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September 28, 2005

Blogs for freedom

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres http://www.rsf.org/) have published a Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents at http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542. It will teach you how to blog anonymously, how to get around censorship and how to build credibility for your blog through ethical reporting. RSF developed the handbook because "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." The counter-terrorism boys will probably be all over this handbook -- after all, if the good guys can use these work-arounds, so can the bad ones.
Posted by belinda at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2005

The state of things

People may not always be sure what it is, but blogging is alive and well, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project called The State of Blogging. Apparently 8 million Americans have set one up, though how many are regularly maintained is unknown. Blogs are certainly establishing themselves as an alternative to 'straight' news, with 27% of Net users regularly reading them. Many use RSS feeds or XML readers to keep in touch with their favourites. The full report is at http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_blogging_data.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2004

Blogs and readers and trust

The US-based Associated Press Managing Editors runs a project called the National Credibility Roundtables Project. Details can be found at http://www.apme-credibility.org/index.html. It includes a Credibility Roundtable Database to facilitate the use of newspapers for research. New on the site are the results of various Readers Speak surveys, one of which concerns blogging. Apparently one in five US Internet users reads blogs and the reasons readers have for following blogs vary a lot -- from getting a new slant on existing news stories to finding out about stories not on the radar anywhere else. Journalists are urged to read and use blogs as good sources of new story ideas. The site is worth a look -- there's a lot there.
Posted by belinda at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

June 08, 2004

From the front line

What's life really like in Iraq now? For people who live there? For soldiers stuck there? Use Bloggers4Freedom (www.bloggers4freedom.com/) to find out. It contains first person accounts of the war zone from those actually living there or engaged in ongoing conflicts. The site aims to be apolitical and take no particular line. It includes blogs from soldiers actually in Iraq, those recently returned, and some from soldiers elsewhere in the Middle East. Iraqi blogs include some expatriate views and some sourced from other parts of the Middle East. According to the site's disclaimer, some of the Iraqi opinions expressed may seem (surprise, surprise!) "negative by American standards".
Posted by belinda at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2004

VoxPop

New tool BlogPulse (www.blogpulse.com/) has been developed to tell us what the chatterati are currently discussing. Use it to find the key people, the key phrases, or the top links in the latest blog postings. With the movie Troy just out here, no surprises in the fact that Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom appear in the top 40 key people. However, a few political names crop up as well so it isn't wall to wall entertainment goss out in blogland. Abu Ghraib is the top phrase.
Posted by belinda at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2004

Comments not welcome

There has been a comment option on this blog for some time, but it has increasingly been used by spammers. Since I don't want to remove endless Viagra ads, I have closed down comment for the moment. Apologies to anyone who would like to comment. Please contact me directly at belinda AT journoz.com if you want to comment and I will post your remarks. I'm not in favour of censorship but it's really time something was done about spammers - they really are a dreadful blight on online use. As someone who gets at least 50 spam emails a day, I resent the time I have to spend deleting them!
Posted by belinda at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2004

US Presidential campaign weblog

The New York Times has started up a blog to report from the campaign trail of the US Presidential campaigns. Times on the Trail is frequently updated and should be essential for those who have to get the latest. Find it at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/trail/index.html. Expect some damaging revelations as the fight gets dirty.
Posted by belinda at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2003

Gizmo heaven

People who love toys will love Gizmodo (http://www.gizmodo.com/), a blog for gadget lovers. These are sleek, expensive gadgets and highlights include a new Samsung camcorder the size of a mobile phone. It can record for two hours and you can carry it in your pocket. See for yourself at http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/010009.php. The blog also highlights Popular Science magazine's latest picks at http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/010070.php#010070.
Posted by belinda at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2003

All about blogs and journalism

The question of whether blogging is journalism continues to get people arguing. The latest issue of the Nieman Reports, a magazine out of the journalism school at Harvard University has a big section on that question with a number of well-known bloggers -- Mark Glaser, Paul Grabowicz, Rebecca Blood and J.D. Lasica -- weighing in. The full PDF of the journal is at http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/03-3NRfall/V57N3.pdf and the blog stuff starts around page 59.
Posted by belinda at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2003

Behind the Homefront

This new blog, from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, is "a daily chronicle of news in homeland security and military operations affecting newsgathering, access to information and the public's right to know." Read it at http://www.rcfp.org/behindthehomefront/.
Posted by belinda at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2003

Professors online

Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University, has started a blog called Press/Think at http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/. Today's post is all about opinion crowding out news and why talking heads only want to be seen on TV.
Posted by belinda at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2003

Moblog services

It was only a matter of time before some smart person decided to offer an online home to all the mobile/phone bloggers out there. mLogs (http://www.mlogs.com/) says: "All you need is a cellphone with a camera. Take photos, add text messages and email them to your mLog email address." Get your pix online in a moment with the service. The E-Media TidBits weblog (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31) asks why more journalists are not already using this kind of innovation to do new kinds of reporting.
Posted by belinda at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2003

More on RSS

More info on the RSS/syndication of news and web logs is in Dan Gillmor's Ejournal on Silicon Valley.com at http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/001285.shtml. Gillmor uses RSS reader software to get news, online information and newsletters, bypassing email and Web surfing. He suggests, among other things, that PR people use it to get their message out instead of bombarding the inboxes of busy journalists with email junk. Time to get with the program?
Posted by belinda at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

It was only a matter of time ...

Can you make a living out of blogging? The Economist has a look at the topic in its piece, Golden blogs: blogging, to the horror of some, is trying to go commercial, at http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1994135. Apparently, the small, tight-knit group of readers a blog can attract look like dollar signs to advertisers seeking niche markets.
Posted by belinda at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2003

Do you syndicate?

If you're a blogger, you may well allow your entries to be syndicated for news aggregator services. (If you use blogging software such as MoveableType, syndication is easy.) News sites need to be syndicatable too, so that headline aggregators can come along and suck up their content. The technology is Rich Site Summary (aka Really Simple Syndication or RSS for short). If you don't know about it yet, it's about time you did. Read a few tips at the excellent Lockergnome's RSS page (http://rss.lockergnome.com/). If you are interested in what's available via RSS, look at NewsIsFree. You will need an RSS reader, such as AmphetaDesk (available from http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/) to translate the feeds into headlines.
Posted by belinda at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2003

Media blog, media futures

New Directions for News has a glossy brochure on the thirteen forces shaping media at http://www.ndn.org/webdata/Documents/36/13Forces11.pdf. Worth a look. The site has also launched a weblog, called Fast Forward, (http://www.ndn.org/blog/blog.aspx) which will cover the "media-centric life and the forces shaping the use of news, information and media".
Posted by belinda at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

July 02, 2003

Libel cover

Bloggers who republish potentially libellous information gleaned elsewhere have been protected from being sued by a new court ruling in the US. According to Online Journalism Review, "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on June 24th that First Amendment protections against libel will be extended to information that is republished through outlets like e-mail lists and weblogs." Wired News has the story at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59424,00.html.
Posted by belinda at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2003

Growing your own job

Mark Glaser, a columnist at Online Journalism Review, has written a piece called One-Man Blogs Prove There Is Money to Be Made by Online Journals, which should give aid and encouragement to those who want to make themselves heard online and earn a buck in the process. Successful blogs sum up news, provide links, throw in some commentary and often do some useful original reporting. Read the full piece at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1055879147.php. If you want to see how it's done, Glaser's column this week rates the most influential blogs at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/glaser/1056050270.php.
Posted by belinda at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2003

Blogs - a protester's best friend?

The media were all over the recent G8 summit in France. So were bloggers, many of whom blogged live from the protests and submitted photographs captured by their mobile phones. Blogs were a way of presenting the different viewpoints of demonstrators which were largely ignored by a media more interested in scuffles and conflict. Wired News has the story at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59086,00.html/wn_ascii.
Posted by belinda at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2003

Salam Pax at the Guardian

The UK Guardian has signed up Salam Pax, the blogger from Baghad and author of the Where is Raed? blog, as a twice-weekly columnist. Wired News has the story at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59057,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by belinda at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2003

Salam Pax is back

Salam Pax has posted a new entry to his "Where is Raed ?" Baghdad weblog. Read it at http://www.dear_raed.blogspot.com.
Posted by belinda at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

Outlets for political steam in the UK

In a bid to find out what the punters are thinking, and to help them engage with issues politically, the BBC plans to launch iCan, a site "designed to help citizens investigate issues that concern them, find others who share those concerns and provide advice and tools for organizing and engaging in the political process," according to Wired News. The story is at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,58715,00.html. The BBC introduced the iCan concept at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in Santa Clara, California (http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2003/view/e_sess/3711). The BBC plans to assign journalists to monitor the online community for potential news stories.
Posted by belinda at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2003

To new heights?

You can hear audio blogs (complete with puffing?) of Lorenzo Gariano's ascent of Mount Everest at http://sixfields.open.ac.uk/everest/. Gariano's climb is part of a team commemorating the first ascent of Everest fifty years ago by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Proof that blogs can be done from anywhere - war zones, high mountains - the first undersea blog can't be far away.
Posted by journoz at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2003

Media on media

How is the media doing in reporting the Iraq war? Read the Media on Media blog at Online Journalism Review for some US media criticism and analysis. It's at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/media_on_media/blog.php. The controversy over Kevin Sites, the CNN cameraman who was instructed by his employers to stop writing his war blog, is also dealt with at OJR, at this URL http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1049381758.php. A good contribution to the question of whether blogging is journalism or not.
Posted by journoz at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2003

The Where is Raed? blog

Everyone's talking about this blog from Iraqi nom-de-plume Salam Pax - is it authentic? and so on. The UK Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) is running a text version on its own site so they obviously think so. Make up your own mind about this (ordinary, but extraordinary) blogger from Baghad at http://dearraed.blogspot.com/.
Posted by journoz at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2003

Another Iraq war blog

An OZCAR list member has sent in a link for another useful blog on the current war. Things of Shock and Awe gathers together links to information sources on the conflict. Find it at http://thingsofshockandawe.blogspot.com/. One of the links is to the English language version of Al Jazeera - worth a look at http://english.aljazeera.net/.
Posted by journoz at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2003

Gamer than I am

I can think of safer places but many intrepid people are blogging from Baghdad. MSNBC has the story and list of links to Iraq war blogs at http://www.msnbc.com/news/809307.asp?cp1=1. Have a look at the BBC group web log (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2870361.stm), and others such as the CyberJournalist.net war blog (http://www.cyberjournalist.net/features/iraqwarblog.html), the Blogs of War (http://www.blogsofwar.com/), and others. Increasingly, US citizens are turning to these sites and to foreign media for news. Wired has that story at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58056,00.html.
Posted by journoz at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2003

Blogs as journalism

On Online Journalism Review is another two-parter on blogging by J.D. Lasica. The first, Blogging as a Form of Journalism, covers the origins and uses of Web logs (blogs for short). Part two, Weblogs: A New Source of News covers the use of blogs for breaking news and other journalism. Find part one at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017958873.php and part two at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017958782.php.
Posted by journoz at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2003

UK Guardian web log

The Guardian has a web log for current issues at http://www.guardian.co.uk/weblog/. You will find good sections and links on Iraq and the blog has a searchable archive.
Posted by journoz at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2002

Blogging for bucks

Most bloggers blog for the love of it, but Meg Hourihan thinks it's time for the paid blogger to emerge. Read her piece Blogging for Dollars: Giving Rise to the Professional Blogger at http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/2629
Posted by journoz at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 01, 2002

Webcast of When bloggers commit journalism

The webcast of the UC Berkeley seminar When bloggers commit journalism is at http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/weblogs/. For those who prefer the print, use the OJR summary at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/lasica/1032910520.php.
Posted by journoz at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2002

Arts & Letters Daily is back

Arts & Letters Daily went temporarily off air but has now been bought by the Chronicle of Higher Education and is back in business at http://www.aldaily.com/. For readers who switched over to http://www.philosophyandliterature.com/ while it was down, it's time to switch back as the philosophy and literature page is no longer being updated.
Posted by journoz at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2002

When bloggers commit journalism

Find this UC Berkeley panel discussion about blogs and journalists at http://www.ojr.org/ojr/lasica/1032910520.php.
Posted by journoz at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)