The mo'Times

Thursday, 27 November 2003

Thanksgiving holiday in the USA

the 4th Thursday in November, 2003 --

What's it all about? I'm very happy to report that we are a truly global community, with bloggers from more than 30 countries around the world actively exchanging words, images and a certain je ne sais quoi. Fully half of the motime population is American, however, so I thought a little acknowledgement would be fitting.

First of all, here's how to say "thank you" in as many languages as I could find on one page (transliterated into the latin alphabet where necessary). Say it (and mean it) more often.

Do you want to know why Thanksgiving is celebrated on the the 4th Thursday in November? Would you like to read a generic history of the holiday? How about a more critical history of the holiday? "Thus the antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history, but honest and inclusive history" -- James W. Loewen.

posted by: howard at 09:03 | link | comments (163) |

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Blogging about blogs, a closer look

Blog cabins on the frontier --

Throw another blog on the fire: It seems like in most groups there is a tendency to do a bit of introspection. Blues about the blues, art about making art and writing about writing come quickly to mind. In the case of blogging, this force is concentrated by the fact that blogging is still new and has attracted a bunch of "early-adopter" types who tend to be notorious chatterboxes and egocentrics!

Consequently, plenty of words have been spent in trying to blog a self-portrait of the blogosphere. I have collected some links for those of you who are curious about the broader context. Disclaimer: not only is there no shame in NOT being curious about this, it just may be the healthier perspective. :) ymmv.

Some numbers: This census by Perseus is one of the most complete that I've seen, although it does not study the international nature of blogging. Nonetheless, there are interestings stats.

The pecking order: Just like in the real world (think high school :)), the blogosphere is divided into the "A-list" and the "rest of us". The classic reference article on the subject is Clay Shirky's Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality. If you'd like to take a gander at a bunch of popular weblogs, here are the sites that list the most viewed blogs in the world: blogdex, daypop, popdex and technorati top 100.

Look and listen: Here are a couple of links to streaming audio and video on the subject. On October 4-5, 2003, Blogger Con was held at Harvard University. It was a huge navel-gazing fest, and some of the sessions are available for viewing here. It looks like Harvard has a virtual monopoly of good audio-visual content on blogging right now. Christopher Lydon has conducted in-depth interviews with many influential A-listers, listen to them here..

posted by: howard at 02:09 | link | comments (205) |

Sunday, 02 November 2003

You, me and the Internet

Blogging as a social phenomenon --

Let's get conceptual: It is unfortunate that the word virtual, as originally used in the term virtual reality has been often used to described social relationships developed over the Internet, implying "almost, but not quite." I would argue that purely online relationships are simply different, neither more or less real. And of course they react with each other.

Wanna be my friend? Along with blogging, Friendster is one of the most widely talked about phenomena in the "social software" discussion. Take a look at this post Friendster, is the honeymoon over? and follow the very informative links. This post on FastCompany.com's blog links to other very popular social networking sites.

The 'how weird is this?' department: Read Clay Shirky's post 'Silent Dating' and the Curious Eroticism of Text, which shows how some in the real world are borrowing from the online. The result could be defined as "unreal", at least from my point of view.

The future of blogging: It will get increasingly more difficult to define the word blog, read David Weinberger's musings about what might happen when blogging goes mainstream; it hasn't yet. If you're currently blogging, you're a pioneer!

Offline problems, online solutions: Finally, take a look at the BBC's noble experiment in bottom-up social software, iCan "change the world around you" project. It is a platform designed to allow people to organize themselves online around real-world issues. Visit iCan.

I would love to read your comments about your experiences with connecting your online and offline lives. Who has some good stories?