RIAA and Digital Millenium Copyright Act blues

From David Byrne on the RIAA and its warning to him. And from slashdot comes this story about challenges to the RIAA and its ex parte suits. RIAA

The Million Dollar Homepage - Own a piece of internet history!

This is an ingenious way to make money, but I haven't bought into any pixels yet. Apparently by selling the pixels at $1.00 each, he is raking in the cash....The Million Dollar Homepage - Own a piece of internet history!

End of the year contemplation: the $100 laptop

Emerging technologies and their effect on society MIT's Nicholas Negroponte has proposed and gone forward with his "$100 laptop" idea. Negroponte calls it the most important idea of his lifetime. It is about education, not the device itself. This link goes to a neat MIT site where you can watch the speech as a video or just listen (my choice when it is only a talking head.) Note: Negroponte presents the first PowerPoint he ever created, so you might want to watch rather than listen. How McLuhanesque that one of the first and most potent things that the villagers noticed and liked about the laptops was that the laptop provided the brightest light the families had. Hmmm. "Electricity is the most pure form of information." Some of the breakthrough ideas to my way of thinking are:

• "connectivity" is not a problem anymore
• the genesis of this idea is with Papert, Logo, and thinking machines from 1970s
• by putting tech in hands of kids, the tech "bleeds" into the family experience
• the cost of the laptops can be brought down because of the not-for-profit status

Ian from Malaysia has images of the cool laptop 100laptop

Chicagodailynews.org transforming in several ways.

Geoff Dougherty and his new online citizen journalism enterprise was called chicagodailynews.org but the cease and desist letter from the Sun-Times and the threat of litigation has caused him, according to Jay DeFoore, to go for the chitowndailynews.org name instead. No matter what you call it, it is taking shape in pretty good time. I was checking it when it was just a few days old, and there were no zipcodes with stories. On 12/21/05 we looked at the site during a "Chicago Bloggers" meetup and browsing around talking about Geoff's site and all the zipcodes we "tested" had some story, though some were pretty short. Steve Outing in his Poynter columntoday writes about a South African cit journo effort that is paying for good stories, and mentions ohmynews.com which pays for stories, albeit not too much. He missed Dougherty's chitowndailynews.org where reporters get paid and he told me he envisions salaried reporters for some of the beats as the enterprise catches on. And as long as we are talking about some kind of payment for citizen writing, I want to express my distress about Outing's idea that the citizen journos be paid with trinkets. He initially was talking about t-shirts and mugs, and in this latest story he at least moves up to giving out cellphones. I think the idea that good writing is good writing means pay is pay. The trinket rewards sound patronizing to me. As a freelancer, I want to paid for my work, and not treated like a clever child. I know this idea could be threatening to those who are getting paid fulltime to write, but I also think that fulltime writing, especially reporting, is hard and that not everyone who can write well will quit their day jobs to be fulltime reporters. The point is, that almost everyone has at least one good story in them, and if it is a good story, we also respect it. citizenjournalism

Inside Higher Ed :: Easy Targets

Journalists, writers, teachers, students who want to write will find this a good read. Academics discuss the MLA convention and the rocky relationship between journalists and academic writer/scholars. Inside Higher Ed :: Easy Targets This summarizes their gripes but gives you something to think and even write about

Shumway argued that “reporters who cover academics are in competition” with the humanities community for public influence, so it is in journalists’ interest to deny academics the privilege to preach specialized knowledge, and to “create a world where [the journalist’s] own knowledge is enough.” For their part, the journalists on the panel told the professors that they cannot cling to the elite sensibility that comes with specialized knowledge, and then expect that knowledge to be constantly thrust upon a wide audience.

When 2.0: Time and simulation - News - ZDNet

This is very cool. Time and life as they play out in the Sims.When 2.0: Time and simulation - News - ZDNet

Top 10 tech trends for 2006

Another "top trends" listing. The discussion of Wi-Fi and Wi-Max is interesting. Here in Chicago, thecity and county have been holding hearings about municipal Wifi. There is an interesting project going on with a mesh network at the old Sears on the Westside. Vlogs will be big, video from the Big, big screen and from the little screen will be a thing. MercuryNews.com | 12/25/2005 | Top 10 tech trends for 2006

Slashdot | Podcasting Censored by Government

Podcasting, territoriality, and government media regulations have apparently clashed in Flanders. Slashdot | Podcasting Censored by Government

t r u t h o u t - The Costly Enron Cleanup

January 17th marks the beginning of the trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron. For the reporters with financial saavy, it will be a bonanza...t r u t h o u t - The Costly Enron Cleanup

A wake for City News Bureau

From the Headline Club: Services for Chicago's City News Bureau, the 116-year-old wire service that was the starting point for hundreds of American journalists, will be held New Year's Eve in the Billy Goat Tavern, lower Michigan Avenue and Hubbard Street. The wake begins at 8 p.m. Arrangements are being handled by Paul Zimbrakos, CNB editor, Sam Sianis, Billy Goat propietor, and Bernard Judge, former City News editor. All present and former CNB staffers are welcome, along with spouses and friends. First drink is on the house for those who can prove they were part of the finest journalistic training ground ever devised. CNB ceases operation at 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2006. Please help get the word out. For additional details call Paul, 312-222-5555 or Bernie, 312-644-7006.

I love these end of year feature stories

The Pez MP3 player is cool though pretty stupid. The dumbest IMHO is the Zizzle iz and here is movie to prove it. See the top ten here Weirdest tech of 2005 - ZDNet: Reviews

Inside Higher Ed :: What You Do All Day

Food for thought for those who teach or go to school. Inside Higher Ed :: What You Do All Day The grad student who proposed reading 20 hrs. per week, and got dissed by his profs for "being lazy" makes a valid point. How much do YOU read each week? As a professor, I know I read online to keep up with news and for blogs for about 2-3 hours per day. I read at least one newspaper each day which takes about 45 mins. to an hour. Then I often read before I go to sleep, for maybe 30-45 min. I might read an article or a chapter during the day or student papers for another hour or two. But still, that is a maximum of probably 5 hours per day. I can't do that every day, because I have to teach, commute (I read on the el, but obviously, when driving I can't read) and relax sometimes. Also, I do not do the same amount of reading on weekends, though Sundays I add the NYTimes and that takes a couple of hour to get through. Thus I'd put my professorial maximum reading at 5 hours 5 days per week, or 25 hours. And I expect that is higher than most weeks because of meetings, yoga, etc. Hmmm the student wasn't lazy after all.

IE vs. the world: six Web browsers compared - CNET reviews

I am slowly transistioning to Firefox. I tried to install it on my work machine, though, and there was some kind of conflict because there are two administrators listed, so it won't ever work on that machine. I am hoping moving to OS 10.3 will solve the problem.IE vs. the world: six Web browsers compared - CNET reviews

Pro-Hollywood bill aims to restrict digital tuners | CNET News.com

Keep an eye on this one folks. How much dumbing down of devices and implanting will we consumers be willing to put up with? Who benefits, who loses rights?Pro-Hollywood bill aims to restrict digital tuners | CNET News.com

Reuters joins in the unbundling of video and distributes to blogs as well as MSM

unbundling

Last month Reuters rivals Associated Press and CBS separately said they signed deals to distribute video clips online. CBS news video will appear on AOL, and AP is working with Microsoft's MSN on an ad-based online video network for Web sites that subscribe to the wire service.

t r u t h o u t - Sen. Reid Calls US Congress 'Most Corrupt in History'

Here is a CAR challenge question. Sen. Reid calls this congress the most corrupt in history. What kind of index could be developed to rate and rank congresses through the ages on the degree of corruption they were associated with? What a cool research idea. Gotta go and work on it...t r u t h o u t - Sen. Reid Calls US Congress 'Most Corrupt in History'

Radio Australia - News - South Korea works to free protestors from Hong Kong jail

South Korean diplomat going to free Korean protesters. What would Bush do? Aid them or spirit them away to a secret prisom?Radio Australia - News - South Korea works to free protestors from Hong Kong jail

What teens want

If you are a media professional or a journalism student, when you read this, you can react with disdain for teens who are so wired, or you can be thinking about the future of media. I do the the latter and find it pretty challenging but also exciting.Herald & Review Newspaper Website - Decatur, Illinois - Central Illinois Newspaper Group (CING)

Ramp generates power as cars pass

With my Computer-Assisted Reporting class doing some investigating about global warming, I found this an intriguing idea for generating power without raising the CO2 levels in the air....BBC NEWS | UK | England | Somerset | Ramp generates power as cars pass

MRE Criticizes Expelling of Embeds Over Pix of Shot-Up Humvee

MRE Criticizes Expelling of Embeds Over Pix of Shot-Up Humvee:

"Our job is not to be stooges of the administration or the Pentagon and be complicit in their attempt to manage the news," said Christenson, a three-time embed. "We are here to tell our readers about the war."

Technorati tags: warreporting

? The rise of search . . . and the decline in journalism | Tom Foremski: IMHO | ZDNet.com

From the techno business pages of ZD-Net comes this defense and call for a "professional media class." " The rise of search engines and the decline in journalism | Tom Foremski: IMHO | ZDNet.com

Puzzled about gift-giving? Give them a DOMAIN

Read about various firms that provide inexpensive domain name registration and hosting. GoDaddy sounds like a good bet. The template lets even a technophobe set up a personal website. An interesting gift for that friend who has everything else.

? Where HP goes (into the 'live Web'), perhaps your business should follow | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

I see some of the commentors are quibbling about how well HP is using the live web. The message that I think is important is that you have to get on the live web and use it to be able to understand it for your business or your teaching. You can't just "know its there" but not use it and be effective. ? Where HP goes (into the 'live Web'), perhaps your business should follow | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com Technorati tags: notclueless

The Chicago Daily News reincarnated ?

Just a note: as of Wednesday 12/14/05 11:28 I can't connect to chicagodailynews.org though I was browsing it fine yesterday. Hope this is just that they are getting too many hits and are revamping their server structure rather than some dire sign of it going belly-up already. Geoff Dougherty formerly a Chicago Tribune reporter has opened a new citizen journo enterprise that aims to go hyperlocal in Chicago. But, can he use that name? Will this kind of enterprise make money? Check it out for yourself.Newspapers in the News with Charles Apple Technorati tags: citizenjournalism

USATODAY.com - Can newspapers weather the techno-storm?

I have one word for them -- micropayments. If you haven't read this prescient article from John Perry Barlow, written in the good old "90s," take minute to check out the "ET call home" method of payment for stories and data. It is based on sophisticate encryption, but it would work for me as an avid reader. I would have an e-wallet, and could charge it up with an amount of money and just browse and read with autopay. I presume I would be able to set it up to notify me if the payment was more than a certain amount. The payment would be a tiny amount per page, but with millions of views, you would get rich. n most of the schemes I can project, the file would be "alive" with permanently embedded software that could "sense" the surrounding conditions and interact with them, For example, it might contain code that could detect the process of duplication and cause it to self-destruct. USATODAY.com - Can newspapers weather the techno-storm?: "They were wrong, but this is not about journalism anyway-- it's about consumer empowerment fueled by technological innovation. And if editors and publishers want to keep their journalism franchise -- if they don't want to end up working for Yahoo! or Google -- they're going to have to prove that they are at least as smart in packaging and delivering information as they are in finding and reporting it."

Estonia, the new Silicon Valley?

This an NY Times story (registration req'd) so use bugmenot if you are in hurry. Estonia is the home of Skype the over Internet phone sensation. A friend of mine who works with overseas clients extensively swears by its quality and economy. The story is about the technical climate of Estonia and how there is some action there with software companies. Interesting. skype

Print vs. Online Battle Brewing at 'Wash Post'

Well, now the gloves are coming off. It is a battle that makes clear people's beliefs about print being "better" than Internet are coming into some reporter's thinking. Read the article but note especially the last paragraph where the WaPo Chairman acknowledges that younger readers favor pixels and that some stories are better told on the Internet. Print vs. Online Battle Brewing at 'Wash Post': "Newly appointed Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell kicked off the debate Sunday in a column titled 'The Two Washington Posts.' In it, Howell looked to distinguish between the Washington Post's print newspaper, with its weekday circulation of 671,322, and washingtonpost.com, with its 8 million unique visitors a month. " Here is Froomkin's blog column but it requires free registration.

NYTimes covers the vlog front

This semester has been a dizzying one for me. I teach online publishing and need to keep up with media trends for that class, obviously. I also teach a class for newbies to our college and the journalism program called "Introduction to Mass Media." I am fond of these classes, especially the Intro to Mass Media because it keeps me on my tech toes. I have to toggle between what is happening in the mass media businesses right now and what the biz will be like in 4 or 5 years when my students will be hitting the employment stage of their lives after they graduate. While I always have some idea of the trends and tech that going to be the next big thing, I don't think I have ever had a semester where tech and its disruptive effects have not only been obvious, but made it into the news and even began to be incorporated into the various mass media businesses so rapidly. I introduced students to blogs and the various media that can go into blogs--audio and podcasts, vlogs--as trends to watch. But in this semester, these tech gadgets and apps moved from something that art and media students fool around with and into mainstream media. Whew. My business as an educator working with tech an media has always been about change, but this change is really coming on rapidly. TV Stardom on $20 a Day - New York Times

Sun-Times Headline rocks "Blog bullies busted"

But I think the story is misconveyed by the cool headline. Students were using a blogtool outside of school. They made some statements that seemed violent. The blog is "like" a journal or diary, but it is publically viewable, so it seems to me that statements that threaten others are likely to be taken as real threats, even if the blogger insists they are private. It isn't clear what action CPS will take, but the story included information on how the courts have been treating similar cases and also listed popular blogging software. Blog bullies busted

Patriot Act may be renewed without reforms -- what is your Senator's position?

Patriot Act may be renewed without reforms | CNET News.com: "Tim Edgar, a legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said Specter's announcement was 'designed to put a lot of pressure on the Senate to go along with an extremely flawed conference report. We'll see if they bite.'" Latest on the Patriot Act as of 12/8/05.

And I think they should get more than a coffee mug....

"If citizen journalists had to be paid, newspapers would be more inclined to choose to pay for professional content which offer more value for the paper and for the reader. See also, a new citizen journo offering comes online in Chicago--a new daily news.

The dangers of free speech in Higher Ed in the USA

Blogging is dangerous at Marquette in Milwaukee.JS Online: Marquette suspends dental student for blog comments

Microsoft gets "busted" by Korean Fair Trade Commission

South Korea fines Microsoft $32 million | Tech News on ZDNetas Microsoft again tries and makes vendors bundle its products if they want to sell anything Windows.

First RIAA lawsuit heads to trial

The RIAA has filed more than 14,000 lawsuits but few have gone to trial. Now one woman is fighting the lobbying group in court.

But the RIAA has been wrong before, as it was in its 2003 suit against Sarah Seabury Ward, a sixty-something sculptor who was accused of downloading gangsta rap. The suit was eventually withdrawn, but the case (and others like it, including one against a dead grandmother) does shed some doubt on the RIAA's ability to correctly identify the infringing party. With Santangelo's case now headed for trial, a judge's ruling may provide more clarity about what the RIAA can and cannot do in its war on musical piracy.

First RIAA lawsuit heads to trial More from the legal angle

E:M | Goodbye to America

I can't believe this. Hossein Derakhshan who blogs as hoder.comhad to flee his native Iran. He settled in Canada, in Toronto. He is invited to speak at many events about blogging. His work was instrumental in establishing the strong blogging community in Iran. That community is a strong positive force for democratization in Iran. Hoder was staying for a month or so in NYC at a friend's place. He took the bus to Canada, and on the way back, the border police started examining his blog and decided that he was "living" in NYC as in moving there illegally. Now he can't return to the States for 6 months. This is OUR loss as this articulate young man has a valuable perspective on community building, politics, repressive governments, and how blogs can be tools for those who want to work peacefully for political change. I wanted to invite him to be part of an ethics in journalism and blogging panel, but I guess that won't happen. Check out "Flight of the Creative Class" and its websiteto get a perspective on why this kind of restriction of freedoms may end up harming the USA far more than the physical damage inflicted by terrorists. E:M | Goodbye to America Filed in: creativeclass blogs

Is it love or chemicals?

So, you fall in love, have high level of "NGF: in your blood, but after a year, the level sinks back to normal. Didn't we know that from all of the great love poetry from the ages? What is the meaning of "Kissin' don't last, cookin' do" except to warn us of this phenomena? Madly in love? It'll pass soon enough | CNET News.com

Journalists--doesn't this make you feel sick?

So, Rumsfeld is now paying a private consulting firm, Lincoln Group to translate propaganda stories so that they can be placed in Iraqi newspapers. The US is also paying Iraqi journalists to write favorable stories, according to the NYTimes. On top of this questionable practice, they are using material without attribution in some of the stories. What does this do to the credibility of any real journalist from the US who tries to work overseas? The only good thing about it is that it provides a great ethics case study jumping off point for class. This link includes a short video clip from CNN. mediaethics

"You show the world you're not living by the principles you profess to believe in, and you lose all credibility," he said.

Newspaper writers slow to pick up on links

I have spent lots of time since 1990 or so explaining how writing effectively with links is a different style of writing. I never thought to illustrate what I meant with examples. Good work by this writer. Editors Weblog- Analysis

Shooting Civilians in Iraq - (Video) |

Off main tech topic, but I think this kind of thing is right in the mainstream of reporting in the 21st century. Is this video real? If it is, this story--see the discussion of how the shooters are allegedly from private security firms--and what the government we elect and pay for is doing needs to be covered by responsible reporters. It is good that the ubiquity of technology and Internet at least makes it inevitable that this kind of reprehensible action works its way into the public eye. Will it get beyond blogs and will MSM companies send reporters to cover the story? Shooting Civilians in Iraq - (Video) | MediaChannel.org

Wifi in New Orleans

New Orleans to deploy municipal WiFi network: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

Cyworld Expands Deep Into Realm of China--and it is going to be in the USA in 2006

The Korea Times : Cyworld Expands Deep Into Realm of China :

"more than 700,000 Chinese had subscribed to their services only five months after its debut in the world%u2019s most populous country."

I was just telling students this today...

Who on earth would make a statement like this? Broadcast educators and students should listen up when it is Jonathan Klein, president of CNN Anchor Roulette - Can You Pick the Next Big News Star?:

"There won't be anchors. There won't be people introducing the stories. Consumers won't have the time or the need for that. They'll just be getting the news they want, when they want it, in whatever form they want it."

Go Craig, Watch out MSM

InformationWeek > Online Media > Craigslist Founder Behind Online News Venture > November 28, 2005: "Our goal is to create a platform to organize the world's news using the best of technology, community, and editors. We seen an explosion of interest in and coverage of news from incredibly varied sources around the world and see a need around that.'"

How we can tell that MSM is still pretty clueless.

I came across this "web exclusive" on Newsweek's website. So, it looks like they take the comments (maybe from blogs?) and then they write about the comments that readers send to them. Would you bother to read a feature like this? What are they hiding from the original comments? Why not just use a blog style and let the comments occur in threads? What is the person who excerpted the snippets adding to the reading experience? Is taking out dirty words the function of this feature? Or is it to just put spin on whatever real people wrote to Newsweek about? There are many who read news online who will think it is for spin, I think, and whatever the purpose, the lack of transparency in presenting comments is a bad move. Online Mail Call - Letters & Live Talk - MSNBC.com

Journalists ditch pens in favour of mobile phones - 28 Nov 2005 - National News

How journalists are using their "mobiles." Note that one fellow was covering a protest in Denmark, and sent updates via mobile to his "webpage" which was likely a blog. Other journalists used that as a source. Journalists ditch pens in favour of mobile phones - 28 Nov 2005 - National News

Sex dysfunction in CyWorld

cyworld

Previously, the protesting artists held the same kind of online exhibition through popular blog Web site Cyworld. However, the exhibition was brought to an abrupt end in October by the Web site management who considered it illegal.

Reporting war

How should a war be covered? The inevitable comparisons of how Viet Nam was covered to how the Iraq war is being covered bring out important issues beyond just news. How is our republic being served?

A thought experiment with Open Source

With Christmas coming the model train analogy is timely. Take a minute to imagine, along the lines of his example with model trains, other systems you use that could be open source. As a teacher, I want to share examples of good news and bad news (I teach journalism) with students. Imagine a system where I could easily locate the content snippets, whether they were from free broadcast, cable, radio, Internet and then just be able to show them to my class so we could study them. Yes, once you start, it makes you wonder "why not?"openscource

Transparency breaks down "fortress newsroom" as a conversation begins.

Steven A. Smith of the Spokesman Review is the guest columnist for pressthink and writes about transparency in the newsroom. He contrasts the typical "fortress newsroom" mentality with an open, conversational newsroom where citizens participate. He has enough experience to provide a long view of newsroom attitudes toward readers. I think his point is that no matter what professional journalists think, the user/viewer consumer is in charge, so its not about whether to cede some control, but about how to do it effectively. [tagname]

A muckraking blogger HIRES journalists

another milestone for the blogging phenomenon." The New York Times has shrunk its staff 5% over the past year. Here's somebody who's tripling his staff," Mr. Copeland said. "That's a real shocking kind of inflection point."

Henry Copeland of blogads sees Josh Marshall's Talkingpoints.com as an indicator of a tipping point in journalism. Marshall investigates congressional corruption, like the current investigation of Abramoff and has been asking readers to donate to a muckraker fund so he can hire reporters to cover the details of scandals that are not getting any MSM scrutiny. New York Times cuts staff, blogger adds staff. Hmm, students of mine, think about THAT for a bit... blogs

Chicago Bloggers--come out wherever you are

If you can herd cats, you can organize bloggers, right? Actually, this is a first attempt to gather Chicago area bloggers to meet and talk about our interests as bloggers. There are at least 125 folks waiting for someone to organize a weblogger group in Chicago, so I reserved a room at Columbia, and here is a call for any interested parties to show up and see where we go from there. On either coast and even in the hinterlands, blogger organizations exist and provide social and professional kinds of help to bloggers. Chicago is writer's town, but so far, has had no "blogger central." I am looking for other people to help me organize a loosely coupled collective and web portal to connect Chicago Bloggers to other media, to training and workshops, and to other people. If you are a blogger, please consider coming out for this meeting. If you are not a blogger yourself, can you print/post this poster and get it out where bloggers might see it? There is no fee to attend the meetings, but as I am going to provide some refreshments, I will accept $2.00 donations from those who care to help out. MSM types, students, literati, digerati, podcasters, novices, vloggers -- anyone who is interested in blogging and is located around Chicago is invited. Here are the details and a link to RSVP if you decide to check it out: Chicago Bloggers Group Open to any interested bloggers (or potential bloggers) Initial meeting 12/21/05 7-8 p.m 33 E. Congress 2nd floor Room 219 (Journalism Dept. Columbia College Chicago) Details and RSVP at: http://blog.meetup.com/351/boards/view/viewthread?thread=1584572chicagoblogs

Gamers worry about the Rootkit and privacy. Do you?

GamesFirst! || I Like Watching You: Playing with Privacy in the Gaming Age

Why TV news is anti-democratic or "Bring back the Fairness Doctrine:

AlterNet: A Media Monster Is Eating the Dems: "CNN President Jonathan Klein explained that Democrats have a hard time getting booked because they don't get 'angry' enough to excite the viewers. He told Charlie Rose that liberals 'don't get too worked up about anything. And they're pretty morally relativistic. And so, you know, they allow for a lot of that stuff.'"

Video chat software turns users into live avatars

FaceCommunicator can make you into a an anime. Software mimics human faces to create an avatar on the go. Video chat software turns users into live avatars

outh Korea flaunts high tech wares. WiBro going to keep us connected.

When I visited South Korea, I was struck by how much more connected the average Korean was than even a kind of high-tech saavy person in the USA. WiBro looks like a tech on the rise. Correspondents Report - South Korea flaunts high tech wares "You can move from McDonalds to Starbucks, which is really far away, without closing your computer. Right now you have to just close it and log out and then turn the power off. But with using this WiBro you don%u2019t have to shut this computer off, you just have to carry this from one place to another. That means it has amazing mobility. So that's our technique."

Wired News: Tainted Sony CDs Used Open Source

Wired News: Tainted Sony CDs Used Open Source:

"'That's the flipside of open source: If you don't respect the open-source rules, the old regime of copy protection comes back in full force,' said Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm, an attorney and internet specialist at law firm SOLV in the Netherlands."

GPS can work as a two-way sword.

It seems a natural that you'd equip Television remote trucks with GPS. It could enhance news coverage and make sure everybody gets to the scene of the crime as fast as they can. But does it also mean that employees would be under detailed company surveillance? Ask the cabbies in New York and the guy who got fired for goofing off. And there was the driver who was caught speeding by the GPS and got canned. Does your phone have GPS? I have used mine when I travel, along with the google locator to find nearby restaurants or sights to see. I haven't been considering who is watching me. Technology is not neutral, though it is almost always disruptive. I wonder what the legal minds will make of this one, and how GPS will play out in the workplace. Wired News: Queer Eye for the News Guys

Where academe and the news biz ought to meet, but don't

This is a good short read about the gap between academics who study the media and the reporters out there doing journalism. Why isn't the theory ever used by practitioners? Here's one scholar's thoughts on the matter.

One Web site quotes a scholar’s description of phronesis as “a sound practical instinct for the course of events, an almost indefinable hunch that anticipates the future by remembering the past and thus judges the present correctly.” Start showing us how to get some of that, and I guarantee that folks will stand around the newsroom, debating your endnotes.

Inside Higher Ed :: Meet the Press

Knight Ridder--dressed up for the party, but nobody wants to dance...

The attempted sale of Knight Ridder and the skittish buyers signals problems in the MSM news industries, but is the end or only the beginning of a new business era? Everyone is wondering, but it seems no one knows so far.Editors Weblog- Analysis

Poynter Online - As Blogs and Citizen Journalism Grow, Where's the News?

Some of this was obvious to anyone who has been online for a bit, but I guess some MSMers work on a pre-Internet time frame (takes years for them to catch on to things.) If you blog, you know it isn't a medium itself, but a way into a variety of media. It is just an easy interface with many handy features. The content is still king, in my opinion. Thus, good news, well-presented will find eyeballs. And curious people won't want to limit what they see/hear/read/interact with to content produced by any one source. If you are so convinced, as many MSMers are that you have a corner on intelligence or the ability to observe, then you are just now discovering that, gasp, citizen journalists and bloggers can produce good content. If you have been using the Internet for some time, then you know about the "conversation" taking place worldwide and that it isn't a dominated discourse based on who owns the means of production of the media in which the discourse takes place. Poynter Online - As Blogs and Citizen Journalism Grow,
Where's the News?

The News business, Internet and major professional sports?

Change is afoot. Paper readership continues to slip, while eyeballs to Internet news sites are up. Fuller hits it on the head in my opinion. Sports will be the breakthrough (because sex and porn probably can't be in our current moral climate.) The new name of the media game | Perspectives | CNET News.com

If Gates is worried, I guess MSM isn't just running scared.

All the real concern as well as angst from MSM about declining readership in print and the threat of news aggregators is probably right on target. Read how Bill Gates is warning Microsoft, and also reorganizing it, to be up to the challenge of what I think isn't coming from companies, but from new communications paradigms that arise from digital connective technologies. Gates memo warns of 'disruptive' changes | Tech News on ZDNet

Doesn't this make good sense? Forget the drugs.

Any thoughtful person who is into running, biking, or has dieted, has probably used some kind of behavior conditioning on themselves. Our crude personal efforts can be effective. Once I taught my dog Johnny, a huge black shepard, to jump through my arms when I held them like a hoop. In fact, he got so good, I could have 4 or 5 people stand in line with their arms held in hoops, and Johnny would jump them all. How did I do it? Behavioral conditioning--using food rewards (for a dog, the best kind) to shape his behavior over two years, from first just walking through my arms, then working up to the dramatic big jump. So here is a cybergame company that has created games that can monitor "focus" and "stress" by tracking a player's performance in a couple of video games. So what? If your kid has an attention disorder, playing the game and getting good at it, will accomplish the behavior modifications that most adults who have some kind of Attention disorder but are successful have mastered on their own. The game includes a helmet that measures brainwaves and thus feeds user response data into the game controller. One mother who tried it, found her son improved his concentration. Game companies are not flocking there yet, but if I had to choose between psychactive drugs for my kid, or a game that would enable the kid to internalize the kind of controls needed to live sucessfully with AD, I would go for games. Attention deficit disorder? Try video games | CNET News.com

A project that is going to change the world

This MIT effort has help from Allan Kay, Negroponte and other big names from the days of the invention of the PC. They have been working on this without a lot of press, but fixedly for several years. While a robust physical machine with a screen that isn't going to be an energy hog are important technological milestones, to me, the use of Linux and OS is an economic paradigm shift. Imagine a world of kids with computers they can use and when they think of something new for the computer to do, they can just figure out how to program that--no paying a middleman or being beholden to the rich capitalist from another country. News from PC Magazine: A Computer for Every Kid

Now I know what my new phone, er, device will be...

Look, Linux, wireless over the faster standard, and the phone is Voip so it won't cost like they do now.

he gizmo has a 4-inch horizontal touch screen with zoom and an on-screen keyboard. It can be connected to the Net either from a hot spot or using Bluetooth via a compatible mobile phone, Nokia said.

Touchscrren, bluetooth and USB. This baby is hot, hot, hot. What do I want for Christmas? Now you know. Nokia's Linux-based Net device on sale | CNET News.com

Zigbee and SK Telecomm to bring "DreamHall" tech to homes.

Digital Media Asia: News - SK Telecom to roll out 'digital smart home' services

Acorns now in stores...but these didn't fall from trees

Cyworld is selling the currency used within the world of "minihompys" to spruce up your avatar or get new music for your virtual place. Acorns, called "dotari" in Korean are worth about ten cents.Terra Nova: Korea: Synthetic Currency Now Sold in Stores

Local perspective on "hyperlocal"

No digital hook in this story but if you want to understand community, there is much to be learned or at least contemplated in this overview of small (400-1600 circulation) local papers in Northern Minnesota. People are people. You can write for 400 people who are dispersed over the globe, but making them into a community or supplying them with the kind of news that binds and builds community is not much different in a digital world than it is in the real world. Well, maybe you get to drink more coffee in diners if you are working in the Real World. The Free Press, Mankato, MN--Local, local! Read all about it

Transparency in citizen journalism publications.

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits Technorati tags: citJ

Internet revives the video star | CNET News.com

Internet revives the video star | CNET News.com Technorati tags: disruptivetech

Live video news online? Think flying dinosaurs | Perspectives | CNET News.com

I can't figure out why the MSM people with the money don't get this. In my teaching, I find the same mental roadblocks hold back our efforts to get an online news thing going. The TV teachers must lead the online charge. Why?

As it now stands, none of the big four American broadcast networks stream their news programs live. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC each excerpt newscast and magazine video for their Web sites. They do produce various podcasts and video specifically for their Web sites. Why isn't broadcast network news live online? Why aren't the cable news channels live online?

Live video news online? Think flying dinosaurs | Perspectives | CNET News.com Technorati tags: convergence

Remember Kevin Mitnick?

If you don't know who "Captain Crunch" is and how he used a cheap whistle to call 'round the world, then maybe you don't remember Kevin. He sure looks better now than he did as a teen. I guess it was better for him he got busted and had to get a life....Mitnick: It's a new breed of hackers | Tech News on ZDNet Technorati tags: hackers

From something to fool around with to "Lifestyle brand"

MSM is beleagured these days. I am getting worried emails from friends about what will happen to Knight-Ridder when it is cast off from its corporate harbor. Myspace, a social networking software popular among 20 somethings, especially those who like music, is now signing bands. This is a textbook example of how the Internet is disrupting established structures by eliminating the need for a middleman. How much of current MSM thinking is about being the middleman--gathering stories and putting them together for the viewer/user? McLuhan saw this clearly when he noted "It is quite predictable, then, that any new means of moving information will alter any power structure whatever." For another view of how this will play out, see Terry Heaton's "Remarkable Opportunities of Unbundled Media" an excellent story from Ohmynews.com.

Documentaries going to Web

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits Technorati tags: interactivenarratives

Ruby on Rails chases simplicity in programming | Tech News on ZDNet

Ruby on Rails chases simplicity in programming | Tech News on ZDNet

TV News now online

My question is, what took them so long?FULL 'NBC NIGHTLY NEWS' TO RUN ONLINE

See me at Online News Association in NYC

Check the conference blog for updates. I will be posting photos on flickr with the tag "ona05"

Next wave will be launched at USA in 2006

Cyworld making money in Asia. Next wave

What fans are saying

Off topic but I am wearing happy black today. Sox Win. If only Uncle Wally (who would not be 105 yrs. old could have seen them win one more time... Chicago Tribune news : White Sox

That Google, just wants to give us what we never knew we wanted.

Google adds TV interviews to video service | CNET News.com

Senator Calls for Inquiry Into Journalists' Access - New York Times

Oh what a hornets' nest dear Judy has stirred up. Senator Calls for Inquiry Into Journalists' Access - New York Times

Fitzgerald 'too clean' for GOP criticism to stick

Good column by Lynn Sweet about Fitzgerald and the politics of federal justice.Fitzgerald 'too clean' for GOP criticism to stick

Can 'Citizen Journalists' Really Produce Readable Content?

In 1945 when the Hutchins Report came out, one of its recommendation was to move toward a professionalization of journalism. Too many reporters were just people from any walk of life who wrote about what they saw. The report urged colleges to set up J schools and to work to get reporters to be professionals. Today, how many reporters come from any walk of life but the college-educated, skewed toward upper middle class (think of some of the J schools, if only to consider what it costs to become a college-educated journalist--at Medill or Columbia University??) So now, journalists do lack a diversity and no longer represent wide swaths of the public. Enter "citizen reporters" that toggle the wisdom of the Hutchins report, and you have a unsettled journalism and news community. Steve Outing writes about this issue and offers suggestions and a good analysis of existing efforts--except he has left out citj efforts that don't originate in the states, like Ohmynews. Can 'Citizen Journalists' Really Produce Readable Content?

Craiglists watch out Google is coming

toolsGoogle is getting ready to provide classified ads. Here's a screen grab. The story is from Editor&Publisher website via AP and notes that "Google also has confirmed it's working on an online payment service, but CEO Eric Schmidt has said the service won't compete with eBay-owned PayPal." I was just discussing the need for new payment schemes to be developed to help reporters and news organizations who produce valuable content, but haven't figured out how to get paid for it.

The eight Reporters Without Borders nominees for the blog contest

Reporters Without Borders / Internet Freedom desk 24 October 2005 INTERNATIONAL The eight Reporters Without Borders nominees for the blog contest The German radio station Deutsche Welle has published the list of nominees for its weblog contest, including those chosen by Reporters Without Borders for the "freedom of expression" category. The bloggers who have been singled out include former Tunisian judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, currently on a hunger strike in protest against President Ben Ali's repressive policies. From the more than 130 blogs proposed by Internet users, Reporters Without Borders and Deutsche Welle picked the shortlist of eight because of a particular passion they have displayed in their defence of free expression. All of these eight blogs carry news and information not found in the traditional media. Internet users can vote on www.thebobs.de to indicate who they prefer. But it will be up to the panel of judges to choose the final winners. The results will be announced on 21 November. These are the eight nominees in the special category sponsored by Reporters Without Borders: - China Digital Times (http://chinadigitaltimes.net) A news blog about China that is published outside of the country. A very rich source for those who want to follow Chinese current affairs. - Chronique déplaisante d'une dictature ordinaire (http://www.addisferengi.net) A French resident in Addis Ababa criticises repression in Ethiopia. The blog includes lots of interviews with Ethiopian dissidents. - Manal and Alaa Bit Bucket (www.manalaa.net) An Egyptian blog promoting free expression and human rights. A forum for discussion, but also a resource centre for Arabic-speaking Internet users who would like to set up their own blog. - Wang Yi's microphone (http://zhivago.tianyablog.com) A Chinese intellectual who uses his blog as a microphone to denounce the repressive system that rules his country. - Hanif Mazrooie (http://hanif.ir) An independent Iranian journalist's blog which led to its author spending a month in prison in September 2004. - Parastood (www.parastood.com) One of the oldest Iranian blogs, famous for its open criticism. - Colombian realities (http://lacoctelera.com/realidades) A Colombian journalist who writes critically about a range of issues including his country's pervasive violence and corruption. - Yahyaoui (http://yahyaoui.blogspot.com) The blog of former judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, one of Tunisia's leading political dissidents and the uncle of cyber-dissident Zouhair Yahyaoui. His blog was recently pirated and rendered unavailable. But it can still be accessed by using Google's "cached" function (enter yahyaoui + blogspot in Google and then choose the "cached" option). Mokhtar Yahyaoui is one of seven Tunisian civil society figures who are currently on hunger strike in protest against the lack of freedom in Tunisia, where his blog is censored, along with dozens of others. Nonetheless, Tunis is to host the World Summit on the Information Society on 16-18 November, which is being organised under the aegis of the United Nations.bloggers

A Meme in the making: This site is moving up in Google and is getting emailed around

The concept: an amusing version of what will go down in the Patrick Fitzgerald inquiry that brings to mind Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre" from the 70's. This is just a story as far as I can tell, but it is being sent around via email, and so the site is rising up to the top rank of Google if you search "fitzgerald indictment." I love a good meme, but you don't always get to see one building and playing out in front of one's eyes.Bush and Cheney Indicted

Timeline: Judith Miller and the Leak Investigation - New York Times

For reference. Plus, cool interactivity.Timeline: Judith Miller and the Leak Investigation - New York Times Technorati tags: judithmiller

Programming even a reporter can master

The creator of Mosaic which became Netscape, discusses the evolution of programming languages. PHP is accessible to the untrained but motivated person with a good project in mind. If you are my age, you remember when typing was profession--the content creators (writers, authors, executives) wrote and then handed their work to typists. I see the evolution of simple programming for the Web as taking a similar path. What required an expert who programmed someone else's ideas, now is increasingly in the reach of the talented amateur. Young journalists, don't miss out. Learn to present your work and don't rely on others to do it for you. Think "Holavaty."Andreessen: PHP succeeding where Java isn't | CNET News.com

CBS is starting to "get it" as is boarding the Cluetrain.

Rosen and Heyward have a discussion of MSM and what news and media need to be for today's audience. More on this later.CBSNews.com: Blog

Indictment Bingo: Closer, Closer - Wonkette

I have been at the SPJ convention in Las Vegas since the 15th and have fallen behind in my updates. I did get to see Judith "Martyr/Traitor" Miller speak at the conference, and get some of a sense of how her celebrated prison gig is playing out (dividing, actually) in the world of reporters and journalism. Will she stand as the proud figurehead, a slightly less than tragic Joan of Arc--the Martha Stewart of MSM-- leading the crusade for a Federal Shield Law, or will she be repudiated as a "mole" and government tool because of her Defense Dept clearance when she was embedded doing the Niger/yellow cake story. As Bill Lynch wrote to Romenesko,

It strikes me that Ms. Miller's situation is the flip side of the NYT's Jayson Blair coin. He and the Times were rightly disgraced for fabricating. In my opinion, Miller also violated her duty to report the truth by accepting a binding obligation to withhold key facts the government deems secret, even when that information might contradict the reportable "facts."

So, as we wait to see who will be indicted since Fitz isn't going to issue a final report, which Wonkette tells us means that indictments will be forthcoming, keep busy with this handy game in the meantime. Indictment Bingo: Closer, Closer - Wonkette: "19"

Judith Miller speaks on a panel at SPJ 05

judy miller
Originally uploaded by biverson.

Journalist Judith Miller, out of prison after 85 days, at the SPJ National Conference in Las Vegas on October, 18, 2005.

Foto.jpg

Foto.jpg
Originally uploaded by biverson.

look a picture

Ink and Paper or 1s and 0s?

Of course as a blogger I am small and flexible and the WaPo is not, but I was still happy to see that I was talking about the e-paper thing a couple of posts ago. But the discussion of the impact of this on storytelling, complete with its "newspapery" tone paragraph and its "conversational" tone graf examples adds to the mere news that e-paper is here.

Storytelling will change, as well. Long articles such as this, with complete sentences and linguistic device, likely will dwindle in number and be restricted to the remaining newspapers and e-papers. News on small screens, such as that of your cell phone, will spit out in headlines and blurbs and sentences without articles: "Mars rodent attacks NASA probe."

Ink and Paper or 1s and 0s?

SPJ's choice of Miller generates questions

The early hour might tone down the crowd, but it seems that some might attend the SPJ session who don't endorse Miller and her actions.The Left Coaster: The Death of Journalism

The Oscars, the Emmys, now the BOBS...best of blogs

The BOBs - BEST OF THE BLOGS - Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards 2005

Movies and social networking around them.

The "Clooney boy's " movie is out but not in Chicago yet. Networking around films that make us feel good.Participate.net | Movies have the power to inspire. You have the power to act. Participate!

Why am I so interested in electronic paper? Ask where's the rising cost factor.

Newsprint cost rising steadily. Poynter Online - Romenesko

I4U News - Fujitsu Shows Unique Color Electronic Paper

Flexible, color e-paper....I4U News - Fujitsu Shows Unique Color Electronic Paper

An exercise: the future and what it holds for newsies

Check out this list of subjects that arrived in one of email news alerts today:

• Los Angeles Times names three top-level editors
• * Changes in Wall Street Journal size reflect industry-wide problems
• * Gannett profits fall amid tough ad, cost environment
• * Bob Edwards enjoying new freedom on satellite radio
• * Online agencies promise to help citizen photographers get paid
• * Journalistic blogs to get their own awards

What I see is technology disrupting the status quo. I see the economic models honed during the "Industrial Age" with assumptions about scarcity of resources butting up against an emerging new economy where attention is scarce and where you put something out to get something back (social capital, reputation ranking as revenue generators?) I see blogs as one particular, going from a pariah, rogue technology to an accepted mainstream technology. I see money shifting directly to the "product" and the "producer", cutting out "middlemen" who formerly got into the exchange between audience and content producer because in an industrial age the means of production are expensive and scarce. I am not an economist but as a policy analyst I see where we were. I see where we are going to be. Too bad, just like everyone else, the how we are getting there is only middling clear to me. I will look to my students to get a sense of what they expect, and to the uncertain edge where techs and journalists are meeting to see where the future of news business is. I think the future of news is solid, but whose hands will it be in? Further reading: On "What is a journalist" and what lies in store for journalists: Charles Madigan on Journalism On the future of news on paper. Newsbiz

Blogging and Tenure: Is a blog an asset or liability in academe?

Daniel Drezner, an academic at U of C with a traditional record of publication and scholarship was denied tenure recently. This is an interesting discussion of the role, risks and rewards of blogging in academe, specifically in the tenure track. It's not conclusive, as some tenure track bloggers got tenure while others were denied, but it raises questions about whether to blog, anonymous blogging, and the attitude of many universities toward the idea that faculty might be public intellectuals rather than one-track working drones. I am going to pass it along to those on whose tenure committees I sit. However, none of tenurees is writing a blog that I know of. I can see a day when traditional higher education institutions will experience declining enrollments analogous to the declining circulation in the newspaper business if there is a failure by these institutions to open up a bit and to adjust to the learning modalities of the "pomo" generation.

Sree's good advice about email

I had a week or two of email ambiguity and it was driving me crazy. I agree with most of Sree's "What I hate" list. Poynter Online - I Hate E-mail

Trekking the Media Landscape

Team Blog in action again. Yes, the bloggers you met at Community Media Workshop's June conference will be teaming up again on Oct. 25th. Trekking the Media Landscape

The truth about the media--we are all multitasking and paper is so physical

Forget Blogs, Print Needs Its Own IPod - New York Times: "According to a nifty piece of polling, directed by Bob Papper of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and released last week, average Americans spend more time online, on the phone, punching the remote, the radio and the game console than they do sleeping - a total of nine hours a day. And much of the time, they are using more than one medium simultaneously, answering e-mail messages while returning calls with a TV buzzing in the background." And let's not forget electronic paper which has been vaporware but seems to be materializing in 2006. Shucks, wasn't that the year they predicted it in the "googlebot" movie?

'The media' vs. 'We media'

I wouldn't be as hard on Tom Curley, CEO of AP, as this guy is. Curley seemed to at least kind of "get it" last year at the asap is not a step in the right direction, but it is easy to use for big chain news papers. The BBC points are key and will prove to be the raison d'etre for news in the future. To be useful, a news organization must

• Connect audiences (social networking...)
• Verify news for audiences
• Provide analysis, explanation and context for stories the audiences are interested in.

editorsweblog.org: 'The media' vs. 'We media'

Yahoo launches podcast search site | CNET News.com

This was so MSM that I almost didn't post about it. Yet, it will be a milestone so I want to capture the date and initial reactions. Yahoo launches podcast search site | CNET News.com Hey, the real news is how CNET is experimenting with social network analysis under the name "The Big Picture." This interactive image has a bullseye or dartboard like central image. You move and click it to see the connections for this social net. It uses colors to represent aspects of the story--companies and corporations are one color--technologies are another color. You can move around and choose to "center" on any of the nodes in the net to see the story and how the connections play out from a variety of points of view. This is REALLY COOL.

Haptic handsets -- an idea whose time is almost here

"What have they done to man, those shaky hands?" Remember Tommy from the Who? Now imagine a handset with touch sensations (that's basically what 'haptic' means.) Crushing your enemies skull? Why not feel it. Do I need to spell out the implications of haptics for the various sex industries? When I heard Tim Leary talk about "Virtual Valerie" back in the 80's he talked about this coming. I think it will be a big deal but it may end up bringing in regulatory types because it adds a sense to the mix of virtual being there.Telecoms Korea

Trains, football and the nearly ubiquitous phonecam

Train buffs use all kinds of cameras, including phonecams to sanp their favorite trains. Winona Daily News - 6.0 Steelers coach can't hide player failings.

Barbie misses cut for "Top Ten Toys" but so do Bratz

Tech toys dominate magazine's Hot Dozen toy list - Oct. 6, 2005: "'Barbie and Bratz have always been in the Hot Dozen, and I still think they'll be the top two in terms of overall sales this holiday season,' Silver said."

Stock-speak | ajc.com

Why we need social security that is really in some kind of "lock box." Stock-speak | ajc.com

China Closes Web Site after Taishi Village Standoff Report

Repression of Internet sites is a problem in China. Here is one story. China Closes Web Site after Taishi Village Standoff Report Technorati tags: bloggers

This is my blog post

Online News Squared--usually on target with interesting newslettes

Online News Squared

Yahoo-Backed Group To Digitize Library, Academic Content Google's ambitions to scan every scrap of paper on earth (watch those crumpled receipts at the bottom of your man purse, pal) get a competitor as a consortium, includuing Yahoo, announces the "Open Content Alliance" to digitize books. From AP story: Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. is setting out to build a vast online library of copyrighted books that pleases publishers -- something rival Google Inc. hasn't been able to achieve. . . . By joining the project, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo is hoping to upstage Google, which has a one-year head start on scanning and indexing books so more literature and academic research can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection." Even Google will be able to index the group's database. Press Release. Posted by Squared at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Categories: Google, Yahoo | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) Zippy New Google Maps Mashup Neat new tool lets you type in a zip code and see a boundary map. Here. Matt Cutts tells you how to program it yourself. Later he links to more zip-based data sites.(Tx Searchblog) Posted by Squared at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Categories: Google, Mapping | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati tags: tools newsbiz

From the conference for which I did not win a fellowship...

Terry Heaton has some observations from a recent NYC meeting of Online Mediarati. Besides noting that there were few people of color or women, Terry noted that Andrew Heyward of CBS made the observations that:

• The illusion of omniscience is out of date, this idea that everything has an answer and that there's one truth.
• The notion that journalism with a point-of-view is an acceptable form.

Coming from the Heyward, these were pretty noteworthy. Terry goes on to say that Jay Rosen made one of the points that many in the audience may have been unable to understand

Jay Rosen said something terribly important that (imo) went over the heads of most people in the room. He said the nature of authority is changing in our culture, and that this directly impacts all media. He used the example of a person who goes to the doctor and gets a prescription for an ailment. The doctor explains how the medication will work. The patient then proceeds to the drugstore and receives the medicine, along with (perhaps) an explanation from the pharmacist about how the medicine will work. But then the patient goes home and gets on the internet to research the thoughts of others who've used the medicine to discover what THEY think about how it works, and this impacts the doctor's authority. The doctor is still the doctor, but gone is the automatic acceptance of his or her words as gospel. This is new in our world, and I couldn't agree more. It's the major challenge of all institutional authority, and it's one of the truly fascinating things about a culture drifting into postmodernism.

That's what news is about these days. Tim Porter: A New York State of Mind writes about the same conference and what was said there.

Culture & Society - Female Journalists Training on Investigative Reporting

This is interesting. More about this later.Culture & Society - Female Journalists Training on Investigative Reporting

The Power of Blog

Journalists may still rate the info low, but they are using blogs in their work. Read what they are doing with blogs. Should you be doing something like this?The Power of Blog

asap--means AP reaching out to the 'young people'

editorsweblog.org: Associated Press youth initiative provides opportunities for newspapers

See footage of the civil disobedience in Washington D. C.

t r u t h o u t - MultiMedia

Profiting from Katrina - The Center for Public Integrity

Start your investigation "engines" the Center for Public Integrity is providing the raw information for anyone to find out how money is being misspent in the Katrina relief effort. Profiting from Katrina - The Center for Public Integrity Technorati tags: bloggers citizenjournalists

IPod Maps Draw Legal Threats

This is twisted. Several sites offer free transit map downloads of images that will work on iPod, and the transit agencies threaten to sue them. I think it is fine for MTA or BART to sell umbrellas and sox and other items with their logos, but if they can't or don't produce the actual maps for download it is stupid to tell others they can't. None of the download places were charging for the maps. Aren't these public service agencies? They should be more open source, and the public could help them and would help them solve some of their problems with creativity.Wired News: IPod Maps Draw Legal Threats

CyWorld promised to USA by second quarter of 2006

As I was saying about SK Communication's Cyworld just a few postings ago, it is coming to America. The details remain sketchy about how CyWorld will play out in English and for an American or British society, but its coming. I guess I will have to drop other projects and get working on this.Asia Times Online :: Korea News and Korean Business and Economy, Pyongyang News

The Korea Times : Internet Privacy Challenged

The point about Internet privacy is well-taken, but what ought to be interesting to readers from the USA is Seong-hoon's assumptions that "everyone has a blog" and he means everyone, as in Korea they do have many more regular bloggers. Also, the way he talks about the areas of the blog and decorating the blog show how CyWorld has permeated the Korean experience. It's coming here. Are we ready? The Korea Times : Internet Privacy Challenged

Local folks take to web to fight for Marshall Fields name

keepitfields.org :: save Marshall Field's My great-grandmother had a copy of "Give the Lady What She Wants" signed by Marshall Field on one of the Field anniversaries. She had a credit card with Fields. My grandmother had a Field's card and would take the North Ave. bus from Elmhurst to North & Narragansett and then downtown to shop at Fields. My mother has a Field's card. The first credit card I got when I got my first teaching job was from Fields. My daughter wrote her first school paper on Marshall Fields and got a letter from the then Chairman, Phil Miller. My sister has a Field's card. My great-aunts all were Field's devotees. I will send my card back if they change the name, though I kind of agree with Dawn Trice that service has gone down over the years. Technorati tags: marshallfields

Are we getting smarter or dumber? How Internet is transforming our brains.

McLuhan always skirted anything that might have touched on evolution. He knew the work of Teilhard de Chardin on how our minds and our human purpose might be God's way of letting us "help" with our own evolution--how is that for intelligent design--but this fellow's ideas about what connectedness to Internet is doing to our intelligence is interesting. Are we getting smarter or dumber? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com

DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT- food, sightseeing, commentary for Reporters

The Nitty Gritty Itinerary (featuring a more comfortable, air-conditioned coach bus) Depart Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave.: Light breakfast to go. Residents' Journal, 4859 S. Wabash Ave.: Residents' Journal -- by, for, and about public housing residents -- prints articles in Spanish, Chinese, and Russian and is distributed free to Chicago's 35,000 public housing households. Recently the paper won honors for an investigation into why out-of-town firms doing business with Chicago Housing Authority were making campaign contributions to the 17th Ward Democratic organization, the power base of Terrence Petersen, CHA CEO and former 17th Ward Alderman. We'll meet Mary Johns, Editor, and Beauty Turner, Associate Editor. Little Village High School Campus, 3126 S. Kostner Ave.: Joining the ranks of elite high schools such as Walter Payton and Northside Prep this fall are the four small schools on this brand new, $63-million campus tucked away on the Southwest Side. In May 2001 when Chicago Public Schools balked at going forward with construction of the school, needed to alleviate the region's ongoing overcrowding problems, mothers and some others from the community staged a 19-day hunger strike. Following the School Board's agreement to go forward the community became involved in the planning process. We'll meet 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Muñoz and others who helped organize the hunger strike and the community planning effort that led to the school's construction. Lunch at Mi Tierra Restaurant, 2528 S. Kedzie Ave.: Buffet at longstanding family-owned Mexican restaurant that is a destination in Little Village. [On the morning of the recent Mexican Independence Day Parade down 26th Street, 200 dignitaries breakfasted here.] Mark Doyle from 2nd Federal Bank and a representative of Little Village Chamber of Commerce will join us to discuss the dynamism and growth of Chicago's Latino community, particularly on the Southwest Side, as well as home mortgages for the undocumented and related business/economic development and immigration issues. Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, 4476 S. Archer Ave.: Bounded by I-55 to the north, Western Avenue to the east, 49th Street to the south, and Central Park Avenue to the west, Brighton Park's ethnic make up changed from predominantly Polish, Irish, Lithuanian and German to predominantly Latino, Asian, and African American. Today nearly 80 percent of its 45,000 residents are Latino. As a leader among community-organizing groups that are less than 15 years old, BPNC is addressing affordable housing issues such as creeping gentrification from the northeast, developing new opportunities for local youth to have a greater say in what happens in the neighborhood, and working on other issues. We'll meet Kim Drew, staff person, as well as a housing leader and a youth leader. Time: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Must-Cry TV--anchors human, but is that what we need from a reporter?

TomPaine.com - Must-Cry TV: "Cooper (and Smith and Rivera and so on) could have reported just as thoroughly, and just as well, without making their feelings part of the story. Their tears were, simply, unprofessional, and the fact that their bosses seem to approve is a sign of how corrupted TV news has become, how insecure it is of its own relevance. Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather were not without their flaws. But it is impossible to imagine Jennings and Brokaw, at least, so utterly abandoning the ideal of objectivity, and that is why Americans listened to them respectfully for as long as we did. But of course, Anderson Cooper isn't the anchors of not-so-long ago. He's more like Oprah, with richer parents and no weight problem. As Jonathan Klein points out, Anderson Cooper may well be the next-generation anchorperson. Assuming network news makes it that long."

The Yes Men

On my way to class on Tuesday, I recalled the great movie "The Yes Men" and found their "identity correction" website. A classic on the way to right thinking. The Yes Men Technorati tags: subversive

E-Society: My World Is Cyworld

CyWorld in the news again. A third of South Koreans use it now to integrate their lives in the digital and physical world. CyWorld is making money-- $12.5 million on sales of $110.4 million. And lots of the money comes from currency called "dotari" or acorns and is a digital money that works only in CyWorld. Social networking pervades CyWorld-- if you see a site you like, you can ask to become someone's "cyberbuddy" and if they say "yes" then you can use artifacts from their site, like a background or theme music, on your site. They call the social net building phenomena "wave-riding." Anyway, look for items about CyWorld, which is coming to America in 2006 here at currentbuzz.E-Society: My World Is Cyworld:

It's the nexus of pretty much everything she does. The graphic design student posts all of her artwork and school papers on the site. She puts up photos of her friends, her family, and her parties. She keeps a daily blog there and chats with her boyfriend via the site's instant-messaging service. Here is another story on CyWorld (SK Telecomm) and Naver Blogs, a sort of rival firm in South Korea.

Technorati tags: cyworld

Frank Rich: "The Administration's Priority Of Image Over Substance Is Embedded Like A Cancer In The Katrina Relief Process"… | The Huffington Post

This story looked better online than it did in the paper. Frank Rich: "The Administration's Priority Of Image Over Substance Is Embedded Like A Cancer In The Katrina Relief Process"… | The Huffington Post Technorati tags: transparency

The Business of Television

Here is station that stayed on the air during the recent hurricane in New Orleans because it had anticipated and planned for it for five years. Maybe they should have been in charge of FEMA....Broadcasting & Cable: The Business of Television Technorati tags: newsbiz

Found on the way to looking something else up....

The Digital Divide Network echochamber documentary

We Media Fellowship Recipients--feeling not so bad now....

We Media is a conference in NYC where the focus is on all of my interests: blogs, technology for communication, digital collaborations, citizen journalism--but it is pricey (over $600 to attend.) I applied for one of the fellowships and was a bit miffed when I didn't get one (they had 140 apps for 14 places.) Well the list of who DID get in is online now and I don't feel so bad. I would have loved to go, but the interesting mix of attendees makes me feel that I was in good company. You can page through their statements and get a sense of breadth of the media revolution going on today. It is global, rippling through business, the arts and academe. It is a typical digital do, in that what you see is evidence that old boundaries and limits are now permeable to ideas and influence just as data is now digital and available anywhere you can get a signal. Check the blogs of attendees for their reports.morph: We Media Fellowship Recipients

So, wasn't this news?

Dept. of Media . Washington City Paper

Who will decide what journalists do in the future?

J Educators, take note. It is so obvious, but those of us mid-career can forget that if the workplace changes because the important aspects of the basic work are transformed by technology, the way we educate and train the young must be transformed. I am going to be turning to WAP messaging and how we can incorporate training for the mobile crowd into my class this year.Poynter Online - The Chaser

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Finally, Google searches blogs. Try it now and search for currentbuzz....Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Welcome to Vimeo!

Welcome to Vimeo!

editorsweblog.org: Craigslist is just the beginning of newspapers' technological torment

Craigslist is just the beginning of newspapers' technological torment : Finally, someone in the business who is thinking ahead. read the part of this story about the 'e-paper' device and its economic model.

Craigslist's free advertising has already ravaged newspaper classified revenues to the tune of 75% by some estimates (see previous posting). Worse still, it doesn't appear that newspapers will ever be able to regain that income which makes up 35-40% of American paper advertising revenue.

Technorati tags: newsbiz

editorsweblog.org: How Wikipedia's rising recognition may affect newspapers

editorsweblog.org: How Wikipedia's rising recognition may affect newspapers:

The journalist, as many of you may realize, does not have time to complete such a task.

I can't believe that statement made it into print. I totally disagree. If the journalist isn't thinking of the links and integrating the links with the writing, he or she isn't writing for the Internet. A person who can imagine writing or reporting at least for an online source without doing their own links is probably someone who no one reads. Technorati tags: wikinews pomojourno

Jeff Jarvis, blogger, journalist and media critic becomes an academic

It is always unseemly to say "I told you so" to people. I will just be glad that crusty MSMers like Jeff who have gotten on the Cluetrain regarding the communication revolution which is disrupting media businesses and allowing people to create new media use patterns and habits, is coming to teaching. The more people of a certain age who realize that the future is now, and in the minds of our students, the better I feel about the future. In the academe

Los Angeles Times: Bombs away on television news

Why broadcast news often isn't. Serving two masters is difficult. And in our culture, the master that involves money will usually trump the master that represents "the true, the good, or the beautiful." So, what is a young journalist to do? Perhaps it is time to migrate to online and look to Open Source economic models?

Moonves, a businessman rather than a journalist, lives on one side of an ever-widening contradiction between journalism as a profession and as a commercial venture. His responsibility is not to the public interest but to maximize CBS' bottom line for Viacom's Wall Street investors, who expect television to earn between a 40% to 50% return on capital. (Newspaper chains are expected to make only 20% to 30%.) These rates of return impress someone on the journalistic side of the divide as excessive, especially for businesses exploiting airwaves that belong not to them but to their viewers. So the Moonves' vision leaves us with a dilemma: How will the public-- which still gets most of its news and information from broadcast -- learn what it needs to know? The reality is that it is increasingly less realistic to expect commercial broadcast outlets to effectively serve two masters: the public interest and corporate bottom line.

AsiaMedia :: KOREA: Major Korean Internet players face shakeup

CyWorld moving up on its competitors. "SK Communications quadrupled Cyworld subscribers from a paltry 3 million at the acquisition to the current 12 million based on its unique services of interconnecting personal homepages and thus prodding users to form a network with their friends or colleagues." Filed in: cyworld"Sk

My suggested read for 9/11--how we get the news these days.

This is a thoughtful piece about how the web has become the medium of choice in an emergency, but it goes on to explore how we now can "see" our enemies and the dangers of all that information if someone is trying to create a conspiracy where none exists. Brings up issues without giving pat answers. How they triggered war on the web - Sunday Times - Times Online

Regulating video games looming as political hot potato

NYTimes (registration req'd.) leads off with a story about how regulation of media content a.k.a. censorship is playing out in the world of video games. The players: Democrats looking for a "values" issue, who liken violent vid games to a public health threat versus the video gamers, a notoriously apolitical bunch who just might wake up politically if their virtual worlds are threatened. Calif. lawmakers OK control of video game sales | CNET News.com Technorati tags: gaming regulation

Software allows game use on many devices - Boston.com

Well, if they did, it will be a big thing. Software allows game use on many devices - Boston.com

Study Ties Indecency to Consolidation of Media - Los Angeles Times

Big means better? No, it means more swearing and sex talk, and the fines aren't doing anything but leading to censorship of political speech. Breaking up the big corporations and putting media content in more hands would lead to better programming. " 'One of the unintended consequences of their support of deregulation is an increase in indecency,' Rintels said."

Media Bloggers Ass'n. Doing Computer Assisted Reporting Bootcamp

A number of people have signed up but we still have open seats available for MBA's second Database 101/201 Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting (CARR) Boot Camp at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., as well as some fellowships to help cover travel and lodging expenses. The first MBA CARR Boot Camp at BlogNashville drew rave reviews from all 14 of the folks who attended. the CARR boot camp gives you the skills to find and use publicly available data to get beyond the hype and PR cant to get to the truth about virtually any major public policy issue being debated in the Blogosphere and the MSM. It's fun, it's cheap and it's a great professional investment in yourself. Forgive me for sounding like a commercial, but it's hard not to be enthusiastic about these boot camps because I've been leading them for five years and I've seen how they transform people by giving them confidence to dig into stuff they never dreamed of tackling. Enrollment is online at: http://www.heritage.org/press/carr/bootcampenroll.cfm. And feel free to call me if you have questions about any aspect of the program. Besides our usual folks from Heritage, the instructors at BlogNashville included David Kamin of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank here in D.C. For the September event, the instructors staff will include Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, which is the AFL's think tank. Many thanks to Rebecca McKinnon, Doug Petch, Ian Schwartz, Bill Hobbs and others I have undoubtedly missed for posting recently on the CARR Boot Camps. Here's what a couple of the BlogNashville graduates said of their experience at the CARR Boot Camp: "Citizen journalists will find the CARR training to be very useful. I came away with a better understanding of how to find, analyze and interpret data in order to shape a story, as well as recognize some ways it can be distorted by news media. CARR also helped me develop my investigative and computer skills, which allow me to get to the heart of a story faster. The training is immediate and practical and each person will come away having learned something useful, which can be put directly into practice. On top of that, it's free; how can you beat that?" --- Mick Wright, Fishkite.com "Nothing improves your standing with others more than actually knowing what you're talking about. The MBA CARR Boot Camp teaches you how to find that knowledge for yourself. It's one thing to know it, it's another to prove it. The MBA CARR Boot Camp shows you how to find the proof you're looking for." --- Kevin Barbieux, Nashvilleis.com "The burr that launched my blog was the escalating effort to strip religion from the public square. The whip that keeps me blogging as though my children's lives depend on it is attempts to regulate the Internet. The skills I need to worry that burr and counter that whip are curiosity, enthusiasm, perseverance, a clear writing style and analytic ability. The resources I need are a public forum and data. When I attended the MBA CARR Boot Camp in Nashville, I know I brought the first three. I flatter myself that my writing is clear and informative. The MBA CARR Boot Camp handed me the two missing pieces by showing me where the data are and how to analyze them on my personal computer without burying me under piles of technobabble. Plus the instructors are a hoot and a half! Anyone interested in public policy blogging from the most local level to the international level needs this class." --- Shelley Henderson, Kicking Over My Traces Mark Tapscott Director, Center for Media and Public Policy and the Marilyn and Fred Guardabassi Fellow The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20002 Mark.Tapscott@Heritage.org http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com "Talk is cheap. Freedom of Speech is Not."

When we step back to older tech

When disaster strikes and some of the features of modern like we take for granted are gone like the smoke, folks turn to older tech. In the face of Katrina, satellite phones look good. The grid does need electricity, and as long as we use the kind of distribution system we do, that will be a problem during storms and other catastrophes.SatPhone

A teacher a world apart.

Teachers--you thought your jobs were secure. In the world of virtuality, why do you need to be there face to face? How much money could we save in the USA if we stepped back from our committment to the school as building, and thought about universal always on education? A Tutor Half a World Away, but as Close as a Keyboard - New York Times: "Using a simulated whiteboard on their computers, connected by the Internet, and a copy of Daniela's textbook in front of her, she guides the teenager through the intricacies of nouns, adjectives and verbs."

Definition of broadband a broad question

"If you could see at a glance that you're paying $19.47 per month per megabit for Verizon's budget DSL and $38.49 for SBC's, and $300 for some verpriced dial-up's 56Kbps, it would give a much better basis for comparison. You may want to pay a premium to swig on the Starbucks of services, but if you're a Chock Full O' Nuts type, you'll be able to tell at a glance where to get the cheapest can of grounds on the market." I like the analogy. Also, most folks don't know how the speed varies for this service.

More on flashers and phonecams

This year, New York announced plans to equip its entire subway system with cellphone service, as part of an anti-terrorism effort to safeguard the public transit system with 1,000 video cameras, 3,000 motion and perimeter sensors, intelligent video and closed-circuit television. That will make it possible for subway riders be they amateur crime fighters or voyeurs to take and instantly distribute cellphone photos without leaving the underground trains."

'Newsradio' delivers extras with podcasts

Podcasting becoming a regular feature of stalwart 'Newsradio.' An interesting development. This won't be breaking stories as much as their packages. 'Newsradio' delivers extras with podcasts If you are a media maven, and haven't been getting the podcasts for On the Media you might want to try them. I am usually busy when the program runs on Sat. afternoon, but it is a great listen on the way to work on my iRiver.

Balancing cost vs. security for embedded design

Zigbee brings ease of use, but will engender security concerns.Balancing cost vs. security for embedded design

Interactive Narratives: THE VJ MOVEMENT HAS BEGUN

The use of video by roving news teams who employ a new style of news video that doesn't rely on stand-ups and in shot reporters is taking hold now in the "real world."Interactive Narratives: THE VJ MOVEMENT HAS BEGUN

Help Needed - Katrina Help Wiki

Here is a site site that coordinates help and aid for Katrina. It aggregates lots of information into one easy to navigate site using a Wiki. It is a good example, and if you need to find out if someone is okay after the disaster, it is a good place to start. There are links to places to donate time, money and other kinds of help. Help Needed - Katrina Help Wiki

The Semantic Web vs. tagging by the people.

After reading Shirky's piece on semantic web and having thought about what a good idea the semantic web is, but how would you get all the college teachers in the world to adopt a data description system and tags, I am leaning toward the view that fuzzy logic and tags will work fine. From this post, I am now wondering if we automate tagging for the semantic web and then it might work. Anyway, if you ever think about the semantic web you can add your comment. It%u2019s not Google... :: AO

Online News Squared: News Sites Surge On Katrina

Scott has got a link to the stats on how this disaster is affecting audiences for various news source sites. Online News Squared: News Sites Surge On Katrina

Net nerds hold out in NOLA

I read in Wired about a couple of web companies that did not shut down during or after the hurricane, even though they are in the heart of New Orleans. I use the directNIC - !service to secure all of my domain names, and I have some server space with them. No disruptions. Very disturbing photos of direcNIC vs. looters who appear to be just common thieves. Looks like a woman-headed gang.

Let your algorithms do the work

Blogs

This is interesting. This research shop will analyze blog comments to try and predict television show success. Can you cull comments and use program statements to get at "sentiment?" I will be tracking this story during the rollout of the new season's shows.

News breaks now without pro journalists.

The need for reporters to follow up on early reports and track down the facts is greater than ever. Sure, the locals with police scanners will get the initial happening, but it will take reporters to tease out the full story and its meanings. Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Broadband, lagging in the States, but coming to mobiles in South Korea.

Web Only News

Flickr Helps Identify Flasher

From the engineering group, the IEEE, comes this parable of modern life. Would you have taken the photo? Were you tempted to look at the photo? This is a story that is simple on the face of it, but might deserve some thought. Remember "dog poo" girl? See previous posts. Flickr Helps Identify Flasher

Orato - True Stories from Real People

Orato - True Stories from Real People

Interesting column on citizen photog, professional photog and the balance between

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Why U.S. cities need to work for fast broadband

Asia Times Online :: Korea News and Korean Business and Economy, Pyongyang News: "In South Korea, a country where more than 75% of homes have broadband Internet connections, the high-speed Internet is becoming as ubiquitous as electricity, and most household subscribers surf the Web at speeds of up to 5 megabits per second, considered blazingly fast in most of the world" Why can't I get this kind of service for $32/month without moving to Seoul?

Wired News: Flickr Fans to Yahoo: Flick Off!

Flickr was bought by Yahoo. Now Yahoo wants to migrate Flickr users to its registration process and to open Yahoo accounts. Some of the most popular Flick photographers are threatening to leave when the switch goes on. This brings up questions of the psychology of our virtual selves, copyright uneasiness because Yahoo once claimed copyright of all the material on a system (Geocities) that it bought out. Will techies come to the rescue? Will the Flickr folks calm fears of the users? Why is it that Google has a better rep than Yahoo? These are surface disruptions that signal deeper transformations and ripples in our culture. Flick off

Blogoteers: Research on blogs and bloggers

Posted on my other blog, with some interesting findings about blog reader/user behavior, including this one: "50 million U.S. Internet users visited blog sites in the first quarter of 2005. That is roughly 30% of all U.S. Internet users and 1 in 6 of the total U.S. population." Blogoteers: Research on blogs and bloggers

MySpace: Hip Hangout or A Place for Dolts ?

I have been posting about CyWorld, the "minihompy" site that is currently not available in English, but will be in 2006. Tied to that has been the thread about "DLA"s or digital lifestyle aggregators. MySpace.com is one of the social network sites that does some DLA. Myspace.com got a write up in the NYTimes (registration required) that made me want to drop my newsprint and run to my computer and sign up. Yet, a little bit of looking found there might be some problems with MySpace, of the security kind. MySpace: A Place for Dolts || kuro5hin.org: "What was at first a simple practical joke or internet 'magic trick' that could be used to impress or confuse your friends was now a massive security breach that could, with a little effort and know-how, enable snooping into, or even compromising of, people's accounts."