I have just completed a survey on my normal morning wanderings around the weblogged world. Found an interesting weblog of a Finnish Scientist, Juha Haataja. Seems that he is a prolific writer of particularly scientific books. He states that he has been writing this weblog for four months in these words:

I have been keeping this weblog a bit over four months now. Originally I just wanted a bit of experience of blogging, the new thing on the web. I have got what I wanted, and something more: a new way of looking at the internet. Previously I didn't believe in the concept of large-scale co-operative technologies, but weblogs seem to have achieved something of real value to the participants.

This year I have published about 45 short pieces: columns and articles. In addition, several of my books have appeared in new editions. Thus, this has been a productive year. After I started keeping a weblog, my other writing assignments have not suffered, almost the opposite. A couple of my short pieces have resulted from ideas and writings which first appeared on this weblog.

What about next year? So far I have published 1363 postings on this weblog. I probably won't be as active next year. There are a lot of other things to do, and other writing assingments already waiting.

From my point of view, where I have for the past ten years not actually been employed where I can obviously develop my theory of Technacy, I find his interest in weblogs to be similar to what I was about six months ago. I have shaped weblogs into being the central location where my work is centered. I am no longer employed and I devote my time to producing texts online to extend my theory developed in a PhD and awarded to me in 1997.

Now that I have decided to focus on my theory, and to develop that regardless of what employment I receive out of doing that, weblogs has become central to me. Here is an inventory of the centrality of weblogs to my project of exploring and expanding the theory of technacy:

• Through weblogs I am developing my theory of technacy. I have written an ebook that applies technacy to a common activity, writing.
• I am conducting a straw poll, if you like to see how popular the concept of my ebook is and whether that concept should be developed further.
• I am running an experiment to shape a concept of technacy. The Text Chunk Library is a concept of Technacy to do with sharing common objects larger than words and phrases. It is about using whole paragraphs that are in the public domain to enhance personal writing.
• My weblogs are used as kind of a poll, to find those applications of Technacy in which people are most interested to make my materials more applicable to what people really want to know. The poll is held by keeping several categories of information. I see which category most people read and then I know the information in that category should be where I develop my etexts. [See the categories in the right hand navigation list.]
• One of the ideas I am currently developing is based on a close reading of Google. I am writing about Google in Google View. This is where I am starting to float some of the readings of Google and to understand the concepts better by writing about them. If you like, this is a think tank online.

Where is the economic model in all of this? There is one, I think, in developing materials that answer people's common problems where an application of Technacy can provide a solution. The economic model for me is centered in providing answers and at the same time educating people to understand the importance of Technacy to their thinking, living and indeed their economic future.

Yes, if you are new to my site, I believe that "being literate" is now not sufficient to be an effective member of society in this new electronic era. It is important for people to now become "technate". What I am doing, in effect, is putting technacy to the test, applying its concepts and if those concepts are worth anything, I will have developed an economic model of experimentation with ideas, development of knowledge, and publishing of knowledge through this process. If the concept of Technacy is worth anything, I will make money. If it does not provide answers to people's needs, I will earn no money and the activity will be over.

[The Technacy Log]

A new study scheduled for release Monday reveals that more Americans than ever before now use the 'Net to obtain info on government services, shopping, and healthcare. The Pew Internet and American Life Project report goes even further, stating that "abundant evidence [exists] that the Internet is now the primary means by which many people get key information." Or, to compress all 17 pages to one short blurb: "Most expect to find key information online, most find the information they seek, many now turn to the Internet first."

Excerpt:

With over 60% of Americans now having Internet access and 40% of Americans having been online for more than three years, the Internet has become a mainstream information tool. Its popularity and dependability have raised all Americans’ expectations about the information and services available online. When they are thinking about health care information, services from government agencies, news, and commerce, about two-thirds of all Americans say that they expect to be able to find such information on the Web. Internet users are more likely than non-users to have high expectations of what will be available online, and yet even 40% of people who are not Internet users say they expect the Web to have information and services in these essential online arenas.

For information or services from a government agency, 65% of all Americans expect the Web to have that information. (...) in the realm of electronic commerce, 63% of all Americans expect that a business will have a Web site that gives them information about a product they are considering buying. (...) For news, 69% of Americans expect to be able to find reliable, up-to-date news online. (...) For health care information, 67% of Americans expect that they can find reliable information about health or medical conditions online. (...)

When it comes to personal information, the story is different. Only 31% of Americans expect to be able to find reliable information about someone online; 35% of Internet users say this and 25% of non-users say this. However, 58% of Internet users say they expect to be able to reach someone via email.

Link to study summary, Link to study homepage, Download complete report (PDF), Discuss

[Boing Boing Blog]

notebook]

Dennis reports that diarist Samuel Pepys diary from the 17th century has been converted to a weblog. Here's the cool part, a new entry will be published each day starting January 1 2003.

It gets better, there's an rss feed to subscribe to.

Very trippy thought, receiving this voice from the past on a daily basis.

[Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

In a year of transition, the industry shows signs that its two years of doldrums might finally end soon. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

comScore put out a press alert today with this key paragraph:

While 2002 is not over yet, online consumer sales (excluding auctions) are on track to post an estimated $74 billion for the year, reflecting growth of more than 39 percent versus 2001. This is particularly impressive, considering the fragile economy and one of the worst holiday retail seasons in recent memory.

Just imagine how good it could get when the rest of the economy bounces back.

To read the complete media alert, click the MORE link.

[MarketingFix]

In our main experiment, we worked with an established eBay auctioneer to sell matched pairs of items -- batches of vintage postcards -- under his extremely high reputation identity, and under newcomer identities with little reputation. Our second experiment followed the same format, but compared sales under newcomer identities with and without negative feedback. Having controlled the content of the auctions, and the presentation of item information, we were able to minimize the effects of variables other than reputation. As expected, the established identity fared better. The price difference was 7.6% of the selling price. [Smart Mobs]

You've made a work you're proud of. Now it's time to get creative with how you make it available.

Creative Commons licenses help you share your work but while keeping your copyright. Other people can copy and distribute your work, but only on certain conditions. This page helps you choose those conditions. [Smart Mobs]

Thanks for the balanced view of the history of RSS, and thanks for demo'ing weblogs through Radio UserLand. [Scripting News]