With the imminent publication of my book on August 4, I have created a new official site, for my books as well as any future articles or blog posts. This site will not shut down, but will remain in a state of suspended animation. Hope to see you all at the new site and thank you for your readership over the years!
Regards,
David
A comparative case study involving two bestselling authors… First, Jon Krakauer, with video:
After the interview, a man who introduced himself as Thomas Dove took the mic and began giving his background. Krakauer requested the man ask his question.
The man persisted in a lengthy presentation about documents the author had acquired, and the audience booed him. Eventually, Krakauer took away the man’s microphone, and the audience was invited to leave.
To Mr. Dove’s credit, he publicly identified himself by name and profession, and chose to address his criticisms of Mr. Krakauer to him in person, rather than hide behind the veil of online anonymity. But that still didn’t give him the right to hijack the event or to treat it like his own personal deposition of Krakauer.
On the other hand, we have J.K. Rowling (some NSFW language here)
Shot (screenshot via Huffington Post):
Chaser:
Game, set and match for Rowling.
Cyberwar people are gonna love this…
MI6 attacks al-Qaeda in ‘Operation Cupcake’
British intelligence has hacked into an al-Qaeda online magazine and replaced bomb-making instructions with a recipe for cupcakes.The cyber-warfare operation was launched by MI6 and GCHQ in an attempt to disrupt efforts by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular to recruit “lone-wolf” terrorists with a new English-language magazine, the Daily Telegraph understands.
When followers tried to download the 67-page colour magazine, instead of instructions about how to “Make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom” by “The AQ Chef” they were greeted with garbled computer code.
The code, which had been inserted into the original magazine by the British intelligence hackers, was actually a web page of recipes for “The Best Cupcakes in America” published by the Ellen DeGeneres chat show.
Republican media consultant Mark McKinnon has this interesting post on the role of Twitter in democracy. He makes the following point:
People are listening to and analyzing every single word that John McCain and Barack Obama say, so the campaigns don’t necessarily need another channel for communicating to the public. But people are also paying attention to which campaigns and politicians are actually listening to the people as well, and it may be that the true value of Twitter for political campaigns is in listening more than talking. Twitter is more than just a large, unorganized focus group; it is a link to real-time constituent consciousness.
My sense is that this is what the role of the blogs are, arguably more so for the Democrats than the Republicans, but that could change after this election. But by its brief and concise nature, Twitter can’t be as cerebral or detailed or well-written as some of the leading blogs on the right, left and center are. It’s a fantastic open source conversation and generator for tips and story ideas for the press.
McKinnon’s focus group analogy is accurate, but even the fastest reader can have a hard time trying to keep up with the breakneck speed that Twitter posts are generated on their election channel, especially on a busy news day. I’ll respectfully disagree with him when he says Twitter might have a bigger impact on the political landscape in the future than blogging.
Hat tip to Jon Henke at the Next Right, who shrewdly points out the three benefits of campaigns listening instead of just telling, an analysis I agree with.
Icepicks and Nukes 