Thursday, February 17, 2005

Interactive Viral Campaigns Ask Consumers to Spread the Word. As more Americans become comfortable with the Web, agencies are increasingly producing interactive online campaigns, even for goods that hardly anyone buys online. By NAT IVES. [NYT > Technology] 10:28:14 PM    comment []

What They Said (Donna Wentworth). If you haven't already, check out the Derek Slater/Edward Felten blogalogue on the newly released Cato paper, which prompted Prof. Felten to define a new litmus test for whether the recording industry is truly competitive vs. a cartel: Derek Slater: "[The paper's arguments] highlight an important aspect of the current debate surrounding Grokster: what does it mean to support 'market forces' or the 'free market'? The paper's conclusion is that market forces will resolve copyright holders' concerns and the government should stay out. Yet, many would say that the DMCA and extended secondary liability are unfortunate interventions in the market." Ed Felten: "How can we tell whether the record industry is responding competitively to DRM? An interesting natural experiment is about to start. MP3Tunes, a new startup headed by serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson, is launching a new music service that sells songs in MP3 format. Will the major record companies license their catalogs for sale on MP3Tunes? In a competitive market, they would license to MP3Tunes." [Copyfight] 10:28:05 PM    comment []

Jerry Brown's Blog. Jerry Brown, mayor of Oakland, former California governor and former presidential candidate, is running for state attorney general. He has a blog. (It's in a frame off his home page; bad design, in my opinion.) His first posting, about a city curfew policy, is also a letter to the editor in today's San Francisco Chronicle. [Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.] 10:18:23 PM    comment []

Military base sold for $1 billion. On CNN [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 10:16:18 PM    comment []

Ensnared in the Web: Beware of unintended exposure that comes with being an expert on the Internet By Stephen M. Wolniak, in The Scientist. On April 30, 2003, my office phone rang. The caller, who wouldn't identify himself, wanted to discuss messages I had allegedly posted about the Eli Lilly Company on a Yahoo! Finance message board. Prior to the call, I knew nothing of the board's existence, but I soon learned that for more than a month, I was the subject of repeated attacks on the forum because I had been misidentified as an antagonist there who went by the screen name Mitosis03. Users of the board thought I was Mitosis03, because in 1997 I had created a mitosis Web site as a cell biology course supplement. By 2002, the site was averaging more than 50 page views per day from students around the world, with each user spending an average of 2.5 minutes on the home page. When a board user searched the Web for "mitosis," they found my site and assumed that Mitosis03 was me. Mitosis03 had been posting messages on Yahoo!, bashing Eli Lilly or praising Ariad Pharmaceuticals, a small biotech suing Lilly in an intellectual property dispute. . . . . . . . Displaying authorship, with contact information, is a two-edged sword: On the one hand, it provides the Web site user with an implicit statement about the quality of information presented. That's important because a student unfamiliar with a topic can unknowingly rely on sites laden with inaccuracies. FAQs (frequently asked questions) don't go far enough; leaving an E-mail address for questions from users is necessary. But it can expose one to unwanted E-mail, spam, and viruses. Using a separate account for such E-mails will only mask the problem. I'm left thinking that faculty should construct factual Web sites as extensions of their instructional duties, but that anyone setting up a site should assess the level of personal exposure that Web-site popularity entails. . . . . Wolniak's mitosis Web site 12:49:14 PM    comment []

Bits of History (of Bits) on the Auction Block. Christie's New York will auction about 1,000 books, papers, brochures and other artifacts from the history of computing. By KATIE HAFNER. [NYT > Science] 7:21:03 AM    comment []

Cool dynamic chart showing trends in baby names. [from Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment], a 'wonderful dynamic web-page chart showing the churning rise-and-fall of popularity in baby names, boy and girl, across 100 years. I don't know where the data's from -- wait, I do, it's from the Social Security Administration! -- but it's presented in a glorious interface (reminds me of Edward Tufte's beloved graphic of Napoleon's Russian campaign).' [Subdued Citizen] 7:19:46 AM    comment []

Young Blood Makes Muscles Spry. In the presence of youthful blood, old fogey muscles don't act their age, according to researchers at Stanford University. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] 7:19:11 AM    comment []

The Need for a Federal Shield. As unpopular and intrusive as the news media can be, surely the Congress elected by the people can protect journalism's vital mission. [NYT > Opinion] 7:18:58 AM    comment []

How to write a FAQ answer 7:16:11 AM    comment []

hoping that electronic discussion lists remain alive and kicking. [17/2/05: This document has been changed so that all references to "listserv" have been replaced with generic terms such as "electronic mailing list", "email lists" and "electronic discussion list." At the time that I wrote this post, I didn't know... [explodedlibrary.info] 7:14:43 AM    comment []

Ups and downs of dorm life. Now that everyone has started to settle into the routine of a new semester, it's time for Webster University students to readjust to living with roommates after spending a month at home. Some students offer their views of living on and off campus. "In a way, it's like starting over," said Karen Rasure, residential life coordinator, about coming back to the dorms after the month-long break. Gorloks win two more, Carr breaks record. With an easy inside lay-up against two Principia College defenders, Webster University senior Angie Carr became the top scorer in Webster University women's basketball history. Carr was 10 for 15 from the field in the Feb. 12 home win over Principia College, 84-62. [The Journal] 7:14:35 AM    comment []