Yet another article about blogging, this one by an economist. Bottom line? Lower barriers to entering the publishing market will make opportunities. But... The Economist sayeth: It's still all about "trust," and the unwashed masses will not "trust" bloggers. So popular media outlets still have the upper hand. But for how long? What's the tipping point?
1:39:44 PM
What's the price of litigation?
"According to the American Tort Reform Association, the cost of the U.S. tort system in 1994 was $152 billion. Over the past ten years, that cost has increased 125%, and now consumes 2.2% of GDP. " [Pejman Yousefzadeh in Tech Central Station]
12:25:58 PM
Ray Nagin - Mayor-Elect of New Orleans - Knowledge Management
The Times Picayune reports today on Nagin's idea of an Internet based communication system to make City Hall more efficient and responsive. The website will allow people to ask questions that get routed to the appropriate department and receive quick E-mail responses. According to David White, the mayor's transition team co-chairman, the goal is to capture information from the responses and build a knowledge base. The website is not fully implemented, but it can be previewed here and here.
I don't know much about how they plan to implement this, but I would hope they would use K-logging and explore the Userland stuff to see if it could make their task easier. I sent them an E-mail and hopefully they'll follow up.
8:19:05 AM
Toxic mold claims life of Ed McMahon's dog; Carson's sidekick sues...
According to a CNN report that reads like the outline for a B-Movie, McMahon, his wife Pamela, and household staff members have been battling illnesses as a result of exposure to a mold known as stachybotrus chartarum, which apparently may be lethal to animals. McMahon said the family dog, Muffin, died as a result of a mold-induced infection. The lawsuit was filed on Monday [CNN.com]
6:50:04 AM
Kelly v. Arriba - what's the connection with Louisiana?
The plaintiff, Leslie Kelly is a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and studied here in the Bayou state. Given the publicity of his case, it is not surprising to learn that he has website. I still think that the Kelly v. Arriba Soft case is not as significant as it is being reported to be, and certainly doesn't represent a threat to linking. [see my earlier post]
Apparently, Kelly has the same view of the legal effect of the Ninth Circuit ruling, which he posted on his website: "My Attorneys also successfully disputed the flawed notions raised by Internet Giant Google.com and the Electronic Frontier Foundation that the Ninth's decision jeopardized all linking. The decision does not do this at all." [Link]
