Monday, January 26, 2004

BlogShares - LawPundit


At BlogShares - LawPundit
we were amazed to find that what is billed as a "fantasy blog market" actually gives a great amount of superb information about a blog - information which is often not found on the more "serious" blog analysis sites. This is curious. Nevertheless, we can heartily recommend Blogshares as a great source of information about blogs.

Here are some interesting - excerpted and truncated stats, for example, for LawPundit as of January 26, 2004.

GeneralURL http://www.lawpundit.com/blog/lawpundit.htm
News feed Syndic8.com

StatisticsIncoming Links 42
Outgoing Links 258
Outgoing Link Value B$22.68
Market Share 0.0044 %

Top 100 Incoming LinksThis is a list of the most valuable incoming links at the time OTHER blogs are indexed. It is indicative of FUTURE value not CURRENT value.

Vertretbar.de (B$450.58)
Lenz Blog (B$318.61)
Transblawg (B$231.44)
Airblogger (B$227.26)
Bag and Baggage (B$226.06)
Corp Law Blog (B$202.65)
unbillable hours (B$179.61)
.......... (B$168.88)
Delaware Law Office (B$162.62)
Disability Law Blog (B$153.36)
OfficialPundit (B$146.33)
TVPundit (B$143.44)
jurabilis - Yet Another Lawyer's Blawg (B$142.91)
WordPundit (B$141.40)
StarPundit (B$139.28)
VoicePundit (B$132.28)
Vertretbar.de (B$128.31)
JournalPundit (B$124.47)
ArchaeoPundit (B$123.81)
WatchPundit (B$112.85)
SportPundit (B$110.00)
SportPundit (B$107.60)
Inter Alia (B$105.25)
LiteraryPundit (B$98.53)
Notes from the (Legal) Underground (B$95.16)
Tax & Business Law Commentary (B$88.33)
ArtsPundit (B$84.64)
Disability Law Blog (B$78.72)
GolfPundit (B$75.63)
Southern Appeal (B$74.90)
LenzBlog Deutsch (B$58.93)
jurabilis - bLAWg - Alexander Hartmann (B$57.01)
Transblawg (B$49.16)
vertretbar.de (B$47.83)
The Blogbook (B$44.80)
Politics & Law (B$39.19)
The Blogbook (B$32.72)
PunditMania (B$25.88)
Classical Values (B$24.00)
The Blogbook - Style (B$18.33)
The Blogbook - Citations (B$18.33)
The Blogbook - Legal Ethics (B$18.03)
PunditMania (B$7.91)
All Outgoing Links
This is a list of all recognised outgoing links from this blog. It may not be accurate or complete.

A Fistful of Euros
AdamPolselli.com
All About Latvia
All Things Distributed
Amidst a tangled web
Amy Campbell's Weblog
Andrew McLaughlin
Andrew Raff: Shameless Self Promotion
ArchaeoPundit
ArtsPundit
Asymmetrical Information
AtlanticBlog
Bag and Baggage
BarlowFriendz
BeldarBlog
Benefitsblog
bIPlog
blo.gs
blog 702
blog.org
blogcount
Blogger
bloglet
Blogmatrix
Blogroots
Blogwise
Boing Boing Blog
Bot a Blog
Burningbird
BuzzMachine
By No Other
Calblog
CamBlog
Carlson's Chronicles
Chad Dickerson
Channeling Cupertino
Christopher Lydon
Civilization Pundit
Classical Values
CNet News
Code The Web Socket
Common Craft - Online Communication Planning
commonplaces
ComPundit
Consensus at Lawyerpoint
Cooped Up
Corp Law Blog
Crescat Sententia
Critical Mass
Cronaca
Crooked Timber
Cyberspaces: Words-Not-Deeds
Daily Dish
Daily Kos
damnum absque injuria
Dan Gillmor's eJournal
Daniel W. Drezner
David Harris' Science and Literature
David's Blogware
Daypop Top 40
Dean's World
DeanLand.WebLogs.Com
debbie's blog - Debbie Weil is publisher of award-winning WordBizReport.com
Delaware Law Office
DennisKennedy.blog
Diary Date
Digital Practice of Law
Disability Law Blog
Discourse.net
disLEXia 3000 blog
Disruptive Technology
Donna Wentworth
Dowbrigade Weblog
E M E R G I C . o r g
e-Government @large
e-Learning
Eaton Portal
EdCone.com
Edublog News
Educational Bloggers' Network
eLawyer Blog
En Banc
Enetation UK
EuroPundits
Family Medicine Notes
Fedlawyerguy.org
Feedreader - new.media.tool
Feedster
Feedster
Freedom to Tinker
Freespace
Furdlog
Geo URL
Gideon's Promise
Gizmodo
Google Weblog
Gotzeblogged
gtetxs
Halley's Comment
HaloScan.com - Free Weblog and Website Commenting
Handakte WebLAWg
Heath Row's Media Diet
homoLudens
house of warwick
How Appealing
Ignatz
Incoming Signals
Incorporation Blog.com
Infothought
Instapundit.com
Insurance Defense Blog
Insurance Law & Disruptive Technologies
Internet Marketing for Lawyers
Invisible Adjunct
ionarts
Ipse Dixit
ItSeemstoMe
Jack Bog's Blog
James Farmer's Radio Weblog
Jarrett House North
JayAllen.org
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents
Jim Flowers' Radio Weblog
JoanneJacobs.com
Joel on Software
John Palfrey
JournalPundit
jurabilis - Yet Another Lawyer's Blawg
JURIST's Paper Chase
KevinSmokler.com
Knowledge Aforethought
Knowledge Bridge
kottke.org
L.T. Smash - Live from the Sandbox
La-Legal annotated
Larry Bouthillier's eLearning and eContent Blog
Law Offices of Erik J. Heels
LawMarketing Blog by Larry Bodine
LawMeme
Lawrence Lessig
LawSites
LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard
Leah's Law Library Weblog
Legal Outreach
Lenz Blog
lightningfield.com
LiteraryPundit
livefree
London Underground blog
Mandarin Daily
Marc's Voice
MarketingWonk
Master of None
Mathemagenic
Matthew Yglesias
MetaFilter
MEX Blog
mirabilis.ca
Mitch Kapor
modern art notes
Movable Type
MyShingle.com
NathanNewman.org - News and Views
net.law.blog
nickdenton.org
NITLE Census News
Notes from the (Legal) Underground
OfficialPundit
Ohio Edublogging
Oliver Kamm
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
Out of Lascaux
Out-of-the-Box Lawyering
Overlawyered.com
Oxblog politics review
participo
PDF for Lawyers
Pejmanesque
pMachine
Power Line
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Prometheus 6
PunditMania
Radio Userland
Rantingprofs
Ray Ozzie's Weblog
rogueclassicism
Rory Perry's Weblog
Samizdata.net
Sasha and Andrew's Roundtable
Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment
SCOTUSblog
Scripting News
scriptygoddess.com
Seblogging
Sifry's Alerts
SlashDot.Org
SocialDynamX
Solomonia
SportPundit
StarPundit
stickbugblog
Susan's Blogware
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
Tales of Hoffman
Talking Points Memo
TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime
techdirt
Textism
The Corner
The Doc Searls Weblog
The Edge Of England's Sword
The FuzzyBlog!
The Green[e]house Effect: a Weblog
The Legal Reader
The LitiGator
The ResourceShelf
The Roller Weblogger
The Scobleizer Weblog
The Southern California Law Blog
The Speculist
thinking with my fingers
Tillers on Evidence
Tim Blair
tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog
Tom Watson - Labour MP
tonypierce.com + busblog
Transblawg
TRIAL.COM Litigation News
TVPundit
twise.com
TypePad
U.S.S. Clueless
UK Criminal Justice Weblog
unbillable hours
VentureBlog
Venturpreneur
VERFLIXT UND ZUGENEWST
Vertretbar.de
Viking Pundit
VoicePundit
WatchBlog: 2004 Election News, Opinion and Commentary
WatchPundit
webloggED
Weblogs.com
Weekend Pundit
Wendy Seltzer's Weblog
White Rose
Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog
Wizbang
Wordblog
WordPundit
www.gadgetguy.de via carmina
X-log
Zogby Blog
[BLOG]@IP::JUR

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

The Guardian Blog Awards 2 - a Thank You for our Analysis of the Awards


Punditmaina also received a very nice e-mail about our posting on the Guardian blog awards, stating, among other things:

"I had to write to say thanks so much for posting a great comment...."

The Guardian Blog Awards


In response to my recent posting in Punditmaina on the - in my opinion - very poor recent Guardian blog awards, I received the following commentary by e-mail (the identity of the writer is not divulged since this e-mail was sent to me personally):

Having followed a link ... I was interested to read your less than glowing comments of a number of the sites recommended for awards by the Guardian...." Clearly, the Guardian were looking for originality, common interest, insight or maybe just plain humorous. This was contained in some of these sites in abundance, which is more than can be said for the parts I read of your site. All you have been able to do is to churn out your own opinion (often very negative) of other peoples efforts. I am not in the market to trash other peoples attempts to lighten life or educate the masses, but I feel your attempts are banal and uninformative. If you feel others blogs are not worth visiting, I would suggest you keep it to yourself. At least most of them have done something worthwhile, which is more than can be said for your sad effort."

Here was the general tenor of my general answer to that e-mail, taking out some items that might identify its sender:

When the Guardian - a newspaper read throughout the world - makes blog award selections to be read by the public - they better be good - or they should expect PUBLISHED criticism. The fact that you suggest that people having a different opinion than the Guardian should have no right to publish THEIR opinion - but only that the Guardian's opinion should be published - says some very negative things about your state of mind concerning people's freedom of speech - other than your own, of course."

Is it not remarkable that some people truly think that their opinions should be published and others' not, simply because they disagree with them. What is this world coming to?

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Blogs - Youth is on its Way


Emily Nussbaum's January 11, 2004 article in the New York Times at My So-Called Blog confirms the growing popularity of blogs among the younger generation.

Indeed, the average age of bloggers is now under 30, i.e. 29.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

Best British Blogs from the Guardian


Best British Blogs from the Guardian

Simon Waldman, chair of the judges, reports on the Guardian's 2nd British Blog Awards at The best of British blogging.

Their first choice for blog design is the blog The Big Smoker. I found this choice to be a bit of a disappointment - the blog pages are not even centered on the screen - which is just sloppiness in programming. Just because each blog posting has a nicely affixed graphic does not make a blog a design champion. We found this blog to be good, but it would never be our pick. Frankly we find the design stodgy and boring.

The Guardian placed The Bunker second in the design category, another blog which is not even centered on the screen. When the mouse cursor runs over the funny nearly invisible boxes at the top of the blog page, one is not sure whether these are links or whether the screen is just doing a blip. The colored text boxes are nicely done, but this blog too can not be regarded as a blog champion by any means.

The NYCLondon.com photography blog was chosen first in the category of best use of photography. In a day of color photography, I find it hard to select black-and-white photography as being top. Perhaps black and white mirrors how the Guardian sees the world, as the blog also has photos of anti-war protesters prominently displayed. We do not think awards of this kind should be jaded by political allegiances. Some of the photos are nice, but we would never have picked this blog for this award. As someone who has lived in New York, my view of the Big Apple is vastly different than this collection, although some of the photos are definitely good.

Camerantics (the URL given by the Guardian is false) was also considered for the photography award, commended by the Guardian and is surely the far more interesting photo site as each day of the blog is marked by a new unique photo resembling wallpaper - if that is one's bag.

Apparently Nothing.com was also commended in the photography category, with some good shots. It was a bit more than "apparently nothing" - I am not sure it was a lot more.

I am quite appalled by the backwardness of the Guardian's selections which bypass the entire emerging realm of mobile photosnapping (moblogging) which are a mark of our times and so I can only say that none of the above sites would figure in my selection of best photography on the web - they are good - but they do not represent what is going on in the mass of the new media and internet world.

Teenager blogs were also selected by the Guardian - I am not competent to comment on those. The kids themselves should decide which blogs they think are great.

In the "best specialist" category the Guardian considered the excellent London Underground Tube Diary, which has a nice design, good photos and readable text postings. One can see immediately that this site is "alive". Strangely, the Guardian did not give the award there but went to Pepys' Diary, a nice site but not even remotely comparable to the overall effort and quality of the London Underground blog. One can surmise that the Guardian is still engaged in a love affair with an age that is long past and perhaps it is time to give some more sensible priority to OUR own modern day.

Beyond Northern Iraq was the blog chosen as the winner in the category of "best written". I find the January 9, 2004 posting "juvenile" and would not visit this site again - as a lover of the "best" of British humour, this is the kind of somewhat off-color humour I can live without, thank you. Postings like that do not improve my life, nor am I interested in reading about the trails and travails of boarding or not boarding airplanes, the most recent posting at that blog.

Call Centre Confidential is humorous and informative but was only commended by the Guardian, as Belle de Jour, Diary of a Call Girl, took the blue ribbon. Selections like the latter convince me that your average Guardian reader must lead the life of a dullard, getting his vicarious kicks by reading about things he would not speak to mama about. Sex sells everywhere, but I am not sure that blog awards should be given for it.

A Special Award was given for LinkMachineGo, but I am not into mindless profanity and what is merely a link collection of news. See the December 18, 2003 posting at that site. Sorry, not my bag. Perhaps there will come a day when people will realize that gutter-level swearing is neither the mark of intelligence nor creativity, nor anything else positive for that matter - but I am not optimistic about that development in the near future.

Your average man, as Berlusconi stated, has the intelligence of a 14-year old. Perhaps this explains most of these awards.

All in all, we thought that a country that produced all that stuff that Paxman (The English) writes about could do better than what the Guardian has selected.

I am going to blogroll the London Underground and in the future will look elsewhere - other than to the Guardian - to other "best blog" lists for top new blog material. This brought very little.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Blogging at Macromedia


At Brian Chin's blog Buzzworthy we find an article on The business of blogging which discusses the fact that Macromedia uses blogging very successfully.

Weblogging and Smart Pens


The New Scientist has a January 4, 2004 article entitled Webloggers upload digital doodles using smart pens .

Use of the Anoto pens (a Swedish company) for creation of weblog entries made while mobile has been dubbed "handwritten moblogging".

Moblogging is the short form for mobile blogging.