"Half forensic lab, half tavern"

The blogosphere is half forensic lab and half tavern, says George Washington University Professor Michael Cornfield  in a commentary to the latest Pew study on the impact of blogs on the 2004 election campaign.  Good metaphor, works for me.

The magic of the Internet is you can be looking at evidence, at direct documentation, while you're talking," Mr. Cornfield said, referring to the fake memos that turned blogs into influential buzzmakers. "It would be as if the Nixon tapes were available in MP3 format during Watergate."

Says Tigerhawk
Bloggers as a group combine two attributes -- the ability to assemble expertise on almost any topic at extreme speed, and the propensity to write at very high velocity. This combination of expertise and velocity comes at the cost, perhaps, of sobriety (there's the tavern metaphor) and deliberation. However, the competing tendency of bloggers to edit each other, also at high velocity, limits the potential damage of errors of fact.

Big businesses worry about the velocity, but they should take heart.  If they respond early and truthfully, they can limit damage about themselves and their products.  Of course, that implies they are paying attention in the first place.

via Instapundit