The Blogging Journalist

Has Tech Blogging Failed Us?

Fast Company TV's Robert Scoble has a thought-provoking post today over at Scobleizer, his personal blog, headlined "Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you." It's long, but I read the entire post and enjoyed doing so.

The Microsoft-Yahoo Blog Swarm

If you really want to see a blogswarm, let a significant technology story break. Microsoft's February 1, 2008 announcement that it wants to buy Yahoo is such a story. Tech bloggers are all over it like a swarm of bees on a honeycomb. If you've never seen an example of this, go over to TechMeme and Megite, two prominent aggregators of technology news.

Technorati Tags: TechMeme,Megite,Microsoft,Tech Bloggers

Scoble: 'I'm Going to Vote for Barack Obama...'

Renown tech blogger Robert Scoble says he's "going to vote for Barack Obama in next Tuesday’s [February 5, 2008] primary here in California."

I'm going to vote for him here in Chicago. No, it's not because he lives a few blocks from me in the Hyde Park section of Chicago. I like him because he's making a genuine effort to unify the nation. Secondly, he's inspiring young people to get involved in the political process. And, frankly, I think the Clintons have had their turn. We don't need a Clinton co-presidency.

By the way, I wonder how many tech bloggers support Obama.

If you want to know why Scoble intends to vote for him, see "John Edwards drops out of presidential race."

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble,Barack Obama,John Edwards

Where Are the African-American Tech Bloggers?

Veteran journalist and blogger Lynne d Johnson, Senior Editor of Fastcompany.com, will host a panel called "Where Are The Black Tech Bloggers?" at the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival, which runs March 7-11, 2008, in Austin, Texas, USA.

SXSW organizers describe the long-running festival as "five days of exciting panel content and amazing parties," which attracts digital creatives as well as visionary technology entrepreneurs." The event "celebrates the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology," boasts organizers.

Among those bright minds, according to Johnson, are several African-American tech bloggers who will appear on her panel. On December 12, 2007, she noted on her blog, Diary, that following bloggers had agreed to participate.

Angela Benton - BlackWeb2.0
N'Gai Croal - Level Up
Darla Mack - Darla Mack: Days In The Life of a Mobile Diva
Ronald Lewis - 24/7 with Ronald Lewis
Lena West - Social Media 360 and TechForward
Craig Nulan - Subrealism: Liminal Perspectives on Consensus Reality

Johnson has been working to identify African-American tech bloggers. On January 18, 2008, she wrote:

If you're a regular reader of my site, then you know that I'm putting together a panel for SXSWi called Where Are The Black Tech Bloggers?. There I also published a list of black tech(ish) bloggers, and now I'm thinking I need to develop a page like Tiffany B. Brown did for Black and Hispanic Women in Web Design.

"But it looks like I may not have to, because Laurence Rozier (aka Nguzo Saba Griot) of The Meshverse Journal, created a Yahoo Pipe of Black Tech Feeds. Thank You.

I just want to publish the list again myself here first, and add a couple more links to the list.

The list includes blogs that are primarily focused on tech, but also others that blog about tech products and tools only sometimes. As well, I've also included a couple of blogs that discuss engineering and science as primary points of discussion.

Visit Johnson and Nguzo Saba Griot's sites and read the listed blogs. I encourage you to bookmark them or subscribe to their feeds.

Also, if you know of any African-American tech blogs, let me know. I want to add to the list of those already identified.

Technorati Tags: African-American Tech Bloggers,SXSW,Lynne d Johnson,Nguzo Saba Griot

Are Tech Bloggers Obligated to Blog About Kenya?

Robert Scoble over at Scobleizer and Fast Company revealed in a January 18, 2008, post headlined Why don’t tech bloggers write about Kenya:

I got slammed on some blogs for not writing about Kenya’s problems. Truth is I missed that story because I was busy with CES and MacWorld and Fast Company stuff.

Ethan Zuckerman, who founded Global Voices Online (which +is+ the right blog to keep up with human rights blogging from around the world comes to my defense, which I greatly appreciate).

I don't think any blogger is obligated to cover a particular event or story just because he or she blogs. Write about what you know best. In Robert's case, it's technology. However, a tech blogger, for instance, can recommend bloggers familiar with a particular subject, if he or she is so inclined. Robert has done that.

If those criticizing Robert really want to read blogs about Kenya, I recommend Paul Canning's "This is Web power · Kenyans need blogs." He provides links to several Kenyan and expatriate bloggers and comments on Kenyan's attitudes about political leaders whose power plays ignited the political crisis in the East African nation.

Robert, I got your back on this one.

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble,Scobleizer,Paul Canning,Kenya

Why Robert Scoble Moved to Fast Company

Robert Scoble, perhaps the best known tech blogger in the world, explains why he joined Fast Company to help develop FastCompany.TV rather than start his own business following his January 14, 2008, departure from PodTech.

At PodTech Robert conducted valuable and informative interviews with tech pioneers and contemporary players in Silicon Valley, California, USA. The interviews were aired on Scoble Show, which I regularly watched. I intend to follow him to Fast Company.

I wish Robert and Rocky Barbanica, his video editor, much success at Mansuetto Ventures, "producers of Fast Company and Inc. magazines."

If you want to read Scoble's entire post on his move, please see " Why we’re going to FastCompany.TV

Fast Company issued a press release about Scoble coming aboard under the headline "Mansueto Digital Announce Launch of New Video Network FastCompany.TV." Scoble will be managing director.

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble,Rocky Barbanica,Fast Company,FastCompany tv,Mansuetto Ventures,PodTech. Scoble Show

Scoble: 'Why Are Some Bloggers Turning on Apple?'

Scobleizer proprietor Robert Scoble observes in a December 23, 2007, post: "I’m seeing more and more anti-Apple blogs lately like the one Dave Winer posted yesterday. Why is that?"

Don't worry, the Apple fanboys and girls will come to the rescue if they feel Apple, Inc. is being attacked, especially by PC users.  Do I dislike Apple? No! This is written on a Mac. I bought one this year and one last year. My other two machines run Linux. I no longer use Windows PCs at home because of the high cost of Microsoft's software, license requirements and constant software problems.

Anyway, for Scoble's perspective on the mounting criticism of Apple, please see "Why are some bloggers turning on Apple?"

Oh, if you don't know who Dave Winer is see this. You've probably used used some of his applications and just don't know it.

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Dave Winner, Apple Computers, Apple Critics

TechMeme and Megite

Because I love reading technology blogs, I visit technology blog aggregator TechMeme every day. I also regularly visit Megite, another blog aggregator, which is not that much different from Gabe Rivera's TechMeme. Both feature other types of blogs but they don't seem to get the attention that tech blogs get.

Technorati Tags: TechMeme, Gave Rivera, Megite

Who Are You Calling an 'Ignorant Slut' ?

CHICAGO, USA -- Owen Thomas at Valleywag writes in an October 25, 2007, post: "Is 23-year-old Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg [of Facebook] worth $3 billion, as ignorant slut Kara Swisher of AllThingsD believes? Or nearly $5 billion, as Valleywag has reported?"

What's with the name calling? Anyway, to read the entire post, see "Feuds."

Technorati tags: Valleywag, Owen Thomas, Kara Swisher, Mark Zuckerberg

Scoble Doesn't Deserve the Scorn He's Getting

I am not a geek and I don't live in Silicon Valley, California, USA. I live in Chicago. Yet, I have enough of an interest in what goes on in "The Valley" and in the geeks who live, play and attack each other there,  sometimes relentlessly, to closely follow the pontifications of The Valley's tech bloggers. They don't miss a thing in the aggregate.  I read the so-called A-listers and those barely listed. They are a fascinating, ego-driven bunch who don't hesitate to step up and challenge anyone who dares to depart from a certain orthodoxy or who haven't thought out their ideas before blogging them.

Robert Scoble, proprietor of the influential blog Scobleizer,  is probably the best known of the California tech bloggers. I sense that some regard him as an interloper and a wannabe geek. Is it because he doesn't have a college degree? Hell, Bill Gates didn't have one either when he and Paul Allen started Microsoft. Larry Ellison at Oracle didn't have one either when he started his company. I could name others in many fields who were successful despite never having finished college.

So, regardless of what some tech bloggers may think of Scoble and some of his ideas, they can't ignore him. At least they don't ignore him. In fact, he's fodder for some of them on their slow days.

Scoble created a quite a stir on August 26, 2007, with a post headlined Why Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years. He wrote: "The only reason you’ll watch these two videos is because you trust me to add value to your lives and not sell links. I explain how SEO-resistant technologies like Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are about to upend the search industry."

The two videos are: "Part I of Social Graph Based Search. 14:41 minutes and "Part II of Social Graph Based Search. 15 minutes."

I agree with those who say Robert went overboard when he declared that Jason Calacanis' "human powered search engine," Mahalo.com, Gabe Rivera's TechMeme, and Mark Zuckerberg's widely popular Facebook are going to kick Google's butt in four years. It's not going to happen, Robert. If anything, they may become a part of Google, perhaps with the exception of Facebook.

While I applaud those who've taken the high road in critiquing Scoble's work, I disagree with those bashing him because of his opinions and those who seem to take a personal delight in seeing him bashed. Here are a few Google links discussing Why Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years.

I've never met Robert, but I like him based on the personality that come through in his writing and his videos for the Scoble Show over at PodTech.  I like his passion and enthusiasm for tech blogging. I like his willingness take a  stance on issues he deems important although he knows he's going to get his ass kicked. He willingly promotes new applications and the geeks behind them, if he thinks they are worth promoting. Sometimes I think he goes overboard with it. A good example is his endless promotion of Facebook. He'll promote a product as if it he owned it.

But yet, I'd never call him names for doing so. It's his First Amendment right to promote any product and be wrong in his opinions, which he usually corrects when he becomes convinced that he might have been wrong. On the other hand, his critics have a First Amendment right to challenge his conclusions as long as they don't engage in slander or libel in the process. But just because we have a right to do something doesn't mean we have to do it viciously. The best cut is with an extra sharp knife, which leaves the victim not knowing that he's been cut until he see's the blood.

In other words, the best response to Scoble's errors is a well-reasoned one that isn't diminished by unnecessary ridicule and name calling.   

And another thing: Scoble is doing something I haven't heard of any other blogger or vlogger doing and that is consciously chronicling the work of tech pioneers who are still alive and young bucks who are up and coming. In fact, he's introducing old timers and young bloods to a new audience. In my opinion, that is more valuable than 99 percent of what I read in tech blogs. For example, I've learned a lot from the following:

(1) A conversation with IBM’s top intellectual property lawyer (2) Larry Page’s teacher (3) The rest of the story behind Microsoft’s OS deal with IBM (4) Why I love what I do (5) IBM distinguished engineer on, um, marketing? (6) FedEx exec shows opportunity for online advertising."

I could cite dozens of valuable video interviews Scoble has done with technology personalities and entrepreneurs, even if some are marred by one of the most annoying laughs I've ever heard. While one could easily dismiss his contribution to tech history and tech's future, others will find it a valuable resource. Robert's positive contribution far exceeds the errors he's made in his effort to keep us conversing with each other.

Note: Robert has linked to my blog, The Blogging Journalist, on several occasions. This post can also be found at The Technology Free Press.

Technorati tags: Robert Scoble, Scobleizer, Scoble Bashing, Jason Calacanis, Mahalo.comment is Free, Gabe Rivera, TechMeme, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, Google

Sun CEO and Blogger Jonathan Schwartz Explains Why Some CEO's Shouldn't Blog

ZDNet Asia correspondent Eileen Yu published an interview August 29, 2007 that Sun Microsystems' baby-faced CEO, Jonathan Ian Schwartz, granted her on August 28, 2007, at Sun's Menlo Park campus in California, United States. According to Yu, "Schwartz discusses his thought process each time he begins a new post and explains why some CEOs should never blog."  This question and answer stood out:

It's still not very common for CEOs, or at least in Asia, to have corporate blogs. How would you suggest CEOs brush away any concerns they may have about blogging, and would you say not all CEOs should blog?

I think the only people who should blog, first and foremost, should care about communicating to the marketplace, and can make the commitment to support that communication over a long period of time. The people who get into trouble blog because somebody tells them it's important, so they write two things and they stop caring about it and then nothing ever happens. And that's just a waste of effort.

If you care about communicating, then you should be a good communicator. And to me blogging is an enormously effective vehicle to communicate. I mean, in a day, I can get 50,000 readers. There's almost no way imaginable I could travel the planet to touch 50,000 people, and yet with a simple blog entry, I can reach out and solicit feedback from that volume of readers. And these readers are Sun's customers, developers and potential investors.

What we're working on now, and we don't have a good answer, is how do we engage--through all the localized translations--the feedback from the marketplace because right now, the comments are made in English only. I would love to get comments from a telco customer who speaks Arabic or a developer who speaks Chinese.

I read a lot of tech blogs and Schwartz's Jonathan's blog is high on my list. To read more of Yu's interview with him, see "A blog into Schwartz's mind."

Note: This post can also be found at The Technology Free Press.

Technorati tags: Eileen Yu, ZDNet Asia, Jonathan Schwartz, Jonathan's Blog, A Blog in Schwartz's Mind, Sun Microsystems

Dave Winer's Apology to Jason Calacanis

"I gave it some thought, and I decided to apologize to Jason for interrupting his speech at Gnomedex," writes Scripting News Editor Dave Winer in an August 13, 2007, post headlined "Apologies to Calacanis. "I wish I hadn't done it. It'll never happen again. That's a promise."

Then Dave had to go and say this and more: "That said, I have a lot of trouble believing that a street fighter from Brooklyn (I'm from Queens) is still having an emotional time with this. But some people are very sensitive, and I'm willing to believe, long enough to apologize, that Jason is still feeling emotional about being interrupted on Friday."

Calacanis response was, in part: "Apology accepted Dave. "

"As always, and I've said this over and over, I respect your ideas greatly and am always open to hearing how you think any product can be better. I have no problem with spirited debate (as anyone can attest to), only with the concept of berating someone while they are on stage presenting their vision." See "Accepted for Calacanis' full response.

I commented on the issue on August 12, 2007 over at The Technology Free Press. I wrote: "Dave Winer, August 10, 2007: “Here’s what bothers me about Mahalo. Jason Calacanis, August 11, 2007: ”On getting “Winered” yesterday.” Dave Winer, August 11, 2007: “Jason didn’t bring us a win-win.”

"Fellows, you’ve both vented," I added. "It’s time to move on to something else. And Jason, stop apologizing for your presentation. Almost every speaker gets heckled at one time or another. Often by someone who thinks he or she knows what’s right for everyone else. It’s just an annoying part of life."

I'm glad Winer apologized and Calacanis accepted. Hopefully, there will be cordiality the next time the two are at the same gathering.

Technorati tags: Dave Winer, Jason Calacanis, Apologies to Calacanis, Apology Accepted.

Robert Scoble: "I’ll Be Back Blogging When I Can Add Value Again'

"Tonight I looked over my Twitters and blogs," "A-list" blogger Robert Scoble, proprietor of the popular Scobleizer blog, told his readers in an August 13, 2007, post. "They are angry. Confrontational. Disturbed. Hurt. Dismayed."

"Those are not words to describe someone in a state of mind to improve the world," he writes, adding:

Part of it is so many people are making stuff up about me and/or my employer without any care as to my feelings or the truth that I’ve got to get some distance.  Over the weekend a variety of people said I had quit my job. Then another “A-list” blogger said I had been fired. Neither are true. Much of what I read over on that Silicon Valley gossip site lately isn’t true and they have demonstrated over and over that they really don’t care about the truth. It really depresses me cause I thought blogging would be a tool for humans to get smarter, not stupider. Depression isn’t fun.

So, I’m going to try something else for a while.

What Robert is going to try is a hiatus. "I’ll be back blogging when I can add value again," he wrote. "My video show at http://www.scobleshow.com will go on (I have a ton of great videos coming this week) and I might do a Kyte video or two since I’m doing R&D there for PodTech. I’ve been having a ball with videos in both places lately and you’ve probably noticed that the quality of the videos is going up. I can’t wait for you to see the vid I filmed with Marc Canter at Gnomedex."

To read more, please see "Things on my mind…" By the way, Valleywag's Nick Douglas, one of Scoble's nastiest critics in Silicon Valley, asks in an August 11, 2007, post: "Is PodTech firing it's most important employee?"

The responses at Scobleizer to Scoble's "I’ll be back blogging when I can add value again"  post has been mostly favorable.

Technorati tags: Robert Scoble. Scobleizer, PodTech, Valleywag, Nick Douglas

Groklaw Excelled in Coverage of The SCO Group, Inc v. Novell, Inc

When I heard on August 10, 2007, that Utah-based U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball had issued a 102-page opinion in The SCO Group, Inc v. Novell, Inc, I was anxious to read it. I was also anxious to see what paralegal and blogger Pamela "PJ" Jones , founder of Groklaw and an expert on the case, had to say about the opinion. Even lawyers in the case and those with impending litigation involving The SCO Group and the companies they represent turn to her blog for news about the case. See "Lawyers Flock to Mystery Web Site's Coverage of SCO-IBM Suit."

As a litigation paralegal with a journalist background, reading well-crafted legal opinions is as natural as reading a good novel. Judge Kimball's August 10, 2007, Memorandum Decision and Order in The SCO Group, Inc v. Novell, Inc fit the bill as a good read. It was comprehensive and lacked the legal jargon that often keeps those uninitiated in law in the dark.

A civil litigation defense paralegal since 1991, I naturally gravitated towards Novell and its claim that it, not SCO, owned UNIX and UnixWare copyrights, and that SCO only had a license for UNIX. As P.J and many others expected he would, Judge Kimball ruled that Novell, Inc is the rightful owner of UNIX and UnixWare copyrights.

If you are interested in this case--it's not over yet--I suggest you visit Groklaw for background.  P.J has followed it from day one. She is perhaps the foremost authority on it. Her views on Judge Kimball's ruling are in "Court Rules: Novell owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights! Novell has right to waive! 

Note: A longer version of this post can be found at The Technology Free Press, my blog about "tech news, web/tech, tech blogging and tech politics.

Technorati tags: The SCO Group Inc v. Novell Inc., Novell, SCO, Judge Dale Kimball, Groklaw, Paralegal and Blogger Pamela "PJ" Jones

Blogging at The Technology Free Press and The Diplomatic Times Review

Unless you've been reading The Diplomatic Times Review Online and The Technology Free Press, it may appear that I haven't been blogging much lately. Well, I have. It's just that my interest are so varied, I've been blogging primarily about diplomacy and Web technology. I'm fascinated by computers and Internet technology. The fascination with web/tech is what prompted me to create The Technology Free Press in 2006. I've spent a lot of time over there lately. That's why The Blogging Journalist hasn't been updated since July 21, 2007

I'm also fascinated by international affairs and diplomacy. I have been since my late father explained to me in the late 1950s why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The subject had come up in school.

His narratives about his service in the Philippines and New Guinea during World War II also fascinated me. He also served in the Korean conflict. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, he came home one evening and told us: "Children, I may have to go to war again if the Russians don't get their missiles out of Cuba." I recalled praying that the negotiations between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev and their respective diplomats succeed so my father wouldn't have to go to war. I can still remember the fear I had as a result of the crisis. My father was in the Army reserves by then.

Although I was only eleven-years old at the time, my interest in diplomacy was heightened by my fear and by reading about the crisis in the newspaper and listening to news about it on CBS radio.  Thanks to my father, I was a voracious reader of history, especially alternative history, even at that age. That also contributed to my interest in diplomacy. This combination of influences led to me writing about diplomacy and international affairs during the late 1970s and 1980s, when I worked as a full-time journalist in Chicago. I closely followed world events in those days and got a chance to meet and interview foreign diplomats, government officials, representatives of liberation movements and a prime minister or two. I even came across a few spies.

Today I still have an avid interest in diplomacy and world affairs. That's why I haven't given up the The Diplomatic Times Review, which started out as a website in 2003. I painstakingly updated it almost daily using Microsoft FrontPage. It was converted into a blog in 2004. Before it became one, I commented on world events at The Foreign News Observer blog, which I shut down after I brought TDT online. I still own the domain name. By the way, The Diplomatic Times actually started out as a newsletter in September 2000.

Am I tired of The Blogging Journalist? No. I' still have that strong interest in offerings news and commentary about blogging and the media in general. It's just that I don't write about it as much as I once did. Health issues have a lot to do with how much time I allocate to blogging.

Technorati tags: The Diplomatic Times Review Online, The Technology Free Press