Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
It seems to be one reason for blog popularity is the ease with which
one can be put up - either, as many ISP's permit, in the 'filespace'
of a subscriber. Dunno how many Linux/Apache ISP servers are out there
but on most of them (my service included) a $25 a month 'subscriber'
can go into the 'public_html' sub directory, install, by himself
a blog software package, have total control over it, register it as
a URL, and away we go.

Others appear to be using desktop systems that are their workstation,
but with a download can be turned into a 'server' and blog software,
and with a 24/7 connection, whether dsl or cable, can with only ONE
computer be a blog sysop (or whatever its called). Super cheap,
total control, no hassle.

Can an AOL user set up a blog? I know some set up maillists.
  

    
You don't have to have a server or an ISP with a web directory.  Check out
Salon's blog offering, "powered by" Userland for example:

>Salon Blogs are powered by Radio UserLand, a simple yet 
>versatile software tool that lets you post
>new items from your Web browser with one click. Radio
>UserLand automatically builds your site,
>organizes and archives your posts, and publishes your
>content -- you don't need to know HTML, FTP,
>or graphic design. All you need to do is install
>Radio and begin publishing. You can publish written
>text, links, photos, documents, and more with just a
>single click of your mouse.
>
>Radio UserLand also provides other powerful features,
>including the ability to subscribe to news feeds
>from Salon, many other publications, and other bloggers.

  http://www.salon.com/blogs/
  

    
Well, in effect that is using UserLand as a commercial blog 'service.'
I saw that.

But whatever. Seems like the ease and low cost of putting one up
helps spread the genre.
  

    <scribbled by brian Wed 20 Mar 13 18:15>
  

    
Yeah, Scott asked Dave for fun naming before Salon Blogs launched, or 
within days anyway. Userland is not set up that way for now, sadly.

Having a service like that to do the external serving does mean that of
course AOLers and anyone can do a blog so long as it's elsewhere. Of course
you know that.
  

    
Oh I was just asking a sidebar or sorts. I know AOL has 35 million
subscribers more or less. And that it grew by eventually 'catching up'
with every feature other more advnaced systems had. But I haven't
logged into for years, and so really don't know - other than its
subscribers lack of broadband to it - how brain dead it is.
  

    

So, is anyone else working on Blog glue?  I've got a killer
application that I've made in visual basic that provides some cohesion
to autonomous and independent blogspace.

Trouble is, I don't really know how to go about releasing it as open
source.  I've noticed that there's an opensource.ind conference, so
I'll check that out, but I'd love to here some real-life accounts.  

I think this could really be an exciting project.
  

    <hidden>
  

    

 o 233 for a 10 page paper I wrote on blogs.  Needs some editing.
  

    
Fine reading until one hits the last word on the botton line which
ends with 'and' ....
  

    
What I am getting is that blogs are great for 'annotated linking'
thus an index to lots of pre-posted information.

But lousy for discussion.

<Sigh>. Back to the drawing board for a new form of Rogers Bar for
local political debate.
  

    
I wouldn't say they're lousy for discussion. Some blog forms follow the 
Slashdot model, in which blogs and forums are combined. And many bloggers 
watch each other's blogs and toss ideas back and forth.
  

    
Blogs are definitely not intended to be freeform discussion areas. We
already have plenty of that. And yes, some blogs are merely "an index
to lots of pre-posted information."

However, there are smart-mobbish phenomena in blogspace that transcend
this. Bloggers read other bloggers, and post about what they read, and
build on one another's ideas. For example, Jon Udell's Library Lookup
idea/tool (which helps you find a book in your local library rather
than ordering it from Amazon) was really created collaboratively, and
happened because of these connections between bloggers.
  

    
'...we have plenty of that.' And THAT's the problem! (free form). Because,
as the Well clearly exemplifies, without a true Moderator, who not only
keeps the discussion on topic (or can technically branch it), keeps
order, AND stimulates fruitfull discussions, topics just become babbles.

And the discussions, as on the Well, for only registered users, is confined
to that closed, smaller, group.
  

    

There's plenty of free conference software out there and most allow one to
set the level of moderation.  Squishdot, for example, has a fully moderated
mode that insists that a site manager check off on all new postings.

http://squishdot.org/
  

    
Looks good. Will try it out.
  

    
I've done a fair amount of blogging at http://www.smartmobs.com about 
"moblogging" -- mobile blogging:

<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000475.html>
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000552.html>
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000524.html>
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000522.html>
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000520.html>
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000516.html>
  

    
I will make my last San Francisco public appearance to talk about Smart 
Mobs next Thursday, January 30, at the <a 
href="http://www.milibrary.org";>Mechanic's Institute Library</a> 57 Post 
Street, San Francisco, at the Montgomery BART Station. Socializing at 
5:30, speak at 6:00. This event will be a conversation between myself and 
Craig Newmark, founder of <a href="http://www.craigslist.org";>Craig's 
List</a>.

Spread the word.
  

    
In related news, this is a slightly different wrinkle on smat mobs:

12 UM students accused of high-tech cheating
6 admit using Web devices to link to site during exam
By Stephanie Hanes, Sun Staff, January 26, 2003
http://www.sunspot.net/news/education/bal-md.cheating26jan26,0,3792093.story
?coll=bal-local-headlines

Twelve University of Maryland undergraduates have been accused of
using Web-equipped cell phones or handheld organizers to cheat on a
business school final exam last month, according to the school's
student-run Honor Council.  Six of them have admitted to misconduct
during that same test, the council said.
...
The students in the business exam are accused of using their cell
phones and handheld computers to go to a Web site where a professor
had posted answers to the exam, Cantor said. The answers were
apparently intended for students to check their work after the final.
...
Copyright ) 2003, The Baltimore Sun
  

    
People in Scandinavia often told me: "In the US you use metal detectors to 
keep guns out of schools. Here, we need them to keep mobile phones out of 
schools."

On a more serious societal level, I'm concerned about the rate at which 
the disruptive technology of mobile peer to peer communication technology 
is infiltrating the electoral process all over the world:

<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000490.html#000490>  Kenya elections
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000494.html#000494>  Korean elections
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000497.html#000497>  Karl Rove and  US 
elections
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000601.html>  Hungarian elections
<http://www.smartmobs.com/archives/000596.html> Mobile lobbying: my 
forecast
  

    
I am speaking tonight, in a duet with Craig Newmark, at the Mechanics 
Institute Library in San Francisco, 57 Post Street. Socializing at 5:30, 
talk at 6:00.
  

    
Great showing at the Mechanics' Institute Library last night, and one of 
my literary ideals, the inimitable <sumac> showed up and bought a book. 
Thank you, Sue, and other Wellites who showed up for a very 
thought-provocative dialogue.

For those who are interested, Henry Jenkins wrote an interesting piece 
comparing Warren Ellis' new book with Smart Mobs:

<http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_jenkins013103.asp>
  

    
Howard, I just got a notice of something you're doing at KQED soon, can you
post the particulars of that one for those of us in the Bay Area who missed
you at the Mechanics' Institute Library?
  

    <scribbled by stet Fri 31 Jan 03 15:58>
  

    
There's an echo in here!