Peter Black's Freedom to Differ

Blogging resumes soon

Watch this space ...

What others are saying about Ice TV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd

Yesterday the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in Ice TV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd, bringing to an end legal proceedings that have been going on for the past three years.  (I first blogged about the case in October 2006 here.)  I had hoped to post a summary of the decision as well as some comments by this morning but unfortunately it now appears that I'm unlikely to get the time to write anything until the weekend.  However, a few other Australian blawgers have posted their thoughts on the decision:

• My QUT colleague Kylie Pappalardo has an excellent summary on her blog OctaviaNet here.
• Warwick Rothnie posted his initial thoughts at ipwars.com here before a posting a more detailed summary and analysis last night here.
• On Australian Regulatory Compliance Review David Jacobson highlights a particular interesting part of the judgment here.
• Joshua Gans comments briefly here.
• Law student Katherine Liew has also written up her reaction to the decision here.

I'll continue to update this list as more people post their thoughts on this decision ...

One aspect of the decision that hasn't really been commented on yet was the nature of the divide on the Court.  Although all six justices agreed that the appeal should be allowed, the court divided into two groups of three justices each.  One judgment was authored by French CJ, Crennan and Kiefel JJ, and the other was authored by Gummow, Hayne and Heydon JJ.  This seems to be part of ongoing trend that suggests that maybe there is a divide on the Court emerging between the more established justices (Gummow, Hayne and Heydon JJ) and the more recent appointees (French CJ, Crennan and Kiefel JJ).  In particular, I can't help but wonder if there is minor battle taking place behind the scenes of the High Court between the new Chief Justice and the longest serving member of the Court, Gummow J, for the intellectual leadership of the Court.  If my suspicisions are correct, it will be fascinating to see how it plays out.

So what is happening with this blog?

I've just realised that it has been almost two months since I posted anything to this little blog.  Unlike my previous blogging hiatus, this blogging break was not planned in any way, it just happened.  My absence from the blogosphere was not because there was nothing worth blogging about or nothing I wanted to say.  In fact there have actually been several issues and stories I have wanted to blog about over the last two months: Microsoft's Politics and Technology Forum in Canberra and Joe Trippi's visit to Brisbane; Senator Conroy's ongoing attempt to censor the internet in Australia; the Queensland State election; the High Court challenge to the Australian Government's stimulus package; the seeming convergence of Twitter and Facebook; Hilary: The Movie; and the role of the news media in the digital age ...

So why no updates?  Primarily because I have been very busy at work since the semester started in February.  The roll out of a core new constitutional law unit, that utilises a wide range of new communication technologies like podcasts and wikis, has consumed more of my time than I had anticipated when I designed the learning and technology methodology and considered the pedagogy.  However in addition to frequently being time poor, I have also been finding other forums to communicate my ideas and interests; mainly Twitter but also the traditional media.  The increasing amount of radio and print media interviews I have been doing has allowed me to express my views and passions to a wider audience than this humble little blog.

So what is happening with this blog?  The honest answer is I don't know.  I'm not going to shut it down just yet but I also don't know how viable it is moving forward.  In the second half of this year I plan to commence a PhD which means that I am only going to get busier and busier, presumably making it harder and harder to blog.  Ages ago I thought about opening it up as a group blog, but I can't really imagine anyone wanting to join this blog as part of a team of bloggers.  I might make it more of a portal to some of my other work and publications.  Or I might just keep it here as a space I can go to vent when nowhere else wants to hear what I have to say.  But I'll make that decision another day.

In the meantime, feel free to follow my mundane life on Twitter @PeterBlackQUT.

Top 250 Australian blogs

Over at Dipping into the Blogpond, Meg Tsiamis has posted a special Australia Day 2009 list of the 250 top Australian blogs.  This humble little blog, which was once in the top 100, is now sitting at 157 (that's what happens when your blogging becomes erratic, sporadic even).  If you're looking for some great Australian blogs to follow, this list is a good place to start.  You can see the list here.

Social media will apparently make you a better writer

Over the weekend I cam across two separate blog posts that made the somewhat counter intuitive argument that blogging and Twitter actually make you better writers.  In a guest post on Problogger, freelance writer Jenny Cromie outlined five ways blogging can improve your writing.  However, before she did so explained how she needed to change her attitude to blogging:

In my mind, blogging was just a socially acceptable way for bad, wannabe writers to go mainstream with their poorly written rants and diatribes about things that made no difference to anyone else but the writer, a handful of family members, and other poor captive souls who loved the bloggers enough to read all their bad prose. In fact, if someone mentioned that they had a blog, my mind would click into sleep mode like my MacBook does after 10 minutes of inactivity. I’d think: Oh, one of those self-indulgent wannabe writer types. Where’s the nearest exit?

In short, blogging just seemed like a waste of time and effort. And I guess I had a snobbish writer attitude too—the idea that real writers didn’t need to blog because their writing was good enough to get published through more legitimate, mainstream ways. In my mind, push-button publishing was for the wannabes, not the real McCoys.

Fast-forward a few years. Now, everyone who is someone seems to have a blog these days. And if you’re a freelancer and you don’t have a blog, people sometimes wonder how you can bill yourself as a professional writer. Blogs aren’t just popular among individuals anymore either. Big companies have blogs. Mothers with babies have blogs. Teenagers with pimples and braces have blogs. And I wouldn’t be surprised to find out if some dogs have blogs too.

So this past year, I finally succumbed to this thing called blogging. I decided that since I was billing myself as a serious writer and freelancer, I needed to join the blogosphere. I started writing my own blog about freelance writing. And then one thing led to another and I eventually became the editor of The Golden Pencil, a b5media blog about freelance writing and how to build a successful freelance business.

And after all that herself she discovered that blogging made her a better writer as it helped her:

1. discover her voice;
2. connect with readers;
3. get feedback;
4. get disciplined; and
5. write faster.

Read more here.

But it is not just blogging that can improve your writing.  Dave Winer explains how Twitter makes you a better writer:

Twitter forces you to write concisely, and that makes for crisper, more direct, easier to read copy.  

I was reminded of this when reading a piece written by Dan Santow at Edelman PR, who offers a list of phrases that can be replaced by single words without loss of meaning.  

I realized you never see these phrases in Twitter-talk because there's no space for flowery prose with only 140 characters to express an idea. 

Read it here.  I generally agree with both these posts.  There is no doubt in my mind that blogging and Twitter have made me both a faster and more precise writer.

Blawg Review #196

G'day and welcome back down under!  And most importantly, Happy Australia Day! 

This is the fourth time I have hosted Blawg Review from Australia (I previously hosted Blawg Review #85, Blawg Review #136 and Blawg Review #178.). For those who don't know, the Blawg Review is a weekly round-up of posts from around the blawgosphere, and today I am thrilled to have the opportunity to host Blawg Revew on Australia Day.

However, before we begin my whip around the blawgosphere, a little about me and my blog.  I am a lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, where I teach Intellectual Property, Australian Federal Constitutional Law and Legal Regulation of the Internet, and research within the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. Accordingly, my blog began as a forum to discuss the legal regulation of the internet and the media.  However, just as the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of my work at QUT has seen my teaching and research interests expand beyond traditional black-letter legal scholarship, my blog is in many ways not a proper "blawg".  Most of my posts cover developments in new media - be they technological, social, political or legal - and you are just as likely to see me embed an interesting, popular or provocative viral video as you are to see me critique a significant legal case or piece of legislation.

Although I blog from time to time on developments all over the world, my blog is fundamentally Australian, which makes it particularly nice to be able to host Blawg Review on Australia Day and showcase some of the best Australian blawgs.

Australia Day is celebrated on 26 January each year, which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.  Most Australians celebrate it - as I did today - by having a barbeque, playing some beach or park cricket, and listening to Triple J's Hottest 100 or the cricket on the radio.  Thanks to the cheeky "We love our Lamb" advertising campaign over the last few years it has also become a bit of a tradition to eat lamb on Australia Day, or else risk being labelled un-Australian.  Here is Sam Kekovich's Australia Day address for 2009:

However, even Australia Day is not without its controversy.  For many Australians, especially indigenous Australia, the day symbolises the adverse effects of British settlement on Australia's indigenous people, with some referring to it as Invasion Day.  This year the Australian of the Year Mick Dodson suggested that Australia may want to consider changing the date of Australia Day to a date that is more sensitive to the heritage and backgrounds of all Australians.  Andrew Bartlett has a good post at Crikey canvassing this suggestion.  However, Australian blawgers have covered a range of issues in the past week or so.

• Ben Lehman on Duncan Bucknell's IP Think Tank asks, has the fat lady finished singing at YouTube?. 
• Warwick Rothnie considers Elwood v Cotton On and asks is copying enough to infringe Down Under?.
• Pia Waugh looks at the ICT industry in Australia and argues that antiquated ideas won’t save Australia. 
• At Illegitimis Nil Carborundum, Bozwell looks at the blame game in negligence and criminal matters.
• Mirko Bagaric on Moral Dilemma has two lessons from the Middle East hostilities.
• Peter Timmins suggests that Australia's politicians could learn a lot of Barack Obama when it comes to openness and transparency.
• Brendan Scott has the third in a series of posts on acquiring closed source software.
• David Starkoff (sort of) ponders the existence of the universe.
• And finally David Jacobson on Australian Regulatory Compliance Review reflects on 30 years of change in legal practice.

However, as I was looking at the Australian blawgosphere this week I couldn't help but notice that it has slowed down a bit in recent times: Catherine Bond has announced she is taking a break from blogging at The House of Commons, a new job has seen Dale Clapperton has slow down at Defending Scoundrels, there is only the occasional post from the team at Lawfont, and Peter Faris QC closed his blog only yesterday. This year has also seen Jeremy Gans wind up his excellent Charter Blog, although he did leave with this call to legal academics:

Quitting the blog feels a little like giving up a baby. I can’t recommend blogging highly enough to any academic whose field includes regular contemporary developments. A commitment to regular, public and comprehensive commentary forces an engagement with the subject-matter that exceeds any other academic endeavour, even a PhD. And the informality of blogging is a perfect antidote to the jargon and circuitous nature of formal academic discourse, not to mention the obsequiousness and pomposity of the law.

i find it interesting that legal blogging in Australia is yet to gain the popularity and respectability that it has the United States, but I remain hopeful that this will continue to change over time.

It has been a pleasure to host Blawg Review #196 this week.  Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues

Charon QC promotes the upcoming Australia Day Blawg Review

After reading my post earlier tonight about an Australia Day Blawg Review (see here), UK blawger Charon QC was inspired to put together this little video using Xtranormal.  I don't think I've ever looked so good ...

If you want to listen to a real and somewhat serious conversation between Charon QC and myself, you can listen to a podcast we recorded a few weeks back here.

Coming soon ... an Australia Day Blawg Review

On Monday 26 January I will be hosting Blawg Review #196, a weekly round-up of posts from around the blawgosphere, for the fourth time.  I have previously hosted Blawg Review #85, Blawg Review #136 and Blawg Review #178.  Therefore I would encourage you all to let me know what interesting posts from the blawgosphere you have written or read this week.  You can do so by leaving a comment to this post or sending me a tweet @peterblackqut.  As January 26 is Australia Day, I would particularly like to showcase the best of the Australian blawgosphere, so if you write or read any Australian law blogs, please point me in that direction.

The Importance of Ideas

Check out a great new blog from Jason Whittaker, The Importance of Ideas, here.  The name of the blog comes from this quote from the legendary journalist, Edward R. Murrow:"Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information."  I'm looking forward to reading Jason's ideas on politics, the media and popular culture - I've added it to my RSS reader and would encourage you to do the same.

Social Media Club Brisbane January

The inaugural event for the year for the Social Media Club Brisbane is next week, on Tuesday January 20, commencing at 5.30 pm, at the Melbourne Hotel in West End.  Co-hosting this event with SMC Brisbane, and generously covering venue costs and providing refreshments, is the blogger advertising network Nuffnang, established recently in Australia. Nuffnang Co-Founder, Cheo Ming Shen is flying in from Singapore that afternoon and will be at the function, explaining for 15 minutes or so how interested bloggers might be able to benefit from being part of the Nuffnang network.

If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP at the Facebook site for the event here.

Last chance to vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards

As I have blogged before (see here), this blog has been nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the Best Law Blog category.  There are only a few hours left before voting closes, so if you want to vote for the first or the last time, you can do so here.

The other finalists in the Best Law Blog category are:

• Overlawyered
• Above the Law
• Photo Attorney
• WSJ Law Blog
• How Appealing
• Volokh Conspiracy
• Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• Peter Black's Freedom to Differ
• Citizen Media Law Project
• MyShingle

Again, you can vote here.

A conversation with Charon QC

Earlier this evening I chatted with British blawger Charon QC for a podcast he has now posted to his blog.  On the podcast we chat about the Australian Government's plan to filter the internet, blogging, Twitter, cricket and legal education.

You can download the podcast here.

Vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards

As I've blogged before (see here), I am very excited and honoured that this blog, Peter Black's Freedom to Differ, has been nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the Best Law Blog category.  The other nominated blogs (or blawgs) are without doubt some of the leading blawgs in the world and are written by some first class lawyers and legal scholars, so I feel horribly out of my depth.  Nonetheless it is a real thrill to be nominated. 

Anyway, voting is now open for one week, closing on 13 January 2009.  You can vote for my blog (or one of the other finalists I suppose) here.

The other finalists in the Best Law Blog category are:

• Overlawyered
• Above the Law
• Photo Attorney
• WSJ Law Blog
• How Appealing
• Volokh Conspiracy
• Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• Peter Black's Freedom to Differ
• Citizen Media Law Project
• MyShingle

Again, you can vote here.  Please vote to help me achieve very modest goal of not coming last!  Thanks.

Anonymous defamation

The New York Daily News reports on a lawsuit against Google, as host of Blogger.com:

A Vogue cover girl is suing Google in an attempt to unmask the blogger who trashed her as a "skank" and an "old hag."

Liskula Cohen, a blond beauty who has modeled for Giorgio Armani and Versace, made headlines last year when a doorman at a Manhattan hot spot was jailed after smashing her in the face with a vodka bottle.

Now she wants to force Google to reveal who slammed her online as the "#1 skanky superstar" on a blog hosted by the search engine's subsidiary.

"It's petty, it's stupid and it's pathetic," Cohen said of the sniping. "And when I do find out who did this, at least I'll know who my enemies are."

The defamation suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, seeks a court order compelling Google and its Blogger.com service to identify whoever led the vicious Internet assault against Cohen.

Her lawyer Steven Wagner conceded it's not easy to identify bloggers who lob insults anonymously, as New York courts have generally declined to force them into the light.

"We think we have a case," he said. "This is libelous, it's defamatory and you shouldn't just get away with this."

Read more here.  Ars Technica summarises in lay terms the legal hurdles presented by this case:

Since the blogger is anonymous, however, there is an extra legal hurdle between Cohen and whatever financial revenge she seeks.

That hurdle would be Google and its army of lawyers. Essentially, Cohen has to demonstrate defamation twice: once to show that she has a sufficient case that the identity of the blogger should be unmasked. At that point, the case could proceed against the actual author of the blog, at which point the defamation would have to be demonstrated all over again. None of this will be easy, as US courts generally set a high standard for defamation of public figures, and Cohen has made a name for herself in ways that go beyond modeling by getting hit in the face with a vodka bottle at a Manhattan club.

As a result, the case appears to be an uphill battle, which means both that nothing is likely to come of it and that, should something unexpected happen, the legal context makes it likely that the decision will further muddy the waters when it comes to determining the legal status of bloggers.

Read more here. 

It is interesting to consider what the legal position would be if this had occurred in Australia, as I think it would be easier for Cohen to obtain relief.  That is because Cohen would be able sue Google for defamation.  In the US, Google has immunity courtesy of s 230 of the Communications Decency Act, however no such immunity exists in Australia and Google would be unlikely to be able rely on the defence of innocent dissemination.  However, even if Cohen did not sue Google, she would be able to use the threat of a lawsuit as leverage to require Google to disclose the identity of the anonymous blogger.  And ultimately that is where these sorts of lawsuits should be fought - between the person alleging defamation and the party who posted it to the internet - without involving the intermediaries or platforms who should not be liable for what others post to that intermediary or platform.

Twitter in the courtroom

In the US, a Colorado judge recently approved the use of Twitter, as well as live-blogging, inside the courtroom to cover an infant-abuse trial:

Prosecutors and defense attorneys wanted bloggers silenced in the courtroom next week, but a Boulder judge ordered Monday that cell phones and computers won’t be banned from the child-abuse trial of Alex Midyette, the Boulder Daily Camera reports. The attorneys argued that live-blogging and Tweeting the sensational case could tip witnesses to proceedings before they testified, thus impeding a fair trial. “I think there are other manageable options and less restrictive options than shutting down the flow of information during the trial,” Boulder District Judge Lael Montgomery said.

Last week, when the attorneys filed the joint motion to keep bloggers out of the courtroom, a Kansas journalist who has pioneered new media trial coverage cried foul. “Courts are supposed to be public and this is just another way of creating public access,” Wichita Eagle reporter Ron Sylvester wrote in an e-mail to the Colorado Independent. In addition to a Tweeting trial coverage, Sylvester maintains a blog, What the Judge Ate for Breakfast, with further insight into the local courts.

“[R]eporting through live blogging is simply text descriptions, just as newspapers have been reporting on the courts for ages,” Sylvester wrote. “When I use Twitter to cover trials, there’s really very little difference in what I do with social media than what I write for the next day’s newspaper.”

Montgomery agreed in her ruling Monday, ordering witnesses to refrain from reading about the testimony of other witnesses. “The court believes that is a more appropriate way to proceed than shutting off the reporting at the front end,” the Longmont Times-Call reported.

Read more here (from the Colorado Independent).  (Hat tip: Social Media Law Student.)

Before my Australian readers get too excited about this ruling, I cannot see this ruling taking place in Australia.  The principle of open justice in Australia is very different from the US, and my feeling is that the courts here would be more likely to grant TV or radio access than Twitter or live-blogging in Australian courts - and I can't see TV cameras or microphones being regularly allowed into Australian courts any time soon.

Academic blogging

Jeremy Gans has decided to bring a halt to his Charterblog, which for the past year has followed the progress of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.  Although this is a loss to the Australian blawgosphere and to anyone interested in human rights and charters of rights, it is hard to fault his logic in bringing the blog to an end:

Why stop now?  I made the decision to stop the blog today back in around July.  Charterblog is, as readers will well know, a very intensive blog . I’ve managed it so far, but I’ve long known that it isn’t sustainable (especially for someone with two regular jobs.) My options were either to make the blog less intense or to make it finite. I didn’t hesitate in choosing the latter. Better an intense, temporary blog, than a perpetual and lame series of links,  one-liners and the odd meaningful post. A year-long blog makes aesthetic sense and matches the year-by-year nature of the Charter’s development too.

As well, 2009 is a big year for me in my academic job ... Finally, recently, it’s become clear that it’s probably too early for a perpetual blog charting the development of Charter jurisprudence, as the pace of that development (if, indeed, it is happening at all) is too glacial to sustain a case-by-case analysis.  The result is too many frustrated posts that begin ‘Yet again…’. If I kept this up, I might become jaded!

In wrapping his blog he also thanks his employers, including the University of Melbourne:

Blogging carries no cred with DEST and even the folks at Melbourne Uni who defined ‘knowledge transfer’ can’t seem to get their heads around the concept. And my particular blogging style and views bring political risks, not only for SARC but (as it turns out) for Melbourne Law School too. I’m fortunate indeed that neither has raised the slightest objection. That’s quite appropriate, of course, given Charter s. 15, but it’s also courageous, especially when there’s a bully on the block.

Finally, he endorses the benefits of blogging for academics:

I can’t recommend blogging highly enough to any academic whose field includes regular contemporary developments. A commitment to regular, public and comprehensive commentary forces an engagement with the subject-matter that exceeds any other academic endeavour, even a PhD. And the informality of blogging is a perfect antidote to the jargon and circuitous nature of formal academic discourse, not to mention the obsequiousness and pomposity of the law.

Read more here. 

Whenever I read statements like that, and academically rigorous blogs like Jeremy's, I always reflect on my little blog and wonder whether it is too frivolous or whether there is too much linking and pop culture and not enough original legal analysis.  However ultimately I always conclude that I like my blog the way it is - I think my mix of posts is part of what keeps it interesting to read.  And perhaps more importantly, it reflects me and what interests me, which means that I enjoy writing it.  So at least as far as my blog is concerned, I'm quite happy to be labelled as a bit of a pop academic.

Nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award

I am very excited and honoured that this blog, Peter Black's Freedom to Differ, has been nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the Best Law Blog category.  The other nominated blogs (or blawgs) are without doubt some of the leading blawgs in the world and are written by some first class lawyers and legal scholars, so I feel horribly out of my depth.  Nonetheless it is a real thrill to be nominated.

The nominees in the Best Law Blog category are:

• Overlawyered
• Above the Law
• Photo Attorney
• WSJ Law Blog
• How Appealing
• Volokh Conspiracy
• Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• Peter Black's Freedom to Differ
• Citizen Media Law Project
• MyShingle

Congratulations also to the blogs nominated in the Best Australian or New Zealand Blog category:

• Rusty Lime
• A.E. Brain
• KerrieJean.com.au
• The Dawn Chorus
• Tim Blair
• Screen Play
• Media Spy
• Gizmodo Australia
• Ask Bossy
• All Men Are Liars

You can view all the nominees in the various categories here.  Voting is scheduled to begin on 5 January  2009.

Freedom to Differ on your iPhone or iPod Touch

Last month I used Intersquash to "optimise" Freedom to Differ for the iPhone and iPod Touch (see here).  However based on the feedback I have received since this change, I have decided to turn it off.  So from now on, if you visit this blog on your iPhone or iPod Touch you will once again only be able to view it as a webpage.

Blogging update

Tomorrow I hop on a plane to London for a two and a bit week holiday in England and Ireland.  At this stage I have no idea as to whether I will have the time, inclination or even regular internet access to blog while I am away, so it is likely that if there is any blogging over the next few weeks it will be intermittent at best.

People's Choice Open Web Awards Winners

Mashable has announced the winners of The 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, a multilingual, international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology.  Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements of websites and services in 26 categories.

Over 100 Blog Partners (including this blog) helped make this the biggest Open Web Awards to date with 50,000 total nominations, 80,000 total votes in the first round, and 90,000 votes in the final round.  The blog partners come from 25 countries and are written in 10 different languages.

There were two sections in the Open Web Awards: the People’s Choice and the Blogger’s Choice. The Blogger’s Choice winners were announced last week (see here). 

The People's Choice Winners are ...

---

Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks

Winner: Netlog
Runner-up: Platinum Lounge

---

Embeddable Widgets

Winner: Qoof
Runner-up: Sprout

---

Blog Plugins

Winner: ShareThis
Runner-up: AddThis

---

Social News

Winner: Help a Reporter Out
Runner-up: Hubdub

---

Social Networking Applications

Winner: Artition
Runner-up: Digsby

---

Social Bookmarking

Winner: Diigo
Runner-up: ShareThis

---

Search & Social Search

Winner: Scour
Runner-up: Artiklz

---

Sports & Fitness

Winner: Gyminee
Runner-up: FitFiend

---

Photo Sharing

Winner: ipernity
Runner-up: TinyPic

---

Video Sharing

Winner: ffwd
Runner-up: YouTube

---

Start Pages

Winner: Google
Runner-up: iGoogle

---

Places & Events

Winner: Doodle
Runner-up: Muchmor

---

Travel

Winner: SpottedByLocals
Runner-up: GeckoGo

---

Music

Winner: Noisetrade
Runner-up: Last.fm

---

Social Shopping

Winner: Pikaba
Runner-up: A Full Cup

---

Fashion

Winner: Coolspotters
Runner-up: Polyvore

---

Celebrity & Gossip

Winner: Oh No They Didn’t
Runner-up: BollyScoops

---

Mobile Applications

Winner: Evernote
Runner-up: MocoSpace

---

Dating & Romance

Winner: Zoosk
Runner-up: DateHookup

---

Wiki

Winner: Encyclopedia Dramatica
Runner-up: WikiHow

---

Politics

Winner: Politics4All
Runner-up: CreateDebate

---

How-to

Winner: A Full Cup
Runner-up: College Cram

---

Environmental

Winner: Ecomii
Runner-up: Gazelle

---

Non-Profit Causes

Winner: Stop Political Calls
Runner-up: SocialVibe

---

Online Games

Winner: Playfish
Runner-up: Power Pets

---

Niche Social Networks

Winner: The Star Tracker
Runner-up: Wadja

Digital for Good

Check out a new blog by my friend Eddie Harran, Digital for Good.  This is how Eddie describes it:

"DigitalForGood" Exploring Digital Technology as force for positive social change/ The Mainfesto for Geeks Who Care/ This blog explores the emerging digital space and its cross section in business, society, and the world

So check it out here.

Blogger’s Choice Open Web Awards Winners

While voting continues until midnight Sunday to decide who is crowned the Open Web Awards "People’s Choice", Mashable has announced the winners of the Blogger’s Choice voting, as selected by the Blog Partners to the Open Web Awards (including this blog).

Over 100 Blog Partners participated in the Open Web Awards this year, with over 100,000 confirmed nominations and votes so far.  These blog blog partners come from 25 countries and are written in 10 different languages.

The Blogger’s Choice Winners are ...

---

Mainstream & Large Scale Social Networks

Winner: Twitter
Runner-up: Facebook

---

Embeddable Widgets

Winner:
Clearspring
Runner-up: Sprout

---

Blog Plugins

Winner: ShareThis
Runner-up: AddThis

---

Social News

Winner: Digg
Runner-up: Mixx

---

Social Networking Applications

Winner: Ping.fm
Runner-up: Twitterfeed

---

Social Bookmarking

Winner: Delicious
Runner-up: StumbleUpon

---

Search & Social Search

Winner: Google
Runner-up: Scour

---

Sports & Fitness

Winner: Gyminee
Runner-up: Oneseason

---

Photo Sharing

Winner: Flickr
Runner-up: Picasa

---

Video Sharing

Winner: YouTube
Runner-up: Vimeo

---

Start Pages

Winner: iGoogle
Runner-up: Netvibes

---

Places & Events

Winner: Doodle
Runner-up: Eventbrite

---

Travel

Winner: TripIt
Runner-up: GeckoGo

---

Music

Winner: Last.fm
Runner-up: Pandora

---

Social Shopping

Winner: Wishpot
Runner-up(s): Tigerbow/Pikaba (tie)

---

Fashion

Winner: Coolspotters
Runner-up: Gift Girl

---

Celebrity & Gossip

Winner: Perez Hilton
Runner-up: Popvine

---

Mobile Applications

Winner: Evernote
Runner-up: Qik

---

Dating & Romance

Winner: SpeedDate
Runner-up: OKCupid

---

Wiki

Winner: Wikipedia
Runner-up: PBWiki

---

Politics

Winner: Huffington Post
Runner-up: CreateDebate

---

How-to

Winner: eHow
Runner-up: Howcast

---

Environmental

Winner: ThinkGreen
Runner-up: SocialVibe

---

Non-Profit Causes

Winner: SocialVibe
Runner-up: Kiva

---

Online Games

Winner: Playfish
Runner-up: Kongregate

---

Niche Social Networks

Winner: Wadja
Runner-up: Lifeblob

Vote now in the Open Web Awards

Nominations are now closed and voting open for the Second Annual Open Web Awards.

The Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology.  Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.  Freedom to Differ is proud to be one of the blog partners backing Awards host Mashable for the event.

Over 43,000 verified nomination were received and the 10 most-nominated sites and services in each category (where 10th place was a draw, more than 10 nominees were allowed in that category) selected for the voting round.

The first of two voting rounds starts now, and you can vote for one company in each category per day until midnight on November 30th.  There are 26 categories.  Vote with this voting widget:

Media, Communications and Public Speech

On 20 and 21 November I'll be live blogging the 2008 Conference of the Centre for Media and Communications Law Media, Communications and Public Speech at the University of Melbourne.  Here is the Conference program.

Last call for nominations for the Open Web Awards

The nomination period for the second annual Open Web Awards is almost over.  If you haven’t nominated your favorite site or company you must do so before Sunday 16 November at 11:59 pm PST.

The Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology.  Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.  Freedom to Differ is proud to be one of the blog partners backing Awards host Mashable for the event.

Nominate your favourite site or company in a variety categories using this widget: