FARK: Drew Curtis' FARK.com Home of the weird remarks that AM DJs are so full of....

BBC sends reporters out with photo cellphones, and publishes the results. They are the current leader in applying this to news. The under-30's are using the photos with SMS. Do you have a photophone yet? CBBC Newsround | GALLERIES | Lizo's exclusive shots from the Brits Here are some specs Even Kodak is getting into the act.

FindLaw's Writ - Ramasastry: Patriot II A great way to educate yourself about "Total Information Awareness" and the total threat it poses to our individual liberty and our form of government.

TAP: Vol 14, Iss. 3. From Put-Down to Catch-Up. Todd Gitlin. Todd Gitlin takes the major media to task, but is anyone under 40 paying heed to them anyway?

The major media are much less major than they used to be, but the coverage of dissent within their circles hasn't changed much since the 1960s. When elites coalesce, the media readily follow suit. Then it takes a strong surge of public opinion to shift the sense of what is speakable. (Even that may not suffice to bend the press: It didn't, for example, during the Republicans' impeachment campaign.) After a summer of hearty Republican dissent, a pro-war consensus formed last fall, and the media concluded that those who had the bad taste to crack the consensus deserved to be treated as minor-league cranks. For whatever reason, it would appear that something has turned now. The bloom is off the bush.

ZDNet: Since I've been working wireless for several years and know how easy it is, I am including this. Live in an old house? Work where the infrastructure dates from the industrial age? Mix Mac and PCs but don't want to get a certificate in networking? Like to sit outside while you work? Any and all of these are reasons why you would think "wireless."

It had to happen. Now blogs will go mobile. from the BBCwhere they predict we will all have our own blog in a few years.

Did President Bush understand the protests and the scale of what went on? To Bush, the Crowd Was a Blur

How Protesters Mobilized So Many and So Nimbly Follow up in the NY Times (need to register) to my comments about talking to folks live via cellphone from the NY Peace Demonstrations on the 15th of February. Not connected? You will be like one who is missing one of their senses. Activity, interconnections but you can't figure out where they emanate from....

From the NY Times, so you might have to register, but if you are watching the music/recording industry and how analog is flowing into digital business, it is a quick but salient read. The Music Middlemen (the record companies) think it will take them 2-3 years to deliver tunes online. Everyone agrees this is the future format or at least delivery/sales mechanism for music. Whither the CD-ROM? Note to consumers: about $1.00 of the cost of a commercial CD goes to the artist (less than a dollar, in fact.) Do you want to bankroll the promotion and exploitation of the next Brittany? More on this topic in coming postings... Twilight of the CD? Not if It Can Be Reinvented

Scientific American: The Semantic Web In case you were reading about why Google wants Blogger, and thought "What is the semantic web" you can check out Tim Berners-Lee proposal from Scientific American of several years ago. The old "rear-view mirror" gloat comes over me, as I remember trying to interest fellow teachers in the semantic web and what it would mean for anyone who works with data and information, and getting that glazed eye look that means the listener is busy looking back for a glimpse of today and tomorrow.

Wired News: Why Did Google Want Blogger? When those quiet scribes who keep their noses in the virtual wind are linked and searchable with Google, who will be making news and who will be repackaging it? Think of news in fifteen years...blog or become irrelevant?

NY Daily News - Entertainment and Radio - MTV, BET gear up for war news reports Who says the young don't care? Not MTV which is going to cover any war in Iraq.

SearchDay - Puzzling Out Google's Blogger Acquisition - 18 February 2003 Google moves to buy Blogger and Chris Sherman offers some good reasons. If you don't know much about blogs, his summary of how many there are, and his characterization of them is on target. With Google being able to collect the eyes, links, and insights of a quarter of a million bloggers, who will need an Editor? I'm not advocating a position here, but trying to get "those who would do news" and "those who would teach about doing news" to look at how the figure/ground and framing of news is shifting as the viewer/user becomes a participant, not a passive receptor of news and views.

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Gadget makers target women Woman tech. It's about time, ladies.

Plan Approved To Save U.S. Digital History (TechNews.com) A timely idea. Have you ever "lost" a great article or story because it was moved or just somehow became unlinked? There is also the issue of being able to follow the form and development of electronic information over time that will be critical to future scholars. Write your congress person and urge them to put money into this important project.

Anti-war slogan suggestions

Here is a note from a friend who marched on 2/15/03 in NYC

L and I attended the march uptown today.  I will send photos as soon as they’re developed and scanned. Overall, I’d say the crowd represented a diverse range of ages if not interests.  From the signs and slogans, I gather most were emphatically but vaguely anti-war and anti-bush. A few specifically called for his impeachment, apparently on the grounds of Enron controversy. One or two posters boasted Quaker organization by-lines or authorship by other religious denominations. I did spot one Anarchist who gestured vulgarly to a cop and then ran away. Most strangely, although the density of the crowd surpassed NYC norms, people said “excuse me” and “pardon” when they stomped on your foot or shoved you out of the way. Very strange indeed.  Also, seemed to combine a large portion of non-New Yorkers. The police proved genuinely friendly although the poor horses were literally scared shitless. We did see one arrest. An inspiring uplifting display of democracy in action overall. 

 

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences Sen. Robt. Byrd speaks out-speaks for me.

The Unseen Gulf War by Peter Turnley - The Digital JournalistJournalists--think about this. This photographer did NOT go with the pool. Who died in the last Gulf War? The USA audience was shielded from the actual body count. You can view Turnley's work and decide what you think.

OJC brief on Anti-war demonstrationsLizzie called me just now from the middle of the NYC march. Cellphones change the balance and rhythm of the whole global protest thing, that's for sure. I sit in my house, but I can hear the drums, the chants, and feel the excitement of the march. The horse police had to withdraw--there were too many people. Here's some briefs from NYC indymedia

FEB 15 CONVERGENCE Feb 15 2003 Breaking News ... Please bear with our website as we handle the traffic. We will keep you updated with breaking news from around the city throughout the day. 1:43 First avenue is reported to be completely inacccessible-- people who want to get there to protest cannot. 2nd avenue is full wall to wall in the 60's. We are hearing reports that the police on 3d avenue have given up, though this isn't confirmed. 1:37 A smaller group of people made it out of the 51st / 3d Avenue pen and were herded north on 2nd avenue. It is a diverse group. They are now being stopped by a row of mounted police on 54th st, and they cannot move north. 1:24 We have reports that portions of Second Avenue have been taken over by marchers as well. 1:23 The uptown Lexington avenue line has been stopped at 23rd street because of the protest. 1:21 Third Avenue is full from 50th to 53d street . Cars and buses have been trapped by the crowd-- there are US Postal Service vans, a service van, and taxis. Marchers have completely taken the street. 1:09 The police are putting up barriers on 53d and 3d avenue. They are throwing them to one another. There is a huge crowd of people stopped by the barriers and they are chanting "let them through, let them through." There have been several unconfirmed arrests of people trying to get over the barriers. There is a lot of pushing and shoving with the police. 1:07 There is a march occuring on 3d avenue; people are trying to get to the protest and are moving north. 1:00pm. A report just came in that 2nd Ave. is “a sea of humanity” protesters have taken over half the avenue and more people are joining from every direction. 12:41 "3rd avenue and 58th is ours!" says one caller. From 57th to 58th is completely full. There are no protest pens on third avenue. There are groups up third avenue as far north as 72nd street. 12:38 The Labor March marching from 59th street is back on the sidewalk. The police have broken it in half. 12:32 Police are making it very difficult for protesters to get to the rallly; they are requiring people to go further and further north. 12:20 The youth march has moved from 25th and 6th, under threat of arrest if anyone moves into the street. The march is 2.5 blocks long at 27th and 6th moving north. 12:00 Huge numbers of people trying to get to the rally are marching north on 3rd Ave at around 57th Street. They are filling half of the avenue. 12:14 The rally extends up 1st Ave to 61st Street, filling barricades one-traffic-lane wide, with many more people coming. The day so far: The are masses of people converging on 1st avenue, and many people cannot get there, so they are stuck over on 2nd and 3rd ave. There was also a confrontation between police and members of the Youth bloc at 24th street and 6th avenue, and there are several confirmed arrests.

Here is what they were doing in No comments:

Wired News: A Chilly Response to 'Patriot II' Our legislators dropped the ball on the Patriot Act, so let's write them and urge them NOT to rush into Patriot II. Not sure how to reach your senator? That is easy to remedy. Check here

News Industry Plans for War and Worries About Lost AdsSome worry about war for philosophical or moral reasons, some for monetary reasons.

Got my mind on the media, and the media on my mindHere's a blog from the new listing of blogs that are useful, but don't fit on the J-curve as getting lots of hits. I enjoyed the entry about Ryan Phillips, new publisher of the Montgomery Journal. How is this for a quote from a publisher:

ormer reporters and editors at the paper say that Phillips, who did not graduate from college, was unprepared for the job. "At one point Ryan said: 'Why do we need copy editors? All they do is cut copy that sits around the ads,' " Scheltema said.

What are we supposed to tell the students?

Well, here is a discussion (and call for examples) of journalists who write online-only columns. Some are professional journalists, some are community folks who write when they can. It won't be long until there won't be such surprise over this kind of writing Read the column Is it time to stop calling the specialty of writing for an audience that reads, "print" and calling it what it actually is, "intellectual capital" or "dynamic text?"

Poynter Online - Cokie's Conflict of Interest Better than a hypothetical, here is a conflict for a real reporter.

Here is a good one from the Daily Mirror

The Salt Lake Tribune -- IVINS: FCC and Right-Wing Radio Helping U.S. Press Freedom Slip Away How the FCC is being hijacked in the service of private, corporate interests at the expense of the public and to the detriment of the commons

OJR article: Youth of Today Reject Ink Stains for Net News; At-Home Work Counters At-Work Play? They do READ, just not what their folks read...and look, even the Boomers are changing how they work/read because of electronic communication. Think--what kind of changes in society took place as the telephone moved from a toy for the rich to ubiquitous?

OJR article: Cell Phones that Surf for News

kuro5hin.org || technology and culture, from the trenchesIf Colin Powell is going to front for the establishment, shouldn't he have better intelligence than what he can plagarize from a postgraduate student publicatio from the Internet. I guess he "borrowed" from other sources, too. My first case study for my exploration of plagarism.

New York was full of surprises, as usual. We stopped by the MELA: Dream House: Eight Years of Sound and Light one night. Since it is a sound installation, as well as light, it is difficult to describe, but the moment of arriving on a deserted Church St. and needing to ask "Is the Dream House open?" and feeling the building pulse was worth the trip if you are in NYC. From sound and light, we grounded ourselves at the New York Earth Room which is a second floor room filled with over 20 tons of, yes, EARTH. It has been on view since 1980, and thus is a year older than my kid Liz, who found something very attractive about the space. Perhaps as a New Yorker, just the connection to "earth" is missed on a daily basis. A final note, the "STOP BUSH" grafitti campaign was in evidence everywhere. Anti-war sentiment seems more obvious in NYC, at least among young people, but I suspect when they mobilize on the 15th of February they will be joined by folks of all ages....Chicago is featuring a two-day event on Feb. 22-23rd.

Off to NYC for an excursion. La Monte Young Sound House, Seminar at Pratt, La Boheme & Lizzie. Disconnection from the netgrid for several days. Incipient fear of e-mail overload upon return. The new semester looms.

Journalists, citizens, here is a list of news sources on Iraq, from Iraq and the mideast, including Al Jezeera's English language page. What will Colin Powell say to the world? Check out what some not so sympathetic sources are saying. The list was compiled by Al Thompkins of Poynter Instittute.

Internet revolution persists despite dotcom bust. This is a series of stories by David Minasian, writing in the Economist. He is a commentator on NPR as well. The fundamental change is that e-communications will change the way humans communicate, and thus how organizations and society functions. Don't miss this one.

Just off the e-presses, Italians and those who speak Italian are voting for their picks for Saint of the Internet at www.santiebeati.it. Those who can't read Italian can follow the story from CNN

Now here is a kind of gaming that has potential. Outcomes are built from player actionsin a way that makes me think of creating a flock of birds flying in StarLogo. Obviously, this kind of theorizing permeates the world of literary theorists these days. Note to self: Analyze news coverage, and then develop a model for presenting content in a personalized reader based on reader's previous interests and choices. Cool.