Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches If I can read 100 blogs, which should I read to be most up to date?
Published November 25th, 2007 in Daily PostQuestion?: Which blogs should one read to be most up to date, i.e., to quickly know about important stories that propagate over the blogosphere?
Lockergnome recently reported on research underway at Carnegie Mellon that should be of interest to time-constrained students and the population in general. They state, "Using a problem-solving method called the Cascades algorithm, Carlos Guestrin, assistant professor of computer science and machine learning, and his students compiled a list of the best 100 blogs to read to find the biggest news on the Web as early as possible. It includes well-known blogs, such as Instapundit and Boing Boing, but also some more obscure ones like Watcher of Weasels and Don Surber.
"The goal of our system when looking at blogs is to detect the big stories as early on and as close to the source as possible," Guestrin said. He, Andreas Krause and Jure Leskovec, doctoral students in computer science and machine learning, respectively, analyzed 45,000 blogs (those that actively link to other blogs) to compile the list, checking the time stamps to determine where news items were being posted first."
The top ten links from Carnegie’s 100 listing are below: Hank
http://instapundit.com
http://donsurber.blogspot.com
http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com
http://www.watcherofweasels.com
http://michellemalkin.com
http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com
http://themodulator.org
http://www.bloggersblog.com
http://www.boingboing.net
http://atrios.blogspot.com
All ten of these blogs seem really good to get quick information from. I looked at most of them and each one has specific things to blog or read other blogs about. Modulator is mainly about animals, while Boing Boing is more history related. Most of the others were about current events in the US or around the world especially involving Iraq. I think these students did a great job in getting a variety of blogs about important things to majority of people.
Anyone find it interesting how these top ten are mostly about Carnegie Mellon’s new program. Doesn’t seem like a conflict of interest. Anyway, If this new system works it can be very valuable. With this blog as an exception, I never read blogs. If I want to learn something quick, I go to wikipedia (Which is kind of like a blog). However, if there was a way to weedout all of the really useless blogs, I would us it.
I think the advent of creating a blog filter is a good idea. It allows for the news to come from primary (trusted - I hope) sources. Blogging has turned into a hodge podge of options that plagued sites such as wikipedia, but since there reform there has been a positive change towards more accurate information. This I’m sure will allow for there to be more informed Grad students who will ultimately save minutes by reading only a select few blogs versus sifting though hundreds that exist.
I think Trevor is definitely making a good point. I rarely ever read blogs unless I’m looking for opinions on some new technology or product and want to learn some information from the “techies” that can’t really be found anywhere else. However, if there was a system that could rate blogs and tell users which blogs are the most useful, then I would definitely be more inclined to read others comments about certain issues. Blogs are a great way to not only get an understanding of prevailing thoughts and opinions on today’s greatest issues and concerns, but I think they help me formulate and think about my own opinions on important issues. Then, I feel more prepared just in everyday situations when these certain issues are brought into the conversation. What these researchers at Carnegie Mellon are doing is a great idea, and it is a great entrepreneurial venture if they want to put the top sites on their own site to generate traffic / potential cash flow. Numerous sites and projects such as this have been spawned because of the rise in blog usage, and many more are sure to follow in the near future.
Maybe I’m just being lazy or just want to make good use of my time, but I find blogs interesting, full of information, and sometimes OVERWHELMING. Reading them isn’t worth it unless they are from a credible source. Rankings like this are definitely beneficial in my opinion. People always talk about how our generation is in the “information age” but all that info is useless unless its factual/true/realistic/credible/etc. I would appreciate a ranking report sectioned by interest, age group, or industry (fashion & beauty) which I’m sure they have
Well i guess it is good to have a guide to help you when you are searching through blogs for information. Finding someone credible is crucial when the information is very important. Not to mention this is great advertisement for the guys who are created these blogs. Hey Hank, which blogs do you check out on a daily basis?
Meh! If I want news, I either go to NYTimes.com or Reuters.com or bbc.com, since that is actual news. That said, blogs are really useful if you know what you want to find information for. Some are hmorous, some are informative(engadget).
The first few posters might have been to really boring sites and I know how they would be! So give blogs another try, they may be very useful. By the way, wikipedia is an open-source encyclopedia and is not a blog. A blog is updated frequently, cannot be edited once posted other than the author and may or may not allow commenting on the article.
well I think blogs can be very useful, I read a few and well I’ve come to the conclusion blogs (like this) save you a lot of time because they find all the good news for you and good blogs always cite where they got their information, so even if you don’t care about the opinion of the blogger, you can go and look at the new article or whatever
“The goal of our system when looking at blogs is to detect the big stories as early on and as close to the source as possible”
I think this is a cool idea. Sure using this might make you more “up to date”, but it will not make you more “informed”. It still suffers from the same problem as sites like digg I guess thats what happens when everyone has a say in the media.
Personally, I am not a fan of blogs. If they are not merely for the use of complaining over the internet, then I suppose they are put out there to enlighten… like some blogs that I have heard of ;-)… but it is nearly impossible to establish and prove an authors credibility unless all of their information has come from an acredited website, which in that case, I’d rather check the site and determine so by myself. To me, a blog, like a wiki, is great in concept, but even when someone may believe they are an expert in a topic, they may be incorrect without even knowing it. Human error is a hard thing to prevent and detect… better stick with the concrete stuff.
I think blogs can definitely be a good thing. Most people find a specific blog site that they like to go to for information and just keep returning to that same site. There are many different reasons that blogs can be helpful, whether it be for information, product ratings, a blog like this one used r class, or a blog just for humor. But, it’s always important to remember that not all of the information that you read on the internet is true, and blogs aren’t an exception to that rule. This would ultimately save time for people, and that is always a very valuable thing!
Even though I have not been active in blogs before ENTR200, this sounds like a good idea especially as blogs become increasingly popular on the same lines as the advent of search engines were for the internet years ago.
I agree with Kevin. I have never used blogs before this class either. Well, I used to have a Xanga site when that was popular if that counts, but I did realize the usefulness of blogs. The idea of having some sort of a blog filter is a good idea so then you can just read the truly relevant stuff. I would use something like this if I could figure out how it worked.
I think this is a really interesting idea. I (personally) am not a blogger. I dont read blogs, dont contribute to any blogging community (except this one), and am relatively uneducated about the types/value of information passed through the blog realm. However, if i were to become interested- this would be something i would look into. I feel that sometimes the whole blogging phenomena becomes very overwhelming- especially to the non-blogger..and a venue like this would certainly seem more attractive.