Canadian Blogs.net

I’m cross-posting this from my blog at the Globe and Mail, as part of my ongoing attempt to talk about what we’re trying to do at the newspaper when it comes to comments, blogs, forums and other ways that we interact with readers. Feel free to respond here or at the Globe blog — where (naturally) I encourage you to read the comments :-) In my new role as the Globe’s “communities editor” (you can find more details on that in this post), I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about comments — that is, reader comments on news stories, columns, blog posts, etc. The Globe and Mail was the first major newspaper in North America to allow comments on every news story when it launched the feature in 2005, and judging by the...

My friend Mark Evans has a post about the lack of original thought in the blogosphere — or at least the pressures that tend to keep original thought from appearing — and as the closest thing to what MG Siegler calls a “bitchmeme” this weekend, it has grabbed a bunch of links. Dave Winer sees this as a sign that the end is near, and says he’s heading for the hills (we should all be so lucky), and lots of others have chimed in that Ed Bott was right and Techmeme is an “echo chamber” with no value whatsoever. I know the “conversation” metaphor has kind of been beaten to death, and I apologize in advance for trotting it out again, but I think it’s the best one we have. To some, the clusters of “me-too” posts are a sign...

A childhood friend drove in from North Carolina the other day. A few of the boys from "the hood" got together for the first time in years.Our conversation was varied. Inevitably it landed on the issue of health given that the subject is in the news these days. One of my friends, never one to take a broad perspective on things, began hammering the American system with scant understanding on how it actually works. It was, I must admit, an embarrassing exhibition of excessive selective gibberish. But hey - we're friends.He was, of course, attempting to school someone who has lived in the U.S. for the last 20 years and is familiar with both systems. The good man listened patiently to the comment and then proceeded to explain carefully and deliberately how it really works.While a couple of us...

It’s become a part of almost every conversation I have lately because at some point someone mentions something they wrote, did or read on Facebook. Up until a little while ago if I dared talk about anything computer or internet related in a social setting I was made fun of. Now, social media has allowed for every man, woman and their dog (literally, have you see dogbook yet?) to get connected, online. Part of the attraction is news feeds: You get that Facebook notification email that someone sneezed so you hop on over to your profile or home feed. Scenario #1: Love. Once thing that John and I were talking with Duane about was when someone changes their relationship status… “Bob is now listed as single” WOOSH! Everyone rushes to Bob’s wall to ask...