Our first attempt at recommending NON-Librarian blogs includes sites to make your life better, improve your finances, help you be a better marketer, and even one that lets you see other folks deepest darkest secrets. I've included the "honorable mention" list, and a few "see alsos" below. Our goal was to make a list of sites you can read to learn something new that doesn't entirely focus on libraries. Read on below to see why each site made the list. As always, if you don't like the list, supply your own, or let me know who we missed or who we should've left off.
Boing Boing (Feed)
The Bookslut Blog (Feed)
The Consumerist (Feed)
Lifehacker (Feed)
Open Access News (Feed)
Post Secret (Feed)
Read Write Web (Feed)
Seth Godin (Feed)
Slashdot (Feed)
Snopes - What's New (Feed)
In no particular order, here's more on each site, along with the runner ups.
I must admit, I Love Boing Boing. You never know what you're going to see on Boing Boing, from Unicorns and Bigfoot to DRM and the Creative Commons. They call it "a directory of wonderful things" and it certainly is. They're one of the most popular sites on any list for good reason, they set the trends.
Post Secret just barely beat out Cute Overload & Seen Reading in our "silly diversions" category. Post Secret is so compelling it's hard to pass up. PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
Did you know Patriots QB Tom Brady was once a cast member of The Brady Bunch? Snopes Knows The Truth. Just a bit more popular than Common Craft for "answers", at first glance you might think debunking urban myths is silly, but it doesn't take long until you'll realize this is reference work at it's finest.
Jessa Crispin is snarky, sometimes a bit vulgar, but she knows books. The Bookslut Blog is one of about a billion book blogs, but the attitude makes it a stand out. Jessica beat out Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Book Ninja and Future Of The Book.
I started LISNews 8 years ago because of Slashdot. There is no shortage of geek blogs out there, but Slashdot started it all. It's still one of the best places to keep up on news for nerds. I debated whether or not to make this a link to Doggdot instead of just Slashdot, but in the end figured Doggdot might be a bit too much. Slashdot is "news for nerds, stuff that matters." Often overlooked these days for newer sites like Digg, Slashdot still points the way to important tech news.
Seth Godin is marketing. Seth's popularity put him ahead of Scott and Experienceology for marketing blogs. There are quite a few marketing and customer service blogs out there, but Seth seems to be the most popular with LISNews readers, and for good reason. He's one of the most well known marketing gurus out there.
Do you ever leave your house? Do you ever buy anything? If you're a consumer, you should read The Consumerist, more practical than Freakonomics, their about page says it all: "We're biased towards the consumer. We favor bad company stories over happy customer tales. We're not anti-capitalist; we're anti-stupid-capitalist."
Perter Suber has been covering news from the open access movement for years. Open access is all about "Removing the barriers to serious research." Though a more general Academic Blog like Wired Campus might be a logical choice, a more focused blog proved to be the most popular choice.
Lifehacker: Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done. More general than Google Tutor, It's blog on software and personal productivity recommends downloads, web sites and shortcuts that help you work smarter and save time. Hack your life, make it more livable.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit, I'm not sure I had ever seen Read Write Web before it was the most nominated site on this list, and one of the most read blogs in the world. They say they provide Web Technology news, reviews and analysis. It's a crowded field, to say the least, but they stand out with insightful and original posts. Just ahead of sites like Social Media, Weblogg-Ed, everythingismiscellaneous.com and Infodoodads.
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