If you’re like me, you probably read more blogs than you do magazines or maybe even newspapers. It’s a great platform that allows anyone (good or bad) to write about the topics that are interesting to them. I remember my boss back in 2003 talk about blogging, and I thought it sounded like the craziest thing I’d ever heard. However, after a few years of writing and reading blogs about law, technologies, libraries and many other topics, I’ve really come to appreciate a well-written blog.
Therefore, this week’s Elephant Post allows our contributors to share one or two of their favorites. We hope there are a couple on here that you haven’t read, or don’t have in your handy-dandy RSS feed, yet. Enjoy, and don’t forget that you can contribute to our Elephant Post each Thursday. After you read these perspectives, scroll to the bottom of the post and take a look at next week’s Elephant Post question. All you have to do is put your perspective in the form. It’s very easy!
Lawyer Perspective
Big Legal Brain
C. Hank Peters
First, I write it. And third, it adheres to the Daily Show approach to news, but this time the focus is on law practice management and how best to structure an efficient practice. Fifth, it’s pretty funny and occasionally offensive, two attributes most legal blogs lack.
Marketing Perspective
Harvard Business Review
Sophia Lisa Salazar
Let’s face it: not all of us could get into Harvard.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t audit the courses.
I was always a big fan of the magazine so, naturally, when they started up with the blogs it was the first one that I added to my google reader.
Giving me a heads up on the thought leadership in our country, giving sage business and management advice and keeping me in touch with the latest trends in the economy, it is a must read for me.
It helps me keep a broader perspective on my job. I’m not just a marketer, I’m a business woman.
Marketing Perspective
Brain Pickings
Sophia Lisa Salazar
Brain Pickings is to blogs what Picasso is to paintings.
An edgy hodge-podge of art, illustration, design and graphics, reviews and culture, I look and read and admire it every day.
It inspires me, pushes me and taunts me, like a demented running coach to do better, imagine bigger and race for that shiny star.
Knowledge Management Perspective
A2Z
Ayelette Robinson
A2Z is a blog written by Sarah Zearfoss, the Assistant Dean for Admissions at the University of Michigan Law School. Her posts are smart, insightful, wonderfully written, and remind me about aspects of the legal profession and about being a lawyer that I’ve either forgotten or never took the time to explore. Her musings are (not surprisingly) typically spun off of law school admissions stories, but those stories are just the triggers for more universal thoughts and reflections. I could have listed here any number of KM- or legal-IT-related blogs, but I’m highlighting Sarah’s because it’s off the beaten path and honestly, it’s just plain good.
Knowledge Management Perspective
Above and Beyond KM
Janis Croft
Well written musings that touch a variety of topics. Enjoyable reading.
Law Librarian Perspective
AOTUS: Collector In Chief
Greg Lambert
David S. Ferriero is the Archivist of the United States, and his blog shows the importance of how government officials can embrace the public they serve by creative use of social media. Ferriero discusses everything from his ideas of what the future will look like to specifically how his organization is saving the treasures of the past. The stories are from his own special point of view, and show his passion for what he does. I think that all government officials… from the freshmen members of congress, to the senior members of the administration, all the way to the members of the US Supreme Court could learn a thing or two about how the AOTUS shares his message with the public.
Law Librarian Perspective
Jason Wilson’s – “Rethinck”
Greg Lambert
Anyone that knows Jason Wilson (via Twitter, his blog, or as the VP for Jones McClure Publishing) knows that “pulling punches” isn’t in his lexicon. If you want to read about the legal publishing industry from a point of view that says “things shouldn’t be this screwed up” and goes on to explain what could be done to “unscrew” it… then Rethinck is a must read blog.
Information Technology Perspective
LeadershipFreak
Scott Preston
This is a well written, concise blog on improving leadership skills. Dan Rockwell does a great job of distilling leadership concepts into simple, easily digestible ideas. His blog is recognized as a top site for leadership learning and career advocacy.
Information Technology Perspective
knoco stories from the knowledge management front-line
Scott Preston
Nick Milton has a great deal of KM experience and does a good job of sharing what he has learned. This is a great site for understanding the challenges with KM as well as good ideas and exercises on improving KM.
Knowledge Management Perspective
Work Awesome
Patrick DiDomenico
Great, fresh ideas about productivity, apps, and general awesomeness.
Next Week’s Elephant Post (2/10/2011)
What the legal industry needs right now is more _________!
This question was suggested by my good friend Emily Rushing (who has already called dibs on more “cowbell”! Because more cowbell makes everything better.)
So, what do you think the legal industry needs more of?? Why?? Contribute your perspective by filling out this easy form, or click on the link if for some reason you can’t see the form.