Listics

A lot of families have one.  I wonder how many bloggers were their family’s identified patient?

Welcome back Tamar!

Dan Gillmor and his company, Grassroots Media Incorporated have introduced HonorTags.  They say,

This project stems from our search for ways to help people find the
kinds of content they need, and may have more reason to trust, in a
world where anyone can publish. Not everything in blogs and other sites
is journalism, because not everyone wants to do journalism. HonorTags
is a first step in helping readers and creators alike distinguish among
various forms.

"Distinguish among various forms…"  So it seems to be about criticism and genre.  I wonder why they state the obvious, that "Not everything in blogs and other sites is journalism."  The phrase "to do journalism" is somewhat cloying.  I think it means "to report news."  But I suppose that is really no more self-explanatory than "to do journalism."  What is news?  What does it mean to report news?  Does slapping a "Journalism" HonorTag on a post make it news?

In a recent fact-laden post I referred to the commander-in-chief of the US imperial aggressor forces as a chimp-faced lying sack-of-shit.  Now this is not news to anyone who is paying attention, but would the hyperbole have stood up under the rigorous scrutiny of the genre police if I had HonorTagged it "Journalism?"  Is pass-through reporting of news from main stream sources really journalism anyway?

I think a benefit of HonorTags will be the availability of a consistent set of labels for a growing community of writers and producers to use.  But the "Fox News" people and CNN alike consider themselves journalists, so I wonder if we will find the tags useful in filtering clear true voices out of the cacaphony of the blogiverse.

Social software with intention…  I found this link to the Virtual Handshake at the Cheaters Guide to Linked In, which I found at Jeneane’s place.  As she says, "It’s not really cheating–it’s best practices for networking in a
social network. It’s almost like search engine optimization for social
software participants. It strikes me that folks who are good at
networking in the real world are the ones who are good at networking
online."

There comes a time when we’re looking for the next right thing.  That’s when a rolodex comes in handy.  Social software is the gonzo rolodex, more than a cardfile and less than a community.  Thinking of it as a community has caused some skewed expectations, some disappointments, some perverse attachments.  But working it like a contact list, with intention, with integrity, with an optimistic attitude, will at least enhance a job hunt or a marketing effort or a brain storm.

Jeneane is always turning up cool stuff.

Jimbo Wales showed up today at the new LA Times experiment in community opinion expression and offered advice on configuration.  The Times says,

Don’t like today’s editorial? You’re invited to rewrite it yourself, using a Web page known as a "wiki."

Here’s the link that describes what they’re up to… "A wiki for your thoughts."

Anyone who drops into Sandhill from time to time knows that I frequently link to Locke.  Enough is enow.  Today I’ve decided to link to someone who is linking to Locke.

Donna Wentworth moves us.  The Tutor, the CBO and that Joho fellow… all putting in a big plug for the EFF’s legal guide for bloggers.  Naturally Denise Howell has put in a good word too.   And Iggy.  And Paula O., my favorite lesbian crip writer… and hetero-Halley…  where will it end?

Oh, and it’s free.

Donna Wentworth writes,

I wanted to let you know about a website I’ve been working on that many of you may be interested in:  EFF’s new Legal Guide for Bloggers .   

It’s a collection of FAQs aimed at helping the average blogger understand her rights in the face of legal threats that most people don’t even understand.  We don’t want people submitting to these threats (like cease-and-desist letters from trademark holders) without recognizing that they have a protected right to speak.

Check it out and pass the word along….

The Artist Presently Blogging at Squarks points to the Wikipedia page covering "the Lamest Edit Wars Ever."  He grabbed this link from the ccte tag listing at del.icio.us. 

I think that ccte stands for Communication, Computing and Technology in Education, but this is merely an inference.  It could as well stand for Copraphagic Commons and Tantric Elimination.  In fact it actually does, but that’s what’s so wonderful about the folksonomic tradition.  Everything means anything!