Stuff you should know, stuff I should remember.

The Austin Chronicle looks at weblogs as the next evolution of the alternative press Basically, think the blogs provide oxygen, allow stories that are on the borderline of newsworthiness to be picked at by interested nonprofessionals, and then if there’s enough fire it’ll spill into a Drudge, or a James Taranto, or cable news, or […]

David Weinberger wrote an article for Salon rebutting the argument that online spaces and communities create an echo chamber effect: This meme turns out to be as tricky as it is attractive. Worse, as it spreads itself, it’s shifting shape, so that the entire Internet can start to seem to be nothing but a set […]

In Fall 2003, weekly satire-rag The Onion published ‘Mom Finds Out About Blog’: MINNEAPOLIS, MN—In a turn of events the 30-year-old characterized as “horrifying,” Kevin Widmar announced Tuesday that his mother Lillian has discovered his weblog. In an e-mail sent to Widmar Monday, Lillian reported in large purple letters that she was “VERY EXCITED :)!!!” […]

John shoots holes in the popular myth about instant blog profits: Freelancing: As your blog builds up a reputation, you may get an opportunity to make some money freelancing for the A-list political mags out there that pay for content. More at: 10 Ways To Make Money Blogging

Associated Press hypes the hype: “If you’re not reading it in RSS you’re wasting your time,” declaimed Microsoft’s blogging evangelist, Robert Scoble, who says he subscribes to nearly 1,300 feeds. RSS has been called the TiVo of the Web, the first “killer app” of the anticipated automation of social and commercial transactions online using the […]

In November of 2000, Rebecca Mead’s essay, You’ve Got Blog, was published in The New Yorker this was one of the first times the mainstream pressed noticed the blooming blogging subculture. Then the backlash began: Deconstructing “You’ve Got Blog” And then the rebuttal to the backlash on Metafilter: Deconstructing "You’ve Got Blog" as well as […]

ClickZ has a two-parter on members-only blogs: I absolutely believe there’s a market for paid-subscription blogging. There are thousands of paid newsletters serving narrow niches. They’ve been publishing since way before the Internet. Where I see opportunity is for these paid sub-newsletter publishers to offer blog spin-offs – perhaps even replace the traditional newsletter format […]

Kalsey’s got a manifesto to combat comment spammers, proclaiming: Posting an email address in a public place is not an invitation for companies to send unsolicited advertisements. Hosting a public Web forum or Usenet server does not give companies permission or the moral right to advertise on it. And soliciting comments from the public on […]

Super-duper web-design site, A List Apart explores How to Write a Better Weblog: Readers crave your anecdotes and stories. They really do. So give ’em the whole megillah. Instead of, “The party was a riot!” or “I’m depressed today,” carefully explain why. Elaborate. Parties and depression are perfectly good writing subjects. The Great Gatsby, for […]

HyperGene MediaBlog explores Ten Things Radical about the Weblog Form in Journalism: The weblog comes out of the gift economy, whereas most (not all) of today’s journalism comes out of the market economy. Journalism had become the domain of professionals, and amateurs were sometimes welcomed into it– as with the op ed page. Whereas the […]