Good God! Can’t a Journal Author Have Any Fun Anymore?
An article’s authors and a journal’s editor are surprised when a puff-piece backfires. Thanks for the pretentious seriousness, blogosphere.
Letting The Inmates Run the Asylum: Are Blogging Networks Compatible with Publishing Business Plans?
Open blogging networks may be impossible to commercialize, for a host of reasons.
Leading Your Content to the Money — A New Equation for Selling Content to Consumers
Consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay for targeted, virtual goods and services. Why are publishers still trying to foist low-value generalized content off to them?
“Cognitive Surplus” — Look What Can Happen When We Turn Off the Television
Clay Shirky’s new book is smart, snappy, and insightful. You should read it if you want to understand why people are adding social media to their lives.
Clay Shirky on Generosity, Erotic Novels, Civics, Lolcats, and Scholarly Journals
The cognitive surplus of our age is being unleashed. This video discusses some of the side-effects and trends that will shape our futures.
The RIN Report on Researchers and Web 2.0: If You Build It . . . Well, You Know the Rest
The Research Information Network’s new report on researchers and Web 2.0 offers a similar set of results to previous studies: uptake is relatively low, and the trustworthiness and quality of online resources are suspect. The report offers contrary evidence to common myths about “digital natives” and some useful advice for anyone looking to build social media.
The Pepsi Syndrome: Did ScienceBlogs Sell Out, or Was This Just Business As Usual?
The science blogosphere erupted in a furor this week, when Seed Media’s ScienceBlogs announced a new blog–Food Frontiers, a paid, sponsored blog about nutrition written by employees of PepsiCo. Multiple bloggers either suspended their blogs or quit ScienceBlogs altogether over their concerns that adding this blog undermined the credibility of the platform and their credibility as individual writers. Eventually, ScienceBlogs caved under the pressure and removed Pepsi’s blog. Did ScienceBlogs sell out to commercial interests, or was this just a continuation of what they’ve always done?
The Content Graph: How Brands, Trust, and Quality Can Network the Future of Online News
By realizing content links news outlets and creating a barter system, Scott Karp’s Publish2 offers an interesting approach to the “content graph” networked information has created.
Web 2.0 Next: Companies Place Bets on Consumer Relationships and Collaboration
As Web 2.0 matures, new entrants are starting to find ways to extract value in innovative ways.
Blogs, Twitter, and YouTube: Just Amplifiers of Traditional Media, or a New Set of Filters?
Blogs, Twitter, and YouTube feast on traditional media, but they change the agenda for millions in the meantime, as a recent Pew study shows.
Blogging Software as a Disruptive Publishing Tool — Is There Anything It Can’t Do?
Blogging platforms have morphed into web site and social media platforms. But now they’re moving into areas even farther afield, like books.
Data.gov: Selling the Government and Democratization of Information
Open data initiatives by many governments will change balance sheets for publishers who have shifted toward this revenue source. Will the social benefits emerge?
Monkeys vs. Robots: The Mysteries of Identity in the Age of Facebook
Facebook continues to try to redefine identity as an addressable single element for its business model. Should we monkeys allow it?
Facebook, Diaspora, Public, Private, and the Fork in the Road
Can Diaspora restore social networking to personal control?
The Digital Universe, Information Shadows, and Paying for Privacy
Trends in mobile, cloud, and personal computing all point to a redefinition of privacy, with convenience and value competing effectively for preeminence.