Google isn't saying that its latest new feature is aimed at operations like Demand Media and Associated Content, but it certainly could be. The search giant has begun giving users a way to permanently block certain sites from appearing in their search results. It requires a Google account and is already available for the Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome browsers, with more planned.
Science writing news
Simon Singh became a martyr for free expression when the British Chiropractic Association sued him over a 2008 Guardian article. Now he's the main exhibit in support of a bill intended to reduce the threat from defamation actions. But do the reforms go far enough? Details in a blog post from the Association of British Science Writers. More here, here, and here.
Homo erectus moved to India with tools about 1.5 million years ago. Homo sap moved to the New World with tools more than 15,000 years ago. Energy policy gets annotated and greenhouse gases get live-blogged. Is this the online future for science writing? The New York Times hits the wall. The pay wall. What to do about it?
Medical writer Larry Husten wanted a sneak peek at slides about a new drug-eluting stent but was told he would have to sit through an “embargoed pre-briefing” first. He complained in a blog post: “Access to the content shouldn’t depend on a willingness to submit to the spin cycle.” Related: Comment from Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog.
From the Scholarly Kitchen, two well-established writers going in different directions. One, thriller novelist Barry Eisler, spurned a $500,000 advance in favor of self-publishing. The other, Amanda Hocking, who specializes in the young-adult paranormal genre, is signing with St. Martin's Press after self-publishing nine wildly successful books. Plus more on Hocking's move from the New Yorker and the New York Times.
Nonfiction writers can use the techniques of fiction to propel their stories and engage readers, says Adam Hochschild, a former editor of Mother Jones and author of several histories. Hochschild spoke at Vanderbilt University in February. Parts one and two of four parts are now available at the Nieman Storyboard, as is the entire one-hour video.
Can long-form journalism be adapted to the web? The Atavist is one such effort, just reviewed in the New York Times: "All the richness of the Web — links to more information, videos, casts of characters — is right there in an app displaying an article, but with a swipe of the finger, the presentation reverts to clean text." More here, here and here.
Sixteen days later, the reviews are everywhere. First, a New York Times profile of a Columbia scientist sorting facts from fiction in the radiation realm. Then, from CJR's The Observatory, details about a web site that crowd-sources poor Japan coverage. Finally, in Wired.com, how a popular science writer drew criticism from scientists with his earthquake prediction.
Why don't more journalists link to source documents when writing about science? Maybe because they're afraid of being caught wrong, Ben Goldacre writes in The Guardian's Bad Science blog. "I've detected myself using a new rule of thumb: if you don't link to primary sources, I just don't trust you." Plus, further comment from the Knight Science Journalism Tracker.