There’s been a lot of talk lately about the validity of documents found online. A lot of this has spread from the “Rathergate” incident where bloggers rose to challenge the assertions of CBS Reporter Dan Rather. On other fronts, Wikis are growing in visibility and, for many, they are increasingly becoming a source of information. Your average search on Google returns up tens of thousands of results, which one do you visit first (is it always the first one?).

The thorn that’s stuck in my mind, really, is what process people are using for determining what is right and what is wrong. Do we validate information based on the content, the source, or something in between. Can a reliable source spew lies? Can good content come from an otherwise crackpot?

I don’t have a definitve answer to this question (nor do I believe there is one), but I am interested in uncovering the patterns that might exist in how we resolve information issues.

On that same note, are there certain mediums that are more “trustworthy” than others. Do you prefer blogs to forums, news sites to blogs, newspapers to news sites? I’ll reserve my thoughts on how I think this works for a later date.

For now, the world is your stage.

Judith Meskill ponders on the net effect of using SNS and the upcoming US political election. This year has certainly been the most active in terms of use of the Internet. She quotes Laila Weir from newsdesk.org:

”… Both the Bush and Kerry campaigns maintain websites enabling visitors to register to vote, get contacts for local media, recruit friends to join the campaign and contact undecided voters.

Volunteers are responding in droves.

As of mid-August, 82,000 volunteers had been recruited by friends through the Bush campaign’s website, said Michael Turk, the president’s e-campaign director.

He also said that supporters used the website to send 325,395 letters to newspapers, and have donated $8.7 million online.

The Kerry campaign has done even better: Almost 500,000 volunteers have signed up online and the campaign raised more than $81 million online during the primary cycle, according to a staff member.

What’s more, the Democrat’s campaign has made a specific effort to cultivate the grassroots potential of social networking websites, with their largely youthful user groups…”

Source: Social Software Weblog, “Will Online Social Networking Deliver Voters?”

If you’re not registered, and eligible, I hope you’ll get the chance to do it.

Well, I had really hoped that we would have moved to something cooler than plain-old text-based IM, but the truth of the matter its here to stay for some time.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been releases of new devices that focus on one thing, and one thing along – IM. These handheld, phoneless devices provide a outlet for “expression” for teenagers around the States. Engadget reports on the ZipIt Wireless IM Device:

It’s going to have some stiff competition amongst the IMfree, Ogo, and, of course, the Sidekick II in the increasingly crowded arena of teenage handheld wireless-texting gadgets, but everything about the Zipit Wireless Instant Messenger—from the 802.11(b, we presume) with WEP, to the integrated firewall, to the full QWERTY keyboard and 4-8 hour battery life—should ensure it will be in good compan., So yeah, you could say it’s pretty good for a Benjamin, considering it’s 4 x 3.5 x ¾-inches in size, and also supposedly downloads plugins for updating IM protocols and streaming music. We’ll see though, we’ll see, we’re trying not to get our hopes up too much.

Source: Engadget.com, “Zipit Wireless IM finally gets your teenager off the phone”

In a world that seemed to be steaming towards convergence of media devices, this is somewhat of a surprise. However, considering the target and the environments they play in, it’s not that surprising.

Sorry for the off-topic post, but I am eager to find a reliable, talented FlashComm Guru here in NYC for a project I wish to undertake in October. New York City is not a requirement, but certainly desirable.

If you fit the bill, send an e-mail to greg at sparkcard dot com or comment below.

I have been spending a lot of time considering community and blogging and, more specifically, what leverage is created, if any by an active user base. One of the main areas where I see potential is in fighing blog comment SPAM.

I’m working on a “grid” that summarizes some of the strategies I’ve unearthed and am interested in learning more from anyone that’s been successful in keeping the bastards at bay. A recent post by Paul Scrivens at BusinessLogs.com states the dilemma nicely:

The thing is, this takes work. To everyone reading this entry let me inform you now that if you want a successful site it is going to take work. The problem isn’t the comments, it’s the people who don’t take the time to read comments on their own sites and allow spammers to hit their sites.

Source: BusinessLogs, “Blogging’s Gag Order”

How do you fight spam on your blog?

Today, I am proud to announce the beta release of an exciting new blog aggregator, politics.relevanta.com. To put it in its simplest terms, Relevanta pulls content from blogs across the Internet, then provides the members of our community with the ability to rate the content, the bloggers, and everything in between. Adding to the mix, we also provide an extensive encyclopedia and wiki-like functionality that automatically creates relevant links between information.

For anyone that’s following the US Election, the War on Terror, and politics in general, I hope this will be a destination for you to not only get informed but also to speak your mind. We’re launching in Beta mode, so any feedback is quite welcome (greg.narain at pokkari dot tv).

Since developers always prefer screenshots to press releases, here’s a quick tour. Wall poster here.

Relevanta is Community Driven

	Relevanta Economy Relevanta’s unique economy system rewards based on merit. Rating, commenting, and posting all boost your experience (XP). Daily spending limits (CP) prevents spamming and trolling.
	Rate Everything Relevanta allows our members to determine the value of information and its source. From politicians and their organizations to bloggers and their entries, your vote counts.
	Member Standings Relevanta makes community members’ behavior known. Understanding someone’s position is as simple as reading their posts, comments, and even evaluations.

Relevanta is Research Focused

	Person Encyclopedia Relevanta’s immense person encyclopedia maintains records on over 4,500 individuals. Find work history, related articles, and even contact information on anyone.
	Organization Encyclopedia Relevanta’s vast organization database tracks more than 3,000 organizations. Learn about the relationships between one organization and another and the people that make it all possible.
	Advanced Search Relevanta’s unique search lets you search for the background information you need. Whether searching for a person or organization, results are displayed immediately as you type.

Relevanta is Beyond the Blog

	Auto-Contextualization Relevanta understands the information you provide it and automatically creates connections for you. Dynamic contextual links point to both encyclopedia entries as well as member posts.
	Advanced Sorting Relevanta allows multiple views of its content. Beyond the traditional date view, you can also sort based on popularity (rating) and activity (commentary and more).
	Centralized Comments Relevanta provides a centralized, unbiased location for commentary. Your comments are pushed back to the originating site for completeness.

(more…)

Many a time in this blog I have covered the slow, but credible creep of blogging from a hobby to a viable news source. For most of us on the “inside” it’s incredible encouraging to see the thing we participate in grow and earn respect.

One point of view that’s less talked about, however, is the negative impact that also comes with it. Since bloggers are not subjected to the same, though questionable, metrics that traditional journalism uses, we’re free to say almost anything. This brings with it a can of issues in terms of knowing who to trust and who to ignore. It’s easy for unassuming readers to get caught in “blog vertigo” where the truth is verified only by the number of people linking to it.

Many have been stung before, but here’s an interesting little snipe from Bill Burkett, apparent source of the Rather memos:

Burkett also accused the White House of using the blog community to launch a “kill the messenger campaign” against him after the documents were made public.

“The coordinated attacks against the documents, then against me, which CBS did nothing to deflect or defend, and then against Dan Rather and CBS producer Mary Mapes have not been against the validity of the documents, but rather as an attack against anything being considered at all,” he said.

Burkett’s wife, Nicki, described the couple as “shaken” by the uproar.

“Our name has been destroyed and cannot be reclaimed,” she said in the e-mailed response. “We are presumed guilty, not only for poor judgment of involving ourselves with CBS, but now considered to be forgers and liars.”

Source: cnn.com, “Burkett insists ‘jury still out’ memos CBS aired”

It’s clear that with this new “power”, if you will, there’s a great responsibility shared by us all. We must be clear on how we get our information, who we get it from, and how we use it. It boils down to reputation and relevance — two cornerstones of our new media.

In a somewhat related note, on Monday, my company will be launching a new site that tackles these issues. I hope you’ll all take the opportunity to check it out, give some feedback, and break it.

I can remember countless times in the past where I’ve gotten this phone call:

Them:Greg, you online?

Me:Yeah, why?

Them: Oh, didn’t see you. Can you check again?

Perhaps I’ve baited most into this situation. To be honest I work from 15-20 hours a day, sometimes more. I’m probably the most likely person you can IM at any time and be sure to get a response. It’s scary on most if not all levels.

I’ve often wondered just how much time people spend online. In the back of my mind, from the limited perspective of my buddy list, everyone’s always online. This really reflects back on the social network I have in place — full of geeks and other technophiles one technological generation from gimplants (gizmo implants).

I came across some interesting numbers, however, yesterday in an article that are worth repeating:

Instant messaging ranks with e-mail and Web surfing as one of the most popular activities on the Internet. Studies show that IM users are loyal and stay connected for hours at a time.

For users at home and at work in August, MSN Messenger led the pack with 28.6 million unique users, followed by the once-dominant AIM with 27.6 million, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Yahoo trailed at 18.1 million, the research firm said.

MSN users spent an hour and a half using IM every time they launched the software. AIM users spent five hours per session, and Yahoo Messenger users typically logged on for about two hours and 50 minutes, Nielsen/NetRatings said.

Source: News.com, “Can IM morph into ‘instant music’?”

Two hours? That’s it? I think I need to go outside more.

The folks at Apple must check over their shoulders quite often throughout the day. Being the market leader in online music sales can only drive many other ravenous folks to seek you out and destroy you. For sure, when most people thing portable music these days, they think iPod. For the most part, the same thing comes to mind when we dream of our ultimate “online music store”.

More plans are starting to come around that could stem some of Apple’s success. A few weeks ago, Microsoft released their Music Store, with little fanfare, I might note. More recently, however, Yahoo! has tipped its hat as well.

Yahoo’s plans are still sketchy, but sources close to the company say instant messaging will play a key role. While the popular IM software already lets people listen to online radio, new versions will let people share and interact with one another’s digital playlists.

“The whole advantage that (Yahoo) has is using its broad reach to push products and integrate them,” said one source familiar with the plan who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

News.com, “Can IM morph into ‘instant music’

Yesterday I was pondering when Yahoo! would release its social networking suite, based on the assertion that they’ve got many many pieces in place already. Then, I forgot to even consider the Yahoo! Messenger (as a Trillian user I hate them all, but I do actually hate the Yahoo! one the least).

I’m not sure where legal file trading really fits with IM, nor of the collective tinkering of playlists, but I can sense that there’s a model present that will better reveal itself in the near-term.

For many, when it comes to Yahoo! and SNS, the question is not how, but when the sleeping giant will awaken and unleash their next platform. Consider the simple facts about where Yahoo! stands in the SNS food chain. Yahoo! Mail is already an extremely successful web mail application. Yahoo! Personal has millions of users networking and talking to each other on a regular basis. Yahoo! Calendar and My Yahoo! provide the remainder of the PIM services.

Yahoo continues to improve it’s Personals service as well, recently adding the ability to rate and evaluate potential mates. Then there’s this brief mention:

And Yahoo, according to industry insiders, is working on a social networking service, Mingle, that it hopes to unveil this year — reportedly with the goal of driving users to its own job service, HotJobs, and other portal services. Yahoo wouldn’t comment directly on Mingle.

Source: San Jose Mercury News via Social Software Weblog

The suspense is killing me [heavy sarcasm]