(Non-relevant chatter edited out)
[04:15] [KevinMarks] http://beta.technorati.com
[04:15] [KevinMarks] er
[04:15] [KevinMarks] email beta@technorati.com
[04:31] [rattle] The tabs on that main page.. List five items. Fearing the browser's ability to scroll is pointless. Before any of this crap, there was above and below the fold. Work with it.
[04:35] [rattle] Embrace the long tail. Let there be something below the fold worth looking at. Give me something to pull up in a browser that's worth pulling on a shitty GPRS connection, waiting for it to load, and have it worth it to me to see what I got. To understand what's important with web design, you need to take two steps back to more forward.
[04:36] [rattle] Here, I see evidence of the same exact thing that made Technorati's last round of webpage edits fall on its face. Last time, certain sections did not take advantage of with width of the browser. ... which was corrected.
[04:36] [KevinMarks] rattle
[04:36] [KevinMarks] email beta@technorati.com
[04:36] [KevinMarks] or blog it and link back ;)
[04:37] [rattle] Sometimes feedback is a drunk shouting at you.
[04:37] [KevinMarks] it's just that the folk working on it have collapsed wiht exhaustion and I m ight not remeber to pass this on
[04:39] [rattle] Hey, I got a web community I run that gets (mostly) ignored. Such is the fate accepted by anyone who decides to take the personal risk to speak. I saw your soapbox, I stood on it. Maybe I'll remember to comment via email.. Maybe I'll continue to have trouble switching between windows.
[04:40] [rattle] I need to implement trackback and all that shit first.. Now Google Sitemaps. And my shit still doesn't even ping anything. Now I gotta write you email's to help you aggregate the web for your own benefit? What's in it for me?
[04:46] [KevinMarks] rattle: blog your critique
[04:46] [KevinMarks] then ping us
[04:46] [KevinMarks] http://beta.technorati.com
[04:53] [rattle] I already said, my site does not ping. I still need to write that code. Its not as simple as installing Movable Type or Wordpress here.. Building a community from the ground up for people isn't as easy as it looks on the Internet. Take two layers of irony and call me in the morning.
[04:56] [rattle] http://www.memestreams.net/users/rattle/blogid5121042

Last week I posted a notice about a State Department-sponsored workshop on blogging.

Yesterday the following notice was sent to the same mailing list, in advance of the event (which was held today).

THIS SESSION IS OFF-THE-RECORD; IT IS DESIGNED TO BE AN INFORMATIVE WORKSHOP FOR JOURNALISTS AND NOT AS A SUBJECT FOR REPORTING.

I am not making up the ALL CAPS thing. That is exactly how it appeared in the notice.

Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

First Rule of Blogging Workshop: Do Not Blog About Blogging Workshop

Yes, this is for real. No, I am not kidding. Yes, these are your tax dollars at work. Yes, this is the State Department's idea of public diplomacy. No, you cannot go and heckle the speaker.

Dear Journalists:

The Washington Foreign Press Center is pleased to announce a special workshop on "Figuring Out Blogs: The Best Blogs FOR and BY Journalists and How You Can Join the Blogging Revolution as a Reader and/or Creator of Blogs," to take place on Tuesday, June 7, 2005, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. The workshop is the second in a series of programs the Foreign Press Center is planning on "Information Technology and Journalism."

The workshop will be taught by Sreenath "Sree" Sreenivasa, Professor of New Media Journalism at Columbia University and a tech reporter for WABC-TV. His work explaining technology to lay readers has appeared in the "New York Times," "Business Week," "Rolling Stone," and "Popular Science." Professor Sreenivasa taught the first workshop offered by the FPC on "Smarter Surfing: Better Use of Your Web Time."

Why attend the workshop:
There is much confusion about blogs, bloggers and blogging. Is this the end of journalism as we know it? Or is it just another small step in the evolution of media? Are any worth following? You will get answers to these and other questions at this workshop.
You will learn about:
- Blog basics
- What's to love and what's to hate about blogs
- The best blogs FOR journalists
- The best blogs BY journalists
- Blogs that are changing America and the world
- Blogs that are over-hyped and a waste of time
- How to read blogs without drowning in too much info
- How to create a blog and raise your Google rankings
- Why journalists should be blogging
- Why journalists should NOT be blogging

Confused About Blogs? The State Department Is Here To Help

John Jay Hooker, the lawyer who delivered the most memorable comment at BlogNashville, has appeared in the blogosphere.

"You can't call a son-of-a-bitch a son-of-a-bitch without calling him a son-of-a-bitch."

John Jay Hooker Blog

] The stuff people talk about when they talk (and talk and
] talk) about blogging: dispatches from last week's
] BlogNashville convention

Brittney Gilbert, who also blogs at Nashville is Talking (http://www.news2wkrn.com/nit/), about BlogNashville.

Nashville Scene | Blogged to Death

] The Media Bloggers Association announces the appointment
] of Ronald D. Coleman, of the Coleman Law Firm, PC as
] general counsel. Coleman will be build a team of attorney
] around the country to provide MBA members with first-line
] counsel on matters relating to the use of intellectual
] property, defamation and other issues arising from their
] weblogging.

This is cool. Media Bloggers has organized a legal defense organization for Bloggers who get cease and desist notices. They are also working on insurance and education efforts.

Media Bloggers Association Lauches MBA Legal Defense Project * A news item at mediabloggers.org

] Remember Howard Beal - the frustrated anchor from the
] movie Network? He's a hero to Bob Cox, who has become
] one of the country's best-known bloggers.

Decius and I are visible in the video footage included with this article.

I'm the one in the black cowboy hat.

BlogNashville brings new breed of writer to Music City

Blog Nashville is this weekend. Only 19 slots left if you want to attend. Don't register unless you're serious, as there really are only 19 slots left. However, Dan Gillmor, Dave Winer, and Mark Glaser will be there, among others.

Rattle and Decius will be in attendance representing Industrial Memetics and MemeStreams.

BlogNashville

Its in my archive, and its in your archive. An entire reputation profile can be constructed from it. So watch what you say, and then say it anyway.

BetterBadNews | Fun With Self Surveillance

Recent Blogads survey. Nothing too surprising. The audience in the blog world is educated, mostly students and teachers. Lots of managers, computer professionals, and people in the legal field.

Blogads: reader survey for blog advertising.