Paul Chenowith links to a new Perseus survey of the blogosphere with some numbers that seem strangely out of whack, at least to me. First, Perseus expects around 55 million blogs to have been created by year’s end, which is like six or seven times more than any other estimates I’ve seen. It says MSN Spaces has like 4.5 million sites, of which maybe I’ve seen three. And what the heck is Greatest Journal anyway?
Oy.
Tags: Blog, Numbers, Numbing
How much could today’s teen learn by working in Thomas Edison’s lab? A new report from the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index says: “A vast majority of teens (79 percent) believe there is value in hands-on, project-based science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and learning in high school.”
Tags: apprentice, Edison, Imagining, teen, Thomas, todaysLisa Huff has created a wiki called Learners4Life where those of us interested in exploring Write Beside Them (which I mentioned in my last post) can gather, discuss, question, journal, interact, respond, and all the other million things you can do with a wiki. In order to join up, all you have to do is
Pick up a copy of the book. My order is being shipped Monday, according to Amazon, but your mileage may vary.Join us over the wiki, and follow Lisa’s directions there.
Tags: Learners4LifeThe checks and balances referred to this morning by John Hinderaker in this post on Powerline are evidence of as general a principle of the open internet as Newton’s laws are in the physical world.
. . . I suspect that most of the discussion may be about how bloggers can become more credible by adopting the standards of mainstream journalists. My own perspective will be a bit different. So far, the blogosphere has a far better record of honesty and accuracy than mainstream organs like the New York Times and CBS. This isn’t entirely a matter of personality; it is also a function of the checks and balances of the blogosphere, which are far stronger and more effective than the alleged “checks and balances” of the mainstream media, which, in the absence of political and intellectual diversity, may not operate at all.
I am consumed with keeping all the pieces of this research on blogging into a manageable form that will be useful as we start this summer digging into all that has transpired and what it means. I have had much to learn about the research process and one side aspect of this project is that I have been unable to blog in the manner that I am accustomed to. I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the results. The problem is that I don’t know what areas those are so mostly I have been quiet about everything. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve started but then not finished. I’m also knee deep in transcribing sessions. I’ve been using Dragon software - my less than “affectionate” name for the software is Cruella. Transcribing is a tedious and time-consuming process.
Tags: Blogging, miss