On http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html, Robert Scoble explains the fundamentals of writing a good blog. Here I will quickly review an article I found interesting and discuss whether it is believable according to Scoble’s guidelines. According to an article from http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Report_1_in_every_100_Americans_0228.html, more than one in every one hundred people in the United States is in prison. This creates a higher cost for each state as quote: “The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier.” This seems like a valid statement. David Crary, the author of this article on rawstory, has given solid facts that one can easily look up for confirmation on the truth of the article.
“The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state’s crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state’s inmate population has increased by 600 percent.”
The rest of the article is all for the most part based in whether the facts are true or not. As for the other principles of writing a good blog, well, I don’t see many here. Number three of Scoble’s rules, Use a Human Voice is done in this article, and they don’t use crazy language. It is simple and easy to follow.
With this assignment I was thinking more along the lines of evaluating a whole blog, and that it be one of the ones on your “Blogs I’m Watching” list, rather than one post, but this is such an interesting post. I’m glad you brought it to the class’s attention.