links for 2008-11-10

"According to Journalism.co.uk, the Long Room came about after the FT realised this growing Alphaville community was using third-party sites to debate issues raised by its posts". You can't *dictate* where people discuss your content, but you can at least provide a space to facilitate it.

"The British Legion's poppy has been more visible this year than previously and the figures bear the anecdotal evidence out. By this weekend 40 million had been sold, against 36 million last year and 32 million the year before that. Greater numbers of the young appear to be wearing them and the indications are that something positive is stirring".

"One of the RNIB achievements that they are particularly proud of is getting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince published as the first ever novel to be released simultaneously in Braille, large print and standard print. Apparently the publishers weren’t keen on releasing the novel to be transcribed before publication and needed to be reassured with promises of padlocked transcription rooms".

"The 'sometimes humdrum' news does not interest the Google Generation. Perhaps the local news about a gig, a restaurant opening, a rugby league match, or surfing conditions might - but these types of news come straight to the cell phone, if not now, then very soon. They come from citizen journalists and listing companies, Yahoo & Google". Trying out the local printed press in my new neck of the woods at the moment.

"He [Andrew Keen] encouraged journalists to exert more confidence and establish themselves as the authorities. I, for one, am skeptical that *more* ego will help journalism build a future. On the contrary, collaboration with an informed audience is the key. If you don’t have an informed audience, just trolls and idiots in your comments, that’s your fault, not the internet’s."

"Even with this new technology, reports of cheating have declined in the past decade, according to the Center for Academic Integrity". Which surely disproves the premise of the headline, no?

"I've been blogging for the last three years now and one of the most important things I’ve learnt is readers don’t have the time (or attention span) to read through long detailed posts". I'll be coming back to this point in a 12 part series of 1,000+ word long posts later in the year on currybetdotnet etc etc...

"This piece presents the basic typosquatting business model, based on my analysis of more than 80,000 typosquatting domain names. I analyze the advertising intermediaries that make typosquatting profitable, and I assess the legislation and litigation that are beginning to put a check on this practice".

Interesting that the Mail labels the picture of her in her skimpies (c) Bebo. Does the copyright not reside with her estate? Or do Bebo have a catch-all T&C that assumes ownership of all content that the Mail is respecting? Or is (c) Bebo the new shorthand for 'reproduced without permission by downloading from Bebo'?