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February 25, 2005
Designs On The Blogosphere
Today's Blogosphere theme revolves around unique and interesting graphic design, including an kitchen knife block, a playful window display and a new hard drive that summons visions of a luau and beating drums.
The knife block: one of the most popular links among bloggers this week is to an intruguing device for storing kitchen knives. (For voodoo purposes, I suppose it would be possible to glue a photo of someone on the red guy's face?). A complete list of similarly designed products is available from Vice Versa's online catalog, which appeared among Wednesday's top links.
The window treatment: In California, engineering students paid homage to National Engineering Week by creating a Post-It note collage of Super Mario video game scenes on the windows of the engineering building at the University of California/Santa Cruz.
If you were a fan of the movie "Office Space" more than a fan of Mario Brothers, Idiot Works animators have given super heroes the dialogue parts of some of their favorite scenes from the flick. TPS cover sheets, the jammed copier...they're all there.
The hard drive: And for a new take on computer peripherals, check out the TikiMac unit hard drive that looks like it belongs atop a flaming torch around a Hawaiian beach bonfire/luau.
At Talon News, design (and everything, for that matter) is on hold while the "news agency" figures out what it wants to be.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: For some graphics of our own, we present the curious spikes surrounding women of power and fame.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:26 PM | Permalink
February 24, 2005
Will Someone Pay ME to Quit My Job, Too?
Where to start today? How about at today's top link, which takes you to the blog of Jason Kottke, who's quitting his real job to do blogging/web stuff full-time...and is asking for everyone else to donate to his cause to make it financially viable. (Hint Hint, Wink Wink: BlogPulse's address is available on the Intelliseek web site in case anyone cares to "donate" to my "cause").
Also quitting is Korn's rocker guitarist Brian "Head" Welch, who has found religion and is leaving the rock scene to pursue it. He helped co-found the band in the early 1980s.
Stirring up the blogosphere this week is journalist Ted Rall, who's obviously not making any blogger friends for describing what he feels is happening in the land of blogging. Everyone's titlted to an opinion, right?
And the folks at Apple Computers are getting more attention with their 6 GB iPod Mini and 30-60 GB version of iPod Photo. Both rank among today's top 5 key phrases.
On the legal front, attention is focused on two difficult issues: the rights of private developers to use eminent domain laws for a private development (heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this week, and isn't eminent domain supposed to be for "public use" projects?) and the ongoing Florida saga of Terry Schiavo, whose husband has tried for years to be able to remove the feeding tube from the comatose woman.
And the winner is....well, the winners are many in the 2004 Koufax blog awards. Other techie winners are singled out by Mobile PC's Top 100 Gadgets of All Time." (Without reading the list first, I was preparing a joke about the incredulous absence of Ron Popeil and Ronco products....until I actually READ the list and found the Popeil Pocket Fisherman at No. 92 and the Ronco Inside-the-egg Scrambler at 84. Egg on my face). The No. 1 Gadget? Apple's 1991 Powerbook.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY:Is it spring yet? Almost, given that baseball's spring training camps have opened and March Madness buzz is building. So which spring sports are foremost on the minds of bloggers? Leave it to soccer.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:13 AM | Permalink
February 22, 2005
Grief for the Gonzo Journalist
If the outpouring of grief among bloggers for "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide over the weekend, is any indication, the writer had an intensely loyal following. In fact, news of his death dominates BlogPulse results -- capturing 24 of the top 40 links and 17 of the top 40 key phrases.
(Trivia: Garry Trudeua's "Uncle Duke" character in the Doonesbury comic strip was based on Thompson, according to his obituary).
Other weekend deaths noted in the blogosphere include actress Sandra Dee, the original "Gidget," and 88-year-old singer John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt's father.
And even though lots of places were closed Monday in honor of President's Day, that didn't stop bloggers from talking politics.
Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat, lobbed some unverified charges at the Bush White House during a community forum in Ithaca. Specifically, he hinted (without evidence) that Karl Rove was the mastermind behind the fake memo that CBS's Dan Rather relied on for a story -- later retracted -- about Bush's failure to fulfill his National Guard duty in the 1970s. Also talking? Doug Wead, who publicized the "secret" recordings he made of Bush when Dubya was considering his first run for the White House.
And the author the Minnesota Politics blog is a little taken aback by the vitriolic response another blogger received from the PowerLine bloggers (you now, Time magazine's bloggers of the year) for their "big deal" treatment of the coverage of Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, the fake White House reporter.
For a BlogPulse snack, how about a little pizza to go? Weekend BlogPulse hits highlighted a function in the video game Everquest II that allows users to order a pizza as part of the game play. Handy. Now gamers NEVER have to leave the house.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY Last week, we looked at buzz about the best actor/actress nominess for this year's Academy Awards. What about best movie nominations? Seems anyone's guess is good this year.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:59 AM | Permalink
February 18, 2005
Crazy Bloggers and Technology's Lessons
First, the problem is not in your set. BlogPulse today features top links, but the results for key phrases and key people won't be available till later in the day.
But there's plenty of fodder within today's most shared links to keep BlogPulse readers interested. The top link, in fact, is a piece by political observer Peggy Noonan titled "The Blogs Must Be Crazy," one of the most insightful looks at the gap between mainstream media and bloggers. Personally, I've done both, and frankly, she's right.
So is The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who had a little fun with bloggers this week. Catch the video.
How do mentions of "mainstream media" compare with mentions of blog-related journalism? BlogPulse's trend-graphing capabilities show that discussion of the former closely mirrors discussion of the later.
If you've wondered what cryptic instant-message verbiage and computer lingo means, Microsoft also provides a guide to "leetspeak". Pretty kewl.
The day's other technology lesson comes in the form of a creative computer guy who rigged his home camera to catch a burglar in action, even when the burglar stole the computer.
Speaking of computer guys and Microsoft, ABC has some quiet time with Bill Gates, head of one of the world's largest companies, whiel the BCC reports that China is now the world's largest consumer of stuff.
And on Capitol Hill, intelligence officials are delivering a message that opponents of the Iraq invasion has been harping for nearly two years now: that the war itself is a recruiting tool for terrorists. (Hmm...if CIA Chief Porter Goss says it, it's patriotic and informative. If the war's critics say it (for two years), they're catering to terrorists? How does that work?). Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, apparently, doesn't want to talk about it. He just wants Congress to cough up $82 billion more to pay for it.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Yesterday, we looked at the top-actor Oscar nominees, and today, we check in on the top actress nominees.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:06 PM | Permalink
February 17, 2005
Kyoto Treaty Goes To Work...and Hockey Doesn't
Most places (except the United States, of course), the world is acknowledging the debut of the Kyoto Protocol for environmental protection. The U.S., of course, hasn't signed on, not yet convinced that global warming is global or all that hot.
Here's an interesting observation. Remember in October, when health officials were warning of a potential influenza epidemic because of a shortage of flu vaccines? And have you noticed that flu hasn't been much of an issue at all this winter? The following BlogPulse trend chart plots flu-related terms against the common cold...during the weeks when influenza usually hits its peak.
Elsewhere, fans at bemoaning the official cancellation of the National Hockey League's season, or what would have been left of it. Commissioner Gary Bettman is taking plenty of heat.
And why does "suicide prevention" show up as today's No. 2 key phrase? Because it's a topic that can be talked about, apparently, only in the context of heterosexuality? Today's burstiest person, Ron Bloodworth is a panelist at a Feb. 28 Portland (OR) workshop on suicide prevention, and his session deals specifically with the higher-than-normal suicide rates among gays (two similar workshops were held elsewhere in the U.S. prior to Nov. 2, 2004). But now the federal agency (read: Bush Administration) that provides funding to mental health agencies participating in the conference say they won't be sending a representative if the worskhop title contains the words "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender." Even though that's what the workshop's about. (This from the same same administration whose own "reporter" in the White House ran gay porn web sites?)
Over at the Just One Minute blog, you can find an interesting essay on the left-vs.-right "battle for the blogosphere."
Other bloggers are swarming around the case of Bassim Chmait, a student who was shot by Douglas Bates,an off-duty U.S. customs officer, on Feb. 5 in Mission Viejo, California. No charges have been filed, and relatives and friends are wondering why.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: As excitment builds around the upcoming Academy Awards show, which best-actor nominees are getting the most buzz?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:11 AM | Permalink
February 16, 2005
If The Blogosphere Were a Magazine, Today's Edition Would Be "People"
Today's top blog links aren't particularly juicy, and key phrases are a ho-hum collection of various and sundry topics. But the list of key people has more than enough fodder for a big fat issue of People magazine (or its blog equivalent).
First, there's news of Michael Jackson's hospitalization for flu-like symptoms, and Microsoft's announcement from Bill Gates of the early release of a supposedly more secure Internet Explorer 7.0.
From the world of bizarre hook-ups comes news of the pending marriage of 22-year-old Vili Fualaau and his one-time junior high teacher, 43-year-old Mary Kay Letourneau, who did jail time twice for child rape (and got pregnant twice by the boy). Some relationships are just too bizarre for words.
Today's burstiest person is David Kuo, one-time head of President Bush's faith-based initiative initiative, and now one of its biggest critics. Democrats, he says, are too wishy-washy on the faith issue, and Republicans, he charges, simply don't care enough about poor people to put compassionately conservative words into action (or dollars).
And what's a good gossip magazine without a crop circle story? How about a Hello Kitty crop circle story?
Legal briefs: The Tulsa World is trying to crack down on a blogger, news of a a tsunami-related lawsuit has been filed by Austrian and German victims of the natural disaster, and a Los Angeles Times reports on former U.S. prisoners of war from the first Gulf War who are being told by the Bush Administration to quit asking for the money they were awarded for their torture because the Iraqis need the money now. (Does this administration not understand the word "torture" in any context?)
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Batter up! Baseball's annual spring training season kicks into the gear this week. Allegations of steroid use by some of baseball's biggest stars are bound to have an impact on this year's coverage of the great American pasttime.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:24 AM | Permalink
February 15, 2005
Lots of Buzz for Manufactured "Holiday"
Who knew? I mean, really...who knew that in a week when Iraqi election results are being warily analyzed....and the real impact of President Bush's 2005 budget is sinking in...that Valentine's Day would creep so deeply into the consciousness.
Nine of today's top links refer to Valentine's Day, and favorites include a short film by zefrank.com about Valentine's Day (No. 8 link) and a T-shirt that only geeks in love could love (No. 35 link).
And that's where lovey-dovey stuff ends and a little bit of bizarro stuff creeps in. Such as the fate of Maya Keyes, daughter of conservative commentator Alan Keyes (defeated soundly by Sen. Barack Obama of Chicago in the 2004 elections). Seems his daughter's services are no longer needed by her values-preaching family. And if it's dirt you want, it's dirt you get on Jeff Gannon, who until last week had White House press credentials. He resigned when other reporters questioned his ties to the Bush White House and found questionable web sites linked to him.
If you've read any of the conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the Popular Mechanics put together some experts to debunk them, one by one.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: So do you love Valentine's Day or hate it? Opinions are mixed.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:28 AM | Permalink
February 14, 2005
When Bloggers Attack..and Funny Valentines
Before we get to the heavy topics of the day, here's a shout-out to the folks at The Onion, (today's Top Link #28)) who always manage to bring a satire-heavy grin, and today's Happy Valentine's Day greeting is no exception. Still, some folks believe in Cupid's arrow, apparently, as "one true love" appears among today's key phrases, too.
Now for the nitty-gritty, in which bloggers, journalists and observers are squaring off on the emerging roles that political bloggers are taking. Are they fair? Dangerous? People who believe in the First Amendment but only if it fits their political agenda? More interested in speed than facts?
The discussion is wide-ranging among today's top links, from a Michael Barone column at U.S.News.com about the political influence of bloggers (is it mostly right-leaning?), to Howard Kurtz' Washington Post's column about bloggers' increasing willingness to attack mainstream journalists. The reason? CNN news executive Eason Jordan resigned over the weekend in the wake of blogger flak he received because of comments made last week at an international forum, where he suggested that journalists in Iraq were being targeted by the military. Did bloggers not like the person, the message...or the possibility of some truth in the discussion he started? Blogger Michelle Malkin offers a far different assessment than Bertrand Pecquerie at Editors Weblog.
Among today's key people are Howard Dean, the newly elected chairman of the National Democratic Party, and music executive Jordan Bratman, is getting lots of buzz for getting engaged to singer Christina Aguilera.
For a little beauty in the world, you gotta give artist Christo credit for turning New York's Central Park into an orange-flagged bonanza.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: It's obvious that the season of awards shows is upon us, and Oscar remains one of the favorites.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:05 AM | Permalink
February 11, 2005
Hook-Ups, Turn-Downs and Ante-Upping: It's All Here
Now that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are making it official, the Royal Family gossip machine is cranking full-steam again. But apparently the buzz is mostly about the bride, not the bridegroom, as usual. Ms. Bowles, soon to be referred to as "Her Royal Highness Duchess of Cornwall," shows up four times in today's Key People lists (Nos. 5-6 among key people; Nos. 1-2 among burstiest people), while poor Charles is nowhere to be found except among news stories about the pending spring wedding.
Comedian and radio personality Al Franken has entered blog consciousness, too, but only because he's decided against running for a Senate seat in his home state of Minnesota. (Would Stuart Smalley consider doing campaign ads for him? Would his campaign slogan be: "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone it, People Like Me!"?)
On the potential terrorist front, North Korea's admission that is has nuclear weapons to defend against a "hostile United States" captured at least 5 of today's top 40 links. Also being shared among top links is a New York Times sotry indicating that the Federal Aviation Administration had dozens of warnings in the six months leading up to the 9/11 attacks that terrorists were serious about using hijacked airplanes and suicide missions against the U.S. I've asked it before and I'll ask it again: Do we feel safer now?
And just in case no one says it first thing Molnday morning: Happy Valentine's Day!
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: With North Korea's Kim Jong Il turning up the heat, how do the world's hot-spot nations stack up now?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:48 PM | Permalink
February 10, 2005
Ousted CEO, Outed "Reporter" And No More Underwear Out in Virginia?
Carly Fiorina is today's burstiest BlogPulse personality after being booted from the CEO's office at Hewlett-Packard.
And someone who used the name Jeff Gannon to gain press credentials to White House briefings has also been outed by bloggers as a Republican operative. Gannon's now-shuttered web site is terse. But today's Blogosphere includes more info from Daily Kos and a letter to the White House from Congresswoman Louise Slaughter demanding an explanation.
But the cultural values issue of the day is: underpants! That's right, the state of Virginia is considering a bill that would levy a $50 fine on anyone whose underwear is exposed in a "lewd or indecent" manner. Two Virginia legislators -- Lionell Spruill Sr. against it and Algie T. Howell for it-- climbed into the Top 10 bursty people list today because of the attention the bill's getting. Here's what boggles the mother in me: Most teen fashion statements (backwards overalls, tight-roll jeans, midriff shirts, M.C. Hammer parachute pants, platform shoes, etc.) tend to boom and fade in a matter of months, no matter which generation sports them. How has this "show your boxers" phenomenon lasted for YEARS?
Random stuff: Someone somewhere has created an ebonics version of Google called Gizoogle (the search function actually works), and if you've ever hankered for a moon walk of your own (on the real moon), check out these Apollo mission images from Panoramas.
BLogPulse Trend Graph of the Day: Is the President's campaign to overhaul Social Security getting traction?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:18 AM | Permalink
February 09, 2005
Big Celebrations...and New Maps To Get There
Happy Mardis Gras, happy Chinese New Year...and how about a Google map to get you where you're going to celebrate? Check out the new Google map interface (today's top link), and see if you do what I did: click on a U.S. state to see maps from that particular state? Didn't work. But once you figure out the search and direction capabilities, it's pretty awesome.
If it's snowflakes you want to visit, check out the today's No. 8 link to the Snow Crystals web site by Kenneth Libbrecht of CalTech. Mother Nature's pretty incredible, eh?
Seems hard to believe, but baseball's spring training is just around the corner, and former MVP Jose Canseco is stirring the pot with a new book about steroid use in the sport that claims to be the great Amreican pasttime. The Baseball Savant blogger and Functional Ambivalent blogger both offer commentary on the messy issue.
From the "do you think he gets it?" department comes the story of single-mom Mary Mornin, (today's second-bursty person) who works three jobs to take care of her three children. She discussed her plight with President George Bush during his Social Security tour. Is it "fantastic" (his words) that someone has to work three jobs in this economy to provide basic benefits for her kids?
For the latest on gay penguins, you'll have to go to Germany. For news about a pseudo-journalist who's been accused of attending White House press conferences to ask softball questions of the President and his staff comes news of Jeff Gannon's (pseudonym) resignation from the Talon News Service, allegedy because he was also linked to gay/porn web sites. (Hint to public figures: there's ALWAYS an easy-to-follow trail of information leading directly to you!)
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Will this week's news from the Middle East, of Israel's and Palestine's promises to cease attacks on each other, make a difference? Will the Middle East leaders bring about what others haven't been able to accomplish?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:45 AM | Permalink
February 07, 2005
Super Buzz from the Super Bowl...and a Mother's Lament
The 2005 Super Bowl game is over, but buzz continues about the TV commercials that graced the action during this year's Patriots-Eagles showdown.
In fact, TV viewers who couldn't get enough of the ads during the game itself are downloading and watching them on the Internet today, as BlogPulse's top links include iFilm's repository of Super Bowl ads (be patient, heavy traffic) and analysis of the ads at Adjab's web site.
Meanwhile, Patriots QB Tom Brady is catching plenty of blog discussion, and "cute one" Paul McCartney shows he's still got it, capturing No. 3 spot among key people and Nos. 2 and 3 among bursty people. Funny, though, how few of the "youngsters" in the half-time stage crowd were singing along. Did they know the words? Did they know who Paul is/was?
In southwestern Colorado, two teens from Durango are taking heat for that all-time terrible teen activity: cookie baking. Seems neighbors unaccustomed to a little neighborliness are suing over intrusiveness of the chocolate chip- and sugar-cookie concoctions.
Today's top link, however, has nothing to do with football or marketing and everything to do with basic human emotions. It's from Caetlin, a LiveJournal blogger, who eloquently describes her reaction to the hurtful words lobbed at her 9-year-old son. F-word, indeed.
A CNN official's comment, made last week at the World Economic Forum, is still riling some bloggers and has lead to a "watchblog" called Easongate. (Watergate was a gate; Iran-Contragate was a gate. Easongate?). Some bloggers and critics insist CNN News Director Eason Jordan said the U.S. military was intentionally targeting journalists in Iraq, while Jordan claims he was making the point that the inordinate number of journalist deaths in Iraq may be be more than accidental. This much is true, according to the International Federation of Journalists: 129 journalists were killed worldwide in 2004 in the line of duty, one of the highest yearly death tolls on record. Of those, 49 were killed in Iraq last year. (For comparison, 63 journalists were killed in Vietnam over a 21-year period).
And remember that curious lump on President George Bush's back during one of the debates? It won't go away, but Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting claims that a New York Times investigation into the hump -- speculated to be an electronic communications device that gave Bush an advantage -- did go way, just days before the election.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: I didn't notice this until now, but check out the effect of New Year's Eve parties on the drunk vs. sober chart created by BlogPulse.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:10 PM | Permalink
February 04, 2005
Beaming Up The Enterprise.....For Good
If you thought today's BlogPulse data would be juicy with State of The Union analysis and followup, you'd be only partly right. What's actually getting a lot of buzz is something just as near and dear the hearts of many Americans: "Star Trek: Enterprise" which leaves the airways for good in May, according to UPN.
Trekkies are mourning the loss, while writer Brannan Braga claims the No. 4 spot and executive producer Rick Berman is No. 8 among today's burstiest people.Call it the end of an era. Go ahead, Scotty....beam them up....
That's not to say the State of the Union didn't get any buzz. Four of today's key phrases are verbatim lines from the president's Wednesday night speech. And a LiveJournal blogger's assessment of the speech includes some manual text-mining and a good knock-knock joke.
At No. 2 among bursty people is the late Byron Norwood, whose mother, in attendance at the president's speech, hugged an Iraqi woman (also in attendance) who had voted during last Sunday's Iraqi elections. Sgt. Byron Norwood was killed during the U.S. Marines assault on Fallujah.
On a lighter note, does anyone feel like partying? References to this weekend's Super Bowl are appearing among bloggers, and so is anticipation of New Orleans' annual Mardis Gras celebration. How about a sushi pillow from Japan? And if you're patient and give today's No. 6 link ("The British get all the cool commercials nowadays") time to download, it's worth the wait. A new, improved, singing-in-the-rain, hip-hop, moon-walkin', techno-beat Gene Kelly dances for VW.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What's your favorite food? Your favorite part of the Super Bowl? Who's your money on to win the game -- Eagles or Patriots?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:58 PM | Permalink
February 03, 2005
States of the Union, the iPod, Democratic Party and Captured Toys
The Blogosphere is busy today, scrutinizing every phrase and nuance in President George Bush's State of the Union address and his emphasis on Social Security reform.
Some viewers, apparently, were equally interested in the State of the Union Drinking game; its web site ranked 8th among today's top 40 links.
BlogPulse also picked up numerous references to Punxsutawney Phil, that rascally groundhog whose tradition (IMHO) is now so staged for the cameras that it seems almost silly. And over-orchestrated. And somewhat anachronistic. OK, fake. Doesn't it? (As a MacDonald who did indeed grow on up a farm, I'm pretty sure that today's farmers no longer need groundhog shadows to speculate about the spring planting season. I honestly think they have better technology now).
Apple's cute little iPods apparently are showing up everywhere...including on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, a phenomenon that apparently isn't making MS execs any too happy.
And look who's back? Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean apparently is clawing his way back as the possible new head of the Democratic Party.
Bloggers and other online news sources are also "outing" the identity of the U.S. soldiers claimed to be kidnapped in Iraq, and it turns out it's probably a GI Joe doll in a staged photo. A few bloggers are having fun with it.
Don't forget to visit BlogPulse's analysis of tsuanmi-related coverage of the Blogosphere.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAYWhat's hot at the box office this week? And how is the President's focus on Social Security reform playing out?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:57 PM | Permalink
February 01, 2005
Bloggers' Influence in Tsunami Coverage: A BlogPulse Analysis
Bloggers played a critical role in providing timely on-the-scene coverage and disaster information immediately after the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami devastated vast sections of Southern Asia, and their influence continues with ongoing relief efforts.
That's according to an in-depth BlogPulse analysis of tsunami-related coverage by bloggers.
Now featured as a special section on BlogPulse, the analysis finds that the tsunami elicited far more discussion and interest than other 2004 natural disasters, including the Florida hurricanes and the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Likewise, the remoteness of the disaster, combined with the ease of blog-publishing tools, gave birth to entirely new blogs dedicated solely to tsunami coverage – blogs that quickly claimed their place among other mainstream blogs.
While some of the same political bloggers who covered the 2004 Presidential election also were heavily involved in spreading news of the tsunami, their top 10 ranks were altered in December 2004-January 2005 by the emergence of four tsunami-only blogs: The Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, The Diplomad, WorldChanging and Earth News.
Likewise, BlogPulse mapped the visual patterns of blog postings and country-specific blog posts for affected countries, including Thailand, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Maldives. Before the tsunami, the respective countries were mentioned in anywhere from .1% to .3% of all blog posts. After the tsunami, the major countries were mentioned in up to 1% of all blog posts – a figure that has remained higher through January.
Other findings:
The most-mentioned relief agencies are, in order, the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders. As relief efforts continued into January, more blogger attention turned to UNICEF as agencies began focusing on helping orphans, protecting children at risk of abduction, and reuniting families.
Several blogs provided critical roles in covering the tsunami: first-hand, eyewitness accounts and videos of the tsunami. When mainstream-media news crews couldn't get to the remote countries for several days, bloggers stepped in and provided the first phases of on-the-scene coverage and commentary.
Blogs also filled another role: Accountability. Some blogs helped track where resources were spent and the results of those efforts, while others attempted to focus on other devastated areas of the world (civil war in Sudan; drought-affected Africa, etc.) in order to press the wider issues of international relief, foreign aid and foreign policy.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Because of tsunami-related coverage, the entire Asian contintent continues to receive an inordinate amount of "buzz" in the Blogosphere.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:00 AM | Permalink
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