Blogging has brought about a new era of publishing. Anyone with with a laptop and internet access can get online and publish their thoughts, views and opinions to the world. Some will proudly stamp their name all over; some will hide behind the screen.

A recent court case over the identity of a controversial blogger in the UK has threatened that anonymity and could have implications in the future.

Give a man a pen and he’ll write for a day, give a man a blog and he’ll write for a lifetime.

Masking your identify in writing can be beneficial in writing. It’s rather exciting to know that “ladydeli70″ who works for your local branch of Asda is blogging about the true goings on of your local deli counter! Well, perhaps it is to me. If her identity was known then she wouldn’t be dishing up meaty treats much longer.

Anonymity in blogging is not always a good thing though. We encourage brands to create identities in their business, who blog externally. This creates a close connection with an otherwise “faceless” brand. We also encourage the brand to be open and honest with their customers, especially in light of any breaking news. That leaves less chance of red-faced corporate bosses when the 18 year old sandwich maker starts rubbing snot on your sub! “Yes, we sacked the idiots” is the response we want, and got, from Dominos.

The judge in the “Night Jack” case felt that the identity of the blogger was necessary to help people assess the validity of the story. But in this instance, the blogger would have not been able to continue for fear of being disciplined or fired. Resulting in a very short spell as a blogger providing the exposé on the police force.

With any story you hear, you judge its validity based on the source of the information. If you have a reason to distrust the source, you distrust the story. It’s a blessing and curse that anyone can blog. It gives voice to anyone who wants to let people know their views on something. But at the same time the good content is often drowned out by complete dross. This makes it difficult to find good content for continually having to judge the reliability of everything you read.

The future of anonymous blogging

WARNING, here be sensationalism: So it seems that the courts have decided that our identities are no long sacred in the online world of blogging! If the courts decide that the interest of the public in knowing the identity of the writer outweighs the impact of unmasking them, then you’re no longer safe behind your computer.

Run for the hills, big brother is coming

Perhaps the cynic’s view is that it’s just the establishment using their power to unmask these people. Others might argue that your days as an anonymous artist are numbered. Do we know who Banksy is yet?

Although this is just one case, it raises the issue of protecting your identity online. It’s a wonderful thing that the truth can be exposed, providing it is the truth and not slander. But if is the norm for cases like these, then we may lose one of the biggest advantages of blogging, freedom of speech.

This post was written by Jeremy Jacobs, owner of The Digital Consultant

• Read the full BBC article on the “Night Jack” case

The Digital Britain report was published last Tuesday, a road map set out by the government for the digital future of Britain. We won’t discuss the ins-and-outs of whether digital is a good/bad thing. We sit firmly in the good camp.

The government has promised to give all UK homes a minimum of 2Mbps broadband. The leading digital inclusion charity, Citizens Online, say this is not good enough. We’re inclined to agree! 2Mbps is too slow!

Debate aside, even if the government do achieve their goal, will people use it? Let’s have a look at how these digital “luddites” could be divided:

The uninformed

For those outside of the digital industry a lot of what we, inside, talk about is a whole different language. Make something relevant to them and people will take an interest. People need to have a motivation to do something rather than be told they must do it.

That might be “I need a job and need to know how to email” or “I want an easy way to connect with friends across the global and find out what they are up to”. There are plenty of digital solutions that work great, until people are informed about these then we cannot place an expectation for them to know.

It’s fair to say, digital is all over the press, Facebook and Twitter two of the biggest. So it’s quite difficult not hear mentions of it. But is there a need to know how to use twitter? Perhaps not. But the need of basic computer skills and writing an email, for example, are skills needed in today’s age, ss much as reading and writing.

Solution: Make it accessible, make it friendly, make it easy. There are too many arrogant people in the digital industry that hold the common person over a barrel with their “knowledge”. Luckily there are just as many who want to help.

The fearful

People who fear technology are likely to do so because they don’t understand it and become frustrated when people are telling them that “they have to be on Facebook”. They may not see the benefit or show an unwillingness to understand the benefit stating that their “life has been perfectly fine until now”. Digital technology does not have to take over your whole life, it can be about improving and enriching your experiences.

Solution: Inform, much like you would the uninformed. If people can understand the benefits outside of what the cynical media channels tell them then this is a great step. From then on it’s about showing them how.

The ambivalent

What, there’s a thing called the Internet? There’s probably, hopefully, not a lot of these people around. But it is likely that this group are late adopters of technology. Not a threat to development but probably will be the last to arrive.

Solution: Buy them a laptop for their next birthday

The resistant

This group are going to be the ones who will cause the most trouble. Think the Luddites of the early 19th century! Riots on the streets (OK, perhaps a little dramatic). These people will probably under up living underground “Demolition Man” style.

Solution: Help show the benefits that digital technology can bring to lives and realise it doesn’t have to be all consuming. There is an off switch, well for now there is .

This post was written by Jeremy Jacobs, owner of The Digital Consultant

• The Citizens Online article on the Digital Britain report.

I asked myself this, as I looked for more information. Finally I sat myself down and watched the 1hr 20 min video of the development team eagerly showing off their new tool to a bunch of external developers. Cool, was my reaction. So, what exactly is it? Perhaps it’s:

“A web browser based communication tool that pulls in data from any source allowing for a central depository of all online activity.”

After trawling through the video, I could see that the component parts are not revolutionary, nor is the principle of Google Wave. The technology has developed to enable a talented team to start pulling these ideas together.

Component parts

So why are the component parts are not revolutionary? If we look at the main features of Google Wave, you can see clear elements of:

• Email (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail)
• Instant Messaging (Live Messenger, Yahoo! IM, GTalk)
• Photo sharing (Flickr)
• Blogging (WordPress, Blogger)
• Document production (Word, Google Docs, Open Office)
• Searching (Google, Yahoo, Bing)
• Social media (Twitter, Facebook)

Nothing spectacular there,  but it does mean that you’ll be able to access all of this from one place. The ability to organise, edit and share all of this information in once place is handy and time saving. There are many advantages to having everything in one place.

Main features

What makes Google Wave so interesting are some of the features:

• Real-time – as you edit, type or review, these will be seen live by anyone else who is part of that wave.
• Portability – publish your wave content elsewhere, such as on your blog or website. Any changes made from Google Wave will be instant on your blog or website.
• Open sourced – much like the Google Maps with the ability to manipulate data, Google Wave has opened its doors to developers. This is intended to increase interaction and scalability.
• History playback – ability to see the development of a Wave in a chronological order by different users. Great for document collaboration.
• Advanced language capabilities – enhanced spell checking which looks at the context of a sentence (no more “your and you’re” errors). Also translation into 40 languages as you type!

This has got the online community going with the endless possibilities. But let us consider the immediate/short-term impact.

What does this mean to the average user?

If like me you use the majority of the previously mentioned online functions, then this type of tool will get you excited in areas I should not talk about here!

If you do not, then chances are you will think less of it.

The success of Google Wave rides on reducing the barriers of entry and making it as easy for all to use, like Google Maps which was intuitive and easy on the eye. But Google Wave relies on more than that, because it requires a network of people to communicate with. All of which is currently disseminated across the website.

The question is, how easily can we pull our data together and what’s the incentive to do so? The incentive for me is pretty obvious, but what about the average user?

Chances are people outside of the Google bubble will continue with their Hotmails, Yahoos, Facebooks, all sat miles apart, blissfully unaware of the Goliath that is growing right beneath their finger tips.

To conclude

In the online world we’ve been given all these great tools - email, instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, blogging etc. - but we need somewhere to store them, a toolbox, a storage facility. Google Wave is that storage facility. Depending on how much you use these tools will determine how big your Waves are, or whether you bother to Wave at all!

It’s not going to change the online world overnight. But it will, in the beginning, make our online presence easier and more time efficient, at least it will mine!

This post was written by Jeremy Jacobs, owner of The Digital Consultant

• Sign up for Google Wave updates.
• Watch the full 1hr 20 min video here: