November 8, 2005

Lawprof bloggers.

Daniel Solove is keeping track of all the lawprof bloggers -- at least the ones who want to be kept track of: Three of the five Wisconsin lawprof bloggers aren't on his list, as he notes here. Maybe the three he doesn't include would fall short of his standard for what makes something a lawprof blog:
There are a few blogs by law professors that I haven’t added to the census, as these are blogs solely about personal hobbies or experiences without connections to the law or the life of law professors. I discussed my decision not to include these blogs here. ... Professor Stephen Bainbridge has a blog about wine, but I am not listing it because it has no legal themes at all. But it’s a neat blog nonetheless! Anyway, there is no strong litmus test for inclusion, just at a minimum some posts about issues relating to law, academics, politics, or the life of law professors, law students, or lawyers.
This is an especially interesting question for me as I'm going to write a paper for a blogger conference about the value of doing a lawprof blogging that's not confined to law subjects. There's something of a trend toward staying very on-topic as a lawprof blogger. I'm (obviously) big on the countertrend.

Solove is taking special interest in the gender imbalance among lawprof bloggers:
Of the bloggers, 41 are female and 141 are male. There are 13 new female bloggers and 39 new male bloggers [in the last 5 months]. Female bloggers increased by 46% and male bloggers increased by 38%.
Things I'd count if I had the time right now: percentages of males and females doing group blogs versus solo blogs; the percentages of males and females doing focused law blogs versus multi-topic blogs. And it would be nice to know the male/female balance among lawprof bloggers who don't talk about law at all! I'd also like to know whether the new bloggers are disproportionately going into group blogging opposed to solo blogging and focused law-blogging as opposed to multi-topic blogging.

And I don't like the term "multi-topic blogging." I need some time to think up a better term than that one, which seems to connote an identifiable set of topics as opposed to an approach to blogging that that lets you talk about whatever strikes you as worth writing about at any given moment of your waking life. I thought of "well-rounded blogging," but I think that's has a silly self-promoting ring.

(Links via Instapundit.)

25 comments:

reader_iam said...

"Wide-blogging"?

"Broad-blogging"? (Well, now that I think about it, this one might contain an inadvertent pun, I suppose, if the blogger is female, as you are. Originally I was thinking of broad (range) as opposed to narrow.)

"Life-blogger"?

Some word that implies stream of consciousness in some way? Or the concept of "in the moment" or constantly, in a sense, brainstorming?

A number your other commenters would be better at this--Victoria or Pastor Jeff and so forth. I hope they see this and join in: that would be fun.

vbspurs said...

And I don't like the term "multi-topic blogging. I need some time to think up a better term than that one

Sundries? ;)

Cheers,
Victoria

Anonymous said...

Genblogging? Holoblogging?

vbspurs said...

Professor Stephen Bainbridge has a blog about wine, but I am not listing it because it has no legal themes at all.

Then there's his "straight" blog, which is surely listed.

BTW, quite coincidentally, I've spent most of my time on law blogs today (catching up from Wilma, etc.).

Volokh has wonderful stories, running the gamut from:

Why women don't like the Three Stooges

to

Judge Alito's missing Princeton thesis was found by an old prof of his, who is making it public (!)

And Bainbridge proper had a post about the lacklustre Halloween special on the Simpsons Friday.

All very Althousesque! Or indeed, Sundriesesque.

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

I got it!

Blog trotting.

It'll grow on you.

P.S.: One vote for Henry's Ecletiblogging here. Hey, it worked for Icepick.

Cheers,
Victoria

P_J said...

Blognosis? (blog + knowledge)

Blog-a-brac?

Blogatelle?

Multiblog?

Conblogeration?

I lke the sound of Hodgeblodge, but my current favorite is:

Blogfolio!

It certainly fits an artist with a law degree!

Ann Althouse said...

Griffin: If someone put together a moderate BlogAds group, I'd be happy to join. I was asked to join that one and I like to make money from my writing. That button takes you to a place to buy ads from a lot of sites grouped together under that umbrella. It doesn't imply that I only want conservative ads. I'd be happy to take ads for liberal causes of all sorts. I've never rejected an ad.

Pastor Jeff: You have a way with words!

bill said...

I'd think that by definition blogging would be multi-topic. Otherwise, I could see subdefining blogging into three general areas:

1. journaling - the personal diary. See Outer Life
2. General Interest or hobby. See Something Old, Something New
3. Vocational - writing about that blogger's profession. See The Food Whore

Obviously, almost every type of blog has cross-over. For example, Volokh.com is mostly vocational (law), with a healthy side of general interest. And I'd describe Althouse as the exact opposite: general interest with a side of law vocation. I find both to be very enjoyable and occasionally educational.

I tend to avoid the single-minded blogs (kos & LGF, to name two)because after awhile you've heard everything they have to say.

JSU said...

"generalist blogging"

Derve Swanson said...

Quite clearly, Althouse is a "polyblog."

No, not a polliwog...

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

I think what griffin d. politico dog is trying to say is that he wants to put his money where his imagination is and actually buy and ad on your blog, acting as a ballast to keep you properly balanced and moderate. Yea, that's what he meant.

Recently I downloaded a chat software called Gaim, which allows me to see all my "friends" (and I use that term ever loosely) online, whether they are on AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, or MSN messengers. (Trillian software does this too, but with a lot more bloat). These softwares are often called Universal Chat clients.

Perhaps you can call the blog a universal blog.

Jim Gust said...

Impulse blogging.

reader_iam said...

See, I knew y'all would be great!!!!!

knox said...

this is a job for ruth anne

Ron said...

Blogosity?
Blogarhythms?
Blogicification?

bill said...

Or...if you're a lawyer on Arrested Development: boblawblog

amba said...

Variblogging or versablogging would both be good. Or a variablog.

Assortablog. Diversiblog. Divertiblog. Digressablog.

I also like multiblog vs. monoblog.

Portmanteau blog, Renaissance blog, bricoblog.

Now I'm going to cheat and look at Thesaurus.com for synonyms for versatile.

Adaptablog,flexiblog,

Here's a particularly nice bunch of words to play with. How many of them apply to Ann's blogging? (Hey, how about kaleidoblog! or mutablog!)

Main Entry: changeable
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: erratic
Synonyms: capricious, changeful, commutative, convertible, fickle, fitful, flighty, fluctuating, fluid, impulsive, inconstant, indecisive, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, kaleidoscopic, mercurial, mobile, movable, mutable, permutable, protean, restless, reversible, revocable, shifting, skittish, spasmodic, transformable, transitional, uncertain, unpredictable, unreliable, unsettle, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, vagrant, variable, variant, varying, versatile, volatile, wavering, whimsical

amba said...

The opposite of a portmanteau blog would be a briefcase blog.

I think of a portmanteau as being like Mary Poppins' carpetbag: anything could come out of it.

P_J said...

Ann wrote:

Pastor Jeff: You have a way with words!

Thank you! I guess we'll find out. Your word game gave me the final inspiration for naming my new blog: Conblogeration.

Everyone, please feel free drop by and read, question, hurl bricks or whatever. How does one go about letting people know?

vbspurs said...

Pastor Jeff wrote:

Blognosis? (blog + knowledge)

Sounds terminal.

Blog-a-brac?

OMG! This is perfect for Wonkette, though.

She's like the gossip baglady of the Left.

Blogatelle?

Dibs for Sundries!

Multiblog?

Eugene Volokh's blog. Or someone who is bitchily bipolar.

Conblogeration?

Quirky! I like it, PJ.

Though it does sound as if General Robert E. Lee might be leading its charge.

Ron wrote:

Blogarhythms?

When you load the blog, it shows you what mood you're in.

Black - Trolly
Blue - Sarcastic
Red - Punchy
Green - Libertarian
Yellow - Jane Fonda

Cheers,
Victoria

Ruth Anne Adams said...

blAAAg [your initials, or a roadside repair blog]

catholic blog [all of the universality that Finn requires, but a small "c" so as to not confuse the religious. Side benefit: errant hits]

blogtacular

blog-buster [unless you subscribe to NetFlix]

blog-umentary [to emphasize your preference for documentaries]

boomer-blog [a key demographic]

blog-agog [it'll have them talking]

blogophilia [but there are negative connotations there]

blogocracy [blogocrat]

blogliferation

blogiversal

Ron said...

Cosmic 8-Ball Blogging: you shake it at the beginning of the day, and it dictates what style of blogging you should do!

"Answer hazy, ask again later."
"All Signs Point To Yes."

How about Kaboodleblogging? It has an alliterative aspect with the double-b sounds being naturally funny... plus it ties in with "kit-n-kaboodle" which fits our desired theme of universalism...

DRJ said...

Random blogging.

Fiona de Londras said...

It's such a pity that this only seems to include American law prof blogs - there are some pretty good European blogs by law lecturers as well, although it doesn't seem to have taken hold here to nearly the same degree... (boom boom...)

reader_iam said...

Ahhhhh. Good job! I knew you all would come up with great ideas! Nice to know that, every once in a while, expectations are not just met, but exceeded. And especially when it's not surprising, at all.

Bye, y'all.