Monday, November 14, 2005

Progressive on the Prairie

"A Progressive on the Prairie was originally intended to provide a South Dakota rarity, a liberal/progressive prospective on politics. Since then, the blog has evolved to spend more time on the things that bring pleasure, meaning and nuance to life: books, music and film. Thoughts about life and, occasionally, politics also appear but the goal is to elevate the cultural over the political."

Tim notes also that as he has changed basic content of The Progressive on the Prairie, he has become part of Blog Critics and his Archive of Posts at Blogcritic is here.

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* Building Better South Dakota Blogs *

*Blog Aesthetics

The format and appearance of most blogs results from the particular blog system pre-set templates. Some bloggers are very sophisticated users of HTML and can turn a template into a thing of beauty or nearly unreadable mess. Some templates are plain old black on white text and are very readable. Others have black background colors and text colors that make them look like Las Vegas neon signs in a rare blizzard. Another royal pain for those of us not so young anymore is incredibly small text.
Blogs like other web pages don't rattle reader eyes or sensiblility unless they look like "clown pants". This is a term used years ago by a web designer when referring to clashing colors, textures, photos, text, patterns, etc. Obviously, the mood a blogger wishes to convey can be somewhat set by the design and usually relates to the purpose. A bank blog is unlikely to have a pink background with flashing green text...but, if you don't care what "subliminal" message is carried in the design or actually have a blog about circus clowns and pratfalls.................

* Owed to Our Readers (Or, "Blogging should not emulate the oldest profession")

If a blogger is financed by a group, business, politician, government, an organization or a rich benefactor with an agenda or an interest group essentially buying favorable blogging for them and negative blogging for opponents or competitors, then the blog and blogger should inform their readers in plain and obvious text of these facts. To fail to disclose such information is fundamentally dishonest and deceptive. If a blogger supports Candidate TweedleDum over Candidate TweedleDee and pretends or conveys impartiality, but is actually paid by TweeleDum, the readers are deceived and the crediblility of ALL blogs and bloggers is diminished.

CBS NEWS on Old Politics, New SD Blogs,Blog Payolla

Personal Democracy Good Summary on Thune-Paid Blogs

Salon Magazine..Jeff Gannon, Talon "News", and Paid Bloggers

*Content and Posting Ethics

Blogs can literally be about nearly anything. The versatility of blog systems is wonderful and leads to the variety and charm of blogs. Regulating or suggesting content topics is nonsense if done by critics. So, none of that here. If you want to navel-gaze, pontificate on religion or politics, update boring regulations, or have a beautiful photography blog, go ahead and do your thing.

This blog itself and the blogs indexed here indicate some of the diversity of blog uses. A few more examples of blogs (not necessarily from SD) indicating diversity of subjects and emphasis:

Birder Blog by Laura Erickson

Legal Ethics Blog (Some info on Blog use for Law purposes)

Northfield MN Police Chief

Rapid City Journal Blog,

SD Librarian Blog...No, this "SD" is San Diego (Chemistry, Blogs, Rss, Etc

But, even with the tremendous diversity of blogs and the potential for even more diversity, some general guidelines rules probably apply in whole or in part and reasonably well to all types of blogs no matter what the subject or location..South Dakota, North Dakota, New York, or California. (((( Stay Tuned for the grim details)))))

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Martin Kuhn has a lot of background information and references in the PDF file linked below. If you want a history or the perhaps philosophical underpinnings, read the PDF file. A propsed blog code of ethics by Martin Kuhn is pulled from his his blog listed below as a source:

Promote Interactivity

â Post to your blog on a regular basis
â Visit and post on other blogs
â Respect blog etiquette
â Attempt to be entertaining, interesting, and/or relevant

Promote Free Expression

â Do not restrict access to your blog by specific individuals or groups
â Do not self censor by removing posts or comments once they are published
â Allow and encourage comments on your blog

Strive for Factual Truth

â Never intentionally deceive others
â Be accountable for what you post

Be as Transparent as Possible

â Reveal you identity as much as possible (name, photo, background info, etc.)
â Reveal your personal affiliations and conflicts on interest
â Cite and link to all sources referenced in each post

Promote the Human Element in Blogging

â Minimize harm to others when posting information
â Promote community by linking to other blogs and keeping a blogroll
â Build relationships by responding to e-mails and comments regularly

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Kuhn notes as part of his citations and in short bulleted form in the pdf earlier comments on Weblog Ethics a book by Rebecca Blood. The link is below in the sources. Her six "rules" follow.

1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true. If your statement is speculation, say so.

2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it. Linking to referenced material allows readers to judge for themselves the accuracy and insightfulness of your statements.

3. Publicly correct any misinformation.

4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry.

5. Disclose any conflict of interest.

6. Note questionable and biased sources.
Rebecca Blood has significant detail on the above 6 "rules" worth checking at the link below and also has a book on blogs,etc.
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Dave Winer writes more than this at the link for him below, but relevant here is the following:
"A while ago I wrote down two rules about integrity in public writing. It doesn't matter whether you're a pro or amateur. I think these two rules are necessary and sufficient.

1. Disclose all pertinent information about your interests.
2. Never state as fact something you know not to be true."
And after more discussion a postscrip of sorts:
"One more postscript, to my anonymous detractors. Decloak. Say who you are. You can't possibly speak with any integrity if you don't use your real names, and tell readers something about yourselves."