Essential Blogging is a good book if you are just getting into blogging or you are selecting a blogging tool for your intranet (K-Log). It’s got a couple of chapters devoted to each major blogging tool including Radio Userland, Moveable Type, and Blogger. The first chapter of each tool-specific chapter is a “getting started with…” intro with the second being an intro to the more advanced features. The tool tips and tricks are useful. I’m sure you could find them all documented on the web but I liked having them all pulled together for me. There are also chapters devoted to Bloxsom, an intro to/history of blogging, and a high-level discussion of various desktop blogging clients. I gave the book a fairly quick scan cover-to-cover and then concentrated on the Radio chapters. It’s a short book and an easy read. It’d be good to hand out to the members of a K-Log pilot group.

Can weblogs be subpoenaed as part of a discovery process during litigation?…what format do you have to supply the weblog? Since Radio weblogs are one large RSS file, do you have to supply the entire file? [Tom’s Blog]

I’m no lawyer, but I have experience supplying “evidence” for use in a case. In that instance, there were no requirements as to the format. You have to read the specifics of the subpoena but it would be unlikely that your entire weblog would be submitted. Only the posts that are relevant to the case would go. And, the format could be whatever–you could print out the relevant pieces or send over the RSS or HTML. I’m sure it is similar to email–depending on what is being asked for you might only submit individual emails that are relevant, not the entire Inbox. Again, people should seek the advice of counsel around this–I’m only relaying my very limited experience sprinkled with assumptions and suppositions.