Boundary Issues

This quote from Justice Janice Rogers Brown's dissent in the Kasky v. Nike, Inc. case (PDF)—under review and argued last week before the U.S. Supreme Court; see SCOTUSBlog and How Appealing for comprehensive round-ups of the commentary—just caught my eye in a Daily Journal article:

[T]he commercial speech doctrine, in its current form, fails to account for the realities of the modern world—a world in which personal, political, and commercial arenas no longer have sharply defined boundaries.

Google's 6,000 hits for "cause marketing" and 85,000 for "social marketing," as well as many of the ideas in Gonzo Marketing, would seem to lend further support to Justice Brown's boundary blurring premise. The majority and two dissenting opinions in this case are well worth your time—and not just because you may be hungry for judicial references to Hogwarts.

Blogging Your Own Business

When the subject of business blogging comes up, I frequently think of the audience member at SXSW 2002 who remarked to Doc's panel that "Fake corporate blogs are like your dad trying to buy pot." (Hey, my dad lives in Mendocino County, a stone's throw from Humboldt, but in most cases the simile probably works fine.) In this regard I have high hopes for the ClickZ Weblog Business Strategies Conference & Expo, June 9-10 in Boston. The organizers have lined up some very intelligent folks (too many to link to, but if I mention Doc Searls, Dave Winer, David Weinberger, Jason Shellen and John Palfrey you'll begin to appreciate what I mean; for the whole story visit the June 9 and June 10 agendas), as well as at least one (yours truly) who is just pleased to be involved and hoping to keep the volume of spinach on her teeth to a bare minimum.

Pricing is best before May 29 and volume discounts apply, so registering early and often would seem to be the ticket. Thanks again to Robert Scoble ("It has nothing to do with the tools. It has everything to do with management;" Corporate Weblog Manifesto) for the heads up on the event.

Survey Says?

Professor Barbara Kaye of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Department of Broadcasting is conducting academic research about weblogs. Want to help? Take her survey.

Louis Louis

Forbes' Arik Hesseldahl ("Apple Tunes Up"):

[A]fter a short tryout and a tad of obligatory skepticism, we can honestly say we're impressed. The iTunes Music Store, an online music download service that is integrated into Apple's iTunes 4 digital jukebox software, is enormously easy to use and dangerously addictive.

On the user-friendliness front, I can observationally add it was far easier for my Dad to set himself up than it can be for him to edit a Word document. He was thrilled to find plenty of Louis Prima.

Don't Be Alarmed

Grab your smoke hoods and try not to stampede the exits; the Web Fire Escape awaits.