Analyze This!

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has decided that blogs may contain valuable information and will put $450,000 into their study. That money will fund a 3-year project called the "Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information."

"It can be challenging for information analysts to tell what’s important in blogs unless you analyze patterns," Dr. Brian E. Ulicny, senior scientist, said...

Patterns include the content of the blogs as well as what hyperlinks are contained within the blog...

This type of analysis can help information analysts’ searches be as productive as possible...."We are developing an automated tool to tell analysts what bloggers are most interested in at a point in time," Ulicny said...

"Relevance involves developing a point of focus and information related to a particular focus," Kokar said. Timeliness has to do with immediacy – how important is a topic now. "Credibility," he continued, "is the amount of trust you have in an information source.

"Finally, specificity can provide value to information analysts depending on how general or specific they need the information to be...

To some degree blog interpretation, he said, involves understanding a different form of communication.

"Blog entries have a different structure," Ulicny said.
"They are typically short and are about something external to the blog posting itself , such as a news event. It’s not uncommon for a blogger to simply state, ‘I can’t believe this happened,’ and then link to a news story."

I can't believe this happened! Here's the link to the news story...

Blogging seems to be slipping more into mainstream consciousness.

Will this stifle blogging with commercialism attempting to cash in on it's recent popularity?

Will there be new laws made regarding blogging?

Blogs are our First Amendment protected soap boxes so I seriously hope not.

After all, Democracy only works for those who show up and participate.

A blog is media. Its a platform to communicate that can reach anyone within reach of an internet connection. Blogging is personal. Connecting, communicating, creating, and sharing the things that matter to you can be a meaningful experience.

I can write about anything. I can write opinion. I can report facts.
I can make stuff up. I can ask questions. I can jump from topic to topic to topic. Politics, Sports, Movies, Music, Business, Personal experiences, Technology, whatever I want to write about. One minute I am a reporter, communicating what happened and where, the next I am an opinion columnist, the next I am attempting to be a comedian. Its all up to me. My blog is just that. Mine.

Since I've been blogging for a while now, it’s old hat to me. So, if the Air Force Office of Scientific Research wants to drop a little of that four-hundred and fifty thousand my way I'd gladly enlist as an analyst.

I'm always blogging or reading blogs at work anyhow. I'm a shoe-in!