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October 27, 2006
A writer's obligations: ethics, law and pragmatism, Part 2a: Ethics
Last week I promised you I'd write about ethics and the Web. Ever since I've been wondering if I bit off more than I could chew and have been trying to find a way to approach this rather broad topic.
October 25, 2006
I had a good experience at the BMV: Customer Service on the Web
Last weekend I noticed that the temporary tags on my new (to me) VW were going to expire Tuesday. I quickly went into the house to check the mailbox to see if my new title had arrived yet. It had not. So Monday morning, with one day to spare, I hopped online to find out what steps I would need to take to register my car without this important document. Envisioning a series of errands involving the seller, notaries, and visits to various offices, I was happy to learn that the process was actually quite simple and that all...
October 20, 2006
A writer's obligations: ethics, law and pragmatism, Part 1: Law
Fair Use? In a former career, I designed the cover of this law book and drew the illustration of the column based on a design created by a colleague for another book in the series. Using the image to illustrate a point seems to be fair use. However if I had re-used the drawing of the column as part of another design, be it a book cover, poster or something else, that would probably not be fair because the publisher, my former employer, maintains the copyright for the illustration. Last week I wrote about the different roles we may...
October 13, 2006
Web writers: What are we? Journalists? Marketers? Information Providers? Opinion makers? Scholars?
One of our bloggers wrote me this week with some questions regarding the choices we make in the content we include and the responsibilities that may affect those choices. As I was responding to his questions, it occurred to me that these choices are really determined by the goal of our Web site or blog, and the role we play as writers. Today I would like to explore the different types of writers that may be posting content online, and what their roles or responsibilities may be. In a future entry I'll discuss how these roles can impact our...
October 05, 2006
From Case to Colby in 8 jumps: The value and vagaries of external links
Sometimes I like to wander the Web while eating lunch. Today I began this endeavor with a trip to Planet Case, beginning with James Chang's "Riot at Columbia University" entry.