"Ethics and Blogs
Swarming media in "Ethics and Blogs"
The following is an excerpt from an e-mail I recently wrote, which I later realized would be an applicable subject here. I've spruced it up a bit to make it something other than a letter, but if you're the recipient of the letter and want me to take this down, let me know and it's gone. It deals with whether or not it is appropriate to speak of a code of ethics for blogs.When discussing a code of ethics for blogs, one generally thinks of the blogger-as-reporter paradigm. Yet this lays certain traps because it linguistically it refers to a medium, when it intends to refer to a use of a medium. To speak of a universal code of ethics one would have to consider blogs that do not always see their purpose as entirely journalistic, like music blogs, tech blogs, gossip blogs, as well as the socially-localized personal blogs that dominate the medium. In some of these contexts, speaking of a universal code of ethics doesn't make too much sense, since informal, unique codes arise through the interaction between the bloggers within sub-network groups. For instance, a group of high-schoolers with blogs written for consumption by their friends will (and, I would say, should) have a very different code than someone blogging for the New York Times. The problem with this many codes-of-ethics view could be that it leans overly populist or relativist at times, but ultimately any code of ethics is going to be determined through the interaction of bloggers and readers, regardless of other concerns.
Euro gamers get hands on Halo 3; Gamers across Europe get their hands on Halo 3, one of the most anticipated and heavily marketed titles in history.
:-) is turning 25! Happy birthday, emoticon!
by Preeti Aroon
Today, Sept. 18, is the 25th anniversary of the smiley-face emoticon . At 11:44 a.m. on this day in 1982, Scott E. Fahlman, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, first typed the smiley-face emoticon, :-), on an online bulletin board as part of a discussion about how to signal that an online comment is being made in jest.
The historic phrase, located after a " heroic effort" of digging through ancient backup tapes, reads as follows:
I propose the following character sequence for joke markers:
:-)
Facebook's Impact on the Widget Economy
by Nick O'Neill
Last night I attended a technology event, Refresh DC. Refresh DC provides local companies with the opportunity to speak for an hour about a topic of their choice. Last night's event was sponsored by Clearspring and the topic of discussion was widgets. After listening to Will Meyer talk for a while, I began to wonder about Facebook's effect on the widget economy.
In Pictures: The Most Notable Notebooks of 2007
The False Ideology of Individuality, or, Always Multiply
I've just been reading an entry at Media Studies 2.0 entitled "MySpace and Legendary Psychasthenia" and while I generally like his blog quite a bit, I found myself disagreeing with a lot of what William was writing and his methods of argument. Essentially, the essay bemoans a loss of "individuality" in our subjective immigration to online social networks. This is an argument that has been heard before, and one that does have some valuable claims, but ultimately the entry fails to properly account for the multiplicity of subjective interaction and archivization via online social networks. And by thus mistaking the global for the local and vice-versa, it's tough to give the point much weight.
Is Facebook a network of networks?
by Rory Marinich
Beyond Facebook, there are several other sites I use frequently. Google, obviously, is necessary for when I want to search and email other people. Last.fm has slowly become my choice for listening to music and finding new bands. And recently, I joined Streamy for reading newsfeeds. These sites are all networks: usually, Last.fm is the only place I need to go to for music information. And I’ve never had to resort to a search engine past Google for most of my general needs....
New advice on cyberbullying
by Paul Ayres
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has issued new advice on the issue of bullying and cyberbullying in particular.
European job days
by Angela Joyce
As part of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the EU is holding “European Job Days” across Europe from 24-29 September. This is promoting job mobility across the EU countries. More than 200 European cities have signed up. It’s being organised by EURES, European Employment Services which are part of the European Commission. You can search for jobs and find information on their site. The UK is holding an event in London on 17 October (so a bit later). Email Peter Sydserff peter.sydserff@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk for more information.
the googlization of everything: a public writing begins
by ben vershbow
We're very excited to announce that Siva's new Google book site, produced and hosted by the Institute, is now live! In addition to being the seed of what will likely be a very important book, I'll bet that over time this will become one of the best Google-focused blogs on the Web.
books and the man, part III: the new patronage
by sebastian mary
In the first 'Books and the man' post I took the example of Alexander Pope to argue that the idea of 'high' literature is inseparable from economic conditions that enable a writer to turn himself into a brand and sell copyrighted material to his readership. In this post I want to look at what happens to creative work in a medium whose very nature militates against copyright.
Is Good Scientific Journalism Possible?
