Friday, April 28, 2006
laurafries.com Blog Archive » So, you want a blog, do ya?
Here is a newspaper pros take on what you need to consider to start a blog for a newspaper.laurafries.com Blog Archive » So, you want a blog, do ya?
Politics and Technology: Wikipedia: Not worth getting fired over.
Don't get caught making up stuff for the Wikipedia. Tampering leads to another firing.Politics and Technology: Wikipedia: Not worth getting fired over.
Grid computing: the old is new again
Technical notes. Cyworld, the Korean social network software that dwarfs MySpace is moving to grid network. While IBM and other places are working on developing grid computing, this effort by the South Koreans aims at commercializing this new tech first.
IBM has info on its site about grid technology and Wikipedia defines grid as
Grid computing is an emerging computing model that provides the ability to perform higher throughput computing by taking advantage of many networked computers to model a virtual computer architecture that is able to distribute process execution across a parallel infrastructure. Grids use the resources of many separate computers connected by a network (usually the Internet) to solve large-scale computation problems. Grids provide the ability to perform computations on large data sets, by breaking them down into many smaller ones, or provide the ability to perform many more computations at once than would be possible on a single computer, by modeling a parallel division of labour between processes.
Newswise | Intelligent Scarecrow Can Save Aquaculture from Financial Losses
In my life outside of work, I take care of several ponds and my fish and frogs. Therefore this item where tech created "an intelligent scarecrow" to protect fish farmers caught my eye.
I have a motion detector water-spraying pest repeller device, but the topic is of vital interest if you have a pond. Newswise | Intelligent Scarecrow Can Save Aquaculture from Financial Losses
Thursday, April 27, 2006
When digital kids rule the classroom | CNET News.com
What is the purpose of school? That is the question we need to get back to. This kind of learning is real and makes for autonomous learners. Too bad that once they are autonomous they don't want to be bored any more. When digital kids rule the classroom | CNET News.com
BBC taking on MySpace? BBC as a "citizen journalism" site?
BBC has always been a bit paternalistic but above reproach as far as good news goes. If they go "more music" and try to take on MySpace, what will happen to news? Is this another slip away from reality into a totally relativistic age? I for one, still hunger for facts to go with my personal opinions.
BBC unveils big online revamp | CNET News.com: "BBC's newfound interest in 'citizen journalism' poses questions about how user-created content will be managed.
'The BBC plays an interesting role as a public service provider,' Smith said. 'In the past, they've provided educational information and had a paternalistic attitude almost. How will they embrace this?
'A lot of these [user-generated content] sites can be rubbish. They have to play a role in identifying what is quality. If the BBC is to continue to be seen as a source of authority, it will need to have some sort of filtering process.'"
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Derek Hill back on the airwaves
This is good news about radio. Derek is a natural for this kind of program and the community needs it.North clobbers bosses for boosting radio rival: "*Derek Hill, the former WMAQ news anchor who's press secretary for the Chicago Housing Authority, is back on the radio: From 10 to 11 a.m. Saturdays, he's hosting a live call-in show on Midway Broadcasting's urban talk WVON-AM (1450). It's targeted to the 130,000 residents of the CHA."
NBC puts ethics on hold
Its messy, its not black and white clear-- its media ethics in a real life situation. Should they or shouldn't they lie about who they are and allow themselves to be deputized. What do you think?NBC puts ethics on hold
Slashdot | Social Networking From Your Cell
So, are we all connected yet?
Slashdot | Social Networking From Your Cell
Monday, April 24, 2006
NPR : Tyler Perry's Impressive Hollywood Rise
Unbundled, wanting to retain control, TV auteur cuts out middlemen. NPR : Tyler Perry's Impressive Hollywood Rise: "a novel attempt to launch a sitcom. Rather than trying to sell the idea to a network, Perry has already shot 10 episodes and is giving them free of charge to nine television stations in the hopes that the show will catch on.
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Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed - Center for Media and Democracy
Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed - Center for Media and Democracy: "In sum, television newscasts—the most popular news source in the United States—frequently air VNRs without disclosure to viewers, without conducting their own reporting, and even without fact checking the claims made in the VNRs. VNRs are overwhelmingly produced for corporations, as part of larger public relations campaigns to sell products, burnish their image, or promote policies or actions beneficial to the corporation.
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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Rocky Mountain News: Other Business
So is the idea here that if we don't watch it, it won't hurt us?Rocky Mountain News: Other Business
Friday, April 21, 2006
Numbers can be fun and very interesting.
I am a fan of The Long Tailhref="http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/04/an_apparent_lon.html">The Long Tail: An apparent Long Tail paradox
The paradox is cool and the way he explains it, makes it clear. In grad school, we used to look at what we called the inverted J-curve. If you plot kids and discipline incidents, you get this curve-- a few kids cause lots of problems but most kids don't cause any.
The long-tail distribution provides a good explanation for lots of web-related phenomena where there are lots of choices for people. Its a quick, good read.
Chicago Tribune news : Print Edition - Friday Tempo
Here is a good review of the best local online publications: gapersblock, beachwoodreporter, chicagoist and Chicago Tribune news : Print Edition - Friday Tempo: "Dougherty applied for the grant with Columbia College Chicago journalism professor and Chicago blogger Barbara Iverson, he says, and its intention is to help the Daily News train 'citizen journalists' (non-professionals) to do reporting in their local ZIP codes. "
Thursday, April 20, 2006
New Google search like something out of EPIC 2015
Search engine behemoth Google has just secured ownership of an algorithm that is meant to revolutionize search. Developed by a 26-year old Australian PhD student, the program Orion lists sections of webpages related to the entered keywords on Google's searchpage instead of just listing the title of the page and a link. Users thus don't have to go to other websites; by way of the listed sections they can see whether or not the information interests them and then decide whether or not to go to the site.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Give 'em Helen (Harpers.org)
This woman is my idol. Students, this is how you do follow up questions.Give 'em Helen (Harpers.org)
My Advice to Kid Bloggers...
Thanks to Emily Le Beau for a nice write up of our interview about Kids, Blogs, and Safety online. I think kids need to be encouraged to write anywhere, and blogs are fun. Just be careful.
Chicago Tribune news : Print Edition - Tuesday Tempo
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Some schools have all the luck.
From the "why don't we go wireless department."The Star Press - www.thestarpress.com - Muncie, IN
Thursday, April 13, 2006
How newspaper can survive--oh, MICROPAYMENTS again
Ha ha, if you watched EPIC 2014 when it was meme, you got the point that news will be a hot commodity, but it will be folks that can aggregate news in ways that satisfy readers who will be the stars of tomorrow. (By the way, if you haven't seen EPIC 2014, you can see the newly minted EPIC 2015) Here is that idea articulated for MSMers suggesting how news will be monetized from now on.
Newspapers compromising brand but gaining revenue online - Editors Weblog- Analysis: "Personalized revenue: If newspapers are to become aggregators and brand names are to fade in importance on the Web, pay schemes must also be adapted. Instead of being based on the brand name and being all things to all people (standard bulk subscriptions), newspapers need to charge on more specific levels (micropayments). (see other postings on micropayments here, here and here)"
Newspapers adapting journalism to Internet reading habits - Editors Weblog- Analysis
Newspapers adapting journalism to Internet reading habits - Editors Weblog- Analysis: "Many longtime print readers are averse to reading Internet news. It requires a completely different sort of reading to that which they are accustomed, from headline, to body, to accompanying images. Most newspapers haven’t picked up on this fact and have not changed their publishing strategies."
I have written about this before. I had a similar experience in grad school. Should I give up yellow legal pads for computer composition as I started my dissertation? It was a problem because I knew the more efficient computer composition method would take time to learn. I had to decide if time spent in the learning curve would be made up in the long run. It was.
Similarly, a few years ago, I realized that if one is to keep up with Internet news, technology, tools--the whole ball of wax--one had to use the Internet to keep track of information. Basically, you forgo your world of paper rolodexes, notes on paper stickes, paper copies of what you read that was interesting, for effective online bookmark organizers, saving what you read online as .pdf, and generally setting up the work environment so you can take advantage of electronic searching and other efficient tools.
So, the same idea is filtering through to news providers, realizing that it does make a difference how people read and how your news looks on the page.
Talk about disruptive technologies
Tag:
Disney ABC is going to give away episodes of TV shows like "Lost" and "Commander in Chief" via Internet. Viewers can download episodes after they air on the boob tube. For Free.
The Telcos are lobbying in the House for a bill that will set up a national cable system, rather than regional. Beside taking power out of the hands of consumers, this bill would help the telephone companies get into the video download business, Thus, Disney's move toward free downloads, instead of the iPod 1.99 downloads could spell trouble, at least for one potential economic model.
Disney's move to offer shows for free on the Internet could be viewed as a direct threat to the business model of cable companies, which have been the gatekeepers of television programming in America for the last few decades. The news is equally grim for phone companies, especially Verizon Communications, which is aggressively moving into the TV business.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Seven Days: DIY Journalism
Well, I couldn't say it any clearer myself, so I will just post what the authors reiterate about citizen journalism in a simple "How-to"Seven Days: DIY Journalism: "Start It Up
Want to make your own successful citizen media site? iBrattleboro co-founder Chris Grotke has some advice:
- Think long-term. Grotke and co-founder Lise LePage started their site with a 10-year plan.
- Stay local. Listen to what people are talking about in town, and design the sections of your site to reflect that. 'You can imitate a little,' says Grotke, 'but think about what your neighbors need.'
- It only takes about $10 a month to host a website like iBrattleboro, but it takes a lot of time. Grotke and LePage promoted the site extensively by putting up fliers and, more importantly, by going to public meetings and talking about the site with community leaders and neighbors. They also monitor it constantly throughout the day. 'We either have to be doing it, or have someone else doing it,' Grotke says.
- Team up with local web developers and designers if possible.
- Model good behavior. You have to post news, too. Try writing in different styles to give people a sense of their options. 'We've had news submitted in the form of haiku,' notes Grotke.
- It's not all fun and games -- people may submit libelous or obscene posts and you have to figure out how to deal with that. It helps to have an understanding of media and democracy and censorship issues.
- If you're looking to promote democracy and access to media, your site might work. If you're just trying to make money off it, it won't. Grotke speaks from experience when he says, 'This is not a get-rich-quick scheme.'
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Windows Live
Windows Live is a new search engine for academics that Microsoft has put in beta.
You get to customize a page, sort of like in google or yahoo, and they are getting access to articles from ACM and academic sources. We'll see about the quality and transparency of this new search engine.
Today's briefs: bloggers, laptop thefts on the rise, Wal-Mart "gatekeeping" for video game industry.
A Nepalese journalist blogger is talking about the benefit of newsblogs.
San Francisco police note a disturbing upswing in laptop thefts. It seems to be associated with WiFi and the greater utility of a WiFi laptop in a world where we can connect almost anywhere. I am guessing RFID chips that will let our "ET" laptops call home will be a big item this Christmas.
It was news when Wal-Mart effectively began censoring recordings by dictating what cover art or song content they could have. Does it seem a big leap that the same big-brother Wal-Mart is now telling the video game industry what art, content and games to produce?
If Wal-Mart tells a top-end publisher it won't carry a certain game, the publisher kills that game.In short, every triple-A game sold at retail in North America is managed start to finish, top to bottom, with the publisher's gaze fixed squarely on Wal-Mart, and no other.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Stealing by any other name...
One of our student's working for the Columbia Chronicle wrote this editorial that makes an interesting observation about how to give credit for a story idea...
If bloggers are doing such a good job of reporting, we should be holding them in higher esteem. “Independent media” is not a new concept, and alternative newspapers and magazines have long received praise for shedding light on stories that mainstream publications have overlooked. (Just look at the recognition Sonoma State University’s Project Censored has received over its 30-year history.)
Monday, April 10, 2006
Blogs and blogging in the news about news.
A new service, a href="http://blogburst.com">blogburst scans the blogsphere for blogs they can syndicate for newspaper use. I signed up and I am waiting for them to get back to me. Most of the blogs they include are ones I would include, like DIY and others.
The NYTimes reworked its blogs this weekend, and morph we the media is taking up the issue of trust and blogs.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
A look back at blogosphere and...
CBSNews.com: Blog
So. Korea builds an eco-friendly housing complex. It will feature solar and thermal.
Syncronicity. I was just checking out the blog Make Money not Art in a quest for sushi jewelry when I came across this look at the same blog from a gamer perspective.
All of which typifies Debatty's approach to blogging - pulling together cultural commentary, architecture, installation art, new mobile and personal technology, as well as unusual and progressive design, to inform a vision of where all those things are going, and how they might, can and do influence each other. We Make Money Not Art has become an fascinating place to read about games because its author does not write about games from the perspective of either a gamer or a developer, but simply as someone who has an interest in bold new things, and in the artifacts of design that make up our modern world. It takes perspectives like these to make sure that games remain new, and that they continue to surprise us.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Youtube.com and the new media landscape
My students love to show me their favorite a youtube.com videos. It seems like a pretty new site, but it is catching fire.
This is the "citizen journalist" thing, but what it really should be called is "active user" rather than "passive consumer."
Where the age of printing press newspapers, broadcast radio and broadcast televsion was the age of mass media for a passive audience with few choices, the essence of our digital age is participant media, 2-way media, and transparency by which I measn, a sort of meritocracy of ideas and content. What people like, they'll download, watch, blog about, and talk about. It won't matter so much WHO produced it, but WHAT it is.
The big breakthrough is going to be the rise of the popular channelers--these will be "online editors" who put together feeds that other people will pay for. The media companies shouldn't suffer if they build on their ability to produce good content, but it will democratize the production side of information production because any 17 year old with a cool idea can command the same attention that some austere talking head used to be able to monopolize.
I gotta go. My old crittercam doesn't work with OSX so I'm out to get myself a logitech again. I bet there's a market for some of my wacky views.
YouTube's 'Bowiechick' and the spiders from marketing | CNET News.com
Youtube.com and the new media landscape
My students love to show me their favorite a href="http://youtube.com/">youtube.com videos. It seems like a pretty new site, but it is catching fire.
This is the "citizen journalist" thing, but what it really should be called is "active user" rather than "passive consumer."
Where the age of printing press newspapers, broadcast radio and broadcast televsion was the age of mass media for a passive audience with few choices, the essence of our digital age is participant media, 2-way media, and transparency by which I measn, a sort of meritocracy of ideas and content. What people like, they'll download, watch, blog about, and talk about. It won't matter so much WHO produced it, but WHAT it is.
The big breakthrough is going to be the rise of the popular channelers--these will be "online editors" who put together feeds that other people will pay for. The media companies shouldn't suffer if they build on their ability to produce good content, but it will democratize the production side of information production because any 17 year old with a cool idea can command the same attention that some austere talking head used to be able to monopolize.
I gotta go. My old crittercam doesn't work with OSX so I'm out to get myself a logitech again. I bet there's a market for some of my wacky views.
YouTube's 'Bowiechick' and the spiders from marketing | CNET News.com
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Wired 14.04: PLAY
From the "this is what I thought the future would be like" department. Too cool household items that glow or light up.Wired 14.04: PLAY
More on online communities
German media mega-corporation Bertelsmann is looking to enter the e-community market with a "MySpace for Boomers" site. The 50 and overs are still a big spending group, and Bertelsmann figures them to be turned off by the youth explosion on MySpace.
There is a site ThirdAge that is established with about 1.5 million member already. It covers topics from how having an affair is improving a marriage to menopause and divorce. I don't know but the site looks to me like my copy of AARP magazine.
Webshots is CNet's outreach to college students
Webshots is going to let folks with the .edu on their emails get social with photos. This happens to be a huge audience, too, and one that MySpace is colonizing at a fast pace.
Webshots looks like a less hip flickr and has both a free membership and a monthly charge membership (flickr charges by the year for its premium membership).
The ads will be aimed at the precious demo (18-24) on the .edu service. I will probably sign up and try it, but flickr is so satisfactory and easy to use, there is a disincentive to fool around with a new program.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Cyworld USA acting like Brigadoon
Cyworld USA was up and you sign up for the beta. But now its closed. You can see their page at http://us.cyworld.com/Mashable* » Cyworld US Launches - Will It Topple MySpace?
The discussion notes that it has a huge potential to make money, but Mashable speculates that it will target a demographic younger than MySpace or Facebook.
As I noted about Cyworld when I saw a demo at their headquarters in South Korea, they charge for everything--that is any of customization. You can't make or upload your own avatars or backgrounds. No, you must pay.
It could gain a big mind hold with young and possibly with groups like seniors or stay-at-home moms.
Here is another post about from Sunday Apr. 3, 2006 that shows a screengrab:
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008926.html
DNA - India - From WiFi hotspots to WiFi cities - Daily News & Analysis
Wifi comes to India, but USA frets about it. With telcos trying to bully congress via lobbyists to outlaw municipal wifi, Bangalore and Pune will be the high tech job and money meccas that our cities could have been. DNA - India - From WiFi hotspots to WiFi cities - Daily News & Analysis: "Bangalore's tech edge is set to get sharper as city officials turn it into one giant wireless hotspot. A similar project is under way in Pune."
South Korea news for the rest of us...
The story is from the NYTimes, so registration is required. If you are in hurry, use bugmenot for a quick read.
The story details how South Korea has leveraged electronic communication technologies to push its society ahead of others with investments in technology like super-fast WiFi for everyone (called Wi-Bro) and by providing tech instruction for homemakers. CyWorld which is one of my blog's persistent threads is part of the mix.
South Korea, perhaps more than any other country, is transforming itself through technology. About 17 million of the 48 million South Koreans belong to Cyworld, a Web-based service that is a sort of parallel universe where everyone is interconnected through home pages. The interconnectivity has changed the way and speed with which opinions are formed, about everything from fashion to politics, technology and social science experts said.But now people are starting to notice that these infrastructure changes which change the way people communicate, and thus I would argue, the way they think, are starting to change the political scene. Again, from the NYTimes,
Two years ago, after the opposition-led National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo Hyun, a consensus began forming on the Internet that the move was politically motivated — two hours after the vote took place...there were mass street demonstrations. That hadn't been typical of South Korea, but as in the Phillipines and even in the more trivial moblogs, everyone is connected and they can move together swiftly. The downside, is the hounding of folks like "dog-poop girl" which I've detailed previously, but not the schools have incorporated "IT Ethics" into junior and senior high school. Oh and all those afraid of wild teens and MySpace, they also teach "Healthy Mobile Phone Culture" and "Protecting Personal Privacy" to kids. Gee, why didn't we think of that? And what is coming next? Networked robots for home and public spaces like the Post Office. Go visit there if you have the chance, it is quite interesting.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Saturday's Morning Digest
Today I am going to try something new. I've installed a new "widget" that let's me write blog entries from my Mac "Dashboard." This should let me post about several stories that I think are related or have some connection in one entry. The way blogger or other software works, it's easier to post about single sites.
Saturday picks: There is trouble in Nepal for journalists. According to this story,
King Gyanendra, a tyrant who on February 1, 2005, thrust the remote South Asian nation into a communications dark age. Telephone lines were cut, mobile phone service was shut down and Internet access was blocked. Dozens of FM radio stations and community newspapers were closed or forbidden to report on the royal coup. Outspoken leaders in the Federation of Nepalese Journalists were arrested. Many editors went into hiding.Dinesh Wagle, a reporter for the Kantipur Daily, the country's leading newspaper, got blogging and is a sort of leader for a cadre of journalists who are using Internet to get around the news lock-down. Of course the fact that Nepal has a low rate of literacy means their impact on the general population is lessened, but the Reporters without Borders organization recognized their extraordinary efforts to keep the news going in the face of a communication blackout by the King. From serious to frivolous finds Verizon getting fined for its chalk sidewalk ads around Washington, D.C. To advertise its phonebook, Verizon hired a contractor to spray water-soluble chald messages on D.C. sidewalks. But in D.C. where grafitti is a problem, this is prohibited unless you have a mayoral order.
"It's harder and harder to catch consumers' attention, so many companies, including us, are turning to nontraditional advertisements," she said. "At this point, of course, I don't think we'll be trying it again."From the if you don't know about it, it can't hurt you department Researcher and professor Edward Felten who was involved in the weird controversy brought on the by Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) where he was prohibited from presenting his academic research because it involved encryption schemas that the big media companies wanted to use to prevent copying is in the DCMA frey again. Sony recently had a bad code day with its rootkit idea. Felten and his group discovered the problem but feared that if they disclosed it, they'd be sued, so consumers were at risk because of the DCMA. Lobbyists for the industry argue that the DCMA must stand as is, while consumers stand to lose. The big question seems to be "Why on earth are we putting cybersecurity in the hands of copyright lawyers?" The all MySpace, all the time department reports trouble in the space.
MySpace assigns roughly 90 employees, a third of its workforce, to the task of monitoring the safety and security of members, Dudeck said. Using search and algorithm technologies, MySpace employees will review information for such inconsistencies as claiming to be a 14-year-old member while putting information in a profile about a 7th grade teacher and class.Tags:
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