In yet another example of the blogosphere being overrun by fringe elements, not, here's a blog by Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Yes, that's right. That Paul Levy, pictured here, who runs that famous institution, has been using Blogger since October, 2006. Not familiar with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center? Here's a bit about it in their own words:

A teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is renowned for excellence in patient care, biomedical research, teaching and community service. Located in the heart of Boston's medical community, it hosts nearly three quarters of a million patient visits annually in and around Boston.

Famous, traditional, highly advanced… and thanks to Paul Levy's courage and vision, very conversational, very online, very community aware. Most every other health care provider in town has expressed some level of disdain at one time or another about Mr. Levy's blog effort. One of them, when asked about it, is reported to have said, "What's a blog?" That person must have been distracted… probably fresh out of leeches that day.

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My, oh, my, looked who's hired a blogger. The New York Times. He's Brian Stelter and he's 21 years old.

Why is this important? A few reasons fit to print:

1. It should confirm that blogging is gaining more and more establishment support;

2. This young fellow is a credible journalist in his own right already. The newspaper could have put him on the traditional print side of the paper. That they didn't means it is possible major newspapers will finally figure out how to run parallel distribution systems, hardcopy and digital, so that when everything eventually goes all digital, there will still be a New York Times.

3. That they didn't give this writer a traditional job with the paper implies The New York Times may get the fact that blogging affords a slightly different form of journalism.

4. It's also possible with this move that The New York Times may set a new blogging/reporting standard. The item notes, for example, that Mr. Stelter's posts will be edited. He's cool with that.

Admittedly, The New York Times isn't the first establishment newspaper to take the plunge. But this is pretty radical… this is The New York Times. The New York Times also doesn't hire recent college graduates for starting positions as journalists, as the news item mentions. It prefers to grow its own… or has preferred this in the past.

All I can say, folks, is The Times, they are a-changing. Are you?

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Think social media holds nothing for you? Don't tell that to Harvard. That would be veritasteless. Judging by their blogging, as evidenced by the first link below, they're on to something they value.

Consider this: If establishment law schools and tradition-bound legal professionals are adopting the new Web 2.0 technology for community building at this rate, could it mean there's something worthwhile going on… that if these risk wary types have decided this is not only a savvy way to go, but safe as well, shouldn't you? Check these out:

The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Blog

UCLA Law School Blog

The Law School Innovation Blog

Law Professor on the Loose

Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports

Lewis and Clark Law School Blog

The Law Career Blog

Univ. of Oregon School of Law Blog

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