With so much focus on industry-specific (e.g., the nearly 700 PR-related blogs) and subject-matter-specific blogs (e.g., the 3700+ technology-related blogs), it’s easy to overlook the less flashy, locally-focused sites.

But it’s these sites that we’ll see proliferate in the long run, probably much more so than others. Why? Because local residents will be invested in them and regard them as the true voice of their respective communities.

According to Lisa Williams, who runs H2otown, a community site for Watertown, MA, there are already probably more than 700 placeblogs or "site[s] dedicated to a particular geographical community — a county, town, city, or neighborhood." And to track these placeblogs, Lisa has created Placeblogger.com, which she talked about at today’s J-Lab Citizens Media Summit II.      

PR and marketing professionals will also increasingly take note of these local blogs, seeing opportunities to engage one-on-one with members of the community on matters specifically important to them.   

(Flickr image of Placeblogger.com from Lisa Williams)

Yeah, there are only so many hours in the day… or, as I’ve been guilty of doing, only so many hours of sleep you can sanely forfeit.

Still, I’ve found that my involvement with Second Life so far has been very beneficial.

And now there’s another Second Life-based event that I’m looking forward to, Harvard Law School’s CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion, which is about "the creation and delivery of persuasive argument in the new integrated media space constituted by the Internet and other new technologies. Our premise is that ‘First World’ and corporate domination of entertainment media, laws, and news can be balanced by the voices of individuals, groups and universities who use new media intelligently."

The course is open to Harvard Law students and Harvard Extension School students, but also to anyone with an Internet connection. Check out the course details for at-large participants. 

Alright, I’m on board.

"focus on the intersection of Internet culture and education. One of the primary goals is to help guide educators through the ins and outs of what’s often referred to as "Web 2.0," including blogging, podcasting, vlogging, RSS, social software and community networks. I’m planning to explore some of the creative ways students and teachers are using interactive technologies to improve learning, as well as dissect the controversies that often occur when classroom culture and online culture collide."

Another related blog worth checking out is Jim Heynderickx’s K12Converge.com.

However, the article on organizations, Survival of the Adaptive by Nitin Nohria, the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, is particularly enlightening for PR and and other related professionals counseling clients on crisis management. Nohria writes:

"In the complex and uncertain environment of a sustained, evolving crisis, the most robust organizations will not be those that simply have plans in place but those that have continuous sensing and response capabilities…

We know from complexity theory that following a few basic crisis-response principles is more effective than having a detailed a priori plan in place….

The goal is not to create specific rules for responding to specific threats but to practice new ways of problem solving in an unpredictable and fast-changing environment."

Nohria recommends that organizations have a global network of people in place that can help out as needed if internal communications systems break down, or as either human or physical resources are compromised.

He also compares the characteristics of organizations that will be less, and those that will be more, successful in surviving an outbreak:

• Hierarchical vs. networked
• Centralized leadership vs. distributed leadership
• Tightly coupled (greater interdependence among parts) vs. loosely coupled (less interdependence)
• Concentrated workforce vs. dispersed workforce
• Specialists vs. cross-trained generalists
• Policy and procedure driven vs. guided by simple yet flexible rules

(Photo source is Max xx)

Earlier this year the Animal Legal Defense Fund released a 3-page report ranking all fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia based on the strength and comprehensiveness of their state anti-cruelty laws.

Although ALDF makes it clear that all the states’ laws need to be strengthened, the states that ranked best were California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan and Oregon, while those that ranked worst were Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, North Dakota and Utah.

The latter five states fell into the worst category because, among other things, they either did not have any felony anti-cruelty provisions or because, in the case of Kentucky, felony provisions applied only to select situations.

ALDF also provides a list of Jurisdictions with Felony Animal Abuse Provisions and the year of enactment.

By way of quick definition, a felony is "a crime sufficiently serious to be punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison… [or] a crime carrying a minimum term of one year or more in state prison," [note: given the legal status of animals, whether wild or designated as "property," the death penalty has never been, not is unlikely ever to be, imposed in any animal cruelty case], while a  misdemeanor is "a lesser crime punishable by a fine and/or county jail time for up to one year… [and]are tried in the lowest local court such as municipal, police or justice courts."

Ian has compiled a fantastic list that I know I’ll be turning to many times:

I. General Blogs

Advice for Lawyers and Law Firms

General Legal Blogs

General Blogs — Law and Culture, Economics, Politics, etc.

II. Blogs Categorized by Legal Specialty

Specialty Blogs

   

III. Blogs Categorized by Law or Legal Event

Case Blogs

Statute Blogs

Trial Blogs

    

IV. Blogs Categorized by Jurisdictional Scope

State Blogs

Federal Circuit Blogs

U.S. Supreme Court Blogs

    

V. Blogs Categorized by Author/Publisher

Anonymous Blogs

Association Blogs

Blogs by Judges

Book Supplement Blogs

Class and Student Group Blogs

Institute Blogs

Law Firm Blogs — Listed by Blog

Law Firm Blogs — Listed by Firm

Law Journal Blogs

Law Professor Blogs

Law Library and Librarian Blogs

Law Professor Blogs

Lawyer Webjourals

Newspaper Blogs

    

VI. Blogs Categorized by Number of Contributors

Group Blogs

    

VII. Miscellaneous Blogs Categorized by Topic

Blogs about Judges

Event Blogs

Fictional Blogs

Humor Blogs

    

VIII. Collections of Legal Blogs

Blog Post Collections

Legal Blog Collections

Legal Blog Networks

• Doubon (Guardian Unlimited, via Pub-Lic Spaces)
• Library Thing (via librarian.net)

Unlike Wikipedia’s writing and editing requirements, Wex’s contributors must have "demonstrated expertise in particular areas of law,” must be interested in educating novices such as law students and members of the lay public, and must be strong communicators. Currently only invited individuals can make contributions and edits.

]]> http://andreaweckerle.com/2005/11/wiki-based-legal-dictionary-and-encyclopedia.html/feed 0 http://andreaweckerle.com/2005/11/charitable-giving.html http://andreaweckerle.com/2005/11/charitable-giving.html#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2005 17:51:41 +0000 Andrea Weckerle http://andreaweckerle.com/?p=13 If you’re considering giving to a charity before the end of the year — or at any time — check out Charity Navigator. With a searchable database of over 4,900 Charity Ratings and the belief   that "our country’s largest non-profit organizations should be treated with the same level of accountability as publicly-traded for-profit companies,” the site measures charities’ organizational efficiency and organizational capacity by assessing seven key indicators.    

Recognizing that effectiveness is as important as efficiency, in the future Charity Navigator hopes to “turn our magnifying glass on the output side of a charity. We will be able to determine not only how much of a charity’s funding goes to program expenses, but how effective the charity is at maximizing what they do.” There’s lots of practical and useful information on the site, so make this your first stop when taking out your wallet.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Thanksgiving.