In case you have not heard already from the many posts out there, Kevin Heller (Tech Law Advisor) and Evan Schaeffer (Notes from the (Legal) Underground) have rolled out Blawg Review, a site for the review of law blogs and postings.
It is not often you see a collaborative project like this from a group of lawyers on any topic, let alone blogging. As they put it, this site represents “a group of law bloggers who are committed to making the best of the blawgosphere more easily accessible and enjoyable to read.”
The premier issue of Blawg Review will be hosted next Monday, April 11th, at Notes from the (Legal) Underground, where Evan Schaeffer is now accepting submissions all this week.
Blawg Review will have three general purposes:
Blawg Reviews: Readers and other bloggers will be able to submit reviews of various law blogs (hopefully with some thought involved). Since this covers all law blogs, this should prove to be a good way for specialty blogs to get noticed by those outside their practice niche. As they point out, “Reviews don’t have to be serious; we’ll accept hilarious.”
Blawg Review Hosting: Various law bloggers are invited to host an upcoming Blawg Review on their own law blog, just let them know the Date Available that you would prefer to host, by sending an email addressed to: host at blawg review dot com
Blawg Postings: Everyone is invited to submit their own law blog posts for inclusion in the weekly Review by sending an email to: post at blawg review dot com. Apparently, using “technology that amazes us”, this email address automatically forwards submissions to the attention of the next host.
Check out this great effort. We think this will be quite successful and, besides getting people noticed, will provide topics to people who would not otherwise see your posting. Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know. You know? Note: Not addressed is the question “Are Law Blogs Advertising?” as we posted earlier here. I don’t think it’s a problem with this very unique method of rotating hosts for the Review but let me know your thoughts.
Note that J. Craig Williams, on his blog May It Please the Court, after noting that blogging as a phenomenon is reaching epic proportions, believes they are ads noting that it would be difficult to identify a purely altruistic blog.
For the opposing view that blogs are not ads, see the post by David Giacalone of f/k/a ethicalEsq here.
I’ve held the view that a blog, even in one’s own field, doesn’t always constitute an advertisement but I have to admit it’s vague. Hence, the Baristas have posted “This May be an Advertisement“ on our own site. Vague enough for you?
Hmm. “This May be a disclaimer.”