Successful Blog

The Single W Seal of Approval

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Can we talk about . . .

a seal of approval.

No, I’m not advocating that anyone be a “people pleaser.” For goodness sake, I just wrote yesterday about the incredible influence of being a 65th Crayon.

A comment on the post about saying “thank you” to folks on social networks got me thinking. Here’s the part of the comment that Rob Scott left . . .

Sending thank you notes is a good idea. My grandma would definitely approve too – and there’s not much on the internet that she would approve of!!

It’s not about Rob’s grandma, or my grandma, or that fact that I’m old enough to be someone’s grandma — even though I’m surely not. It’s about how the world has changed since we’ve gone from an alphabet that had one W to addresses that have three — www. It’s also about how, though the world has changed, people have stayed mostly the same.

So I’m thinking about the question and I wonder if you’ll think with me.

Be it my dad (born in 1907) or your grandma, or any hero you know from the era of the Single W . . .

What on the Internet would get your hero’s Single W Seal of Approval?

I’ll go first. You can find my answer in the comment box.

Liz's Signature

Work with Liz!!

Reality Check from Kent Newsome

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Pass It On

Sometimes a sentence jumps out and grabs me by the ears. It’s always something easily forgotten so simply and elegantly said that I must pass it on.

Those who promote blogging for one thing or another always pretend that corporate non-tech America has or is about to embrace blogging, when the reality is that other than email, corporate non-tech America hasn’t even embraced the internet. —Kent Newsome

How many ways do we only see ourselves?

Thank you, Kent!

–ME ‘Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Net Neutrality 10-05-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

MORE FROM:
Neutrality’ Is New Challenge for Internet Pioneer
an Interview on Net Neutrality with Sir Tim Berners-Lee By JOHN MARKOFF Published: September 27, 2006

[ . . .]
Q. Do you have a view about the behavior of the telephone companies in this debate? Is this simply traditional monopolist behavior, or is it more subtle? Have you talked to them to understand their motivations?

A. I have tried, when I’ve had the opportunity to find out, to understand their motivations, but I can’t speak for them. So all I can do is guess. But my guess is that it’s not that this is a nefarious planned plot to take over the Internet by a bunch of people who hate it. What I imagine is that it is simply the culture of companies, which have been using a particular business model for a very long time. So I think there is a clash of corporate cultures.

Q. What do you make of justifications involving quality of service, which would give certain types of Internet data, like voice and video, right of way over other kinds of data?

A. They say, “It will cost us an awful lot of money for this quality of service, and therefore we will have to disband neutrality.” They’re not actually logical. Some people say perhaps we ought to be able to charge more for this very special high-bandwidth connectivity. Of course that’s fine, charge more. Nobody is suggesting that you shouldn’t be able to charge more for a video-capable Internet connection. That’s no reason not to make it anything but neutral.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 10-02-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.
MORE FROM:
Neutrality’ Is New Challenge for Internet Pioneer an Interview on Net Neutrality with Sir Tim Berners-Lee By JOHN MARKOFF Published: September 27, 2006

[ . . .]

Q. You’ve spoken about the concept of a Dark Net, which would balkanize the Internet. Do you have a nightmare scenario?

A. In the long term, I’m optimistic because I think even if the United States ends up faltering in its quest for Net neutrality, I think the rest of the world will be horrified, and there will be very strong pressure from other countries who will become a world separate from the U.S., where the Net is neutral. If things go wrong in the States, then I think the result could be that the United States would then have a less-competitive market where content providers could provide a limited selection of all the same old movies to their customers because they have a captive market.

Meanwhile, in other countries, you’d get a much more dynamic and much more competitive market for television over the Internet. So that you’d end up finding that the U.S. would then fall behind and become less competitive until they saw what was going on and fixed it. I just hope we don’t have to go through a dark period, a little dark ages while people experiment with dropping Net neutrality and then, perhaps, put it back.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 9-29-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

‘Neutrality’ Is New Challenge for Internet Pioneer andnterview By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: September 27, 2006

SIR TIM BERNERS-LEE was a software programmer working at the CERN physics research laboratory in Switzerland in the 1980’s when he proposed the idea of a project based on hypertext — linking documents with software pointers.

The World Wide Web went online in 1991 and rapidly grew beyond the physics community. In 1994, Sir Tim founded the World Wide Web Consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to promote open standards on the Internet. Earlier this year, he began speaking out in favor of “Net neutrality.” The term describes one side in the debate in the United States over whether Internet service providers should be able to control the order in which they route packets of data — or even be able to reject those packets — or whether they should be required to be neutral on the matter. For example, in some cases I.S.P.’s have restricted the routing of services provided by competitors like Internet phone calls.

He answered questions earlier this month by telephone from Cambridge, Mass.

Q. Do you think you would be able to invent the Web today, given the barriers that are emerging?

A. You have to imagine the Net without the Web. I think I would be able to invent it today, but if we lose Net neutrality, then imagine a world in which it’s much more difficult to invent the Web.

Q. Is your view that the anti-Net neutrality infrastructure actually threatens political democracy? Does it go beyond just the technical structure of the Internet?

A. Net neutrality is one of those principles, social principles, certainly now much more than a technical principle, which is very fundamental. When you break it, then it really depends how far you let things go. But certainly I think that the neutrality of the Net is a medium essential for democracy, yes — if there is democracy and the way people inform themselves is to go onto the Web.

MORE TOMORROW . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Great Find: PEW Internet and American Life Project

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Who Are These Guys?

If you write about the Internet, you have not done so already, I predict that a quote from the PEW report is in your future. . . .

Great Find: PEW Internet and American Life Project

Permalink: http://www.pewinternet.org/

Audience/Topic: Anyone who researches writing on modern American life and technology

Content: I never heard of PEW & the American Life Project until I started blogging. Yet reesearch blogging or the Internet and PEW information is likely to be there long before you — quoted as the source of the facts. That’s because PEW is always testing, constantly testing — through nationwide (random-digit) telephone and Internet surveys on the impact of the Internet on American Life.

With that in mind, I’ve collected these few facts before I send you there to explore this goldmine of writing ideas and support.

The PEW Mission
The Pew Internet & American Life Project produces reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world.

The Key Researchers
The key researchers work in areas of specialty.
Lee Rainie, Project Director,studies trends in how people of all ages use the Internet.
Deborah Fallows, Senior Research Fellow, follows Email, spam, and everyday life on the Web.
Susannah Fox, Associate Director, Editorial. keeps an eye to privacy and trust, health and health care, support groups, banking, and senior citizens.
John Horrigan. Associate Director, Research, follows social and economic impact of Internet on communities and cities, broadband trends and impacts, adoption of new technologies, and online communities.
Steve Jones, Senior Research Fellow, works in these research areas: College Students, College Students and Gaming, Communities, Copyright, Education, Intellectual Property, Internet in Daily Life, Music, Seniors, Technology Consumption, Teens, Terrorism, Workplace
Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist, concentrates on issues regarding children, teens, parents and the Internet, the digital divide, education, content creation, blogging, instant messaging.
Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist, researches copyright issues, music and the internet, intellectual property issues online, teens and communication technology, college students and the internet, online communities, demographic trends in online pursuits.

The reports each researcher has written are listed on his or her bio page.

The PEW and American Life Project has 100 reports, email alerts, “find an expert,” presentations, a searchable database, a commentary section an “ask a question” service, and invitations to participate in furure polls.

To get there click the title shot below.

PEW Internet

Every time I think I’ve seen all they offer, I discover move.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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