BlawgWorld 2007: I Still Don't Get It
When TechnoLawyer Publisher Neil J. Squillante and Editor Sara Skiff released the first edition of their BlawgWorld e-book in November 2005, I wrote at my LawSites blog that it was a worthwhile experiment, but one that should be shelved. I explained:
"[H]aving now seen the final product, it is clear that the concept simply did not work as a book -- blog postings frozen in rigid pdf pages seemed drained of whatever vitality they once might have had."
I also expressed discomfort at the way it was promoted, seemingly making the bloggers who contributed essays pawns in expanding TechnoLawyer's membership. Thus, with the release today of the second edition of this e-book, BlawgWorld 2007, I was not surprised to receive an e-mail from Squillante pointing out changes in this new edition. "I agree with you that the first edition had flaws," he wrote, "but rather than shelve it, we addressed the flaws."
Well, in my opinion, they did and they didn't. Let's start with the good. Squillante and Skiff deserve high praise for the design and format of BlawgWorld 2007. The book employs a navigation system that takes full advantage of the features of PDF. The concept is "three clicks from anywhere to anywhere." That holds true, enabling the reader to find and get to articles quickly and intuitively. In addition to intuitive navigation, the book's pages are nicely designed. Blog essays include information about the blog and the blogger and even a thumbnail of its main page. Essays are published with all links intact so that the reader can jump from book to web and back.
To some extent, this design addresses my concern about rigid PDF pages draining blog posts of their vitality. But the premise of this book (as Squillante explains in the video here) is that is serves as the best way for lawyers to discover legal blogs and choose the ones they might regularly read. I still don't see how it does that. Myself, I am able to evaluate a blog only by reading several postings over a period of time. To take one self-selected post and add it to a compendium of posts from other bloggers seems to serve no practical purpose other than to stroke the egos of the bloggers who are included.
Then there is still that discomfort aspect. This time, BlawgWorld is being promoted as two books in one. The second book -- which is not a separate book at all -- is the TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide. This is described as "the product guide reinvented" and a "revolutionary new sponsored resource." The key word here is sponsored. Although positioned as a collection of questions and answers about common technology and management problems, it is really a collection of advertisements. The answers are not objective, they are provided by vendors to promote their own products and services. Here, for example, is a question: "Does a case management solution exist specifically for personal injury practices?" The answer, "Look no further than Needles." Let's call this what it is -- a huge advertising directory.
Squillante says that this e-book costs much more than the first one to produce, so he had to sell advertising. Rather than "turn the eBook into a magazine with big garish ads interspersed with the blawg essays," he chose this approach, which he says was inspired by the yellow pages. He explains: "Participating legal vendors were required to ask a question (Problem) free of superlatives that a law firm might actually ask, and then answer that question (Solution) using 250-300 words."
With 45,000 downloads, the popularity of the first BlawgWorld exceeded all expectations. Squillante expects to see the number of downloads for this second BlawgWorld reach at least 50,000. So even though I don't get it, plenty of people apparently do. Clearly, this second edition is an improvement over the first in many respects. If some readers find it useful in learning about and selecting blogs, then BlawgWorld has achieved its purpose.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on July 30, 2007 at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Is SJC Nominee in Trouble?
That is the question media writer Dan Kennedy asks at his blog Media Nation about Margot Botsford, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's nominee for a seat on the state's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court. I, for one, don't think so. Botsford, currently a judge on the state's Superior Court, is highly regarded among lawyers in Massachusetts and has an impressive record of achievements to support her.
The question arises because, one day after Gov. Patrick nominated Botsford, the Boston Herald reported that her husband, lawyer S. Stephen Rosenfeld, last year donated three times the legal limit to Patrick's campaign fund. Rosenfeld is also well known within the state's legal community and was chief of staff and legal counsel to former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis. This news led blogger Kennedy to comment:
"Botsford is well-qualified and progressive, but this has the aroma of a quid pro quo. You could argue that she's not responsible for her husband's political donations, but come on. As a judge, she can't make political donations anyway. (Or at least she shouldn't.) And why didn't someone at the Patrick campaign flag the excess donations and return them?"
From the state's legal community, support for Botsford's nomination is strong. Massachusetts Bar Association President Mark D. Mason issued a statement in which he said:
"Botsford's keen intellect and extraordinary abilities as a jurist enhance the outstanding reputation of our state's highest court. She is highly regarded and respected amongst jurists and attorneys throughout the commonwealth."
The president of the Boston Bar Association, Jack Cinquegrana, had like praise:
"[Botsford] is a true scholar of the law and a noble public servant who is universally admired for her brilliance, her extraordinary work ethic, and her commitment to justice."
My prediction is that her nomination will -- and should -- sail through.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on July 30, 2007 at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Praise for ABA Journal Web Site Relaunch
The headline that best describes the ABA Journal's unveiling last week of its new Web site may be this one from Mark Obbie: A Sleeping Giant Stirs. I first noted the head-to-toe redesign of the site a week ago on my LawSites blog, but now that I am back from the Maine woods, I have had a chance to look more closely at the site and at other bloggers' comments. Opinions appear to be unanimously enthusiastic. Overnight, the ABA Journal's Web site went from Edsel to Ferrari.
The overhaul was spearheaded by two former colleagues of mine at ALM, Ed Adams, the magazine's new editor and publisher, and Molly McDonough, the magazine's assistant managing editor/online. My LawSites post describes the site's major features, which include regularly updated legal news stories drawn from multiple sources online, a directory of more than 1,000 law-related blogs, articles from the magazine, RSS feeds and more. But here I wanted to collect some of what others are saying about the new site. Here is a sampling of what I found:
- Blawg's Blog: "[A]t first glimpse, it looks to me like the ABA has done a very nice job in putting together its new site. It has created another law portal, however, which makes this move pretty interesting. My initial reaction is that the ABA has moved into direct competition with Law.com and FindLaw (and maybe a Lexis web property like Lawyers.com). It also obviously offers some of the same features and functionality as Blawg.com and Justia, to name a couple more."
- Dennis Kennedy: "I like the direction that the ABA Journal is going with the website and the print publication. In fact, I like it so much that I've recently agreed to take over the legal technology column for the publication starting this fall."
- Ernie the Attorney: "Very impressive new look! Also note that the Journal is now listing legal blogs (which they term 'blawgs'), including this one."
- InhouseBlog: "This is sure to be a powerful new tool for in-house counsel - check it out and add it to your blog reader."
- LawBeat: "Law.com, watch your back. The ABA Journal today launched a new Web site that kicks Law.com's butt."
- Mediator blah... blah...: "Best of all is The Blawg Directory which indexes more than 1,000 law blogs. The directory tells you about the author, what they cover, and includes excerpts from the 10 latest posts."
- MyShingle: "[T]he ABA has finally provided a really useful product with the newly launched, online ABA Journal. The site makes ABA Journal articles and legal news available, and also contains one of the best topical blawg directories that I've ever seen."
- New York Personal Injury Law Blog: "The American Bar Association has moved into the news and blog arena in a big way, as evidenced by their newly redone website. A quick view shows terrific free news feeds as well as a great new compendium of blawgs. They have obviously done their homework."
If the best headline about the new site was Mark Obbie's, quoted above, the most succinct evaluation of the overhaul may be this from Denise Howell at Bag and Baggage: "It's not the old site, which was, let's face it, as painful as a nitrous-free molar extraction."
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on July 30, 2007 at 12:45 PM | Perma
Rodrigo González Fernández
Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Telefono: 2084334- 5839786
santiago-Chile
www.consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.biocombustibles.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment