The Faculty Lounge

A Self-Referential Book Review: On Blogs and Blogging

At the risk of sounding like a coffee table book about coffee tables in the shape of a coffee table...

I have just completed Scott Rosenberg's new book, Say Everything.  If you have the time, it's a really interesting history of the development of blogging, and of the criticisms launched at blogging over the years.  As someone who teaches cyberlaw and is trying to update a casebook for the Web 2.0 generation, it has some really useful thoughts that build upon commentaries and criticisms about the early Internet.  Will the ability to communicate online polarize us all in our views rather than broadening our horizons? Does the Internet spell the death of traditional media and, if so, why?  Can the Internet in general, and blogging in particular, ever be successfully commercialized?  Should it be?

The book also contains an impressive amount of information gleaned from interviews with bloggers and from blog archives over the years that range from early blogging, to military blogging, to mommy-blogging, and to being "dooced" (ie losing your job because of something you said on a blog).

I particularly liked the last few chapters where Rosenberg makes analogies between blogging and other forms of corporate and social media over the years - the telephone, the television, Twitter (miniblogging), and online social networks.  Really good food for thought - and there might be a few potential cyberlaw essay questions lurking in there.

New Blog Devoted To Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Mike Koehler (pictured), set to embark on an academic career as an associate professor in the business school at Butler University this fall, has started a blog devoted to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act -- "FCPA Professor."  Here's the "mission statement":

After a decade-long private practice legal career focused on the FCPA, I am pleased to launch "FCPA Professor" in connection with my new academic career.  To be sure, there are other websites and blogs which cover FCPA topics.  However, "FCPA Professor" seeks to inject a much needed scholarly voice into FCPA issues.  Thus, in addition to covering the "who, what, and where" of FCPA enforcement actions, news, and legislative initiatives, this blog will also explore the more analytical "why" questions increasingly present in this current era of aggressive FCPA enforcement.   The goal of this blog is thus to foster a forum for critical analysis and discussion of the FCPA (and related topics) among FCPA practitioners, business and compliance professionals, scholars and students, and other interested persons.

I've had the pleasure of visiting with Mike on a few occasions in recent years.  Mike, welcome to the blogosphere, and best wishes for personal and professional success as an academic.