Archives for October 2006
Catching Ideas Coming In and Going Out
Everyone Has Endless Ideas
Ideas.
Can’t write without one. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work.
If you’re reading this, you probably know that. So let’s move around that dead, old horse.
What’s an idea anyway? A thought, a stimuli, a catalyst.
Everyone has endless ideas in our brains every minute that we’re alive.
We can get to them two ways — from the inside or from the out.
Interview 10.2: Sebastian Blogs, Life, and Advice
Seb Talks about Blogs and Life
When we left Seb Prooth of Seb’s Random Thoughts he told us about his current film work on YouTube at YouTube.com Melting Clock, http://www.youtube.com/meltingclock/ and the success he’d enjoyed being part of the www.globalgeekpodcast.com “>Global Geek Podcast.
Seb, How does blogging fit with your life?
This is a really interesting question. It just so happens that I have recently been making the conscious decision to blog more often. With the effect of quitting a weekly podcast and having no other connection with the fast moving world of digital media other than my blog, I decided it was time to take things more seriously.
Aside from that, I usually blog when I have something to say. For instance, last week when Richard Hammond of the BBCââ¬â¢s TopGear was severely injured in a crash, I covered the story on my blog. TopGear is one of my favourite shows and when I saw the headline I was compelled to write something.
Where has your blog taken you so far? Where do you see your blog taking you in the future?
My blog has made my writing better. I have written very formally on the blog at times such as when I talked about the effects of Digg and being Dugg when I openly opposed telemarketers making use of Skype to sell their goods. I see that my blog has made me a name on a couple of forums. On a Google search for ââ¬ÅSebastian Proothââ¬Â it pulls something in the region of 40 grand results. Although my efforts in podcasting contribute greatly to those numbers, many of the results are due to things I have said on my blog.
In the future I hope to see my blog progressing as it has been. I enjoy the casual nature of blogging. I have the motto on my site ââ¬Åwriting not for hits, but to hit with what I write.ââ¬Â If my site gets Dugg and I get 20 thousand hits in 2 hours, I will be pleased, but If I continue getting 150-500 hits a day for what I write without the assistance of Digg or other mass media distribution service, I am happy with that.
What you tell a younger friend to do if he or she were just starting a blog?
If I was advising a younger friend about blogging I would probably tell him or her to go for it. Definitely. The Internet does not need blogs about what you had for breakfast (unless you are a gourmet chef,) or what you did when you had 20 shots of whatever on Saturday night. The Internet needs blogs where people talk with passion about what they know. I canââ¬â¢t stand it when I go to blogs that are there obviously to benefit a company or to push someoneââ¬â¢s agenda. We all have agendas, your blog is not the best place to bare your agenda naked to the world.
The Internet is a cruel place at the same time as being the largest and most resourceful ââ¬â resource on the planet. If you are going to start a blog, and you want readers the first thing you should consider is if what you are going to write about is of interest to anyone but yourself. I donââ¬â¢t really care if Joe Bloggs (pardon the pun) ate chilli for breakfast. It doesnââ¬â¢t have any bearing on my life. But if you are blogging about a feature on the latest beta release of Windows Vista, or reviewing a film that has just come out, or maybe one that came out before you were born, you have an audience there.
If you donââ¬â¢t care if anyone reads what you write, then I suggest you do whatever you like on your blog. Remember, even though now a tired cliché, do not release a great deal of personal information about yourself. And the last rule of blogging is ââ¬â ENJOY IT!
Thanks Seb, can’t wait to see where you take your blog next.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
Interview 10.1: Sebastian Prooth, Blogger, Podcaster, Film-maker
Interview 9.1: A Conversation with Dr. Tammy Lenski
Interview 8: Marti Lawrence, Blogger, Author, Publisher
Interview 7.1: Meet Cat Morley, World Designer
Net Neutrality 10-04-2006
Net Neutrality Links
I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.
Internet Freedom and Innovation at Risk: Why Congress Must Restore Strong Net Neutrality Protection
READ THIS ONE IN ITS ENTIRETY
Net Neutrality rests on three guiding principles:
- No discrimination against lawful content. Net Neutrality ensures that Internet users have the right to access lawful websites of their choice and to post lawful content, free of discrimination or degradation by network providers. . . . .
- Equal Internet access at an equal price. Under Net Neutrality, network providers cannot give preferential treatment to their own services at the expense of competing sites consumers want to use. . . . .
.
- Consumers choose network equipment. . . . Net Neutrality prevents network providers from eliminating competing equipment by making it incompatible with their gateway. In the process, it ensures that equipment choice remains in the hands of Internet users, where it rightfully belongs
[ . . .]
In 2005, the Telecoms Captured the FCC and Eliminated Net Neutrality Protection Following the Supreme Court’s Brand X Decision.
[ . . .]
In 2006, big network providers have censored lawful content and blocked their Internet competitors:
- Time Warner’s AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com, an advocacy campaign opposing AOL’s pay-to-send e-mail scheme.
- BellSouth blocked its customers’ access to Myspace.com in Tennessee and Florida.
- Cingular Wireless, run by AT&T, bars access to PayPal to make a payment on Ebay because it has struck a deal with another online payment service, which pays Cingular for that privileged status.
[ . . .]
The United States Senate is currently considering a bipartisan bill offered by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan, S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act [Hyperlink to Snowe-Dorgan bill], that would restore Network Neutrality protections in place before July 2005. The Snowe-Dorgan bill requires that any content, application, or service offered through the Internet be provided on a basis that is “reasonable and non-discriminatory” and equivalent to the access, speed, quality of service, and bandwidth of services offered by network owners. It further prohibits network providers from blocking or degrading lawful Internet content. Finally, it leaves the choice for attaching legal devices to networks squarely in the hands of consumers, and not the Telecoms and cable companies.A Telecom-sponsored alternative bill offered by Senator Ted Stevens, S. 2686, the Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 [hyperlink to Net Neutrality provision of Stevens bill], permits Net discrimination to continue unabated. The bill provides no protection for Internet users and entrepreneurs. Instead, it merely includes a toothless requirement that the FCC study the Internet market for five years and file annual reports to Congress on the activities of network owners. Telecoms and cable companies are spending tens of millions of dollars in ads and big-dollar contributions pushing the Stevens bill to members of Congress. They view it as a small price to pay for the billions in profits they will reap as gatekeepers for the Internet’s content and users.
[ . . .]
READ THIS ONE IN ITS ENTIRETY
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE
The Mic is On! What’s Hot and What’s Not?
It’s Like Open Mic Only Different
Here’s how it works.
It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME
The rules are simple — be nice.
There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.
Tonight we’re talking about what’s bloggy hot and what’s not!
We might also talk about
- what the cool bloggers wear when they’re posting
- hot blogs, hot bloggers, hot ideas for bloggers to blog about
- spam, weird search strings, off the wall comments
- what cool things you wish someone would come up with
AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and I heard Milton the Moose might show up.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
The Mic is On! It’s Your Dream Home for Sure!
Open Mic Tonight 7pm Chgo Time –What’s Hot? What’s Not?
Everybody is Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
YES, the mic will be open again tonight. So start collecting your thoughts. Remember, you get to bring what you want to talk about.
The rules are simple — be nice.
There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.
Tonight we’re talking about what’s bloggy hot and what’s not!
We might also talk about
- what the cool bloggers wear when they’re posting
- hot blogs, hot bloggers, hot ideas for bloggers to blog about
- spam, weird search strings, off the wall comments
- what cool things you wish someone would come up with
AND THE EVER POPULAR,
Basil the code-writing donkey, and I heard Milton the Moose might show up.
It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
The Mic is On! It’s Your Dream Home for Sure!