Tag: site

Weblogs, Pamphlets and Public Citizens: Changing Modern Media

Speaking of Tom, he’s authored a great paper as part of the Master’s program he’s enrolled in. Titled “Weblogs, Pamphlets and Public Citizens: Changing Modern Media“, in which he compares the citizen journalists of today’s blogosphere to the pamphleteers of pre-Revolutionary War America. I got a sneak peek during the drafting and editing phase, and I think it’s really good.
Some choice quotes:

The effects of blogs in a new media environment are twofold: Weblogs cover stories that their mainstream media counterparts, for editorial reasons or other gatekeeping practices common in modern professional media, omit or miss entirely; and weblogs also bring to bear an ever-vigilant group of diverse problem solvers that fact-check the work of many reporters and journalists in the mass-media arena. This makes the blogosphere an excellent addendum to mass media, operating as both appendix and errata to the main compendium of stories that the mass media puts into the public sphere using trained reporters and journalists.
and
As technology had advanced further, producing Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a distribution method that allows for easy and automatic syndication of new additions to weblogs, it has become possible for a consumer of media to add weblogs to their daily news diet. This allows for readers to mix and match their media, creating a new media outlet that is personally tailored to their interests and to their pursuits. Using an RSS-reader application on a personal computer, a sports fan can have a forty-page sports section and a one page local section, or a political junkie can have page after page of differing commentary from a variety of sources. The reader becomes their own editor and gatekeeper, combining multiple weblogs and conventional media sources, which have also adopted RSS, into their own personal fountain of news and commentary.
If you’ve read Dan Gillmor’s We The Media and/or Hugh Hewitt’s Blog, some of Tom’s piece will sound familiar, especially in that he cites the former as a source, but I say the familiarity makes Tom’s arguments stronger. Good work, my friend!

Miscellany

I know Lee will be interested in Anil’s observations on web site comments.

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Stop wandering aimlessly through that phone tree, and get a human on the line.

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“This is hot.” New fan-created Firefox ad that’s really good.

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Love coffee? Love cafes, but don’t want to support the corporate monstrosity? Then use Delocator to find local shops near you. And please, if you know of a local cafe that’s not listed on Delocator, add it!

[Waves of the phin to John, Paul, and John at FD.]

Firefox Flicks

While I think it’s probably the third-best browser for Mac OS X, I would have to say Firefox is the best browser for those who insist on using Windows. Some of the more rabid Firefox fans are making their own commercials for the browser. Give Me The Soap is my favorite.
[With a wave of the phin to dealnews.]

Miscellany

It’s too bad I have no design experience nor web programming skills. The guys at Firewheel Design sound fun to work with, and they’re about fifteen minutes away in Southlake.

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Dan needs some of this furniture in his pad.

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Cableyoyo’s new Pop is a good idea, but most folks I know with iPods keep them in some sort of case.

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What happens when you shove an iPod Shuffle in to a NES controller?

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[With waves of the phin to the Firewheel Design blog, and Macsimum News.]

Miscellany

To get back at phishers (as opposed to a phisch), use PhishFighting. It’s certainly a much better use of CPU cycles than looking for aliens that don’t exist.
[Via IM from Lawson.]

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Lee has no sense of adventure.

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Memo to Skip Bertman, Director of Athletics, Louisiana State University: in the future, Final Four-bound teams are not allowed to come back to Baton Rouge prior to the semi-final game. Apparently, there’s something in the water that results in “chucking”, better known as “the shooting of bricks”.
It was painful enough watching the men’s team lose the game last night due to their inability to put the ball in the basket (as opposed to UCLA’s winning by making it difficult for the Tigers to do so), but the ladies seemed to have the same problem tonight against Duke, a team which was making it difficult for the Tigers to put the ball in the basket.
Two shots at a championship, two shots blown. Kudos to UCLA and Duke. There’s always next year.
And it’s baseball season.

They’re still around?

I’m sure some of you will respond to this revelation with a “Well, duh!”, but CompuServe is still around.
One of the ladies in our minichurch has a cs.com e-mail address, and suddenly curious as to what that domain was, I punched it in to Safari’s address box. Lo and behold, it’s CompuServe.
Which is now owned by Netscape.
Which is owned by AOL Time Warner.
Weirdness.

Flickr finding whales

“This is what Flickr has the power to do.”

On those Wikipedia ills

Given Ellyn’s column this month on Wikipedia, I thought this Penny Arcade was apropos.
[Wave of the phin to Dan.]

Let the Good Times Roll

Guy Kawasaki has a new blog.
[Via John.]

What’s in your Backpack?

So the gang at 37signals have launched an affiliate program for Backpack, and, of course, I’ve signed up. You will note the link graphic in the side bar, under the “Support” heading.
37signals is doing something a bit differently with the Backpack affiliate program: you don’t actually receive cash, but rather credit toward your own Backpack account. Theoretically, your own Backpack usage could be completely free if enough people sign up for a paid plan through your referral link.
You can use this link to sign up for and use the Backpack web service. The default plan is free, so it doesn’t cost you a thing to try the service out. Backpack affiliates don’t make a dime unless you upgrade from the free plan to one of the paid plans, which start at a mere five dollars a month. (This is the plan I am currently on.) Continued use of Backpack is one more reason I will likely not renew my .Mac subscription next year.
I just wish the affiliate program had been up and running last month, when I upgraded. Then Tom, who got me hooked on Backpack to begin with, could have earned some coin.
Backpack won’t be for everyone, just as with any other tool, but as with any other tool, you won’t know if you’ll like it unless you try it.