Tuesday, June 03, 2003

CNet: Nullsoft founder says he's had it with AOL. [Hack the Planet] 10:53:47 PM    comment []

The FCC, Weblogs, and Inequality, by Clay Shirky. Return of argument from Power Laws, but there's a disanlaogy here that Clay's not seeing, I think. From the intro in the e-mailed version: Though I've been watching the FCC's rule making on media concentration, I don't have a position that fits easily into the debate I've seen to date, a debate muddied by a lack of clarity in the various positions. A good part of this muddiness comes from a false belief in the possibility of having a media landscape which is characterized by diversity, freedom, and equality. This essay is my attempt to clarify what I see as the required tradeoffs among those three characteristics, and therefore to clarify the coherent positions. It is, I recognize, a charmingly naive attempt, since the debate is mostly populated by people whose stated positions are based on tactical calculations rather than first principles, but a girl can dream... Clay goes on to argue that the Power Law dynamic of the much-discussed Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality works similarly in broadcasting, e.g. So, the argument goes, opponents of the FCC action will be led, if principled, to call for regulation of the blogosphere, where InstaPundit is dramatically more read than I am. Of course, it wasn't a government-granted monopoly that helped Glenn Reynolds get that audience, as was the case for broadcast television and radio. And that's a major difference, one Clay should bear in mind in thinking this through. Gotta run; that'll have to do for now. 5:44:44 PM    comment []

R.I.P., Dorothy Nelkin 5:44:38 PM    comment []

Dave: Amazingly, Glenn Reynolds is still covering the war. Seems like an exercise in futility. In its aftermath, of what use were the warbloggers. A lot of punditry, a lot of furor and outrage, quite a few flames, but what did they actually do other than act self-important. They got no stories, no new data, they didn't balance the press, which reported the war as if the US was a petty Third World dictatorship. They didn't even out the press. Pheh. [Scripting News] 7:15:15 AM    comment []

Whoa! Adam's doing reality radio. I tested something new on my dutch weblog today. I've had so many comments (average of 80 a post!) that I started to get tired of typing along with the conversations. I opened a live365 channel and hooked up my wireless microphone. I let everyone listen in while I called some of the people who had posted comments. But it was by no means a radio show. It was mcuh, much looser. Since the wireless is clipped on, the listeners went everywhere with me, as did the person on the phone, since it's a cellphone. Tomorrow at 9am we're going to try discussing the news and whatever else comes to mind, or is posted on the blog. I'm calling this Reality Radio. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 6:59:32 AM    comment []

A Journal of Anorexia's Pain. That "Slim to None" is distressing is an understatement. Published posthumously, the anorexic author's journal entries are a sorrow to read. By John Langone. [New York Times: Science] 6:55:58 AM    comment []