Slightly Off KIlter

Normal is overrated

Weblogs

  • Are You a Blogger?

    Are you a blogger? Before you answer no, consider this: Continue reading

    ,

  • Every Jot and Tittle

    One of my “pet peeves” regards people who seem to feel that writing for the web doesn’t need to be edited, spell-checked or proofread. … Continue reading

  • The Indie “Virus”

    Love the Idea. Hate the Name. The “Indie Virus” is an idea from Chris Pearson: I’m starting a new experiment tonight that I’d like to have some fun with over the coming weeks, but there’s a catch – I’m going to need some help from you, my critical-thinking, curious readers. Essentially, I want to launch… Continue reading

  • The Weblog Handbook

    Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog This slim volume, by Rebecca Blood, is well-written, informative, and engaging. One of the early website creators and one of the first to use what is now considered to be the “weblog” format, Rebecca has a unique perspective on weblogs, online culture, and communication. Although I have… Continue reading

    ,

  • The Citizen Journalism Debate

    Something to keep an eye on… The National Union of Journalists in Britain and Ireland (NUJ) has announced a code of practice to address important issues raised by the “phenomenon of citizen journalism”. The new Code comes a day after a round-table debate on citizen journalism and its implications for the profession. Continue reading

    ,

  • Civility

    By now you may have heard of the altercation that took place between Mena Trott (SixApart.com) and Ben Metcalfe (backstage.bbc.co.uk) at the recent <a href=" ” target=”_blank”>Les Blogs conference in France. Mena gave a keynote speech about civility in blogging. Metcalfe (and others in the audience) took exception to what they considered to be the… Continue reading

    ,

  • How Much Anonymity?

    When I started my weblogs, I made a few decisions. I will be as honest in my writing as I am in “real life”. I will not go out of my way to offend other people. I will only very rarely (if ever) discuss the more “controversial” topics (e.g. Iraq, religion, politics…). I will not… Continue reading

  • “Blog People”

    You may have heard about Michael Gorman’s recent diatribe against weblogs and the people who write them (posted in Library Journal, Feb. 15, 2005). It’s distinctly uncomplimentary. A blog is a species of interactive electronic diary by means of which the unpublishable, untrammeled by editors or the rules of grammar, can communicate their thoughts via… Continue reading

  • Blog Commercialization

    Blogs are becoming commercialized. Beginning with simple Google AdSense Ads, Amazon referral links, and Cafe Press merchandising–often simply to defray the costs of site hosting–many bloggers have sought to make a little money from their blogs. Some blogs, like Daring Fireball, began with very commercial premises. Big Media is spinning up its own blogs (Slate,… Continue reading

  • The Lazy Way?

    I ran across the following <A HREF="entry on a fellow blogger’s site. She’s also a fellow Victoria, so she must have sensible things to say 🙂 One of my favorite bloggers called memes “officially the lazy bastard’s way of filling a blog”, but I beg to differ. As someone who uses my blog as a… Continue reading

    ,