I stumbled across this a couple of nights ago while mindlessly surfing the cable channels. A fascinating documentary on the Sundance Channel. In Blog Wars, filmmakers James Rogan and Phil Craig examine how online democratic activism is shaping important elections by focusing on the decisive Connecticut senate race and Ned Lamont’s challenge to incumbent Joe Lieberman.
Category Archives: Blogging
Favorite blogs and podcasts
Henry wants to know my ten favorite podcasts and blogs. I read a lot more than 10 blogs a day, but if I had to pick 10, they would be:
Scripting News, Boing Boing, Dilbert Blog, Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Ramsey, Micro Persuasion, Podcasting News, Seth Godin, and GrowLearfield.com + all of the Learfield blogs. Links to the right.
As for podcasts, I don’t think I listen to 10 on a regular basis, only because I don’t have time. I sample others from time to time bu the ones I listen to regularly are:
MacCast, Keith and the Girl, Podcast 411, This Week in Tech, Diggnation, NPR Technology, This American Life, Cutting Edge (Business Week).
All are weekly except Keith and the Girl which is daily. Usually an hour.
Should law firm bonuses give credit for blogging?
“It’s a whole new generation of lawyers out there. Many younger lawyers feel more comfortable online than anywhere else. Law firms who hire some of the brightest and talented young professionals in the world have a hidden treasure of innovative Internet marketing ideas in these young people. It’s time to unleash the talent you have. Law firms who do so will be rewarded in not only increased revenues but also in their recruiting efforts to land the best and brightest.” — Kevin at LexBlog
He links to some very good examples to support his position.
Disclosure: Life-Partner and Best Pal Barb is a lawyer. No interest in blogging. And, as far as she knows, none of the three or four hundred attorneys in her firm are blogging. At least not professionally.
New and improved Blogger
I made the jump from Blogger to Typepad a couple of years ago because Blogger was driving me nuts. All kind of problems and missing features. A number of Learfield bloggers and friends are still using the service so this link is for you. It’s an interview (video) with Eric Case who works on the Blogger team at Google. I’m posting here because it’s easier than trying to remember who to email.
Blogging’s impact in the newsroom
Steve Rubel points to an article in The American Journalism Review about how bloggers are changing journalism in the US. This should be required reading for any working journalist. The AJR piece concludes with some blogging tips from Dallas Morning News Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey, who led her staff in launching the nation’s first editorial page blog. Here are her excellent suggestions:
1. Be brief and informal. Breezy, conversational tone is good. Two hundred words is too long. Go for the quick hit, light touch, witty aside. Attitude required.
2. Don’t be too proud to blog.
3. Respond to previous blog postings. This is about conversation, after all. It’s the back and forth that makes a blog engaging.
4. Vary your topics. Don’t be a wonk.
5. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read in the paper.
6. Use hyperlinks.
7. Incorporate interesting, provocative reader e-mail. The best blogs are two-way streets.
8. Be quick to correct yourself.
9. Don’t feel obligated to answer all blog-generated e-mail.
10. Don’t over edit; but designate a blog boss.