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category archive listing Category Archives: Net Effects on Society

Why Tagging is Valuable, Despite Its Many Flaws

December 31, 2005 – 11:18 am

Tagging (the process of informally categorizing chunks of online content with user-defined labels, aided by various online tools or services) is surprisingly controversial.

Some people adore it and tag everything they find; others disdain its lack of formality or reliability; and most people either experiment with it sporadically or ignore it entirely.

This morning I stumbled across a thoughtful exploration of tagging from someone who is not enamored with the process or results. Check out “Folksonomy Recapitulates Ontology.” Despite its leaden title, this article offers a fairly plain-language and fair examination of the pros and cons of tagging.

Here’s my response to that article…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Labels and Metadata, Resources | Comments (0)

What is This Web 2.0 Thing, Anyway?

December 27, 2005 – 4:54 pm

I must admit, I assumed “Web 2.0″ was merely hype right from the first time I heard the term. To me, it recalled the lingo of the heady, breathless late 1990s dot-com boom.

Now that I’ve learned more about Web 2.0 I think that, as an umbrella concept, it is indeed mostly hype. That is, this term seems to be tossed around mainly in order to promote or sell conferences, books, and consulting services; or to suffuse a person, group, or organization with a vague air of techno-coolness.

Of course, not all hype is useless, or baseless. I actually believe there is considerable value in the Web 2.0 concept. However, what makes it so valuable is not at all new, but rather as old as the human mind itself…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Media Musings, Resources, WordGeek | Comments (5)

Citizen Journalism: More Reasons to Get Out

December 8, 2005 – 9:33 am

Over at I, Reporter yesterday I wrote about how citizen journalism can be both an excuse and a motivation to get out and about in your community. Here are five ways citizen journalism can get your butt out of the house…

Full story at I, Reporter…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Media Musings | Comments (0)

Web 2.0 and Science: Behind the Hype

December 4, 2005 – 2:55 pm

Recently I was quoted in an article by Declan Butler in Nature magazine, “Science in the Web Age: Joint Efforts.” (Thanks, Declan!)

A few weeks ago Butler sent me an intriguing list of observations and questions about whether and how “Web 2.0″ technologies are affecting science, to which I responded at length. He chose to only include a brief quote from me – which is fine, he obviously had a lot of great material to choose from. But since I put a lot of thought into my response, I thought I’d share it here…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Content Style & Business | Comments (3)

Women in Podcasting: New List in the Works

November 17, 2005 – 3:24 pm

Lately my Women in Podcasting list has been getting a fair amount of attention. (Thanks, Lisa Stone!) However, I’m a little embarrassed because I haven’t had time to update that list in several months.

However, I have a plan to revive it, update it, and get other people involved. Honestly, I could use some help with this project. I just don’t have enough time to do it all myself.

Here’s what I plan to do. Let me know what you think and if you can help…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Audio Show | Comments (0)

How to Upload a File to Google Base?

November 16, 2005 – 7:17 pm

Well, it’s for real: Yesterday (Nov. 15) Google launched its much-rumored service, Google Base.

Basically (pun intended ;-)), you can publish virtually any file you want to the web by uploading it to Google’s servers and adding descriptive tags. This makes your file and whatever it contains as findable as anything on a regular web site – except now you don’t have to have a web site in order to publish to the web.

Pretty cool, especially for people who don’t want to mess with servers, hosting, and HTML. Also, for folks in the media business who rely on classified advertising for revenue, it’s pretty scary. As if Craigslist wasn’t enough free competition…

I just signed up for Google Base (it’s free, of course), and I’ll be playing around with it to see what it does. Usually, Google is known for its ease of use. But I must admit, I found myself unable to figure out the most basic task: How do I upload a single file to Google Base?…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Content Style & Business, Media Musings, Resources | Comments (4)

Media and Violence: Looking Back at Rwanda, from France

November 11, 2005 – 12:06 pm

On Nov. 9, the International Herald-Tribune reported that French police have “arrested three people for comments on the online diaries known as blogs that are hosted by Skyblog. The site belongs to the nationwide radio station Skyrock, which has four million listeners daily and claims the largest audience of any radio station among 13-to-24-year-olds.”

The article continues:

“Those prosecuted for inciting violence in their postings this week included a 14-year-old from Aix-en-Provence who called on rioters to attack police stations, according to Justice Minister Pascal Clément. Blog entries of those arrested also included ones calling on youths in the Paris region to rise up at once in a coordinated attack. ‘Unite, Ile-de-France, and burn the cops,’ one of the postings said, according to Agence France-Presse. ‘Go to the nearest police station and burn it.’Another message called on youths in housing projects to start arson attacks between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Friday. Under French law, such calls to violence can result in sentences of one to seven years in prison.”

Hate media and incitement to violence are indeed very dangerous things…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Media Musings | Comments (1)

\”This is an Announcement from the Emergency Feedcast System…\”

November 10, 2005 – 5:40 pm

CORRECTION AND UPDATE When I wrote the article below, I forgot something pretty important: Even though, from the user’s perspective, feeds generally behave like “push media,” in fact they are not push media. This pretty much undermines the point of this article. See my Nov. 11 followup article which explores the issue of feeds and push media. Some good came of this, after all. :-)

For the record, here’s my original article…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Amy's Adventures, Feeds (RSS) | Comments (2)

Blogging for Strength

November 2, 2005 – 12:48 pm

Not long ago, a guy I deeply respect joked derisively in conversation that too many people “blog for therapy.” His evidence: a recent AOL survey in which nearly half of respondents said “they write a blog because it serves as a form of self-therapy.” My friend said (and I’m paraphrasing), “Oh yeah, that’s just what everyone wants to see.”

Well, of course it’s not what everyone wants to see, but so what?

I’ve gotta admit, the tone of my friend’s comment (and the AOL press release, for that matter) really rubbed me the wrong way. In our culture, we tend to dismiss personal topics, experiences, explorations, and perspectives as inconsequential – or at least as unworthy of public discussion. I believe this objectivist bias is, in fact, a costly and tragic type of isolationism. Many, many times I’ve seen pride or a reflexive fear of vulnerability prevent people from reaching out to gather the context and support they need, or to offer theirs to others in need.

It’s damn hard to gather or share strength in isolation.

Yesterday, I was proud to see one of my favorite bloggers, Steve Rubel of “Micropersuasion,” reaching out to gather and share his strength. In “Why I am Blogging About My Skin Cancer,” he discussed that he has just been diagnosed with a common and treatable form of skin cancer. Part of his plan to combat this illness is to create a new skin cancer blog.

As I read his reasons for launching a new blog, I understood that even though this would mean more work for Steve just when he needs to focus on treatment and recovery, a project like this can be an excellent way to gather and share personal strength…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (7)

Survey Question 9: Why would you stop reading a business blog?

September 3, 2005 – 1:30 pm

SURVEY QUESTION 9:Here’s what might make you quit reading a weblog that interests you mainly for business reasons:

The big news here is that if your blog is that a significant majority of respondents (60%) report that they would not stop reading a business/professional blog simply because it occasionally offers personal anecdotes, disclosures, or mentions. The only reason these people would stop reading would be a noticeable decline in the quality or quantity of postings on business/professional topics. (Many of the 22% who replied “other” expressed a similar view, just in different terms.)

Therefore, as long as you keep supplying mostly business-related content, occasionally acknowledging other aspects of your interests, personality, or life probably won’t work against you. In fact, looking at the survey results as a whole, being all business, all the time might damage your relationship with your weblog audience.

CAVEATS: All of this depends, of course, on whether survey respondents are being honest – and if you consider informal, self-selected surveys of any use at all.

Here are the responses for this question, and my observations about them…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Content Style & Business, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)