Archive for Blogs

Blog Away

SI.com - NCAA eases restrictions on live updates

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA eased its restrictions on blogging and said live updates from its events are permitted as long as they are limited to scores and time remaining.

Well it appears that NCAA is getting this one figured out and in my opinion they got this one right….now if they could just do something about the BCS…

22 June, 2007 | No comments

NCAA’s stance on blogs hurts the sports fans

NCAA’s stance on blogs hurts the sports fans- al.com

The NCAA has done such a superior job of improving academic fraud, gambling, recruiting violations, drug use, proper tuition in scholarships and escalating athletic costs that it’s now tackling more serious matters: Blogging.

The public relations fallout from this story is so absurd, only the NCAA could be involved. The NCAA wants more control of its product in what could be a landmark case between the media and sports organizations over how news is reported.

This has been an interesting story to follow. At the College World Series a blogger was asked to leave as he was posting “real-time” information which violates some contracts the NCAA has with various organizations ($$$). Some would argue, was it really real-time? Lots of questions followed. This is causing even more people to take note about the role of Blogs.

I found this particular commentary particularly interesting.

20 June, 2007 | No comments

Tech blogs go from hobbies to businesses - USATODAY.com

Tech blogs go from hobbies to businesses - USATODAY.com

Suddenly, TechCrunch could make or break a start-up. Entrepreneurs swarmed Arrington at conferences. Several showed up at his house one morning and banged on the windows until he let them in, he says. He hired five full-time and 16 part-time employees, and broke the news that Google was acquiring YouTube.

Seems blogs are receiving a bit more attention lately. This article is an entertaining read that shows exactly how influential Blogs are becoming. It’s interesting to think about how the influence has moved from companies, consultants, or organizations, to specific individuals. Find someone whose opinion you value and you can read their blog.

20 June, 2007 | No comments

Wal-Mart blogs revealed to be done by PR firm’s employees

Wal-Mart blogs revealed to be done by PR firm’s employees - Oct. 20, 2006

The blogs Working Families for Wal-mart and subsidiary site Paid Critics are written by three employees of PR firm Edelman, for whom Wal-Mart is a paid client, according to information posted on the sites Thursday.
walmart_store_front.03.jpgBefore Thursday, the authors of the blogs were not disclosed. But Web critics had been skeptical of claims that the blogs were grass-roots efforts, and pushed for greater transparency.

An interesting development to say the least. But did anyone doubt this was not happening? I wonder how many other sites will be found out?

20 October, 2006 | No comments

Mysterious blog scooped media on Foley messages

CNN.com - Mysterious blog scooped media on Foley messages - Oct 4, 2006

One of the more curious angles to emerge from the scandal surrounding Foley is the creation of a little-known Web site called Stop Sex Predators. It was at that site on September 24, four days before ABC News reported Foley’s e-mails with a 16-year-old page, that the Florida congressman’s correspondence first appeared.

As if we didn’t know it already. Blogs are making a serious impact. They provide an easy way to get the message out quickly as well as a way to make a bad impressions (see Courics recent Blog post that got Bill O’Reily going).

5 October, 2006 | No comments

China bloggers surpass 30 million

CNN.com - China bloggers surpass 30 million - Sep 26, 2006

“The rapid growth of blog sites in China also brought potential business opportunities to the advertising industry,” Xinhua said. “Some blogs written by famous people attract millions of daily readers.” The report said that out of the 34 million blog sites, 70 percent were “dormant,” having remained unchanged for more than a month.

Now that’s a lot of bloggers. How long would it take to check out each one? But even with 70% being dormant, that’s still a very large number.

26 September, 2006 | No comments

Sen. Stevens is ‘the secret senator’

CNN.com - Sen. Stevens is ‘the secret senator’ - Aug 30, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The identity of the blogosphere’s “secret senator” has been revealed.

Humm, does this say that blogging is now the mainstream? No more strugglinig for recognition. Now blogs take precedence over news

30 August, 2006 | No comments

Blogging for big bucks

Business 2.0: Blogging for big bucks - Aug. 22, 2006

With Internet-like speed, blogs have gone from self-indulgent hobbies to flourishing businesses. Real businesses, with real revenue streams from real advertisers.

Its been a pretty busy couple of weeks as I get ready for classes, but seeing Blogging on the Front Page of Business 2.0 got me pretty pumped. There are some really good articles and blogs are getting the recognition they deserve. As a platform there’s nothing quite like them. They are easy to use, publish, and they look good (most of them). This is a dangerous combination.

This article is good becasue it outlines many of the things that are happening in the industry.

24 August, 2006 | No comments

The Unmaking of a Senator: How Bloggers Pulled It Off

TIME.com: The Unmaking of a Senator: How Bloggers Pulled It Off — Page 1

The much-hyped Internet activists of the Howard Dean presidential campaign, liberal blogs like Daily Kos and activist groups like MoveOn.org had generated lots of buzz, but few results at the ballot box until now. But in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, the bloggers didn’t just get a win, but a victory no one could have expected even four months ago. Joe Lieberman wasn’t just a three-term Connecticut Senator, he was only a few thousand votes from being the vice-president in a Democratic administration six years ago. And despite almost the entire Democratic establishment supporting his run against a virtually unknown businessman named Ned Lamont, including former President Clinton campaigning for him in Connecticut, the bloggers and Connecticut voters have essentially kicked Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic Party.

The power of the blog? Is it that simple? Blogs do offer perspective outside of the mainstream media. The key is that they are perceipved as to me more conversational than media, which adds a different level of trust.

9 August, 2006 | No comments

The Blog That Ate a Presidency

Inside Higher Ed :: The Blog That Ate a Presidency

The president and her cabinet appeared completely befuddled by the new technology. Ignoring the blog seemed out of the question; once the blogmaster installed a counter on the main page, it was evident that the blog had a substantial readership. Although Alfred State has only a few hundred employees, the original blog recorded over 12,000 hits in just a couple of months, and the newer version recorded almost 100,000 page views in less than a year. Using legal means to shut down the blog were considered; Alfred State administrators consulted with the central SUNY administration in Albany and got the bad news that it would be legally difficult if not impossible to shut down the blog.

Absolutely fascinating story about how a blog was a critical component to bringing down a university president. You must read it.

The blog hurt the administration in two key ways: First, administrators were unable to focus on correcting the problems that led to the creation of the blog, and second, the administration’s clumsy and futile efforts to combat the blog simply compounded the anger and contempt on campus.

1 August, 2006 | No comments

Blogging her way out of a job…in France

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: “La Petite Anglaise” blogs way out of job and into limelight

She kept her popular blog anonymous, never revealing her full name or workplace. But despite her attempts at secrecy, her employer found out and fired her, unusual in France, where workers have strong legal protections.

Now we will see how a country with very strong laws that protect employment handles a blog firing. Of course one has to wonder if the facts presented are truthful. It certainly does not seem like she has done anything to warrant unemployment, but do we know all the facts. If empoyers start firing people for sending personal e-mails, we might soon find office buildings in the USA empty. Keep an eye on this one.

21 July, 2006 | No comments

The Great Blogosphere Brawl

FOXNews.com - The Great Blogosphere Brawl - Blog | Blogs | Popular Blogs | Video Blogs

Weblogs or blogs reveal the emotions churning beneath the surface of hard news. For example, journalists may report which legislation passed the House by what margin, but bloggers will lay bare the ideological brawls that underlie the news item.

Interesting analysis with some good examples. However I think recent history will show that the “media” is not always as objective as they should or could be. We all know which outlets are “right” leaning and which ones are “left” leaning. If they were truly objective would we qualify them as leaning at all? When I hear a news story I know how CNN will report it and I know how Fox will report it. The cool thing about Blogs is that you can find someone with similar views as your own or opposing views and you can read what they really think. They do not have to make it appear like it is objetive that is not their purpose

However the really cool thing, as I step down off my soapbox, about this article is how it shows how passionate bloggers are about their topics. Sure you could argue that this passion causes them to not be objective, but if you can see both sides, we the readers come out ahead becasue we hear both sides represented to their fullest. Of course it goes too far when people start making crude remarks about family members. I would hope we have been taught better by our parents, but apparently some forget what their parents taught them.

19 July, 2006 | No comments

Dell Launches Employee Blog Site

KXAN.com - Dell Launches Employee Blog Site

The blog says its goal is to address issues that are important to customers. Among the entries are media player clips demonstrating some new products or design enhancements.The blog was launched Monday, and the comments and entries are slowly starting to pick up. One comment sarcastically said Dell’s blog is probably outsourced to someone in India.

Dell + Blog = Need I say more? The impact of this could be huge and could lead the way for more companies to use blogs to communicate more openly with customers.

16 July, 2006 | No comments

Open government meets IT

Open government meets IT | InfoWorld | Column | 2006-06-28 | By Jon Udell

One of the speakers at InfoWorld’s SOA Executive Forum in New York last fall was Dan Thomas, director of the DCStat program in Washingon’s Office of the CTO. Earlier this month, he alerted me to a remarkable development. Starting in mid-June, the District of Columbia would begin releasing operational data from a variety of city agencies to the Internet in several XML formats, including RSS and Atom.

Very, very cool development. As more organizations (like government) start usings the Web 2.0 technologies, more people will see the merits and perhaps we will see more “free” exchange of ideas. Which is what the internet was supposed to be about in the first place.

28 June, 2006 | No comments

D.C. Conference Suggests Government Is Ready for Web 2.0

Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: In Focus: D.C. Conference Suggests Government Is Ready for Web 2.0

Is Web 2.0 in government an oxymoron? It would seem that Uncle Sam in particular could easily fall out of step with a “new” Web of blogs, wikis, podcasts and RSS. Yet last week’s “Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies in Government” in Washington, DC, suggests that federal Web managers are indeed exploring Web 2.0 technologies.

The cool part of this article is how the US Government is looking at using technolgies like Blogs, Wikis, and RSS feed. However the really interesting part is how the government is having governance issues of its own in relation to its websites.

27 June, 2006 | No comments

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