Very good article on BBC News Online today on the pros and cons of blogging in the workplace.
Entitled Looming pitfalls of work blogs, the BBC piece discusses employee blogging and potential legal pitfalls for both employer and employee (covering some similar ground to that published on this topic by ComputerWorld in early November), and cites the fired Delta Airlines employee blogger as an example of those risks.
The article also introduces a new buzz word (well, new to me at least):
[…] Increasingly, people are landing in hot water with employers over blogs about their work. A new term has emerged as a result. According to UrbanDictionary.com, to be “dooced” means “losing your job for something you wrote in your online blog, journal, website, etc.”
And more bloggers could be “dooce dodging” in 2005 as employers wake up to the technology.
I like the way the BBC article treats the broad subject of blogging with a sidebar article with real examples of two different people in the UK who blog and why they do. There’s the policeman who blogs and the emergency medical technician with the London ambulance service. Real examples by normal people. And there’s the New York waiter who rants online. I count him among normal people nevertheless 😉
Two plainly-written related articles linked from the main one would be a help to anyone thinking about blogging but who hasn’t started yet – Ask Bruce: What is blogging? and Ask Bruce: How do I get a blog?
Good feature-writing.
BBC News | Technology | Looming pitfalls of work blogs
Related NevOn posts:
Back to Copernic? Not for me, not yet
Back to Copernic? Not for me, not yet
If you haven’t had a chance to read the Dooce blog, check it out. Her whole story is an interesting read, and she does give the background on her firing.
Thanks Jeremy.
Ah, so that’s where the term came from. I’ve heard of Heather Armstrong/Hamilton, who runs the dooce blog, but didn’t connect the word with her.
So naturally I’ve been thinking: How did this word and its meaning come about? Clear explanation on the dooce site (http://www.dooce.com/), of course:
How do you pronounce DOOCE and where did that word come from?
I wish there were a more interesting story behind the name of this website, and I’ve tried for days to come up with something hipper than the truth, but the unhip truth is that the word DOOCE is a result of my horrible typing and spelling skills. I lived and worked in LA for four years, and people in LA like to say the word dude in casual conversation, in business meetings, and from the pulpit. Everyone in LA dudes. When I worked in an office and instant messaged coworkers, we were always typing “dude, no way” and “awesome, dude!” and then it sort of became “right on, doode” and “oh my god, doooooooode.” But I could never type it right. I was always typing “duce” and “dooce” and half of a thirty minute IM conversation was dominated by me correcting the misspelling, like, “oops, i meant dooce” and even in the corrections I couldn’t type it right. So they all started calling me Dooce. The Dooce. Her Dooceness. Wrapped up like a Dooce!
Dooce is pronounced like DEUCE, not like douche or like doo-chay or dookie. Please don’t call me dookie, because seriously, given my personal bowel history, that would be entirely inaccurate.
Oh, be careful little hand what you write …
Post at your own risk? I ran across an article this morning. The piece points out that Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and 7 percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life…
Oh, be careful little hand what you write …
Post at your own risk? I ran across an article this morning. The piece points out that Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and 7 percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life…
Oh, be careful little hand what you write …
Post at your own risk? I ran across an article this morning. The piece points out that Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and 7 percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life…