The Blogcount Estimate: 2.4 to 2.9 Million Weblogs

Date	Estimate (millions of active weblogs)	Source
2003-6	2.4 to 2.9	Phil Wolff, blogcount.com

"I know I'm low. Critiques? Suggestions? The full post, including how I came with these numbers, on Blogcount.com." [a klog apart]

Phil also speculates that LiveJournal is the 213th most popular site on the Internet. At one point is it no longer a fad, and why isn't your library blogging already??

Diane J. Squire at Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science also notes that blogging is "coming of age." Disclaimer that I'm quoted extensively in the article, but I'm fascinated by the SLIS BROG!

Blogging: Digital Davids in an Internet Goliath

"The Blog Research Group on Genre (BROG) project at SLIS is conducting a large-scale content analysis of random Web logs to identify the characteristics of this emergent genre of computer-mediated communication. They believe that an accurate characterization of blogging is needed before its social impact can be assessed.

SLIS's associate professor Susan Herring is leading BROG researchers Elijah Wright, Lois Ann Scheidt and Sabrina Bonus, who are looking for answers to questions such as:

• How typical are the journalistic blogs that attract media attention?
• Who blogs, how often and for what purposes?
• How coherent is the blog as a genre and what distinguishes blogs from related genres such as Internet homepages and threaded discussion forums?

Preliminary findings provide a counterbalance to media hype about blogs. BROG indicates that an overwhelming majority of blogs are written by a single author, who is an adult male and resides in the United States. Web site developer or designer is the most represented occupation and personal diaries, rather than political filters are the most common type of blog. These patterns point to people using blogs primarily to express themselves rather than serving as a forum to influence political opinion on a large scale."

There's even an RSS feed for tracking the project!

• Library Internet Filter

  "This website is about a particular internet filtering product IF 2003 and its application to libraries. This product is flexible, publishes its block list, is reasonably priced and it can be configured to meet library's particular requirements.

  It is not a perfect solution but it is inexpensive and, with librarians' input, the least obnoxious filtering solution on the market."

• Statewide filter in North Dakota

  "The State Librarian of North Dakota has announced that the state will set up a state-wide filtering system to deal with Monday's CIPA decision. Not much more here." [LISNews.com]

• A World Map to Outwit Censors

  "In recent years, Internet censorship has been an increasing focus of scholarly research. At Harvard, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society has identified Web sites - some surprisingly tame - blocked by the governments of Saudi Arabia and China. At the University of Toronto, the Citizen Lab has developed a tool that will enable users to determine whether a Web address is blocked in any of 15 countries....

  Last month the researchers agreed to collaborate on 'mapping' the Internet for such blockages, whether they are imposed by governments, Internet service providers, corporations or even public libraries. The project will involve the enlistment of thousands of volunteers around the world, organizers say....

  Mr. Zittrain said the Web censorship project would check millions of Web pages worldwide, asking, 'Can I get there from here?' If the blocking of the Web page is related to the Internet service provider's network (as opposed to a computer glitch), that intelligence will be sent 'upstream to the mother ship,' the home base of the computer program distributed to the volunteers, he said....

  After an initial testing phase that is expected to cost about $50,000, the censorship mapping project is to begin operation late this year. (Volunteers can sign up at cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/app.)" [New York Times]

• What Does A Quarter Million Get You These Days?

  "Enough to raise a child from birth to age 17 is one possible answer. A filter-free library is another. In the wake of yesterday's CIPA decision (PDF), Susan Hildreth (photo), city librarian for the city and county of San Francisco, has a quarter million fewer ways to take care of business: 'San Francisco is ready to lose $250,000 to retain unfettered access.' (The Sacramento Bee, "Libraries learn: No filters, no funds")" [Bag and Baggage]

• Stories from All Over on CIPA

  "The stories are starting to come in on the CIPA decision.
  In WV the state's top library official said Installing anti-pornography filters on public library computers in West Virginia would be "an expensive nightmare'' that, in the end, would not achieve Congress' goal of shielding children from smut.

  There's other stories from IN, GA, CA, CA, OH, and WV. The Mercury News Reports many local libraries will do whatever it takes to avoid computer filters that restrict access to information, even if it means losing their federal funding in lean economic times. Same thing echoed in La Crosse WI, and Minneapolis.

  More stories with a local spin from TN, OH, IN, and KY." [LISNews]

• CIPA

  "Where is the report 'Filtering Software: the Religious Connection' by Nancy Willard? It would be important for many libraries to have access to it, given recent events. Library Journal has a summary available. However, all the links I find no longer work." [Catalogablog]

• Several folks have pointed out squidGuard and DansGuardian, two open source censorware packages. I'm wondering if we can set these up at SLS and let our members test them, then run them as a service. If we don't have the resources, though, please be sure to visit Professor B.'s Repository of Curious Meanings, where jhp has made a most incredible offer:

  "If it wasn't clear enough before now, CIPA ought to make it obvious that librarians, open source advocates, and supporters of limited copyright are on the same side in the conflict over freedom of information.

  Topical example: Jenny's friday post about CIPA demonstrates one way that we in the open source world can directly aid our librarian friends, now that CIPA is really-truly not going away....

  Pace Seth's objections, I think volunteering our time and nerdliness to help our allies who are caught in a pretty awful bind by an absurd law would be a good thing. So, if you are a librarian in the Chicagoland area whose library is caught in the CIPA trap and who wants to install or try DansGuardian or Squidgard, please feel free to contact me at the email address at the top of the page (or leave a comment), and if I can help, I will."

• Lots of good background from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's FAQ on E-rate Compliance with the CIPA and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act. Robert Bocher of the WDPI noted the following on the WEB4LIB mailing list:

  "Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, this FAQ will be updated when the FCC issues its rules on how libraries are to comply with CIPA.  Because of various procedural issues that the Court must follow as part of its decision, the FCC cannot issue any substantive guidance on library compliance until the  week of July 20 at the earliest.  The ALA and its E-rate Task Force have encouraged the FCC to allow libraries until July 1, 2004 to comply with the filtering mandate.... The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that administers the LSTA program is expected to issue information on CIPA compliance with LSTA by early August. "

• U.S. Supreme Court's CIPA Decision: The Editorials

  "Since last Monday's U.S. Supreme Court Decision many newspapers have published editorials about the decision. What follows is a roundup with direct links to about 20 editorials." [ResourceShelf]

Katharine Hepburn Dies

"Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn has died at the age of 96.

Ms Hepburn, who lived in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, had suffered various health problems in recent years, including Parkinson's disease....

In all, she appeared in more than 50 films, but it was her role in The African Queen, in which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, which brought her iconic status.

Her first book - The Making of The African Queen: Or, How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind - made her a best-selling author at the age of 77.

She appeared in her last film, This Can't Be Love, in 1994.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her the greatest actress of all time." [BBC News]

One of my all-time favorite movie is The Philadelphia Story (I think I can recite the lines word for word), so this is a sad day for me. Kate, we should make Katharine Hepburn brownies this week in tribute....