Silence Dogood Returns

Daily Kos is the most highly trafficked political blog in the United States. The purpose of the blog is to elect Democrats, the more liberal of the two major political parties in the United States.

The blog’s founder, Markos Moulitsas (aka kos):

The site is a community blog, meaning that anyone can create an account and write and comment there. The power of the community is manifest in their fund raising, activism, and the “Netroots Nation” convention which is attended by the leading candidates and officials of the Democratic party.

. . . here in the comments section of this post.

Today’s first class with the “Founders” was fast and furious. We were discussing, arguing, and questioning everything from the nature of a democracy (what kind of a democracy worth its name has low participation by the masses and relatively high elite power?) to the ability of the blogosphere to influence mass media (won’t the mass media just always appeal to the “lowest common denominator” of mass consumption?), to the question of whether or not people even have the time to avail themselves of the new communication tools.

The answers to these questions and the many others will not be resolved any time soon, of course. We discovered, among other things, that an understanding of the entire social, political, economic and legal/political context is necessary as well as an understanding of the ideological backdrop. But ruling out technological determinism (the technology of the internet will not, in and of itself, change the world) does not mean that technological changes are insignificant.

Anyway, we are just getting started but are already in the thick of it, so let’s go to the comments and keep the conversation going . . .

Use the comments on this post to let us know what your blog is about. Tell us the name, url, and what makes your blog unique.

Matt Huggins has an article entitled, “55 Essential Articles Every Serious Blogger Should Read.”

Save that link if you think you might want to gradually build your blogging power.  There is good advice for beginners and experts alike.

One of the blogs that I get via Google Reader had this item of interest to students at the BFTF:

The Coming Cold Snap in U.S.-Russian Relations

An excerpt:

We are now poised on the brink of a new era in U.S.-Russian relations, an era in which the role of Europe will likely be much more ambiguous than in the past. The new era will have significant repercussions for commerce; it will be particularly important for energy markets and for energy transportation questions. But it will also have important ramifications for globalization efforts, for capital markets and for the general movement of goods and services in the region. The new era is not likely to be a return to the Cold War, but it is likely to be marked by a much more assertive and self-assured Russia, a much more cautious United States, and major European powers on the sidelines—increasingly torn loose from historical relationships with the United States, and cautiously feeling out a new and sometimes uncomfortable relationship with Russia. The U.S. will continue to be the sole superpower, but the new dynamic will have something closer to a multipolar flavor to it. Let’s call it the coming cold snap.

This is an important issue for all of the students, American and European and was the subject of one of the debate questions videotaped today by a Russian student.

There are a number of tools I use beyond the basic web browser, but even that is an important choice. All of the tools I describe below are free.

To see what’s in my recommended tool chest, Read the rest of this entry »

The comments of this thread is the place we will nominate our favorite blogs from the entire blogosphere for our “Best Blog in the World” award.

Students can ask questions about the class and related topics in the comments of this post. I will try to answer, but other students should also answer if they can be helpful.

YouTube can teach us about how philosophy is taught in Italian schools.

In the comments below, BF students list some of the economic, political, technological and social characteristics that shape the media in their nation or state. What is the most powerful form of media there? Who owns it? What are the laws governing its use? Is there stiff competition between political partisans in the media? What are socializing effects of the media?