In Between. In Between is a weblog on scholarly on-line publishing, open access and library related technology that has kindly linked to FotB.  [future of the book news]

9:40:57 PM    

Hi Larry!

Tribunes and Tribulations: the Top 100 Newspaper Archives
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul03/krumenaker.shtml
This seful article by Larry Krumenaker in the July/August Searcher shows you the strengths and limitations of online news archives and databases.

[Neat New Stuff]

9:31:40 PM    

Delphion Gallery of Obscure Patents http://www.delphion.com/gallery
Technology has solutions for everything -- mixing and matching pant legs from different pants, diapering those messy birds, etc.

[Neat New Stuff]

9:31:26 PM    

Hear, hear!

Appreciating what we've got. I advocate a little quality time on the 4th of July for a more intellectual meditation. After the partying and fireworks are done, perhaps you might wish to spend a half hour or an hour actually reading one of our founding documents. [Blogcritics]

9:31:03 PM    

The Spiritual Blogosphere..

The Talmud may have been the first hypertextual document. 

You can see the original text in the middle surrounded by rabbinic interpretation, argument and commentary (much of it threaded) and off-page cross references. Very wiki.

I see similar dialog among bloggers, increasingly about matters of religion, spirituality, ethics, and philosophy. Beyond a place of reflection, the blogosphere is a social medium. Through linking and writing, our intercourse creates relationships.

As the blogosphere grows, real life shines through. Religion especially.

For there are God Bloggers. Defenders of the faith. Scholars who interpret scripture. Some people blog their personal explorations, their tribulations, their palpable experience of the divine in ordinary life. In the writing, they hope to improve themselves. In the sharing, they serve others on a similar path.

A few, clerical bloggers who have God for a job, blog to educate, to coordinate parish work, even to evangelize a little.

None of this is possible without an offline Freedom to Worship. The United States was founded, in part, by people fleeing religious persecution. With the freedom to worship as I see fit, I also have freedom from government intrusion into spiritual life. In this I am fortunate to live in the American republic instead of a theocracy. 

So I ask of you,

Are you "out" on your weblog about your religious thoughts?

Are you blogging your own spiritual education?

Have you connected with others on a similar journey?  

Do you blog for your religious community?

Do you bring your personal values to your blog?

Do you conduct yourself online in ways you would be proud of offline?  

Has your weblog brought you closer to your fellow man?

If your government protects those rights, you have the power to reach out further than ever.  

Blog your way to heaven, one post at a time.

[a klog apart]

9:30:46 PM    

Blogging as Free Speech..

The first freedom, the one that ensures others, is speech. 

Tolerance of the contrary voice, of dissent from within.

Knowing you can speak your mind without repercussion, however distasteful to others, lets you censor yourself less.

The soap box. The broad sheet. The pamphlet.  Weblogs are in this tradition.

The power of the press has never been more available to the citizens of any nation. For the past 500 years, if you wanted to spread your ideas beyond the reach of your voice, you needed serious money. Capital to commission the construction of a printing press, to buy paper, to pay type setters, to pay for distribution. Blogging collapses all of that, putting the power of personal publishing within reach of the poor, the homeless, and the ordinary netizen. If you are connected to the Internet, blogging is nearly free.

This is not universal. Anonymity is popular among Persian bloggers. The People's Republic of China blocked Blogspot. Industry critics use pseudonyms. Offline consequences are real.

Yet people write to the web as citizens. Citizens of the world. Of their nations. Of their neighborhoods.

So, let me ask you...

Of what do you blog?

Do you comment on your elected officials' behavior? On your civil servants'?

Do you point to injustice and call for reform?

Do you cite abuse of power, and call for redress?

Do you witness calamities, small or large, and mobilize help?

Do you organize your neighbors to participate in local government?

Do you rally behind a political candidate?  

Do you learn about issues from people close to the ground?

Do you find yourself thinking like a journalist, protecting sources, checking your facts, putting yourself where you can report to your readers?

The Fourth Estate, a free press, gets that name as the fourth institution in the balance of government powers. As the tools of reportage become democratized, a Fifth Estate has emerged. Letters to the Editor run wild. Citizen journalists. The peoples' voices.

One of the things I value as an American citizen is that free speech, constitutionally protected, enables change. We occassionally run off course as a nation, but discourse, frank and uncomfortable, lets us find out way home.

[a klog apart public policy]

[a klog apart]

9:29:49 PM    

Yes, Anyone Can be a Journalist!. For proof, see the Virtual Journalist.... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

9:28:58 PM