Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Explaining so many things

The character disorders of the business managers blended together with those of the criminals and mental patients.

That's from an op-ed piece in today's NY Times.

EBID (Enjoy Before It Disappears behind the Times' paywall — unless I can find a replacement for what used to be here.).

[Later...] Hanan suggests this link will live.

Distinctions

Excellent response by Paul Conley to somebody at a company that wanted to use one of his positive posts in the company's marketing materials. On the one hand...

I think the core beauty, the core purpose, the very essence of community journalism (of which blogging is a part) is that it involves conversation. That's a departure from traditional media, which tends to be more of a lecture. Part of that means that what I say on my blog sort of "belongs" to anyone who wants it. Anyone can quote from it, and I certainly hope that many people will link to it.

In other words, in a very real sense, I don't believe I "own" what I say on my blog, or what I say to other bloggers. My blog is something "I said" more than it is something "I published." And thus anyone is free to say "Paul Conley said x," and to link to my blog.

On the other hand,

I retain the right to limit reprints of material from my blog. And I would not be willing to grant permission for you to use them in marketing material.

There is also an issue of credibility. The blog world is wracked by debate about whether blogging is journalism and about what ethical rules apply. But for me, the rules are simple. I'm a journalist by training. I've been doing this work for decades now. And I'm just not comfortable agreeing to endorse a product or provide a testimonial.

Note the roles that are being played here. Interesting.

Thanks to Paul for bringing this up here.

Would Microsoft buy Red Hat?

That's the question I ask over at IT Garage.

Bonus link to the opposite end of the corporate/personal scale: Bazaar Development: DIYparts.org. The latter being a cool new place to swap used gear.

Fair hues

I response to my questions yesterday, Denise Howell limns the colors and shadings of law and practice where fair use meets blogging, and asks another question of her own: ...can a Web site's non click-through terms of use enforceably restrict application of the fair use doctrine? I'm skeptical, but would enjoy hearing what others have to say about it.

Bonus link: Denise points to BMI's efforts to get a grip (positively, it seems) on podcasting. Here's BMI's own podcast page. And the .mp3 itself.