Lex Think Blawg Think
There will definately be a lot of thinking at LexThink BlawgThink. Matt Homann and Dennis Kennedy have put together an awesome 2 days of speakers, learning, collaboration, and fun….but don’t ask for the agenda, it’s all about open space! If you want an invitation contact matt@lexthink.com. Hope to see you there!
Technorati Tags: blawgs, blogs, LexThink, BlawgThink
Top 100 List of Non-CNET Top 100 Blogs
I just wanted to add my blog to the list of non-CNET Top 100 blogs posting about the list. OK, so it’s my own list but of course that’s why I’m on it. Anita Campbell posting from her SmallBusiness Trends blog which was curiously not on the list, writes that the list validates the importance of blogs in general. Her RFID Weblog, however, was on the list of Cutting Edge Blogs. RFID, with all of its paradoxes is definitely something to keep our eyes on…her RFID blog validates that!
No. I Don’t Have Time to Read Blogs
I was talking to my lawyer yesterday about what lawyers call my "high conflict" divorce case. Yes, we are divorced but instead of that judgment being the end of the conflict, it became the basis for my ex to escalate the conflict. This is, of course a whole other blog that is under development but this post is about people completely impervious to blogs. My lawyer started talking about the client/attorney relationship in an unusual manner for lawyers that I have actually worked with, as opposed to law professors, friends who are attorneys or those whose blogs I read…he talked in terms of client service and was pondering why, despite what their firm thought were great results in some case, the client did not express gratitude or otherwise provide positive feedback. Well, I could have given him quite a guest lecture on the topic based upon my personal experiences,and experiences of friends and family in the quagmire of the family court system; and I could filter the personal experiences with my marketer’s lens. However, I politely suggested that there was a lot being written about this topic on the web, specifically by lawyers who blawg. I suggested he might want to check out the {non} billable hour or In Search of Perfect Client Service or The Greatest American Lawyer for their insightful and innovative thinking about the practice of law.
When there was silence on the other end of the phone, I inquired as to whether or not he read blogs. His answer? No, I don’t have time to read blogs. My thought of course was: Do you really have time to not read blogs? And I know I am at one extreme with my the answer to all of life’s mysteries can be found in the blogosphere attitude….but c’mon, you want to know why, despite winning a case, your clients seem dissatisfied? Have a conversation with them…and listen; add some empathy. There you go…good start. You are in the service business….did you serve their needs? You say you "won" the case…did you have a discussion with them to define what "winning" the case was so in the end you could agree that you had won. Oh, stop billing your clients for your mistakes, especially when it is because you didn’t listen…ok, I may be going too far.
The New York Times has an article today on blawging lawyers that quotes Scott Turow, "when people think of law, you think of jails and
marshals and corporate executives. But the reality is…it’s all words, and lawyers are verbal people, both in terms of the
written stuff and the spoken stuff." The law is about words…your clients are about words.
But maybe here lies one of the problems in having conversations with clients…the same New York Times article quotes another blawger, Denise Howell, "blogs demystify the law without costing outrageous
sums; lead to more open, frequent and occasionally informed discussions
of politics, law and occasionally morality; and help forge links
between practicing lawyers, law professors, law students and the real
world.
So, one of the problems that I see in client/attorney relationships is that attorneys don’t really want to "demystify" the law for their clients…and certainly not without collecting "outrageous sums". Second of all, in the link being forged above, the client is conspicuously absent from the list.
Bill 0′Reilly Declares Blogs Garbage
"I don’t read them, I mean it’s so outrageous", O’Reilly said on his show on July 18, 2005. Then last night on the Factor he attacks blogs calling them ideological weapons and smear campaigns as reported by Think Progress and Crooks and Liars. OK, Bill so I do watch your show because I believe it is important to hear opposing viewpoints. I have not read your book for kids. I am assuming (risky I know) based on interviews you have given about your book that you advise kids to be informed. I know that is the advise I give my own kids who frequently ask me why I watch your show since I frequently don’t agree with your opinions. Although, I would also advise my kids not to settle a lawsuit if the accusations were false. Hmmmmm?
So tell me, if you don’t read blogs, please explain to everyone how you know that they are "garbage"? Not to make an extreme comparison or anything, but wasn’t this the same premise upon which the Nazi’s burned books? Let’s declare the ideas we disagree with as garbage to protect others from reading them.
So, I say to Bill 0′Reilly: Your premise is garbage. You should read blogs to designate them garbage. I watch your show and and have personally heard you rant about the uninformed who express opinions. So, I believe I must request that you please take to heart your claim to be "fair and balanced" and at least read a blog or two, or just "shut up". (I also tell my kids not to say "shut up"….)
2 Cool Sites From 2 Cool Sites
Even with RSS and aggregators, there is still too much information for me to process and use. In my email was Inter Alia Weekly Research, which always has great information to help manage the overload. This time, a site called memeorandum which takes daily news articles and links to the blogs that are talking about the the stories. Then from Seth Godins Blog came a reference to Emily Chang’s e-hub which is a constantly updated reference to everything new in blogs, social software, folksonomy, design and well, just everything.
In Case of Emergency
As the finger pointing continues over Hurricane Katrina along with the cries for leadership a thought occured to me while listening to the Head of my youngest son’s school today welcome two families from New Orleans who had moved in with relatives here in St. Louis and had enrolled their children in school. The school had an emergency phone number and a plan developed after September 11th. I wondered how many parents sitting in the room knew what that number was or had it written down….on easily accessible, old fashioned paper. The school had sent it to us numerous times along with "the plan". But like the exit maps on the back of hotel doors and the location of emergency exits on airplanes, in movie theaters, or a fire escape plan from our own homes , it wasn’t top of mind enough to be of much use in case of an emergency. And the finger pointing and calls for leadership should really begin with ourselves.
Back in 1980, some of you may recall there was a fire in the MGM Grand Hotel early one morning. Eighty four people died and 675 people were injured. There were no sprinkler system in the hotel, there was complete chaos as people awoke to discover the inferno around them; they jumped to their deaths, doors locked preventing escape.
Two Kinds Of People
The first time I heard the There are two kinds of people in this world thing was from my MBA school boyfriend. He had gone to Notre Dame as an undergrad, found another alum upon his arrival at B-School to room with and explained it as "There are two kinds of people in this world…those that went to Notre Dame and those that wished they did. Uh huh. Then there was Dee, my good friend in NYC who said, There are two kinds of people in this world, those that wear nail polish and those that don’t. I kind of agree with that one. There have been many other Two kinds observations that I have heard over the years. Probably the most succinct was, There are two kinds of people in this world, those that get IT and those that don’t. Of course that came from an insight gushing ad person who I am pretty sure had a different definition of IT than I did…but I did agree with her concept.
I would now like to officially add my own: There are two kinds of people in this world, those that get blogging and those that never will. I know that many Bloggers like to refer to themselves as Evangelists…and I do get THAT (That=It, in this case) For me suffice it to say, I JUST love Blogs. It was love at first sight. The chemistry was there…the relationship has grown and deepened. The only proverbial rain on my parade is trying to talk to the second kind of people…the ones who never will. Do you get IT? Well, if you’re reading this, you probably do. Oh, and I like RSS and I like podcasting…its just that the connection simply is not as meaningful.
Mayor Slay is Podcasting!
St. Louis’ Mayor Francis Slay is very cool in my book! Not only is his website a great source of interesting information that sets his site apart from the typical mayoral blah-blah-blah but he is podcasting!
Free Onfolio
A link to a free edition of Onfolio Personal Edition from annoyancescentral.com via Matt Homan’s {Non}Billable Hour. Onfolio is a really great RSS aggregator especially if you like to organize your feeds in a manageable manner. The Personal Edition of Onfolio is usually $29.95.
Do We Know and When Did We Know IT?
Americans clueless about RSS: study
Duncan Riley of Blog Herald posted the results from a Pew Internet Study which finds Americans "clueless" about RSS (91%) and podcasting (87%). The full study is available here. Duncan has posted previously on the number of bloggers and the topic of surveys that challenge the importance of blogging, RSS, and podcasting and I agree with his disdain for these numbers and those publishing them.
The point is: Blogs, RSS, Podcasting and whatever communication tools follow are really good, important things, they are here to stay, they are influential, those who don’t know what they are should be taught from those who do know what they are. I think the smart number crunchers will focus on those who" know" and stop worrying about the "clueless"…..stop trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titantic of the "old media" and start rowing toward the future!
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