That BaconCat guy has two interesting posts this weekend on the detailed workings of blogdom. The first is a closer look at the blogs on Technorati’s Top 100, and the second is a look at Big Posts and how they affect traffic. I have a few responses to these, which probably aren’t terribly interesting to… Continue reading Statistical Mechanics of the Blogosphere
Category: Blogs
Pimp Me New Blogs
I’ve updated the sidebar links to reflect the fact that John Horgan has moved his blog, and to add Tales from the Learning Curve. I’m sure I’m missing something, though, so tell me what it is. What are the best blogs out there that I’m not linking to? (Bearing in mind that I’m not enthusiastic… Continue reading Pimp Me New Blogs
Do You Ever Miss the Days When You Used to Be Nostalgic?
Via Jo Walton, Russ Allbery has a wonderful piece on the glory that was Usenet: I’ve strongly disagreed with the idea that Usenet is dying. I still do, I think. I think things ebb and flow and shift around, but up until now I haven’t really thought about how my interaction with Usenet has changed,… Continue reading Do You Ever Miss the Days When You Used to Be Nostalgic?
Blogger SAT Challenge Revealed!
So, the Blogger SAT Challenge has officially run its course, and Dave has posted the question to Cognitive Daily. I’ll reproduce it below the fold, and make some general comments. What were the results like? We had 500 people at least look at the survey question, and Dave gives the breakdown: The survey required participants… Continue reading Blogger SAT Challenge Revealed!
Classic Edition: Wanted: Fewer Pundit Blogs
One of the bloggers quoted in Simon Owens’s demographics post states flat-out that “I basically don’t give a crap about the non-political blogosphere.” I found this interesting, because I used to read almost exclusively political blogs, but my opinion has shifted to be almost exactly the opposite of this: I really find it hard to… Continue reading Classic Edition: Wanted: Fewer Pundit Blogs
Know Your Blogosphere
Simon Owens of Bloggasm has conducted an unscientific survey of diversity in the blogosphere by emailing a bunch of bloggers to ask them demographic questions. He emailed 1,000 bloggers, and on that basis, has constructed a quick profile of the “blogosphere”: Male: 69% Female: 31% *** White/Caucasian/European: 73% Black/African: 9% Asian: 10% Middle Eastern/Arab: 1%… Continue reading Know Your Blogosphere
Blogger SAT Challenge Update
As of this morning, the Blogger SAT Challenge has been looked at by 177 people. The number of completed essays is considerably smaller– Dave estimates somewhere around 40– and so far, everyone I’ve heard from has said that it was a lot harder than they thought it would be. Even Kate thought it was tough,… Continue reading Blogger SAT Challenge Update
Are Bloggers Smarter Than High-School Kids?
As discussed last week, the comments about the perfect-scoring SAT essays published in the New York Times made me wonder whether bloggers could do any better. On the plus side, bloggers write all the time, of their own free will. On the minus side, they don’t have to work under test conditions, with a tight… Continue reading Are Bloggers Smarter Than High-School Kids?
The Weirdness Event Horizon Approaches
The truly remarkable thing about the BaconCat incident is not that John Scalzi taped bacon to his cat (as you can tell from his wife’s reaction), or that he got a bazillion hits from Fark for it (which is what the Internet is for, after all), or that he made a motivational poster about it… Continue reading The Weirdness Event Horizon Approaches
Philosophia Naturalis
Over at Science and Reason, Charles Daney has launched a new blog carnival, focussing on physical science and technology issues. I rarely remember to participate in these things– the deadlines just go whooshing by, like deadlines do– but the general concept is pretty popular, and we need more physical science blogging on the Interweb. There… Continue reading Philosophia Naturalis