cool MIT project

[CTho9305]

site (note it links to the most popular things in blogs... so ***not everything linked to is work safe***)

excerpt from the "About" page:

Blogdex is a research project of the MIT Media Laboratory tracking the diffusion of information through the weblog community. Ideas can have very similar properties to a disease, spreading through the population like wildfire. The goal of Blogdex is to explore what it is about information, people, and their relationships that allows for this contagious media.

Blogdex uses the links made by webloggers as a proxy to the things they are talking about. Webloggers typically contextualize their writing with hypertext links which act as markers for the subjects they are discussing. These markers are like tags placed on wild animals, allowing Blogdex to track a piece of conversation as it moves from weblog to weblog.

Blogdex crawls all of the weblogs in its database every time they are updated and collects the links that have been made since the last time it was updated. The system then looks across all weblogs and generates a list of fastest spreading ideas. This is the list shown on the front page. For each of these links, further detail is provided as to where the link was found, and at what time.

 

[TommyVercetti]

Let me be the first one to say, I hate the whole sub culture surrounding blogs, online journals and what not.

 

[Glitchny]

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
Let me be the first one to say, I hate the whole sub culture surrounding blogs, online journals and what not.

it is kinda scary how many people are obsessed with them

 

[daniel1113]

I think it is interesting the people think that we actually want to read what they think, or care about their opinions. But hey, more power to them.

 

[Dufman]

that is pretty neat

 

[dpm]

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
Let me be the first one to say, I hate the whole sub culture surrounding blogs, online journals and what not.

I find that somewhat ironic, coming from someone who has racked up nearly four and a half thousand posts on an internet forum in less than a year.

 

[geno]

So, this basically tracks what all the bloggers are talking about and compiles them into one list? That's it?

 

[brxndxn]

Haha!!! This will throw them off when I write a post about how much I love Pepsi and the other day I went snowboarding. So take that you crazy Weblog search thing!

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: geno
So, this basically tracks what all the bloggers are talking about and compiles them into one list? That's it?

So it would seem. I find that (the spread) more interesting than blogs... which I think are retarded.

 

[PowerMacG5]

Originally posted by: Glitchny

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
Let me be the first one to say, I hate the whole sub culture surrounding blogs, online journals and what not.

it is kinda scary how many people are obsessed with them

I agree. I personally see no need to keep a "blog."

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: KraziKid

Originally posted by: Glitchny

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
Let me be the first one to say, I hate the whole sub culture surrounding blogs, online journals and what not.

it is kinda scary how many people are obsessed with them

I agree. I personally see no need to keep a "blog."

A lot of people keep them because they have interesting ideas, and people want to read them. Not all blogs are about the trials and tribulations of teenage life. Quality blogs have a great level of informational value.