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After studying Obama’s blog in March, my conclusion is that Obama concentrates more on Credibility through Similarity, Goodwill and Idealism. It’s not about Power at all. Obama’s ethos is about his ability to connect to voters.

John McCain and Hillary analysis is up next. Stay tuned.

Here’s proof that people do know what a blog is…

Americans Love Blogs | WebProNews

It’s official. Americans love blogs. According to a new Synovate/Marketing Daily survey out today, 8 out of 10 Americans know what a blog is–and just about half of us have visited a blog.

This new study polled 1000 U.S. adults using Synovate eNation and took place between July 30, 2007 and August 1, 2007. The survey’s results prove that blogging has now officially entered the mainstream.

Not only do Americans know what blogs are and have visited a blog in the past, blog loyalty is strong–46 percent of those who read blogs said that they visit the same blogs on a regular basis–versus 54 percent who surf the internet for new and different blogs.

I just wanted to note that Friday April 7, 2006, I presented a paper at the College English Association for the first time about using weblogs in the journalism classroom.  I have never been to a conference where 20 people showed up to a panel.  The room was energized and ready to embrace technology.  I found CEA to be a friendly conference that I will definitely submit to again.  I found that there is an audience for my research, which makes it even more exciting.

Dan Brown says he used the book The Holy Grail and the Holy Blood as a reference.  So, does that mean that all nonfiction can not be used for writing a FICTIONAL story?  What should writer’s reference?  When I was doing research for a paper about The Da Vinci Code, I came across several books that were nonfiction that read like The Holy Grail and the Holy Blood–so shouldn’t those books be on trial too?  Because,those books, too, are cashing in on The Da Vinci Code.  Here’s an excerpt from The New York Times that I think many writer’s fear–

 Judge Asks Sharp Questions at Close of ‘Da Vinci Code’ Case

Mr. Rayner James insisted that he was not asking the court to establish a precedent. But the case is being closely watched here by copyright and media lawyers, who say that a victory by the plaintiffs could have wide repercussions for novelists, playwrights and others who use nonfiction works as background research.

“The concept that you can infringe copyright by taking what is presented as fact in a nonfiction book and weaving it into a novel could have very serious implications,” said Fiona Crawley, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property and copyright issues in the London office of the international firm Bryan Cave.

“All sorts of people write novels about historical events and go to nonfiction books for research,” Miss Crawley added. She used as an example Jack Higgins’s novel “The Eagle has Landed,” based on the historical conjecture that the Nazis considered trying to capture Prime Minister Winston Churchill from his country estate in Norfolk, England, during World War II.

“If someone had written a nonfiction book about that, are you saying that when Jack Higgins uses it as the basis to write a novel, he can’t do it without infringing the author’s copyright?” she asked.

 

Overall, I just hope the movie is not affected by this trial.  I think many people need to realize The Da Vinci Code is fictional.  Yes, it tells a story that is controversial, but it also is a good read.  To me, fiction is about letting your mind expand to ask “what if” and this book did that as well as what The Historian did.  The Historian story discusses the existence of Dracula.  Do I believe that Dracula exists… no, but it was fun wondering–”what if…”

Register early for The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writer’s Conference of the Southwest. A weekend of lectures, workshops, panel discussions that will explore ”The Art of Narrative Storytelling”.

The conference will be Friday, July 14, 2006, to Sunday, July 16, 2006 in Grapevine at the Hilton DFW Lakes.  Some of the authors that are attending:

• Gay Talese:  A Writer’s Life
• Melissa Fay Greene:  Praying for Sheetrock
• Ron Powers:  Flags for our Fathers
• H.W. Brands:  The First American
• Hampton Sides:  Ghost Soldiers
• and many more

Register Now

Dr. Andrew Chen from Minnesota State University University summarized the conference sessions on his blog, Lepus Inter Extraho.  Here is the link to what he thought of the panel I presented on.

 439 Computer Culture 13

She rightly points out a number of issues inherent in that sort of context, and I hope that word of her sort of work can get out more so that we can move beyond such definitional and descriptive issues as has been plaguing much of the discussion about weblogs.

 The discussion after both Dr. Philip Baruth and I presented was very good.  I thought the discussion about anonymous posts and blocking comments all together should be looked into more thoroughly.  If we block comments on blogs are we hindering the conversation that blogs are so well known for?  I enjoy comments when I receive them.  But, Dr. Baruth has a political satire blog where comments might hinder his blog posts.  Dr. Baruth welcomes e-mails and will include sections in his posts as would any “letter to the editor” section. But, as I mentioned in my paper, we can not say, this is how ALL blogs should run.  The author of the blog has a right to control the conversation.  I do!  All comments are emailed to me for my approval.  The beauty of a blog is that it’s the author’s voice.  If that voice is credible and informative, then the blog itself is a wonderful tool for our social-knowledge to grow.

 

Here’s a neat idea that one professor provided for his students. Additional lectures provided by podcasts… where one can download a professor’s lecture onto their MP3 player.

Now educating on an iPod near you

Many students walk through campus listening to their MP3 players, often with a favorite band filling their ears. But for a growing number of people, the sound may also be the voice of one of their professors.

Last term, journalism professor Al Stavitsky experimented with creating online audio files called podcasts, which he termed “Al Pods,” for his Mass Media and Society class.

Stavitsky, associate dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, said his podcasts differed from podcasts available at some schools in that they did not reproduce class lectures. Instead, they provided new content bridging the lectures and the assigned readings, freeing Stavitsky from spending large amounts of class time talking about the readings.

New Pew Internet research study showed that more people sought out news about Hurricane Katrina online! Online journalism is growing and should not be ignored.

Many Went Online for Hurricane News

NEW YORK - More than half of U.S. Internet users went online for news and information about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the vast majority having visited the Web sites of traditional news organizations such as CNN and MSNBC, a study finds.

Of the Americans who went online for news, 14 percent went to an international news source such as the BBC’s Web site.

“The fact that you had this U.S. domestic crisis and people turning to international news sources is interesting,” said John Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which released the survey findings Thursday.

“There were certainly commentators worldwide shocked that this sort of thing was going on in America, and I would imagine some people decided to see firsthand what commentators and news sites overseas were saying,” he said.

The survey also found that people went on multiple sites, even web journals aka blogs.

Online search use jumps, survey finds

NEW YORK - The number of people who use Internet search engines to find information has jumped over the last year, claiming a solid No. 2 spot behind e-mail among online tasks, a new study finds.

Of the 94 million American adults who went online on a given autumn day this year, 63 percent used a search engine, compared with 56 percent in June 2004, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said Sunday.

Sex and the TV Study

A study released Wednesday by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation made headlines for its findings that the number of sex scenes on TV nearly doubled from 1998 to 2005. And as prime time goes, so apparently goes scientific research.