Janetnews.com Blog

Should bloggers establish a code of conduct, or is that infringing on Freedom of Speech.  In my opinion, when messages that include violent threats, that infringes on my Freedom of Speech.  So, if a code of conduct includes non-threatning comments to posts, then I’m all for a code of conduct.  But, don’t bloggers have an unspoken code of conduct?  It’s just sad that a person has to speak out and tell Internet savvy people not to threaten others online. 

Call for blogging code of conduct

The support for a blogger hounded by death threats has intensified with some high profile web experts calling for a code of conduct in the blogosphere.

The female blogger at the centre of the row has been shocked to discover that hers is not an isolated incident.

It has led her and others to question some of the unwritten rules of blogging.

It could force a re-examination of the way the tight-knit blogging community behaves.

The Presidential 2008 Candidate hopefuls are seeking new friends.  Candidates started their own MySpace pages in hopes to attract the younger voters.   

2008 presidential hopefuls launch MySpace profiles 

By clicking onto impact.myspace.com, the site’s mostly young users can link to the personal pages or “profiles” of 10 presidential hopefuls.

Democrats Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Dennis Kucinich have set up MySpace profiles. Republicans McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul also have pages.

MySpace users will be able to read the candidates’ blogs, see photos and video and, if they choose, link their favorite candidate to their friends list or put a candidate’s ad onto their own pages.

“As the country’s most trafficked Web site, MySpace will play a powerful role in the upcoming election,” Chris DeWolfe, MySpace’s chief executive said in a statement.

An article in the New York Times reports that a new “citizen” journalism site is about to emerge.  Wired.com is behind the deal with Jay Rosen, who is a journalism professor at NYU.  Rosen’s idea is fascinating.  I agree, the world is a story and who else better to write the world’s history other than citizens.  

 My dissertation will build upon what types of thematic rhetorical strategies do citizens use to create social knowledge.  Going back to the 17th and 18th century coffeehouses in England, you would find the citizens spreading the news.  Stories were abundant.  Right now storytelling is changing.  The global community can now participate in the storytelling process rather than just a bystander.  Good luck to Jay Rosen’s web site.

All the World’s a Story 

Journalism has always been a product of networks. A reporter receives an assignment, begins calling “sources” — people he or she knows or can find. More calls follow and, with luck and a deadline looming, the reporter will gain enough mastery of the topic to sit down at a keyboard and tell the world a story.

A new experiment wants to broaden the network to include readers and their sources. Assignment Zero (zero.newassignment.net/), a collaboration between Wired magazine and NewAssignment.Net, the experimental journalism site established by Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University, intends to use not only the wisdom of the crowd, but their combined reporting efforts — an approach that has come to be called “crowdsourcing.”

I’m having a hard time accepting that Anna Nicole Smith’s funeral is newsworthy as well as Britney Spears’s rehab stay.  I think it is very disturbing that Smith’s funeral has created such a hurrah.  It amazes me that we have a war going on and our country’s leaders did not know about the poor conditions at Walter Reed.  Maybe those same leaders were watching Smith’s baby custody battle.  Who knows?  I just don’t understand the fascination with people who have absolutely no outstanding talent.  I’m just tired hearing about a woman who contributed nothing to society… just sensationalism.   Let her rest in peace!  (As well as Britney)

I met with my advisor yesterday to discuss my dissertation topic. I am going to start writing my prospectus this week to hone in on the specifics.  Again, I am going to write about Blogging, but with an emphasis on the Presidential 2008 campaign.  When I finish my prospectus, I will post it on my web site.