Brig at Eatonweb posted to this comment thread about where and how to find philosophy blogs and she admitted to being a bit miffed both by my original post and by the fact that no one in the comment thread had suggested Eatonweb.
I did not mean to give offense. I was really just being lazy and instead of doing legwork, took the liberty of throwing the question out there like bread on waters to see what people would recommend.
I've now checked out various suggested sites, and done a Google search (which brought up a link to Eatonweb on its first page of results), and read numerous sites in the last day or so that either mention philosophy, have a philosophy category, or consider themselves in some way to be about philosophy.
When I've finished digesting my notes I'll put up something about these sites and the process of looking for them and what different things people can mean by the word philosophy.
categories: memewatch metablog
2:13:05 PM 
say what []
I could always just sit back and read boingboing, let Cory do all the work. I don't know Cory, by the way, I just like calling him by his first name so it seems like I know him and so must be cool like him. I haven't read his new story at Salon yet. Is it really written in 133+?
Anyway, I'd never heard of Warren Ellis but his blog leaves me in awe (not to mention his credits). Talk about career (and talent) envy!
Here's a taste:
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - CBS is resurrecting "The Beverly Hillbillies" as a reality series. This is the sort of high concept LA likes. "Why don't we do Beverly Hillbillies for real — like The Osbournes!" They are literally going to find a photogenic bunch of American hicks and stick them in a mansion for a year and film the whole horrible thing.
TV go home.
categories: salonika memewatch metablog
1:12:16 PM say what []
William Quick announced Daily Pundit Premium and introduces the business model of Blogging Network. (Subscribers pay $2.99 for unlimited access to network blogs. 50% of this goes to upkeep. The other half is prorated among the blogs the subscriber actually reads.)
The interesting part is the extensive comments section. Collectively, people are grasping with two competing ideas, simply put:
- It's reasonable to be expected to pay for high-quality content.
- The web is based on linking.
As one of Quick's readers comments:
I can't blame anyone for trying some new method to make money from writing for the web. I think someone like you, a professional writer, has the best shot at something like that. Me, I wouldn't put my site behind a subscription wall, and I'm already up to my eyeballs in hosting fees, so adding more is not appealling.
But the thing that bothers me the most about this is not the $3 a month, it's the fact that links make blogs work, and ... this ... busts ... links. No matter how stunning a piece might be, if it's behind a subscription wall, people are going to be reluctant to link it. And if you link to me, I won't have a clue what you're saying if I haven't subscribed.
categories: salonika memewatch metablog
12:17:19 PM say what []
Jonathan Peterson weighs in at way.nu on the debate about intellectual property, copyright, and source code pinging around the blogosphere these days:
I think Doc's tendency to not pour any more legal epoxy on top of the sand foundation of our software intellectual property is a good idea. Technical solutions and protections are one possible solution, a complete rethinking of software intellectual property, based not on patent or copyright, but something in-between would be even better. Dave's flip response comparing traditional property rights to software is a bad metaphor, one that over-simplfies some of the deeper thinking Dave has done on the subject.OK, but don't just say it's a bad metaphor. If it's a bad metaphor, why is it bad? How is a house not like an intellectual creation? I think some of Jonathan's earlier comments in the same entry comparing blueprints to actually built houses shed some light on this line of thought, but I still think he needs to go beyond the raw assertion that the metaphor doesn't work. Tell us why.
categories: memewatch metablog
11:54:57 AM say what []
Reading Spartaneity drew my attention back to Stanford'sWeb Credibility Project where you can read detailed explanations of and research behind these guidelines:
Most of these seem to boil down to (a) showing the human beings behind the site, and (b) taking your site seriously and demonstrating your commitment to its quality.
- Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
- Show that there's a real organization behind your site. Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site's credibility.
- Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
- Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
- Make it easy to contact you.
- Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
- Make your site easy to use — and useful.
- Update your site's content often (at least show it's been reviewed recently).
- Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
- Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.
categories: fireweaver memewatch
11:44:30 AM say what []
Following a link from Small Pieces I landed at a BurningBird post about a blog threading project:
Project is called Thread the Needle, or "Needley" for short. Its purpose is to track cross-blogging threads.
How it works:
You register your weblog, once, with an online application I'll provide (i.e. provide your weblog location, name of weblog, email). Frequently throughout the day, the Needle service bot will visit the weblog looking for RDF (an XML meta-language, used for RSS and other applications) embedded within the weblog page. Note that this may change to scan weblogs.com for changed weblogs that are registered, or based on the first time a person clicks the link or some other procedure — testing these out as you read this.
The RDF will be generated by the service now and copied and pasted into the posting; hopefully someday it will be generated automatically by the weblogging tools.
The RDF either starts a weblogging subject thread — starts a new subject - or continues an existing thread. The bot pulls this information in and when someone clicks on a small graphic/link attached to the posting, a page opens showing all related threads and their association with each other.
categories: metablog
9:43:51 AM say what []
I was surprised to read that Wired chastised Michael Rogers for only updating his Practical Futurist blog once a day. Isn't once a day plenty? I don't promise to even manage that. Sure, I've been posting four to seven times a day in this blog, but face it: I'm in the enthusiastic phase and I've got some pleasurable momentum going here, with referrers, commenters, email, and those other things that spur you on. But daily sounds good, and any rhythm would work, I believe, if managed consistently.
Of course quality matters as much as quantity, right?
categories: memewatch metablog
12:33:14 AM say what []
Waxy.org demonstrates how to use Google's Usenet archive to track memes, in this case, the "All Your Base'"meme.
This is precisely what I intended to do with memewatch.com. I think the phrase I first wanted to plot this way was "six degrees of Kevin Bacon."
Here's the tricky thing: not all memes equate to phrases. For example, one meme I'd love to track is the cynical use by politicans of the phrase "...for the children," and perhaps the ironic meta-use of that phrase as criticism of said politicoes. But simply searching on "for the children" won't capture those contexts.
categories: memewatch
12:25:58 AM say what []
