the pod bay door

¦¦ One of the first two blogs I started reading in early 2002 was Laura‘s. The other was Geoff‘s. On Laura’s site I discovered a link to brain-terminal, which “seeks to provide thoughtful analysis of the various political, social, economic and technological trends that affect our daily lives.” It is the brainchild of Evan Coyne Maloney. Why he chose the horrid colour scheme will remain a myster. Whatever. Anyway, you must watch the video of his interviews with various NYC anti-war protesters from earlier this month. It reveals that they are passionate, but it many cases, clueless. Of course, leave us not forget that we are seeing only the interviews he chose to let us see. But it makes for entertaining viewing.

¦¦ Daypop is a search engine that searches “14,600 news site and weblog for current events and breaking news.” You can see the top weblogs, the Amazon top wish list items, top news, and the top 40! The Top 40 “is a list of links that are currently popular with webloggers from around the world”. At the top of the list is ready.gov, the US gov’t site that helps their citizens prepare for terrorist attacks. The site is odd and creepy, and at best, necessary. The top search, sadly I suppose, is currently “great white.”

¦¦ Chris Sherman comments on Google’s purchase of Pyra Labs, creator of Blogger. How will this affect blogging? How might this affect you if your blog is supported by Blogspot? The story was broke by Dan Sherman in San Jose.

¦¦ Mike sent a link to this article on blogs as social networks. The author examines blogs as a social network, using power law distributions. Some of his conclusions are interesting, including how the A-List bloggers may eventually morph into mainstream media-types as their audiences grow. He also suggests that the term “blog” itself may drift into the background as blog technology becomes a platform for other types of online publising.

¦¦ It seems like a lot of “serious” bloggers are now analyzing blogging in their blogs – does this sound a bit redundant? I thought this was supposed to be all kinds of fun!

::Geoff and I are near completion of the first draft of an article we are submitting for publication in the journal Feliciter, on the topic of blogging in libraries. Meanwhile, more and more articles are appearing in mainstream newspapers and magazines on this burgeoning phenomena. Web of blogs, a typical article designed to make readers aware of this new web activity, appeared recently in the The Journal News, the newspaper for New York’s Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. In Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette is an interesting piece on how blogging (almost) changed journalism (thanks, Mike). For some, blogging is an unrelenting assault on journalism.

An interesting article in the USC Online Journalism Review compares media versus meta-journal coverage of the Columbia disaster. The author asserts that the meta-journal coverage is more complete, and notes that “It’s no accident that these columns are in weblog format, and that they have loyal industry followings.” The Review also examined mainstream media coverage of the Columbia, noting the power of the Internet and blogging.

Far and away the most detailed coverage I’ve seen on this event was posted by Steve McLaughlin in his blog, Saltire. His first entry includes details about the shuttle itself, possible scenarios, and debris reports. To appreciate his coverage, check each entry since February 1st. I am overwhelmed by the amount of detail he has offered since Feb 1, and frankly, I wonder how he does it.

Next up is wireless blogging. Meanwhile, academia is begging to recognize blogs and their impact, now and beyond. Check out the education weblog called Weblogg-ed.

This was a good weekend, a sad weekend. Sad because of the space shuttle tragedy. Good because I spent time on Saturday night having fun with friends, ate a damn fine dim sum today, saw The Pianist, the amazing new movie from Roman Polanksi (note: site is in French), and enjoyed a 90 minute full-body massage on Saturday afternoon. The weather warmed up as well, making life easier to take for a change.

The Pianist is based on the true story of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who lived in Warsaw at the time of the German occupation in WWII. He escapes deportation to the death camps, lives for a time in the Warsaw ghetto, and then escapes, living in the ruins of the city until the war’s end. The movie features a career performance by New York actor Adrien Brody, in the title role. Attention to detail is meticulous, especially scenes of deserted neighbourhoods in Warsaw, devestated by bombs and artillery. It was in such a neighbourhood that Szpilman hid to survive.
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