The Defense Department is studying blogs.
Dr. Brian E. Ulicny, senior scientist, and Dr. Mieczyslaw M. Kokar, president, Versatile Information Systems Inc., Framingham, Mass., will receive approximately $450,000 in funding for the 3-year project entitled “Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information.â€â€œIt can be challenging for information analysts to tell what’s important in blogs unless you analyze patterns,†Ulicny said.
Patterns include the content of the blogs as well as what hyperlinks are contained within the blog.
Hmmm. Sounds a bit like the NSA telephone data mining. [via Sploid]
Internet promoting pseudo-epidemics?
CHICAGO, July 3 (UPI) — You see the signs promoting cancer screening nearly everywhere you go these days — airports, bus stations and online. The ads promote cancer screening as a form of preventive medicine, and almost always refer you to an Internet site, where you can learn more about screening, and even register for screening for brain, heart or lung cancer — and other dreaded maladies — online. No doctor’s appointment needed. Just sign-up and get the test results yourself from the lab.
But experts tell United Press International’s Networking column that some of these online screening services may be promoting fear among the general public, rather than serving as sound medical tools. By Gene Koprowski
http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20060703-095833-8783r
Shalom Jeff,
I call bullshit on this project.
$450,000 over three years is chump change for a Pentagon project. Either this is a limp attempt to make sure terrorists stay off the blogs, or somebody’s brother-in-law’s sister’s ne’r do well kid needed a job after goofing off for six years as an undergraduate.
Either way, it’s bogus.
B’shalom,
Jeff
[...] [Update — 1728, 3 July — Both George Nemeth and Jeff Jarvis have taken notice.] [...]
Hey, it’s the “Sphere” blog search engine, except DoD-funded instead of angel/VC-funded.
I say we should all encourage this, as a possible source of gravy-money after the blog-bubble pops
.
Especially for war-bloggers ….
“Yes, yes, you can learn amazing intelligence by harnessing the Wisdom Of Flamers and the Emergent Punditocracy. Send a few million our way, and we’ll have a nice conference. It’s what we do.”
You shouldn’t be blogging this story. Its unAmerican. Terrorist bloggers now know they are being read. Highly unethical blogging. Don’t you have any American blogging standards? In the future please contact the local athorities and THEY will tell you whether you can blog a story of not. Enjoy the 4th, go celebrate your “freedom”
But… but… aren’t blogs public domain anyways? How am I supposed to be mad about the government looking things up on a public-access medium such as the internet? Please explain…
Sounds a lot like what “a href=”http://www.relevantnoise.com”>Relevant Noise is doing, making sense of content as well as links in teh blogosphere. After about a year of startup development, they’ve got some interesting fun examples of their findings on their site/blog. What diets are bloggers talking about? What beverages are they talking about?
Lung Cancer scared the hell out of me that is why i do not smoke cigarettes anymore.*’,