-Search Services" Satisfy Cravings of Data Omnivores

    From the WSJ's Free Features today, New Web-Watching Tools Pique Interest of Investors.

  • See PubSub, Feedster and Bloglines
  • * N.C. Newspaper Embraces Blogging To Expand Readership

    At News-Record.com's homepage, there is a prominent link to the dozen topical blogs available to readers, a number that far surpasses that of any other national or local paper.

  • The newspaper also has publishes Blogs from local politicians (thanks Connie)
  • March 24, 2005
    * Draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Internet Communications

    From the Federal Election Commission, this draft notice is 47 pages, PDF.

  • Related news: Feds get set for Net rules, and FEC Weighs Limited Internet Activity Rules

  • Related postings: More on the FEC and Regulating Bloggers

  • Related reference: Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), Public Law No. 107-155
  • March 23, 2005
    * FEC Delays Announcing New Regs That May Impact Blogs

    Following up on previous postings involving the FEC and potential regs impacting blogs, Declan McCullagh reports that public response to such plans have resulted in a longer, more contested process than may have otherwise been the case.

    March 21, 2005
    * "Enterprise Blogs" Make Their Mark

    As a follow-up to my recent posting about Dennis Hamilton's new article, Internal Blogs: So, Are They Different From External Blogs?, I suggested the monikers enterpriselogs, enterlogs, or even enterpriseblogs to describe blogs behind the corporate firewall. MrDave's Blog! has a related posting I recommend, IntraBlog - the next wave?. Other suggestions welcome! [thanks Claudia]

    March 19, 2005
    * Updated People Finder Online Guide

    From research guru Marcus P. Zillman, news that his terrific Finding People Info blog has been completely updated, as he has published a new, free white paper, Knowledge Discovery Resources 2005.

    * Announcing BlogWiki2005 Workshop

    Announcing BlogWiki2005 Workshop, May 19-20, 2005, Coral Gables FL

  • Presented by: Gerry McKiernan, Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer, Iowa State University Library; Sabrina I. Pacifici, Founder, Editor, Publisher and Web Manager of LLRX.com and Author, beSpacific.com; and Marcus P. Zillman, Executive Director of the Virtual Private Library and VPL Blogosphere.
  • Where: University of Miami, Wesley Foundation, Coral Gables, Florida. Note: Coral Gables is located in the Miami, Florida area.

  • Program Overview: Blogs, Wikis, News Aggregators and RSS/Atom Feeds are emerging technologies that have and will continue to transform all fields of communication, scholarship, and library and other information services. The goals of BlogWiki2005 are to provide an introduction to these technologies and practical examples of their applications that libraries and other organizations can easily implement to their advantage.

    The BlogWiki2005 Workshop is a focused, comprehensive program presented by experienced specialists designed for the newbie as well as the seasoned veteran. Each workshop participant will receive a detailed manual containing copies of all workshop presentations as well as compilations of reliable and authoritative resources and references about blogs, bots, wikis, and RSS/Web feeds.

  • TIME: May 19, 2005 8:30am - 5:00pm; May 20, 2005 8:30am - 12:00pm

  • The full program and schedule and profiles of the presenters is available at http://www.BlogWiki2005.com/

  • March 16, 2005
    * New on LLRX.com

  • Internal Blogs: So, Are They Different From External Blogs? by Dennis Hamilton

  • Notes from the Technology Trenches: Advisen: A Unique Approach to Business Background Information, by Cindy Carlson

  • The Government Domain: GovTrack.us: Under Development, by Peggy Garvin

  • Software Rundown: Adobe Acrobat 7.0; ZoneAlarm Security Suite 5.5; Diskeeper 9 and Norton SystemWorks 2005, by Brett Burney

  • Law Firm Marketing: Interview with Carmen Delessio - CTO, Internet Services Division, Harris Publishing, by Andy Havens

  • After Hours: Checking the Oil, by Kathy Biehl

  • LLRX.com Bookstore - Review the two dozen new entries on topics that include: the decline of news reporting, open government, publishing blogs, email rules, ID theft, finding government information, electronic surveillance, and of course...food
  • March 14, 2005
    * Tracking the Dynamic Growth of Blogging

    From the founder and CEO of Technorati's posting today: "Technorati is now tracking over 7.8 million weblogs, and 937 million links. That's just about double the number of weblogs tracked in October 2004. In fact, the blogosphere is doubling in size about once every 5 months. It has already done so at this pace four times, which means that in the last 20 months, the blogosphere has increased in size by over 16 times."

    March 13, 2005
    * Blogshine Sunday

    Bloggers Look for "Sunshine" on Public Access to Government Documents - FreeCulture.org announces Blogshine Sunday

  • "On March 13, news organizations across the United States will participate in "Sunshine Sunday" by running stories and editorials in support of public access to government information. Simultaneously, bloggers throughout the U.S. and beyond will spotlight their own experiences with obtaining access to government documents. This Blogshine Sunday has been organized by FreeCulture.org, an international group of student activists, to ensure that government remains accessible to tomorrow’s journalists."


  • Additional related sources:
  • AP Review: Gov't Reducing Access to Info

  • Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News

  • March 11, 2005
    * New Blog on Politics and Technology

    Politology: "...this weblog is specifically about both politics and technology, including (but not limited to) the intersection between the two subjects...In addition, we'll be using this site specifically to launch new political technology media. Whether it is animations, interactive web applications, graphics, offline publications, or even games, it's likely to pop up on these pages at one time or another."

  • The current hot topic on Politology is S. 256 (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ). If you are monitoring this bill, add this blog to your resource list.

  • * Medical Record Privacy Breach Controversy Involving Blog

    140 Kaiser patients' private data put online:
    "In a troubling episode involving medical privacy in the digital age, Kaiser Permanente is notifying 140 patients that a disgruntled former employee posted confidential information about them on her Weblog."

    * Gallup Poll on Blogs Shows Limited Impact on General Public

    Blogs Not Yet in the Media Big Leagues - Very few Americans read them with any frequency:

  • "Three-quarters of the U.S. public uses the Internet at work, school, or home, but only one in four Americans are either very familiar or somewhat familiar with blogs. More than half, 56%, have no knowledge of them. Even among Internet users, only 32% are very or somewhat familiar with blogs." [The devil is in the details] Said differently, monthly-plus readership of blogs is 21% among 18- to 29-year olds, 16% among those 30 to 49, 14% among those 50 to 64 and just 7% among those 65 and older."
  • March 10, 2005
    * Online Video Poised to Make Big Impact on Little Blogs

    From The Globe and Mail (via Connie Crosby), this article describes how video clips drive considerable traffic to even small blogs. In addition, it notes the potentially significant impact of vlogs on e-commerce, political discourse and news in general. And don't forget the video search engines as well.

  • Also from The Globe, see Multimedia blogs build momentum
  • * More on the FEC and Regulating Bloggers

    From Roll Call today (subscription req'd) this article abstract: "FEC May Exempt Bloggers - Amid a growing hysteria sweeping the Internet over the idea that the Federal Election Commission intends to crack down on bloggers, some FEC officials say they are open to creating an exemption for those who maintain Web logs to ensure they are in no danger of being caught up in the agency's regulatory framework."

    Related references:

  • Another FEC Perspective on Blogging and Website Content and Will Websites and Blogs Be Restricted On Campaign Related Endorsements

  • Statement of Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold On Internet Communications, March 8, 2005. [Politech]

  • March 09, 2005
    March 08, 2005
    * Another FEC Perspective on Blogging and Website Content

    Point...Counterpoint...and additional information.

    * A Pathfinder to Law Related Blogs

    From Lynn Lenart at the University of Akron School of Law, her Law Library Pathfinder to Law Blogs - Blawgs. Thank you for including beSpacific.

  • "The purpose of this pathfinder...is to provide a starting point for law students and law faculty interested in identifying blogs they wish to monitor or to provide basic information for those interested in starting their own weblog...
    Only a selective number of Blawgs, blog hosting sites and blog tools are included..."
  • March 07, 2005
    * First Press Pass Issued To Blogger By White House

    The New York Times reports that Garrett M. Graff, editor of FishbowlDC, has been issued a press pass by the White House. Better yet, read Garrett's chronicle of how the events unfolded.

    March 04, 2005
    * Will Websites and Blogs Be Restricted On Campaign Related Endorsements

  • From Polical Money Line, Corporate Websites Get Scrutiny: "The Federal Election Commission acknowledged last week that it determined it is a violation to post a federal candidate's endorsement and picture on a corporate website when it is not paid for by the corporation's PAC or limited to in-house access."

  • Declan McCullagh interviewed Bradley Smith about the future impact of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act on "political blogging and online punditry."
  • March 01, 2005
    * Range of Companies Realize Benefits of Blogs

    From the WSJ's Free Features, Blogs Keep Internet Customers Coming Back: Small Firms Find Tool Useful for Recognition, Connecting With Buyers. Note, I learned from this article that there are blogging coaches.

  • Related reference: White Paper (5 pages, PDF), Using content to create connections among people - Keeping the sales force up to date. [WebProNews]
  • February 24, 2005
    * Congress Tentatively Begins to Embrace Blogging

    The Latest Initiative in Congress: Blogging

  • As referenced here on February 13, Rep. Pence has a blog; Sen. Patrick Leahy has been blogging since January 4, 2005; Rep. Mark Kirk launched his blog January 9, 2005; and Rep. Katherine Harris began blogging on January 28, 2005.

  • See also Links to State Legislators' Blogs and Legislatures with RSS Feeds
  • * Wiki on Legal Issues Pertaining to Blogging

    The NewPR Wiki, resources on legal problems, provides news, links and documentation that relates to blogging on and off the job.

    February 23, 2005
    * Top Food Bloggers Choose Best Products for 2005

    With LLRX.com's terrific After Hours columnist Kathy Biehl in mind, here is a link to the first annual 2005 Independent Food Festival Awards [via Hot Links], awarded by a jury comprised of food bloggers, with winners in over two dozen categories.

    February 22, 2005
    * Interview Details GM's Take On Blogs, RSS and Podcasting

    From NeOn, An open conversation with Michael Wiley, Director New Media, GM Communications about: "GM FastLane Blog, GM's experiments with podcasting and GM's plans for further developments with communication channels like blogs, podcasting and RSS."

  • "We're big into getting feedback from our customers, employees and others, taking their comments to become a better company and develop better products."
  • February 18, 2005
    * Giving Voice to Range of Information on Issues, Hobbies and Events Through Nascent Recording Technology

    The New York Times sort of catches the wave on the increasingly popular new grass roots broadcasting format, in this article, Tired of TiVo? Beyond Blogs? Podcasts Are Here. Created by tech pioneers Adam Curry and Dave Winer, podcasting offers "amateurs" a means by which they can create and disseminate information on issues great and small, special interests and news, that listeners download and listen to on their PCs, iPods or handhelds. A How-To Guide is available from iPodder.org.

    February 16, 2005
    * Open Government Act of 2005 Introduced Today With Bipartisan Support

    The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005 (OPEN Government Act, S. 394) was introduced today by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). For related documents on this bill which has bipartisan support on the Hill, as well as from associations, press, and think tanks, see the following:

  • From Senator Leahy's website, this link provides access to two documents: 1) press release - Cornyn, Leahy Introduce Bill To Promote Openness In Government; 2) and Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy, Introduction of the "Openness Promotes Effectiveness In our National Government Act", February 16, 2005.

  • From the press release: "The Cornyn-Leahy legislation is not just pro-openness, pro-accountability, and pro-accessibility - it's also pro-Internet. It includes a hotline enabling citizens to track their requests, including Internet tracking, and grants privileged FOIA fees for bloggers and writers for Internet outlets, providing the same status as traditional media."

  • From the Project on Open Government, this backgrounder, which states: "If enacted, the legislation would substantially enhance and expand the accessibility, accountability, and openness of the federal government."
  • February 14, 2005
    * New Law Librarian Blog Off to A Great Start

    Law librarian Abbie Bradfield launched a blog today, AbsTracked, "A blog listing useful theme-related links." From day one this looks to be a must read.

    February 13, 2005
    * Free Flow of Information Act of 2005

    H.R. 581: To maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media. Introduced by Rep. Mike Pence, Feb 2, 2005. Note: Rep. Pense has a blog.

  • Related reference: Fees for FOI Request to DOJ Could Top $400,000

  • See also this February 2, 2005 New York Times editorial, The costly right to know.
  • February 02, 2005
    January 24, 2005
    * Blogs Are Proliferating, RSS Gains Foothold, and Internet News Sites Shine Again

    From PubSub, news that they are tracking over 8 million blogs. This represents a huge increase within the past year in the number of blogs now available. Along with this increased visibility, ethical concerns about blog content.

  • From Radio Userland, the Top 100 Most-Subscribed-To RSS Feeds (the list includes Wired, various sections of the New York Times and the Washington Post, CNET News, ComputerWorld News, and The Shifted Librarian.
    And related to the popularity if newspaper websites, this New York Times article today, Internet News Sites Are Back in Vogue.

  • January 23, 2005
    * New Blog Counters Claims of Social Security Crisis

    From the Pew Internet and American Life Project, this news about a new blog called Social Security: There Is No Crisis "which aims to promote the notion that there is no crisis facing Social Security and that the president's plan is unnecessary. The blog contains links to articles and organizations that support their point of view."

    January 19, 2005
    * Washington Post Inauguration 2005 Coverage

    Inauguration 2005 (reg. req'd). See also the Post's Inauguration Blog '05.

    January 14, 2005
    * New Blog on International Law and Politics

    Opinio Juris - "A weblog dedicated to reports, commentary, and debate on current developments and scholarship in the fields of international law and politics." Authored by law professors Christopher J. Borgen, Peggy McGuinness and Julian G. Ku. [thanks Dan]

    January 10, 2005
    * Pew Survey on Future of Internet and Google's Window to the Past

    Press release: Technology experts and scholars foresee a bigger role for the internet in people's personal and work lives in the next decade:

  • "The Future of the Internet: A wide-ranging survey of technology leaders, scholars, industry officials, and analysts finds that most internet experts expect attacks on the network infrastructure in the coming decade as the internet becomes more embedded in everyday and commercial life. They believe the dawning of the blog era will bring radical change to the news and publishing industry and they think the internet will have the least impact on religious institutions."

  • View PDF of Report and View PDF of Questionnaire

  • Related references: Elon University/Pew Internet Predictions Database, which "examines the potential future of the Internet while simultaneously providing a peek back into its history..." and from Google, this announcement that the company has "fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 800 million messages dating back to 1981. This is by far the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled and a fascinating first-hand historical account."

  • January 09, 2005
    * New Book on Weblogs and Libraries

    Weblogs and Libraries, by Professor Laurel A. Clyde

  • "This book discusses the topic of 'weblogs and libraries' from two main perspectives: weblogs as sources of information for libraries and librarians; and weblogs as tools that libraries can use to promote their services and to provide a means of communication with their clients. It begins with an overview of the whole weblog and blogging phenomenon and traces its development over the last six years. The many different kinds of weblogs are outlined (including personal weblogs, community weblogs, multimedia weblogs). The problem of locating weblogs is addressed through a discussion of weblog directories, search engines and other finding tools. Chapters include using weblogs as sources of information in the library or information service, the options for creating a weblog, and managing the library’s own weblog."
  • January 08, 2005
    * Delivering the News with Blogs: The Georgia State University Library Experience

    Delivering the News with Blogs: The Georgia State University Library Experience (31 pages, PDF)

  • ABSTRACT: To deliver information about library news, services and resources to the science faculty and students at Georgia State University, several librarians developed a blog, Science News. Despite the increasing popularity of blogs (or weblogs), few libraries have taken advantage of what they offer. Blogs can be updated easily, frequently and continuously, making them an appealing alternative to static newsletters. This
    article summarizes the librarians’ rationale for moving to this dynamic format, how the technology was balanced with the needs of the librarians and patrons, and the issues and challenges that are being addressed to ensure that this will be a viable and successful newsdelivery system. Some preliminary user statistics have also been gathered and analyzed, offering encouragement that patrons are reading it. The experience with Science News is already serving as the model for the additional subject-specific blogs that have been developed to meet the informational needs of other patron groups."

  • January 03, 2005
    * Blogs Receive Accolades and Criticism From Mainstream Press

    Yesterday I posted on recent articles and reports highlighting the expanding profile of blogs. As a follow-up to these accolades, see today's New York Times article, Myths Run Wild in Blog Tsunami Debate, a critique of the merits and credibility of discussions and data posted on various blogs. In addition, see Jay Rosen's insightful commentary on the shifting paradigm between what he calls the "legacy media" and open source journalism. And so the worm turns.

    * Gadgets Gadgets Everywhere

    If the holidays did not satiate your gadget cravings, then add this recently launched blog, Technovations, to your reading list, which probably already includes Gizmodo and Engadget.

    January 02, 2005
    * The Increasing Influence of Blogs Is Highlighted in Magazines, Reports and Articles in 2004

    AP documents the increasing influence of blogs, which are recognized as having made a significant impact this past year in reporting on breaking news events, political issues, and technology innovations, as just a few examples. In addition, the December 27, 2004 issue of TIME has two articles on blogging, one which requires a subscription to read (Blogs Have Their Day), and the other is free (10 Things We Learned About Blogs). Also, please see the following link to a Pew Internet Project report released today:

  • The state of blogging: "By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November established new contours for the blogosphere: 8 million American adults say they have created blogs; blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users; 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online; and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs. Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is."

  • December 30, 2004
    * Ethics Code For Bloggers

    "CyberJournalist.net has created a model Bloggers' Code of Ethics, by modifying the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics for the Weblog world. CyberJournalist.net follows this code and urges other Weblogs to as well."

    * Bloggers Recognized for Impact on Politics in 2004

    From ABC News, People of the Year: Bloggers

  • Related reference, from BBC News: Blogs take on the mainstream
  • December 28, 2004
    * Blogs Once Again Provide Valuable Real Time Reports on Breaking News

    The New York Times reports on examples of how blogs are providing readers around with world with real time updates, photos and first person accounts of the earthquake in the Indian Ocean and the resulting tsumanis.

    Additional sources that are posting updates on the disaster that has impacted 12 countries and claimed over 52,000 lives include:

  • ReliefWeb (via URLWire)

  • the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog

  • the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Wikipedia),
  • Quake, tsunami blogger roundup (via CyberJournalist.net)

  • and from Time Magazine, Reading Room: The Tsunami - A collection of sites with first-person accounts and photos.
  • December 27, 2004
    * The Growing Impact of Blogs in the Corporate Arena

    Fortune.com has an extensive article on the slippery slope effect of relying on the "viral" linking aspect of blogs to promote products, as well as highlighting recent examples of the enormous impact of bloggers' responses to instances of what they perceive as corporate misdeeds and the marketing of faulty products.

  • Related article from the New York Times: Marketing's Flip Side: The 'Determined Detractor'
  • * Dennis Kennedy's 2004 Legal Blogging Awards

    I am delighted and honored that Dennis Kennedy has chosen beSpacific as the Best Overall Legal Blog for 2004. To be in the company of experts in the legal blogging sphere such as Tom Mighell, Ernest Svenson, Denise Howell, Kevin O'Keefe, Jerry Lawson and Martin Schwimmer is just terrific. I relish spotlighting news, resources and information on technology innovations that add value to the ongoing discussion of law and technology related issues. Thank you for this recognition, and keep reading.

    December 13, 2004
    * Science Advisory Board Hosting Quintet of Blogs

    The Science Advisory Board is now hosting five unique blogs authored by its members.

  • Science, Politics and Ethics , "Debate current events and controversial issues in science and medicine"

  • Science: Uncovering and Discovering, "Explore the creative and technical sides of science"

  • In Translation: Molecular Approaches to Cancer, "Discuss insights into one of science’s greatest challenges"
  • Humans in Science, "Share stories about what being a scientist is all about"

  • The Scientist Errant, "Read revelations of scientists in search of adventure"

    December 10, 2004
    * Blogging, Political Campaigns and Ethics

    This CBS News article examines the role of blogs and bloggers in the recent political campaigns. Specifically, it spotlights the use of blogs in support of Republican John Thune's race for the South Dakota Senate seat. The bloggers in question did not provide disclaimers on their respecitve sites indicating they had received payment totaling $35,000 as Thune's "paid advisors."

    Related References

  • From the Center on Democracy and Technology, Background on Free Speech & Campaigns/Elections: "The rapidly growing use of the Internet by ordinary citizens to express political opinions and participate in electoral activities - one of the medium's most promising aspects - is on a collision course with federal campaign finance law."
  • From AP: Election rules could reach Internet Court ruling: Extend some finance and spending limits to Net

  • From Howard Dean, a commentary on online fundraising: It's about people, not just money

  • December 06, 2004
    * New Blog Co-Authored by Nobel Prize Winning Economist and Federal Circuit Judge

    From the Introduction to the Becker-Posner Blog: "...We have decided to start a blog that will explore current issues of economics, law, and policy in a dialogic format. Initially we will be posting just once a week, on Mondays. In time we may post more frequently." The first posting is on Preventive War.

    December 02, 2004
    * Courts Look to Blogs To Improve Accessibility to Public

    From the National Center for State Courts' 2004 Report on Trends in the State Courts, see Web Logs: Increasing Courts' Ability to Quickly Communicate with Constituents (3 pages, PDF):

  • "The courts' traditional means of communicating with court users are the postal service, the organized media, fax machines, and telephones. In the past decade courts have increasingly used e-mail and Web sites to communicate internally and externally. Web logs, or "blogs," can be useful communication tools for courts because they are easy to use and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection."
  • December 01, 2004
    * Internal and External Strategic Importance of Blogs Continues to Grow

    "Blog use has grown significantly in the past year -- online consumers who regularly read blogs increased from 2% in 2003 to 5% in 2004. Although half of all online consumers have never heard of blogging, consumers who use blogs will become an attractive target group for marketers. Blogging will grow in importance, and at a minimum, companies should monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services. Forrester recommends that companies develop blogging plans in four strategic areas: 1) monitoring blogs; 2) letting employees blog on their own; 3) supporting internal blogs; and 4) creating external, public blogs." [From the Forrester IT First Look, December 1, 2004]

    November 29, 2004
    * New on LLRX.com

    A trio of PowerPoint presentations providing resources on the following timely issues:

  • Corporate Blogging - Sabrina I. Pacifici documents and illustrates how the development and implementation of blogs within your organization can serve as a key application to facilitate research services, knowledge management, marketing, training, and communications within groups, departments, and enterprise wide.

  • Got Competitive Intelligence? Tips, tools and techniques for the savvy marketer
  • - Donna F. Cavallini and Sabrina I. Pacifici detail how to use a wide range of reliable free and fee-based sites and services to find and profile companies and people, for client/prospect monitoring, to follow market trends, and to track law firms and the legal industry.
  • Spam, Phishing and Fraud on the Net - Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina I. Pacifici's guide highlights federal, state, association, advocacy, corporate, commercial and news related resources providing reliable data that addresses the issues of spam, fraudulent website claims and offers, and attempts to obtain personal information to perpetrate ID theft.

  • November 27, 2004
    * Take A Look At the UK Guardian Blog

    The Guardian Unlimited newsblog is worth a look. Among its recent postings are this one on a range of blogs from the Ukraine that are tracking and providing perspective and updates on the recent political crisis.

    November 24, 2004
    * New Blog on Maryland Law

    Librarian Trevor Rosen has launched a blog on Maryland Law. Trevor states he "decided to create this blog as a resource for those of us interested in staying up to date on newsworthy Maryland legal developments and new online tools useful to the Maryland legal coummunity. I intend this to be a collaborative project--one that we can all contribute to and benefit from."

    November 22, 2004
    * New Blog on Freedom of the Press

    According to Bob Ambrogi, his new blog, Media Law, "will track news relating to the First Amendment, access to public records, open meetings laws, journalist shield laws, libel and other such issues, with an emphasis on Massachusetts." [thanks d.c.] It is off to an informative and fast paced start.

    November 21, 2004
    * How Many Blogs Are There and How Can You Track Them?

    PubSub's press release indicates the company is tracking "over 6.5 million blogs every day as well as other content streams including 50,000 USENET newsgroups, all SEC/EDGAR filings, press releases from major wire services and FAA airport delay alerts." [via ResearchBuzz]

    November 19, 2004
    * Blogging Behind the Corporate Firewall at Google

    Google sees benefits in corporate blogging

    November 17, 2004
    * beSpacific Added to Librarian's Index to the Internet

    I am pleased to have been indexed by lii.org.

    November 12, 2004
    * New Econ Blog Over At WSJ

    Tyler Cowen, from Marginal Revolution and John Irons, Argmax present their views on current issues in a point, counterpoint style. An online discussion board is available (reg's req'd), and links to current EconoBlog postings are as follows:

  • day one: Social Security

  • day two: Trade

  • day three: Europe and Asia

  • day four: Taxes

  • day five: Bush Agenda
  • November 03, 2004
    * New Blog on Legal Periodicals

    This evening, John Doyle, Washington & Lee Law Library, announced the launch of his Legal Periodicals blog, which supplements and expands upon his Most-Cited Legal Periodicals U.S. and selected non-U.S database.

    November 01, 2004
    * New Blog on E-Voting News

    E-Voting News and Analysis, from the Experts:

  • "Welcome to evoting-experts.com, a central source of up-to-date information and insight about e-voting, straight from some of the leading independent experts on computerized voting technology. Our distinguished panelists will post messages on the site continuously through election day and afterward. This is a non-partisan site. Our goal here is not to advance any political agenda, but to help ensure that all votes are counted fairly and accurately, and to provide honest expert commentary to the public and the press."
  • October 27, 2004
    * More New Articles on LLRX.com

  • Researching Labor Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution In Employment, by Suzanne Thorpe and Laura J. Cooper

  • Advice to the Bloglorn, by Lois C. Ambash
  • October 14, 2004
    * Review of IP Blogs

    The multi-talented Robert Ambrogi (lawyer, author, blogger, Director of WritersforLawyers), published a new column, Web Watch: Intellectual Property Blogs (in Law Technology News, reg. req'd), which he then promptly updated on his blog.

    * Website and Blog Present Different Perspectives on Presidential Polling Data

  • Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

  • Election Projection 2004 Edition
  • * Blog Tracks Newspaper Endorsements of Bush or Kerry

    Presidential Endorsements Around the country: "The goal of this site is to catalog presidential endorsements from newspapers around the country (and maybe even the world)."

    October 04, 2004
    * Recruiters and Job Seekers Turn to Blogs

    From the New York Times, Need a New Job? Check Out a Blog.

  • "Job seekers use blogs to establish a strong online presence, display their skills and advertise their availability...Corporate recruiters, in turn, use blogs to draw in qualified candidates, and they search for potential hires by reading bloggers who write about topics relevant to a particular industry."

  • September 26, 2004
    * NY Times Magazine Offers Perspective on Bloggers Impact in Political Arena

    September 26, 2004, Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail: Insights into the expanding profile of bloggers whose views are changing the reading habits of many readers by allowing them highly interconnected online channels through which they can satisfy their interest in political campaign facts, rumors, and commentary.

  • Related article published on LLRX.com, September 20 - Commentary: A Librarian Blogger at the DNC
  • September 22, 2004
    September 09, 2004
    * Congrats to ResearchBuzz

    Tara Calishain writes: "On Thursday, September 9, ResearchBuzz celebrates its 300th issue. Since October 1998 ResearchBuzz has been providing weekly pointers and commentary to online research resources." Readers may choose from several features available to read her terrific content, including through categories or by date. Also not to be missed, Tara's new book, Web Search Garage.

    September 01, 2004
    * Blogging the RNC and an E-Gov Site on Election Resources

  • U.S. Dept. of State, United States Elections 2004 (note: references a terrific column by Kathy Biehl, from LLRX.com, on Federal & State Election Resources)

  • Aggregated blog feeds on convention news: Politics.Feedster.com, Technorati Election Watch 2004 and links to individuals who are blogging the convention.

  • Yahoo! News - Presidential Elections - Blogs

  • August 24, 2004
    August 19, 2004
    * Blogs as Teaching Tools in Elementary School

    In the Classroom, Web Blogs Are the New Bulletin Boards.

    August 18, 2004
    * Metro Area Bloggers Collaborate on Locale Specific Info

    From CNN, 'Insider' info puts city blogs on the map.

  • Additional references: metroblogging and D.C. Bloggers.

  • August 17, 2004
    * Will the White House Website Embrace Blogs?

    The Washington Post (reg. req'd) reports, in White House Goes to the Blogs, that White House Internet Director Jimmy Orr is interested in incorporating more blog-like features into the White House website.

  • For reference, see White House Online Discussion Forum With the Public
  • August 16, 2004
    * Blogs, RSS, Marketing, Collaboration and More

    Blogs: The Marketing Killer. This article reviews how major corporates are leveraging blogs and RSS feeds for marketing, collaboration and current awareness monitoring.

    August 05, 2004
    August 01, 2004
    * Online Hoaxes Now Include Fake Blogs

    Wry Hoaxes Enliven the World of Web Diarists

    * Amazon Aggregating Blog Postings on Electronics

    Electronics Blogcast - Interesting blog posts from all over the web. References all seem to be from either Gizmodo or Engadget.

    July 30, 2004
    * Info on Lots of Cool Gadgets

    If you are interested in the latest news, reviews and competitive pricing on cellphones, wireless, PDAs, laptops, and the wide world of gizmos, along with reading Brett Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros column on LLRX.com, take a look at Gizmodo, the gadgets weblog.

    July 26, 2004
    July 23, 2004
    * Enterprise Wide Blogs Catching On

    Blog's the word in big business: Microsoft has about 1,000 unregulated employee blogs according to this article.

    July 22, 2004
    * New Blog From IE Browser Team

    IEBlog, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Weblog, launched July 21.

    July 21, 2004
    * WSJ on Sentencing Law Blog and New RSS Feeds

    Today's WSJ has another article on blogs (that's two this month!), Law Professor's Web Log Is Jurists' Must-Read

  • In addition, the Journal has launched a range of RSS feeds as follows (please note - "Headlines are available to all users, but full stories are available only to subscribers of the Online Journal."): What's News - US, What's News - Europe, What's News - Asia, What's News - Technology, US Business, Market News, Opinion - Review & Outlook, and Personal Technology/Walt Mossberg (this column is free to non-subscribers).

  • July 19, 2004
    * Campaigns Will Closely Monitor Voting Irregularities

    Kerry Building Legal Network for Vote Fights: both parties are implemeting legal strategies in anticipation of a possible recount in the November election.

  • Related information: for links to "comprehensive databases on more than 40,000 candidates and incumbents," see Project Vote Smart.

  • And for a unique perspective of campaigns at the local level, here is a link to a blog authored by Hiram Wurf, who is a Democratic candidate for the DuPage County Board District 5. [via Hot Links and this Courier News Online article]

  • July 09, 2004
    * FCC Chairman Launches Blog Targeted at Tech Community

    AlwaysOn Network is hosting a blog for FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell, who published his first posting on July 8. There are also comments enabled from community members.

  • "One reason I am participating in AlwaysOn Network's blog is to hear from the tech community directly and to try to get beyond the traditional inside the Beltway Washington world where lobbyists filter the techies. I am looking forward to an open, transparent and meritocracy-based communication—attributes that bloggers are famous for!"
  • July 08, 2004
    * Bloggers Who Will Be At Democratic Convention

    CyberJournalist.net has a list, which will be updated, of bloggers who have been credentialed for the Democratic Convention.

    July 07, 2004
    * Microsoft Weighs In On Corporate Blogging

    The Four-Letter Word That Can Get People Excited About Your Products:

  • "What do George Bush and John Kerry, IBM, and thousands of small businesses have in common? They all use a Web log—or "blog" for short—to reach potential customers and get them interested in their products. But not all do so with equal success."
  • * Review of Blogs and RSS in WSJ

    From the WSJ Personal Technology site, Blogs Can Help You Cope With Data Overload, If You Manage Them, addresses how newsreaders can help blog aficionados stay current with all the latest postings from a burgeoning community of content. Of note, Bloglines will be adding "unobtrusive Google-style ads to bring in revenue." The author also mentions five popular, topical blogs.

  • See also this post on upgrades and new features launched by Bloglines last night.
  • * Check-Out the Blog for the AALL Conference 2004 in Boston

    The AALL Blog: Boston 2004 (includes RSS feed) provides program and meeting updates, info on receptions, roundtables, and links to local area resources, both practical (such as a page on Internet access in the area) and pleasurable (recommended dining, book stores, sight seeing).

    July 05, 2004
    * Corporate Blogging, Marketing and Communications

    The President and COO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathon Schwartz, launched a blog on June 28. Other Sun bloggers comment on his effort: What's missing from Sun blogs (or, is Executive Blogging enough)? and Sun has gone Cluetrain.

  • Read the entire text of the book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, online for free.
  • June 29, 2004
    * AP To Launch Blogs for Upcoming Political Conventions

    "The Associated Press will launch its first Web log at the political conventions in Boston and New York, utilizing Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Walter R. Mears, AP officials announced Monday." [Link]

    June 25, 2004
    * Law Blog Created for Single Trial

    From the LA Times (reg. req'd), PeopleSoft Lawyer's Weblog Is Fresh Twist in Spin Wars.

  • View from the Court
  • June 23, 2004
    * Corporate Blogging Takes Root

    Blogging With The Boss's Blessing - "More companies are helping employees to speak freely -- and bond with customers."

    June 18, 2004
    * Leveraging Blogs for Marketing and User Services in Special Libraries

    From Darlene Fichter, links to her June 17, 2004 presentation, Weblogs - Opportunities for Special Libraries:

  • PowerPoint

  • Resources and Biblography
  • June 11, 2004
    * PR Bloggers and the Evolving View of Marketing

    PR bloggers push forth the medium

  • For reference, see PR Opinions, PR Fuel and The New PR Wiki.
  • June 04, 2004
    * Best Practices: Blogs and Collaborative Knowledge Management

    Can blogging replace communities of practice?

    June 03, 2004
    * Primer on RSS and Commentary on Its Limitations

  • The New York Time provides a useful guide to RSS and newsfeed applications, noting free and fee-based services, as well as limitations of the technology. This article is not a comprehensive review, so for more information check my previous topical postings.
  • From the Online Journalism Reviews, RSS Feeds Can Build Web Traffic, but Fence Sitters Note Problems
  • May 26, 2004
    May 25, 2004
    * Blog Software Comparison Chart

    Blog Software Breakdown via Slashdot, compares features and requirements of the following apps: b2Evolution, Nucleus CMS, Serendipity, SPIP, TextPattern and WordPress.

    May 24, 2004
    May 20, 2004
    * The Role of Blogs in Managing Corporate IT Projects

    A modest proposal for using blogs to keep IT teams and management up-to-date on implementation:

  • "IT organizations that can effectively use blogs as managerial tools (or communication resources) are probably development environments that take both people and their ideas seriously."
  • May 11, 2004
    * Google Launches Its Own Blog

    Launched yesterday, with the Google Blog the following description: "Insight into the news, technology, and culture of Google. Get the latest word direct from the Googleplex about new technology, hot issues, and the wide world of search." As of this evening, there are two postings.

    April 16, 2004
    * A Guide to Searching for Blog Content

    Trends in Blog Searching, by Christina K. Pikas, a Techical Services Librarian at JHU's Applied Physics Laboratory, provides a valuable resource on the effective use of general search engines and blog search engines.

    April 12, 2004
    * Launch of New Blog On Gov't Ethics

    Interagency Ethics Council: Standards of Conduct for Federal Employees: "This site aims to perform this function by providing timely links to resources at official web sites like the Office of Government Ethics as well as news reports and other resources, including training materials prepared by members of the Interagency Ethics Counsel." [Jerry Lawson]

    April 05, 2004
    * Number of Blog Readers Continues to Grow

    Blogging is Booming: Interesting links to statistics on blog traffic, which on some sites apparently exceeds monthly readership of major mainstream newspapers.

    April 01, 2004
    * Content Driven Blogs A Good Marketing Choice

    Online Presence: Considering Blogs Instead of Web Sites

    March 23, 2004
    * beSpacific Will Return to Weekday Updates on March 29
    March 12, 2004
    * The Memory Hole Launches Blog

    The Memory Hole launched a companion blog on March 10, where the author will focus on breaking news and information.

    March 11, 2004
    * Weblog on the 3/11 Madrid Bombings

    11 de marzo de 2004. Atentado en Madrid.

    February 23, 2004
    * Commentary on Enhancements Required to Leverage the Power of RSS

    RSS: A Big Success In Danger of Failure:

  • "What RSS desperately needs are enhancements that will allow users to take advantage of the breadth of RSS feeds without being buried in irrelevant information."
  • February 13, 2004
    * A Good Intro to RSS

    An Introduction to RSS Feeds, by Jessica Baumgart, Winter 2004, News Library News (pdf). News Library News is the quarterly bulletin of the Special Libraries Association News Division.

    February 12, 2004
    * Google Owned Weblog Tool Chooses Alternate Syndication Format

    Blogger, purchased by Google last year, will implement the Atom syndication publishing format, rather than RSS, the widely known application with a larger user base and significant associated documentation.

  • See also this Blogger FAQ on Atom, as well as this posting, The Great RSS vs. Atom Content Syndication Debate.
  • * Website Offers Range of Links to Campaign News, Polling and Commentary

    Looking for more campaign facts, stats and talk? Try RealClearPolitics, a site that each day filters and links to selected political opinion columns (including the WSJ, Washington Times, New York Times and Boston Globe), editorials, candidate specific news articles, state and national polls, Congressional and Presidential approval ratings, commentary by the site's authors, and links to talk show transcripts.

    February 10, 2004
    * E-Discovery Blog

    Alextronic Discovery: "An Electronic Discovery Blog covering news, articles and thoughts for the legal and corporate community," by Alex Lubarsky. The first posting was 11/09/03. (thanks Ben)

    February 02, 2004
    * Blogs and Websites to Track the Campaigns

    From PoynterOnline, this annotated list of blogs and websites with daily updates on campaign news, including the launch of the first blog from the New York Times.

    January 28, 2004
    * Harvard Law School's New Resource on Internet Law and Policy

    From Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Law and Technology, the "Berkman Briefings is a reading series that provides background information about major questions related to Internet policy, technology, and law. Every month, the Briefing will cover a new topic." The RSS for this blog is here.

    January 27, 2004
    * Blog on Martha Stewart Trial

    Martha Watch, from Newsweek Business on MSNBC.com [link from New Media Musings via I Want Media], has updates on the trial, along with lots of commentary.

    January 19, 2004
    * PCWorld Chooses Best of the Web Applications

    In PCWorld's February 2004 issue, the articleWeb Stars: Best of the Web includes search engines (winners are Google, Dogpile and AllTheWeb), Blog Sites & Aggregator Tools (winners include Feedster, Memigo, and SharpReader).

    January 07, 2004
    * New California Healthcare Blog

    The California Health Consensus Project launched a weblog today. See this US Newswire release for more details.

    January 05, 2004
    * Blogging on Legal Citations for Blogs

    The BlogBook is a "guide to legal blogging" that hosts an ongoing discussion of style, ethics and technical issues associated with blawgs, launched late November 2003. The site's design resembles that of the Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation, and its three authors are attorneys who are also writers and marketing experts. An article about their work is here.

    December 31, 2003
    December 30, 2003
    * Blogging, Politics, Journalism and, Opinions

    Freewheeling 'bloggers' are rewriting rules of journalism.

    December 22, 2003
    * Leveraging Blogs for Effective Library Communications

    Building a Home for Library News with a BLOG

  • See also Blogging: One Firm's Experience, Karen Lasnick and Julie Weber of Bryan Cave discuss their implementation of multiple, practice specific blogs to facilitate information dissemination.
  • December 11, 2003
    * News Feeds for the Legal Community

    Thanks to fellow blogger Dennis Kennedy for the mention of beSpacific in his article, Beating Information Overload with News Aggregators, from the November/December 2003 issue of ABA Law Practice Management.

    December 05, 2003
    * Review of Blogging Applications

    From PC Magazine, a brief "how-to" overview of blogging features, tools and pricing, as well as ratings of the following applications: Blogger/Blog*Spot, LiveJournal, Radio UserLand, Tripod Blog Builder, TypePad, Weblogger, Xanga, Movable Type 2.64. The author awards TypePad, the hosted version of Movable Type, with the honor as best in its class.

    November 24, 2003
    * Effectively Leveraging Blogs

    Increasing Your Visibility Using Blogs, by Jenny Levine, presented at the Internet Librarian Conference, November 3-5.

    November 18, 2003
    * Selected Presentations from Internet Librarian Conference

  • A Google Gambol: Advanced Tricks and Techniques, Greg Notess, Creator, Search Engine Showdown & Reference Librarian, Montana State University

  • Top Tech Trends for Internet Librarians, Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Rochester Institute of Technology

  • The Blogging Explosion—Libraries & Weblogs, Darlene Fichter, Data Services Librarian, University of Saskatchewan

  • Web Searching in 2004, Greg Notess, Creator, Search Engine Showdown & Reference Librarian, Montana State University
  • November 17, 2003
    * Blog on Law Firm Management

    Law Firm Management News:

  • "Law firm management news, advice, and commentary for managing partners, legal administrators, and other legal management professionals.
  • [Bag and Baggage]

    November 11, 2003
    * Legal Marketing via Blogs

    From Denise Howell's blog, What Has Your Blawg Done For You, Your Clients, Your Profession, Lately? Issues addressed include:

  • Blawgs For Professional Development

  • Blawgs As Devoted, Low Cost, Personal PR Experts

  • Blawgs As Conversations
  • November 10, 2003
    * Blogs as a Library Marketing Tool

    Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library's Services, by Darlene Fichter:

  • "Librarians have had to learn how to do a lot with just a little in order to promote awareness of their programs and services. They have seized the opportunities to market libraries in the real world via traditional media: newspapers, corporate newsletters, radio, and TV. Many libraries produce brochures, pathfinders, and their own newsletters. So it is no surprise to see librarians stepping up to the plate and spreading the word online with blogs. Savvy librarians have identified blogs as another means to market libraries and their services."

  • November 03, 2003
    * DoD Reviewing Use of Blogs

    Government Computer News reports that the Navy is piloting the use of enterprise blogging applications for specialized technical projects. This pilot will serve as an evaluation platform for adoption of blogging by other branches of the service.

    October 21, 2003
    * Enterprise Blogging as a Communications Tool

    Blogging for Business:

  • "This article takes a look at the eme