Strangers always love us for what we've accomplished, ignoring the fact that, by definition, that very accomplishment no longer touches us
-Ned Rorem, letter to Glenway Wescott (August 31, 1967)
The NY publishing figure known as the blogger Mad Max Perkins of BookAngst 101 has followed through with long-hinted indications--he's hanging up his browser. "It's hard work, this, even when the feedback has both been so energizing and made it so clear how great a hunger there is for some sort of industry perspective, for some sense that people on the inside aren't wholly disconnected from those on the outside.... "If I had a particular goal when I started, it was to better understand how the machinery works, and to learn some new tricks of the trade--and I'm not sure how much we accomplished on that front, to be honest. The business is so f***ing hard now, and there's so much pressure on those working inside it, that either they don't have the time for (shall we say) pro bono discourse about (say) how to do some of the little things better; or they feel that giving away what few secrets they possess will put them at the sort of competitive disadvantage that might, soon, cost them their jobs. Maxed Out
The Blog, The Press, The Media: Not a blogger. Like Media Dragon Not anything really
Fascinating story by Paul Boutin in Wired, who met a homeless blogger in the street who turned out to be Jorn Barger.
Barger is universally known as the creator of the first Weblog, Robot Wisdom. When some of us noticed recently the blog was back after several months' hiatus, we didn't know Barger had lost his domain because he couldn't afford to renew it. Somehow he is back, though. Barger told Boutin he'd been carrying a sign that day:
• "Coined the term 'weblog,' never made a dime" ; Robot Wisdom on the Street [ UN Pulse ; With the rise of blogs, how should "journalist" be defined? Shield Law for Reporters? ; What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Blog About Blogger Weekly ; Antony Loewenstein Our media asleep at the wheel ]
• · Scott Burgess, is making waves in the UK after revealing a trainee journalist at the Guardian newspaper is a member of one of England's most extreme Islamist organisations Deafening Silence from the Guardian ; The rise of the corporate blogger GUIDE TO BLOGGING; RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0, Compared
• · · Echo Chamber Australian labels win piracy case ; Australia's newest and most secretive current affairs magazine Investigate has been causing a bit of a stir since hitting news stands a few months ago Investigate: A strange accusation
• · · · The supermarket trolley is going hi-tech, with new scan-as-you-shop technology to cut checkout lines No queue and hey: it's the high-tech trolley ; Hidden Angle Blog Report; They don't feel a part of it. They don't feel like they can impact it and therefore they don't trust it. So I think we are trying to create a different kind of conversation: Get in here and be a part of it Citizen reporting is changing notions of news, news gathering
• · · · · via Blog Herald: Blog Count for July: 70 million blogs ; Topix Blog News
• · · · · · The Radar weblog is opening itself up to story pitches from readers What's next: Ping Radar a story ; If we want to do something risqué that editors clean up, we should push back Young NYT staffers told to be "rebellious" in their writing