The MECCSA Postgraduate Network is a great idea - bringing together media PhD students from across the UK who would otherwise rarely if ever meet. I had a great time and met some interesting people I would never have run across if I hadn’t gone. If you are a PhD student based in the UK (or think you might become one by next year) you should definitely think about going to next year’s one in Ulster…

The insularity of American web publishers has long been a pet peeve of mine so the launch of the Electronic Freedom Foundation’s Legal Guide for Bloggers with accompanying American-style logo struck a sore nerve. It’s true that in their overview of common issues FAQ they point out that laws vary between countries but several of the sub-FAQs fail to make this point and some of them could therefore actually mislead the unwary. Like their guide to defamation law which says, “If the plaintiff is a public figure, he or she must also prove actual malice” - not true in the UK, for example, I believe. I think in Europe people also have more rights to privacy than here (eg I think you in theory have to get permission from people you take pictures of if you want to publish them though I am not sure about this).

Simply calling it the Legal Guide for American Bloggers would help a lot here, and if they encouraged other major blogging countries’ policy wonks to produce similar guides (and linked to them) that would help a lot too. Meanwhile, serious UK and European bloggers might want to look at The Legal and Regulatory Environment for Electronic Information by Charles Oppenheim which I picked up some time ago though it is now four years old (can anyone suggest anything more recent and/or cheaper?). Suggestions via comments of websites and other online resources relevant to other countries would be welcome.

Of course, I should add, the EFF’s publication of a guide like this is, on the whole, a Good Thing, they have produced lots of other good stuff both for Americans and for the wider Internet-using public and if you are in the US and a blogger (or just want to see how their law affects ordinary members of the American web publishing public) this guide is well worth reading. Also see their guide to How to Blog Anonymously…

The BBC at the beginning of this year provided some case studies of using blogs to teach in universities - several of them in the UK. It’s always good to hear about academics blogging on this side of the Atlantic - I often feel a little lonely doing this… Are there any other instances of good blogging practices readers have come across from elsewhere in the UK?

Human Events (a conservative publication in the US) made a list of books it thought were the most harmful. There were a few authors you could predict (Marx, Mao, Hitler) but some surprises too.

• 4 was the Kinsey Report which they thoughtfully characterise as "designed to give a scientific gloss to the normalization of promiscuity and deviancy". Heaven forbid we should actually know and come to terms with what people actually do in their bedrooms!
• 5 was Dewey’s Democracy and Education which "disparaged schooling that focused on traditional character development" (ie social control) "and encouraged the teaching of thinking ’skills’" (quel horreur!). And…
• 8 was Compte’s The Course of Positive Philosophy which just made me think I should look up Compte!

I also thought it entertaining that they include John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty among the runners-up. Wouldn’t want any of that nasty liberty…

Washington Monthly riposted with some books the Left would rather hadn’t been written. Christopher Tassava suggests his own list including the Bible which might put the cat among the pigeons!