Lawyer gets spanked over reader comments on site
People, get it through your heads: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gives online publishers lots of protection from liability involving reader comments and other user-generated content.
So I really love this item on the Citizen Media Law Project site. It tells the story of a woman who was threatened with a lawsuit because of readers’ comments that were critical of Mynutritionstore.com. Read more
What teaching my daughter to drive has taught me
Today marks one week since my daughter got her driver’s license. She was late getting her permit, so she’s late getting her license. Not that I’m complaining. She needed the time. Most of the time, she’s driving a Saturn SL1 (like the one pictured).
Here’s what I’ve learned.
– I was wholly unprepared for the waves of anxiety I would feel when she drove away, alone, with the car for the first time. And the second. And the third… I am finding new ways and opportunities to pray.
– It is harder than you’d think to explain the concept of “yielding” to a new driver — especially when a traffic circle is involved. Read more
The line between ivory tower and careful reporting?
I had an interesting exchange with a colleague at work today that involved whether to blog about a survey in a popular magazine. My colleague didn’t want to give the survey undue credibility by blogging about it on my newsroom’s web site; my colleague knew the survey’s methodology was suspect.
I argued that blogging about it injected us into a conversation about the survey — which was on a subject that would certainly spark discussion. My colleague’s expertise, I argued, would be valuable to readers.
I won’t discuss the details because I don’t want to embarrass my colleague. But the issue can be served by posing it as a hypothetical. Read more
Google Street View contest: What sidelines readers?
Yesterday, the blog I write for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was No. 1 for the first time ever, with more than 10,200 page views. That was the day we invited readers to vote for the first week’s finalists in our Google Street View contest.
A tiny bit of background: Street View arrived in St. Louis last week. I thought it would be fun to invite readers to scour the street-scape for weird, bizarre, funny, unusual or odd items that the “Google car” captured. You’ve probably seen numerous blogs that highlight similar Google weirdness in other markets. (By the way: That’s P-D HQ as captured by Google up there to the left.) Read more
Online Britannica set to go ‘wiki’ on its assets
NPR reported this morning about the plans at the Online Encyclopedia Britannica “by allowing readers to make edits and contributions to the encyclopedia.” The news has been swirling around for several weeks, including this item from Wired, with links to the beta version of the wiki Britannica.
Don’t see a press release about it on Britannica’s release page yet.
Changes will be approved by Britannica editors, rather than available live, ala Wikipedia. A quote from the head of the company in NPR’s report: “The key thing here is collaboration, not abdication of our responsibility as editors.”
Interesting that it’s getting press so soon after the buzz over Wikipedia and the Tim Russert updates — here by me, here by Jack Lail.
Kurt's Tweets- Bravo. RT @pwthornton: "Banning unsigned online comments undermines the media’s role as a forum for debate.” http://bit.ly/bmZsOn
- I would like to just take the two steps forward and skip the one step back. How about that? Would that be OK?
- Still seeking talented journalists to run #Patch sites in two south St. Louis County communities. Know anyone? http://ow.ly/2Axnv
- Waiting for a listings collector to give her more #Patch marketing cards. The work never stops.
- Realizing how woefully out of touch I have been with this part of the county. (@ Saint Louis Bread Company) http://4sq.com/5z5Bfh