Interesting Times

The Poynter Institute reports that Dave Winer is in negotiations with the New York Times to open their archives to people linking from weblogs. Now this may be good news for some of us, but I forsee that this permission may be exploited. It’s asserted elsewhere however that this benefit will apply only to Userland weblogs.
I wonder what Ben and Mena have to say about that.
And this is a somewhat ‘sniffy’ attitude towards blogging, IMHO – at least, from the way it began:

Diaries were once meticulously handwritten private logs of self-reflection… Now they are haphazardly typed public logs of self-advertisement.

Back to the future. In ‘If you really want to know, ask a blogger‘, the Guardian / Observer discusses the growing influence of weblogs as an alternative to traditional media. I’m sure this is now a popular topic in Communication schools, and a source of consternation for stodgy broadsheets.
The paper also reports that moblogging is becoming increasingly popular. I’m just waiting for my phone contract to run its course, so I can upgrade my buggy little Nokia 6510. Then we’ll see.
For laughs: Check out the dullest blog in the world. (Thanks to Jiamin for sending this!)