Hand Tying Threads (Hopefully Not For Long)

Here's a discussion Dave Rogers and I have been having about corporate weblogs:
From Sean Carton, clickZ, "Macromedia Blogs and the Death of the 'Official Story.'"
From Dave, "Can Blogs Find A Place In The Corpocracy?"
From me, "'Official Story,' Meet 'Trusty Spokesperson.'"
From Dave, "More On 'Corporate' Blogging," with comments from John Dowdell of Macromedia.

Shelley Powers is working on a less clunky way to connect blog conversations, called Thread The Needle. Read what she's up to, then let AKMA or Gary know if you have suggestions.

PDFs and Radio

Ernie and Rick each have great articles up right now at llrx. Ernie describes how and why lawyers should use PDF, and Rick explains that Radio does much more than blog. (I'm thinking of trying it out on the laundry.)

Knowledge Managing Email

Ashby Jones reports on automating email organization and sharing in the legal field, and says iManage, Inc and Tacit Knowledge Systems are developing or fine-tuning products aimed at this problem. [Via Law.com] If email management is your thing, you might also get a kick out of "Spool," a game from BVRP Software that simulates a day in the life of a harried email admin (instead of asteroids and missiles, you battle viruses and spam!). [Via The Screen Savers]

More Re Copy Protected CD Litigation

The Slashdot thread on the new Dickey class action includes a reference to an earlier Marin County, CA case that settled in February. Slashdot links to the settlement document, which required, among other things, various packaging advisories and the payment of $10,000 in attorneys' fees.

"Official Story," Meet "Trusty Spokesperson"

From Dave Rogers of Connect and Empower: Can Blogs Find A Place In The Corpocracy? Dave examines Sean Carton's article [at clickZ.com] about the blogging Macromedia folks and the future of corporate blogging. As Sean writes, "Rather than create mini-sites on the company site where they could post tips and commentary about the products they work with, employees created spaces outside of Macromedia -- spaces that would be instantly believable and useful to their legions of fans." Dave rightly observes it is naive to think that every corporate or corporate-related weblog will involve "an authentic human voice:" "Do they have to look over their backs while blogging lest they inadvertently offend those in the executive suite?" Will corporations permit employees to "rant and rave with freedom?"

I think we're all waiting for those questions to be answered in real life and real time. The portent of the tea leaves may lie in Sean's observation that "blogs are intensely personal forms of expression; after reading someone's blog for a while, you may feel that it connects you with the writer in a way not possible with any other medium." This means the tendency of a blog to be compelling is inversely proportional to its tendency to be canned, "correct" (from a political or marketing standpoint), or filtered through anything beyond the writer's own sensibilities and conscience. Dave's skepticism about the legitimacy of corporate blogs is well-placed, but I'm betting Darwin will have something to do with how things play out.

P.S. - Jenny points to Sean Carton's piece too.