Blogging and anonymity

Many work blogs are renowned for being written in an anonymous fashion.

An article and radio programme by an anonymous blogger has recently appeared on the BBC News website.

See Belle de Jour's history of anonymity.

The radio programme, as told by the Brooke Magnanti (Bell de Jour blog), can be found here.

Web 2.0 and employment relations

ACAS has published a research paper on the implications of Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, etc.) for employment relations.

The paper is called Workplaces and Social Networking: The Implications for Employment Relations.

It is written by Andrea Broughton, Tom Higgins, Ben Hicks and Annette Cox of the Institute for Employment Studies.

The aim of the paper is to answer the following questions:

● How extensive is the use of social media in UK workplaces?

● What challenges and opportunities do social media present for management of employment relations?

● What does good practice in this area look like?

Click here to access the paper.

Academic book on blogs

Just came across this book on blogs today whilst browsing a few academic book brochures.

It's called Blogging by Jill Walker Rettberg.

Details:

Blogging has profoundly influenced not only the nature of the internet today, but also the nature of modern communication, despite being a genre invented less than a decade ago.

This book-length study of a now everyday phenomenon provides a close look at blogging while placing it in a historical, theoretical and contemporary context.

Scholars, students and bloggers will find a lively survey of blogging that contextualises blogs in terms of critical theory and the history of digital media.

Authored by a scholar-blogger, the book is packed with examples that show how blogging and related genres are changing media and communication.

It gives definitions and explains how blogs work, shows how blogs relate to the historical development of publishing and communication and looks at the ways blogs structure social networks and at how social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook incorporate blogging in their design.

Specific kinds of blogs discussed include political blogs, citizen journalism, confessional blogs and commercial blogs.

View the new book at the publisher's homepage - here.

Please fill in a questionnaire if you work and use the Internet.

Britain said to have four million bloggers

Only the other day I was contemplating the plateau of blogging and the ever-rapid rise of social networking sites.

However, a survey reported on in an article from The Guardian just the other week suggests blogging is still going strong, as the following extract suggests:

It began a decade ago as the occupation of a handful of computer obsessives. But writing from bedrooms, lounges and internet cafes across the country, Britain's community of bloggers has grown to an army of nearly four million, according to a survey out today.

Further details of the survey by Garlik include:

Of Britain's web population of 26 million it found that 15 per cent kept a blog.

Of those running a personal website, almost one in five were blogging at least once a day.

One thing that struck me when reading the article is how blogging seems to be increasingly seen as synonymous with social networking, although I always saw blogging as something quite different, i.e. both are part of the social web, but blogging, to me anyway, appears to be about a more committed approach to posting personal ideas, thoughts and insights to the web and social networking is more like chatting on-line.

I think I need to find more out about social networking.

For more details see From surfers to tea fans, Britain's blogging army is now 4m strong by Bobbie Johnson.

Government repression no longer ignores bloggers

Reporters Without Borders recently released a report that suggests bloggers are now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media.

This is, of course, an international report - based on a worldwide press index - and not just confined to several countries commonly accussed of such civil liberty infringements.

The UK, for instance, comes in at 24 - the USA is to found at 48!

On blogging in particular - "The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media..."

Details of the the broader study can be found by visiting the following link - Eritrea ranked last for first time while G8 members, except Russia, recover lost ground.

The full press release can be found here.

The influence of the Internet on everyday life

I've been meaning to post links to a new research report on Internet application (UK) for a few weeks now.

The report is called the Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS) and is "designed to offer detailed insights into the influence of the Internet on everyday life in Britain."

There's plenty of interesting statistics on blogging and social networking from page 53 onwards.

Interestingly, the survey suggests a decline in blogging an Internet activity (see illustration).

Some further Internet research papers of note related to OxIS can be accessed here.

Bullying, blogging and higher education

I came across an article on the BBC News (Education) web-site the other day - 'Bullied' academics' blog attack, which reports on a group of academics, who say they are being bullied at work, and have in turn set up a blog to record their experiences of alleged unfair treatment within universities.

The blog is called Bullying of Academics in Higher Education.

The article contains interviews with one of the contributors to the blog, as the follow brief excerpt suggests:

A contributor who wants to remain anonymous says it gives a voice to academics who have been bullied.

"It's a critical issue - there are people in universities almost reaching the point of suicide over this. It really is that serious," she says.

As well as attacking bullies - both among academic staff and management - the website also talks of the phenomenon of "mobbing", in which lecturers gang up against a colleague.

A contributor defines this as the action of "a mob, a crowd of normal people who have temporarily lost their good sense".

I thinks this is a sign that many workers feel quite powerless to take action in the workplace and the Web represents and increasingly attractive outlet for such grievances.

Copyright law and blogging

Alice Gould from The Guardian (Media) writes an interesting piece of work today on copyright law and blogging.

Spurred on by alleged journalists' use of students blogs during the recent US college shootings, Gould gives an overview of who owns first-hand account material posted to blogs, social networking sites, etc.

The general rule appears to be that 'whoever posts the material retains all rights of ownership'.

What is more, 'where permission is not obtained, the media can quote from these websites but legally must only reproduce 'less than a substantial part' of the original work.

So, that also means I can't quote any more from a very informative and succinct article on The blogosphere, the law and the printed word.

However, it would be interesting to know what a blogger can realistically hope to achieve if a large media corporation pinches some of their work and doesn't acknowledge them as the author.

Blog Wars

For those who are in the UK (and have access to digital TV) there is programme on BBC4 tonight that looks at the "strange new world of online activism".

In more detail:

"...Director James Rogan captures a hotly contested political battle on camera: the Connecticut Democratic Senatorial primary showdown between hero of the blogging 'netroots' Ned Lamont and heavyweight Washington insider Joe Lieberman."

A review in The Guardian today makes the following comment about the TV programme:

"Either the 21st century equivalent of irate letter writers - with green ink, naturally - or outriders for the democratisation of the media (or something), bloggers wield not-inconsiderable clout while having no responsibility. Which makes them cyber-prostitutes, no? Or possibly the only ones brave enough to stand up to hypocrisy and vested interests within the political process. While the debate goes on, Storyville looks at the impact of blogging, specifically in the American elections in 2004 and 2006.

What companies need to know about employee blogging

It's been out there on the WWW since last August, but I only got some guidance on what companies should do if their employees are blogging about their work now.

The article is written by David Ritter of Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg and is called "Blogging – What Companies Need to Know".

Advice about employee blogging includes the following:

"The question for employers is, what can/should be done?

Initially, employers should adopt policies regarding blogs and include provisions regarding any prohibitions the employer wishes to establish regarding blogging, whether on the employer’s time, through the use of the employer’s computer systems, or on the employee’s own time and on the employee’s home computer.

Such a policy should include:

• Disclaimer of Organizational Responsibility. Require employees to state that any opinions they express about work-related matters are their own and are not attributable to the organization.Additionally, require bloggers to affirmatively take responsibility and liability for any work-related content or materials contained in their blog.
• Copyrighted Material. Inform employees of the potential civil and criminal penalties for posting copyrighted material in a blog without authorization.
• Respectfulness. State that blogs may not be used to attack or insult the company, its products, its executives, supervisors, coworkers, competitors, or competitor’s products."

There is more detail in the article. A PDF copy can be dowloaded here.

TUC publishes guide on work blogging

WorkSmart, a part of the TUC and designed to help working people get more from work, has published some guidelines for people wishing to blog about their work (or mention it in passing) in the UK.

The basis for the article Blogging at Work is that there is a "lack of understanding and clear guidance from employers means that thousands of people in the UK are potentially putting their livelihoods at risk".

The guidelines take the follow directions:

What are the rules on blogging about work?
Can I avoid getting the sack for blogging about work?
Do any employers encourage blogging? Why?
If I am sacked for blogging, what are my rights?

Work blogger in trouble

A newly appointed manager of a chocolate shop had to flee his job after branding the town a "s***-hole" online.

Steve Beall was moved from his home town in the North East to run the new Cafe Thorntons in the shipbuilding town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, two weeks ago.

But he kept a blog branding his new home "rough and boring".

For more details see, for example, Blog lands sweetshop boss in hot water (Manchester Evening News).

There's also a brief television report on the Barrow blogger to be found on the BBC News website.

Blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007

According to a report by technology analysts Gartner, during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million.

Further insights from a report they compiled also suggests:

- 200 million people have already stopped writing their blogs

- most people who would ever start a web blog had already done so

I'm not sure what the significance of the report is because the it's surely the quality of blogs and not the quantity that matters. A BBC News article summarises the report here.

More interestingly, however, is a BBC "have your say" on the findings about blogging.

Vetting employees through blogs

Today BBC FiveLive took a look at how some employers are starting to vet potential employees through Internet searches, particularly by way of blogs or MySpace.

There is a five minute radio interview that can be accessed here. You may want to listen to it if you have an "on-line life". For more details see a blog posting I did on the subject of "digging for digital dirt" early this year.

I also came across a second blog-related article on the BBC News website.

The article - Voluntary code for blogs 'needed' - suggests blogs and other Internet sites should be covered by a voluntary code of practice similar to that for newspapers in the UK. More evidence that the press are a bit twitchy about the rise and influence of blogs.

Managing work bloggers

HZ Zone is the latest personnel practitioner orientated website to look at work-related blogs. Not surprisingly the emphasis is on the management of people who blog about their work, as a quote from the article suggests:

Allowing employees to write an online diary may seem like a good idea, but don't be fooled. Certainly there are potential business advantages - the employer appears progressive and can publicise its corporate image to a global market within seconds – yet without strict monitoring your staff may be sharing company secrets and making libellous statements to a huge audience. The growing number of cases in which a worker has been fired for publishing inappropriate comments about their employer clearly shows that businesses are feeling the threat of bloggers that are prepared to say too much.

Consult the article (may require registration) - Protecting your business from bloggers (Sarah Fletcher) - if you want some insights on how to manage people who blog about work and what this recent trend may develop into in the future.

Cosmopolitan also has a handy article on work-related blogs this month (December). Except the emphasis is on how such blogs could be a 'guide to your dream job".

Blogging: A difficult area for the continuing development of the web

The creator of the world wide web - Tim Berners-Lee - believes blogging is "one of the most difficult areas for the continuing development of the web, because of the risks associated with inaccurate, defamatory and uncheckable information."

Berners-Lee goes on to suggest that if the internet is left to develop unchecked, "bad phenomena" (such as blogging) will erode its usefulness.

He believes devotees of blogging sites take too much information on trust: "The blogging world works by people reading blogs and linking to them. You're taking suggestions of what you read from people you trust. That, if you like, is a very simple system, but in fact the technology must help us express much more complicated feelings about who we'll trust with what."

Mmmh! Since when did the printing press, media corporations and political parties eradicate the passing on to millions of inaccurate, defamatory and uncheckable information? I thought all that was part of making money, PR, spin and staying in power.

See Creator of web warns of fraudsters and cheats by Bobbie Johnson of The Guardian for more unsubstantiated details.