SOME RANDOM DUDE

I just read a very good article by Jakob Nielsen on proper writing for weblogs. His opinion is that blogs (most notably, business blogs) should focus more on in-depth articles rather than short, post-lets. I think Mr. Nielsen’s advice is absolutely correct for a large number of business bloggers out there - but I hesitate to agree it is the best format for all business blogs. I genuinely respect Nielsen’s research on the subject, but a few thoughts from my experience have led me to the opinions mentioned below.
(more…)audience, bloggers, blogging, blogs, content, frequent updates, gurus, in depth articles, jakob nielsen, personality, start a blog subject matter

I read a very interesting article, Why the Semantic Web Will Fail, about one person’s thoughts on why the web will never reach its full potential due to the greed and short-sidedness of big business. The author makes some very good points in the article and it is quite compelling to read.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Semantic Web will never work because it depends on businesses working together, on them cooperating.

We are talking about the most conservative bunch of people in the world, people who believe in greed and cut-throat business ethics. People who would steal one another’s property if it weren’t nailed down. People like, well, Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch.

And they’re all going to play nice and create one seamless Semantic Web that will work between companies - competing entities choreographing their responses so they can work together to grant you a seamless experience?

I think the author is right about one thing - big business is not a big fan of an open, sharing web and will fight it tooth and nail in the name of profit. My feeling however is that business really does not have a choice in the matter. The web is built on a very open, uncontrollable model - opening up infinite possibilities for individuals, competitors and or startups to ruin them in a heartbeat. The web is moving towards a more open model, like it or not. We do not rely on big business, big business relies on us. If corporations do not want to work in that model, all it takes is $15 for a domain name, $100 a month for hosting and word of mouth for some David to take down Goliath.
(more…)content, corporations, delicious, digg, fair play, flickr, information, open data, open web, semantic web, sharing, web 2dot0 youtube

I have been writing this blog for close to two years now and reading blogs for nearly twice as long. There is no shortage of great writers and great blogs on the internet, but to me, these either represent my favorite content or are special to me for other reasons. Either way, I highly suggest all of the blogs below - not a day goes by where I do not wish I could incorporate the quality of writing or type of content in each of these sites. I do not spend enough time on this site giving my respect to what I consider good work, I thought now was as good of a time as ever. If I were to list all of my favorite blogs, the list would be in the hundreds and it would literally take me weeks to finish the article. Perhaps I will begin briefly talking about my favorite blogs on a monthly basis, but for now I will leave the list at this.
(more…)articles, bloggers, blogging, blogs, content, design observer, great blogs, inhabitat, monday by noon, snarkmarket, steve tucker, the blog bit me, treehugger writing