Weblogs: July 2008 Archive Page

It was intersting to see online political discourse (with a case study on the Kerry-Edwards attempt to build a blog presence in 2004) and a history of the internet filtered through a folklorist's lens. I'm saving this in case I need ever need to update some of the insights found in the older, classic, historical studies of cyberculture (such as Buckles's dissertation on Adventure, or Levy's Hackers, or Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine).

While mass-mediated communication technologies have empowered the institutional, participatory media offer powerful new channels through which the vernacular can express its alterity. However, alternate voices do not emerge from these technologies untouched by their means of production. Instead, these communications are amalgamations of institutional and vernacular expression. In this situation, any human expressive behavior that deploys communication technologies suggests a necessary complicity. Insofar as individuals hope to participate in today's electronically mediated communities, they must deploy the communication technologies that have made those communities possible. In so doing, they participate in creating a telectronic world where mass culture may dominate, but an increasing prevalence of participatory media extends into growing webs of network-based folk culture. -- Robert Glenn Howard, Journal of American Folklore 121(480): 192-218 (PDF)

Employees of the New York Times are expected to follow these guidelines for ethical online activity.

B5. Web Pages and Web Logs

126. Web pages and Web logs (the online personal journals known as blogs) present imaginative opportunities for personal expression and exciting new journalism. When created by our staff or published on our Web sites, they also require cautions, magnified by the Web's unlimited reach.

127. Personal journals that appear on our official Web sites are subject to the newsroom's standards of fairness, taste and legal propriety. Nothing may be published under the name of our company or any of our units unless it has gone through an editing or moderating process.

128. If a staff member publishes a personal Web page or blog on a site outside our company's control, the staff member has a duty to make sure that the content is purely that: personal. Staff members who write blogs should generally avoid topics they cover professionally; failure to do so would invite a confusion of roles. No personal Web activity should imply the participation or endorsement of the Times Company or any of its units. No one may post text, audio or video created for a Times Company unit without obtaining appropriate permission.

129. Given the ease of Web searching, even a private journal by a staff member is likely to become associated in the audience's mind with the company's reputation. Thus blogs and Web pages created outside our facilities must nevertheless be temperate in tone, reflecting taste, decency and respect for the dignity and privacy of others. In such a forum, our staff members may chronicle their daily lives and may be irreverent, but should not defame or humiliate others. Their prose may be highly informal, even daring, but not shrill or intolerant. They may include photos or video but not offensive images. They may incorporate reflections on journalism, but they should not divulge private or confidential information obtained through their inside access to our newsroom or our Company.

130. Bloggers may write lively commentary on their preferences in food, music, sports or other avocations, but as journalists they must avoid taking stands on divisive public issues. A staff member's Web page that was outspoken on the abortion issue would violate our policy in exactly the same way as participation in a march or rally on the subject. A blog that takes a political stand is as far out of bounds as a letter to the editor supporting or opposing a candidate. The definition of a divisive public issue will vary from one community to another; in case of doubt, staff members should consult local newsroom management.

131. A staff member's private Web page or blog must be independently produced. It should be free of advertising or sponsorship support from individuals or organizations whose coverage the staff member is likely to provide, prepare or supervise during working hours. Care should be taken in linking to any subject matter that would be off limits on the Web page itself.

Online University Reviews has posted an entry guaranteed to generate some in-bound link traffic. There are many sites I'd never heard of before.

Academics are flocking to the Internet like never before, particularly to start a blog. Faculty members in colleges across the world are connecting with people on a whole new level. Let's face it - academia can actually be very lonely at times. Not only can a blog be cathartic for professors, it can allow for valuable feedback from students and/or colleagues.

Liberal arts subjects are wildly varied. From art to science, the major disciplines have long been considered part of the liberal arts. Below are 100 of the most interesting and popular blogs written by liberal arts professors. They have been divided into subject and alphabetized, as it would be virtually impossible to arrange them according to importance.

I'm flattered to be included on the list (along with my colleague Mike Arnzen, who writes Pedablogue). Nevertheless, I'd say it's about five years too late for the "gosh, lots of academics are starting to blog" story, but it's always interesting to look at someone else's summaries of sites that I read on a regularly basis.

Well, it's usually interesting, if the summaries reflect a particular perspective or world view.  Unfortunately, I didn't always find the summaries particularly insightful or informative.

• Matthew G. Kirschenbaum - The author is an associate professor of English the University of Maryland.
• Pedablogue - This blog is described as a "personal inquiry into the scholarship of teaching."
• (In the "History" category) Scattered & Random - This is a - you guessed it - scattered and random blog written by a history professor.

As for the list itself, what were the criteria for inclusion? Erin O'Connor's Critical Mass is a great blog, but O'Connor recently left academia.  Why does the list include 30 blogs grouped under "English," with no dual-language or ESL categories? Why is Cronaca identified as the lone art blog (when its content is so eclectic)? There's a 2005 in the URL -- is this list three years old? Why did I just get an e-mail about it?

BoingBoing offers a cruel fisking of a similarly sketchy article on a different topic: "GRADED: The Worst '10 Worst Consoles' List of All Time." 

I've certainly posted blog entries that I've tossed out quickly, without much forethought or analysis, but I do think this Top 100 list would have benefited from a clear statement of selection criteria and a bit more proofreading -- there are two blogs listed under #73, so this is actually a Top 101 list.  It would serve me right if my blog were cut to make it 100, but I'm just doing what Online University Reviews says is my thing -- "Jerz's Literacy Weblog - Learn plenty of useful writing tips from this professor's blog.")