Friday, June 30, 2006
Teaching Online Journalism: Free wi-fi: That's a REAL community idea
This is such a good idea I can't believe it. WIFI community, and the provider ends up creating an income stream and portal.
Teaching Online Journalism: Free wi-fi: That's a REAL community idea
Advertising Age - MediaWorks - ESPN Wants to Be MySpace for Fans
All about sticky ideas and how they spread.
Advertising Age - MediaWorks - ESPN Wants to Be MySpace for Fans
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Rosen and PFKAA
PressThink: The People Formerly Known as the Audience
Jay spells out for media folks what PFKAA means to them .
Time to take action on "net neutrality."
Senate machinations. Check out how your elected officials are acting about this. Email them your opinion. You'd be surprised how much influence a vigilant emailer can have...» Saying "goodbye" to the Net | Rational rants | ZDNet.com
VoIP on cell phones: all roads lead to savings - On the Dot - Internet
I am using Skype these days while it is offering free service and I haven't had trouble with it. This device, the phone that can tell if it is near a land line or it uses WIFI would be quite useful.VoIP on cell phones: all roads lead to savings - On the Dot - Internet
Communication Devices Of The Future - Forbes.com
Slideshow of the usefult to the ridiculous. I like the bluetooth glove phone, myself.Communication Devices Of The Future - Forbes.com
User generated content and the Future
This article lays out reasons why "UGC" or user generated content and the sites that are promoting UGC, like flickr, YouTube, Ohmynews and MySpace as well as the soon to come to America, CyWorld are popular.
This is focused on mobiles but think about the user base out there for tiny vids and pix.
The author cracked me up with a spot-on example which I would characterize as eccentrically British -- how foot fetishists are using the service. The ticklers have different interests than the shape fetishists...read on and think about all the niches there are in this great world of ours.Money in shared content - Telecom Asia
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Slashdot | OpenOffice.org Newspaper Ad Mockup Released
And a third in row story that involves business models, old and new, and economic issues. Here is a hot story to watch. OpenOffice is the OSSlashdot | OpenOffice.org Newspaper Ad Mockup Released
Paying on the Web
Okay, competition, but still no micropayments...WSJ.com - Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy, A New Online-Payment Option
Yes, there are new ideas about economic basics
And they may end up rocking us. Here is a WiFi router offered for $5.00 -- a good deal. What is the quid pro quo? You have to download code from Fon that will then allow other Fon members to share your WiFi broadband connection for free. If you don't belong to Fon, you could share for $3.00/day.
It is a very clever, highly viral way to get people to share their Wi-Fi connections. My big question: Is this legal? A spokesperson told me, "We don't encourage using the service where it's not legal," but the Fon site doesn't say where it is and is not. He also told me that several ISPs, especially those that are second and third in their markets, have approached Fon about partnering. Apparently, they see this network as something that will drive broadband adoption.< a href="http://http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/27/130239">Slashdot has this to say about the share a connection Fons scheme: "Buyers of the subsidized routers can classify themselves as 'Linuses', whereby they also get free access to all other Fon hotspots, or 'Bills', where they receive 50% of the revenue made by on-selling their Wi-Fi to other Fon users. 'Alien' users can buy 24-hour passes for 3 Euro." The network is passworded now, but a later version will let users designate a public and a private network in their home.
Movement to integrate bloggers expands - Editors Weblog
A brief story about the move by Scoopt and Rafat Ali's blog going commercial picked up by "Editorsweblog." I notice it is taking the professional publishers less time now to acknowledge publishing ventures that are independent and not corporate-sponsored. Yes, it is true, the Internet moves us closer to a meritocracy of ideas, whether those who would be gatekeepers like it or not. Movement to integrate bloggers expands - Editors Weblog
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
How to Make Your Web Site More Conversational
Good advice from Steve Outing. How to Make Your Web Site More Conversational: "Allow anonymous comments, but encourage people to register first; screen anonymous comments. This recommendation no doubt will be controversial, but I think that requirements to register in order to leave an article comment discourage the conversation. (Here's a case study from Topix.net that explains why I think that.) If you require readers of an article to register before leaving a comment, you'll lose a significant amount of reader feedback. I suggest that you urge people to register, but don't prevent them from posting a comment if they don't want to. Let comments from registered users go to the webpage automatically, but screen anonymous comments before they're published. This will prevent the crazy forum free-for-all that has been seen with news sites that allow anonymous comments."
He goes on with other suggestions. Like keeping people who comment on a story connected in a conversation
Auto-subscribe readers who leave comments to follow-up comments. If a reader leaves a comment on a story, then they should be alerted whenever someone else comes along and leaves another comment (which can include the original author responding). I suggest setting up a system where the default when leaving a comment is to receive follow-up e-mail notifications of later comment submissions. If the commenter doesn't want that, he/she can turn off this feature.He urges an "upload photos" as a type of comment. Good feature for many stories. Adding photos of readers who register is a good way to encourage registration. All in all a good story. He does go off on the incentives. I say money, "yes" but T-shirts or coffee cups, "no."
Scoopt, The World's First Citizen Journalism Picture Agency, Now S
More citizen journalism and brokering with the MSM world. I am a scoopt member, but last time I checked they were doing images, but only of the UK, so I couldn't add too much to that.Scoopt, The World's First Citizen Journalism Picture Agency, Now S
Do we want this much help from our machines?
Yesterday it was computers that can read your mood from your expression. Now a laptop that listens to what you are watching and then creates social groups for you around the program...
Do we want "them" doing this much social stuff for us?Advertising Age - Digital - Listen to This: Google Plan Lets Laptops Hear Your TV: "What if your laptop could eavesdrop on your TV? That's the scenario Google's serving up in a paper that describes how it could bring social networking as well as contextual content and advertising to TV viewing. "
An Internet for the few or the many? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com
Commissioner Michael Copps is one of the FCC's most articulate members. His thoughts on net neutrality are important for any educators, communicators and citizens.
Will a big corporation be the one to decide which websites YOU are able to view? I urge you to educate yourself on this issue. For me, the internet ought to remain a "common carrier" that is like a highway -- it shouldn't be in the business of regulating what trucks carry on it. An Internet for the few or the many? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com
Vidoe of Commissioner Copps on net neutrality.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Snakes on a Plane update
Marketing types are looking at the whole "Snakes on a Plane" phenomena as a new holy grail for effective campaigns. I just think it is pretty funny as I have noted previously. The video of Samuel L on Ellen DeGeneres telling about how they wanted to change the name of the film is a real laugh.Online Spin » Blog Archive » Blogs and Snakes and Samuel L.–Oh My!
Corporate America wakes up to Web 2.0 | CNET News.com
This has one of the best explanations in simple form of what Web2.0 means. It's a good overview without too many tech details. Shows how the big corps are taking to OS and Web2.0.Corporate America wakes up to Web 2.0 | CNET News.com
From the "I remember HAL" department
No, no, no, I don't think we want "mind-reading" computers. I want my machine to do literally what I tell it, even if I ask for something stupid. I do not think I want to have a computer interpreting my "emotional state."Coming soon: Mind-reading computers | CNET News.com: "'Our research could enable Web sites to tailor advertising or products to your mood,' Robinson said. 'For example, a webcam linked with our software could process your image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit information to a Web site.'"
Baseball, intrepid reporters, steroids
This little story has everything -- drugs, intrepid reporters, and baseball. A good summer read.The Cincinnati Post - Reporter shines light on steroids: "It was the government, then, that got the story started, and it's the government, now, that has"
SK to Tie Up With Germany's T-Online
SK is the company that owns Cyworld.The Korea Times : SK to Tie Up With Germany's T-Online
The money is following the information aggregators
For years now, I have been telling students that if they want to succeed during their lifetimes (because they can't retire like many of their teachers will soon do) they need to develop a particular point of view. I have called it the "beat blog" but the idea is to take your interests and passions and hone your point of view by studying that area.
As a reporter, you can outdo the casual blogger by interviewing experts and getting information beyond what is just available on the Internet or from other news (secondary) sources.
Here the WSJ notes that both Rafat Ali and Om Malik, bloggers about tech and publishing and tech and communications are being bankrolled now as standalone publishers.
These are textbook examples of how money will be made in a reputation-based, social networked world of work.WSJ.com - Bloggers Find Financial Backers For Their Independent News Sites
Friday, June 23, 2006
Augmented reality?
I think the idea of motion in gaming and using a cellphone is cool, but the tennis game where your phone is your racket is too dorky for me. The dancing game sounds more like something I'd be interested in. Maybe this one could do the simulation of sailing downwind on gentle rollers in a trimaran that I have always longed for.Wired News: Next Game Controller: Your Phone
YouTube gaining viewers, $$ and recognition
I like the Hasselhof videos, but it looks like Connie Chung is knocking them dead, at least in her parodied form...Chung parody is a serious hit on YouTube - baltimoresun.com
Thursday, June 22, 2006
devoted1.com
This is a good one, thanks to Andy Dunning via Poynter. In music we trust. devoted1.com
"The architecture of participation" is a killer concept.
» Less than six degrees of social networking and Web 2.0 goodness | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: "The so-called architecture of participation is slowly gestating in the bellies of hundreds of startups and established players, and the social Web, made by humans for humans, is taking shape on top of the grid. Sharing and collaboration is not an afterthought bolted onto email or deployed in a separate server for workflow."
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
This one didn't get away.
OMG !! We never caught a ball before. This is from a Dye foul ball. It hit my arm and bounced into Norm's hand. Good catch. Go White Sox.
Keep the Net Neutral: BLOG: SciAm Observations
Look to a scientist for a balanced and researched account of the issue.Keep the Net Neutral: BLOG: SciAm Observations
Browsers have to keep up with shift to online apps
This will be a really useful perk in a new Firefox. Wired News: Net Changing, So Are Browsers: "And Mozilla already has its sights on Firefox 3 next year, with plans to let users run online applications even when there is no live Internet connection."
And for those who live for MySpace, comes
Flock Inc. released a test version of its Firefox-based Flock browser. Tapping into the recent wave of sites that encourage users to share content, Flock makes it easy to drag and drop images to MySpace.com and automatically notifies users when friends add items to selected photo sites.
MOG o Matic
You like the tunes, shouldn't others be able to check out your musical point of view? MTV brings social networking to a playlist near you. MOG tests music-based social network | CNET News.com
Here is the Mog's site and you can download the MOG o MATIC software from there. Now one reminder, since it is social networking, you will need to get out there and generate some mogger pals to get some new music into your life.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
WSJ.com - Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising
This is a kind of "cluetrain." do you get it or not story. WSJ.com - Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising
Craig of craigslist is Mr. Buckmaster.
Mr. Buckmaster is sanguine: "The demise of the newspaper has been overstated." Phew. I expel a nervous chuckle of relief. In Mr. Buckmaster's view, newspapers would be better off being a little more Craigslist-like: Go private, eschew Wall Street's demands for continually "goosing profitability" and give your readers what they want. Much trouble in the world comes, in Mr. Buckmaster's view, from losing sight of that essential goal.
Monday, June 19, 2006
"Notizens" : 40-50 year olds begin to go online in Korea
INSIDE JoongAng Daily: "'Middle-aged people are belatedly expressing their thoughts in the cyber world after discovering through events, such as the presidential impeachment trials, how important the Internet is,' said Kim Dong-no, a sociology professor at Yonsei University."
Catching up on Cyworld and such
To an American eye, the Cyworld service looks like a mixture of some of the hottest US properties: it's MySpace meets Flickr and Blogger and AIM and Second Life.If you are a J teacher, make sure you have looked at Flickr, Second Life and that you know what AIM is (I do, but I don't like AIM because it is too disjointed for me.)The future is in South Korea from Guardian Unlimited: Technology Better add Bebo to the list of sites you get familar with. This is a longer story that really goes into who is using social networking sites and how they are connecting all kinds of people.
Bebo is a relative upstart in the social networking community, but it certainly isn't the last. Inevitably, Bebo has friends: MySpace, Friendster, Classmates, Xanga, MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, hi5, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, Sconex, CrushSpot, Multiply, Orkut, Tagworld, Tagged, Piczo, Mooble, WAYN, ASmallWorld, MyYearBook, Cyworld, ProfileHeaven, Fropper and EveryonesConnected.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Long Now Foundation
Before you rush off to your next meeting or get busy, take some time to check out the "Long Now" site. Some high power thinkers are playing with ideas and it looks like fun. The Long Now Foundation
Netscape Web testing out "social network" news site.
Netscape.com will also have a staff of "anchors" performing journalistic tasks, such as choosing stories to feature, commenting on articles and doing research and reporting about chosen stories. These staffers are called anchors because their job will be to provide a level of journalistic oversight, steering discussions and molding content, but not editing the featured articles.Read about itMacworld: News: Netscape Web portal morphs into 'social news' site or go right to the beta. And not to be outdone, Yahoo is getting into the act, too.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Net neutrality -- common carrier or TV channel?
This is crucial legislation for our country. Currently, the Internet operates like a telephone company in the sense that you write something or ask something or post something, and the Internet carries it without regard to its content, originator or domain. Like an interstate delivery truck--you put your goods on the truck, they get sent to the destination specified. The trucker doesn't look at what you are sending and decide where it should go.
That is how the Internet which was built with my (and your) tax dollars is supposed to work. The airwaves are supposed to work like this, but failure to maintain them as "pipes" rather than content production streams has created an unbalanced system.
The telcos and cable companies would like to be able to pick and choose messages and message senders, and decide which messages to expedite and which to hold back or slow down. Gee, would this be based on money? Would this mean advertisers and corporations would get their messages through but independent voices would become second class citizens?
Well, do you believe computer scientists or politicians like Chicago's Bobby Rush, for example, who have taken huge payments from SBC and other telecom firms?
For a good overview beyond this ZDNet story, go to this site.Net neutrality fight returns to Senate | Tech News on ZDNet: "Net neutrality, the idea that network operators should not be allowed to prioritize Internet content and services that travel across their pipes or to make deals with companies seeking special treatment."
Google puts photos on the Web | CNET News.com
Well, I think this misses a big part of the active photog market--namely Mac users.Google puts photos on the Web | CNET News.com
An interesting development in transparency in journalism
Al Tompkins does a good job of highlighting the Spokesman-Review move to webcasting some of its editorial meetings. He has an interview with the paper's editor, Steven Smith, and provides links to features of the Spokesman-Review like its blogs about its own operations, that make help you understand what they are doing as part of a process of moving a print publication not just online, but making it interactive in some real senses of the word.
As an educator, I adopted the experimental approach years ago. My blog is continuing experiment, but it started out as an exploration of what a blog is and what blogging meant in experiential terms. The Spokesman-Review folks seem to adopting this approach to new ideas and technologies. Too bad there isn't more of this kind of innovation going on in publishing today.Poynter Online - Wednesday Edition: Live Editorial Meetings
Third Coast International Audio Festival // Chicago Public Radio
Bloggers, students, teachers, audiophiles, here is information about a conference in October. If you are a "literary" person who is thinking that their are opportunities in audio and spoken word, but you don't know how to get started, this is your chance. I have found every Third Coast event has good listening and thoughtful presenters. It is a great place to network around storytelling, audio, podcasting and the like. Third Coast International Audio Festival // Chicago Public Radio
Monday, June 12, 2006
Bloggercon and Vloggercon kick off in California.
Vloggercon: Where everyone's the media | CNET News.com: "This is the second Vloggercon, which happens to take place just a week before Bloggercon. The first conference, a one-day event attended by about 80 people, took place about 18 months ago in New York."
Bringing you the bad news from Congress
Lobbyists and the power of money are a threat to many aspects of our civic life. In this case, it is access to information and "net neutrality."Net neutrality: Meet the winner | Newsmakers | CNET News.com
Works for Me: Best Firefox plug-ins for work - CNET reviews
For some of you who are tech "early adopters" this is a big help. Rafe Needleman of CNET explains why you would use Firefox (Web 2.0 apps need browsers) and then saves you from wasting time when you first download Firefox.
If you are like me, the download of Firefox led to lots of time spend looking at and trying out various plug-ins. I use the del.icio.us plug-in myself, and I am off now to try the tab helpers. Works for Me: Best Firefox plug-ins for work - CNET reviews
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Week-end Summary
I was presenting at a CASTL-SOTL (Carnegie Academy of for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) workshop on June 8-10th. I didn't even look at email or Internet, which was pretty unusual. To catch up a bit, I am going to do a big post with a series of items of interest.
From the "I didn't need the Internet to tell me this department." comes a survey that shows that more younger, freelancer, and cheaper journalists are being hired worldwide. While this is a concern, isn't this what is happening to all workers these days?
Bloggercon is happening but it's in San Francisco, and I'm not.
From Nieman comes this interesting resource. It is Narrative Digest's database for seaching notable narratives. Looks like a "must have" for journalism teachers and students.
A meteor crashes into Norway with the force of the Hiroshima bomb. That is news!
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Comic book software touted as marketer's dream | CNET News.com
The new "killer app" makes comics from digital images. This one is PC only. Comic book software touted as marketer's dream | CNET News.com
Mac users can try Comic Life which I love to use.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Web is the No. 1 media
At Ball State, researchers did a study where they actually looked at "time on task" by watching people working. The Web is number 1. Online Publishers Association is presenting this "Eyes on the Internet 2006which is a presentation about the study and its results in Chicago and elsewhere. Registration is free, but limited. See you there....Study: Web is the No. 1 media | CNET News.com
Web 2.0 : the continuing saga
Here is a peek at Google Spreadsheets. You can sign up for an invitation to try if if you like, as well. What's the big deal? Shared editing of your spreadsheets, which in essence are just organized lists.
Web 2.0 for lack of a better name, refers to a whole class of web apps (applications) that are integrating the program function with hosting on a remote server. This means that your data exist away from your site. No need to buy your own servers. No need to purchase a bunch of software licenses. A teacher and class of students all just sign up for a given web app (think flickr or del.icio.us or shared calendars, workspaces (near-time, 37signals, writely, etc.)
Imagine you are in charge of coordinating class schedules for a journalism department--you and all the other people involved could work together via google on one shared list. Remember that Google has chat built in, so you don't even have to be sitting together in a computer lab.
Coaches who must do team rosters could use this, students who have to work together, a reporter and editor could use it, a family doing a grocery shopping list...anyway, here is the link. Google Spreadsheets - Sneak Peek
We will rock you | Chi-Town Daily News
Please attend this if you can. It is at the Double Door on June 15th and costs $10.
My colleague Suzanne McBride and I, along with Geoff Dougherty from ChitownDailyNewshave landed a grant called Creating Community Conversations to develop workshops for citizen journalists and to get more hyerlocal news onto this site. Check the publication out, and join us for the fun. We will rock you | Chi-Town Daily News
Monday, June 05, 2006
Digital Publishing Is Scrambling the Industry's Rules - New York Times
This is the kind of writing that makes me jealous. I have been observing this "divide" between adocates of books as stand alone media in the form of "codex texts" and advocates of information in its most useful form as in electronic, searchable text strings, forming for some time.
This is going to be another "disruptive technology" scene that will play out in hearts, minds and business models. But the issues are laid out cleanly and with good examples in this story from the NYTImes (registration req'd.)
I have colleagues who actually believe the codex book is some privileged object (read Deschooling Society" by Ivan Illich to understand why the book is not a special object.) But it seems to me that in the 21st Century, authorship is going to more like collage or what the young people refer to as mash-ups. New works will increasing result from combining parts of existing work and in finding links between disparate works and commenting on them. Attribution is going to be VERY important, as authors reputations will be linked to how they make money. The money is not going to be directly related to producing a "codex text" but I haven't worked out my formulation of the economic model enough to go into that.
Read the story. Think about how you use words and ideas in print. Will books as discrete objects become "extinct?" Of course not, look to what is going on in photography for example, where digital photos flourish alongside of artistic applications of darkroom and film.
What do you think? And if you link to my post or comment, you will be taking a step toward the future of publishing. Digital Publishing Is Scrambling the Industry's Rules - New York Times
Technorati tags: disruptivetech publishing
Friday, June 02, 2006
:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: An Inconvenient Truth (xhtml)
Whoa, Roger says something you never thought you'd hear him say...:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: An Inconvenient Truth (xhtml):
"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to."
I saw the movie last night. Go see it. For those of us from the 50s and 60s who grew up when science was fact and there wasn't postmodern creep and spin, it "tells it like it is."
If you ever have to give a presentation to a group, I urge you to see it because Gore is a GREAT presenter. I have seen Tufte who is the best IMHO, but Gore was masterful.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
WebProWorld :: View topic - Mobile Ad Model Uses Attention As Currency
Interesting idea and discussion. Would you watch ads if you got low on minutes? What would you accept to watch ads? You might not be thinking of it, but advertisers and marketers are...WebProWorld :: View topic - Mobile Ad Model Uses Attention As Currency
Technorati tags: attention economics
Washington Post Staffers Take Early Retirement
Boomers are stepping out the way, at least in some newsrooms.Washington Post Staffers Take Early Retirement
Technorati tags: newsbiz
Round-the-Clock News, With a British Accent - New York Times
So how come I can't view and vote from my computer, is what I am asking...
Round-the-Clock News, With a British Accent - New York Times
Technorati tags: bbc newsbiz
Round-the-Clock News, With a British Accent - New York Times
Technorati tags: bbc newsbiz
Newspapers tracking blogs and blogging as readership for blogs grows.
Ask.com is tracking bloggers now and it looks like new partnerships are forming in traditional news organizations to keep an eye on blogs.
Newspapers woo bloggers with mixed results | CNET News.com: "Last week, the Associated Press, the century-old news agency, signed a cross-marketing deal with Technorati, a search-engine for blog postings. Technorati agreed to scan for blogs that include links to AP stories. The search engine will then create a Web page where it will display the blogs in addition to original AP stories.
The deal follows similar agreements between Technorati and Washington Post Co., owner of the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Republic, Des Moines Register and San Jose Mercury News were among a group of publishers that signed up for BlogBurst, a blog syndication service. Under the terms of the agreement, newspapers can publish any of the more than 1,500 blogs featured by the service."
Microsoft's Ballmer tries to link generations in South Korea
Interesting and laudable idea from Microsoft's Ballmer. Microsoft's Ballmer tries to link generations in South Korea
Why don't they use an algorithm?
In agonizing over whether reader click and picks should influence story placement, MSM is ignoring the example of other entities which must rank the content presented to viewers.
First of all, MSMers need to think about the possibility that each viewer will get an individualized helping of the stories from their "brand" of newspaper and get over their total devotion to a single "look and feel" for the "Front Page" of their compilations of news stories. Secondly, they need to develop algorithms and "robots" or "agents" in the way that Amazon and some newsfeed operations are doing.
Basically, the reader wants to get news that ties into their particular interests and they would like a way to customize their news reading for that. I believe that most people would like to have some stories presented to them based on other factors, such as what is read by most other readers, what opinion leaders are reading, or like blogs do, what someone with a point of view is recommending.
There are services that are working to incorporate what you look at with what your social network folks look at, but they haven't gotten to tipping point yet.American Journalism Review: "Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau Chief Doyle McManus cites a November 30 story by then-Times defense correspondent Mark Mazzetti about the U.S. military planting stories in the Iraqi media. The scoop by Mazzetti (who has since joined the New York Times) began as the lead story on the L.A. Times' Web site. But it briefly disappeared and subsequently resurfaced in a less prominent position when it was displaced by a fresher, but routine, wire story about a speech Bush gave that morning on his Iraq war strategy.
A news editor in the Washington bureau called latimes.com to complain, but the story never regained its lead status. 'Shrinking our best story of the day to a one-line refer below an [Associated Press] dispatch on a Bush speech..is not optimal,' McManus says."
Citizens Committee to Bring Jon Burge to Justice Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]
I am a Chicagoan. I lived in the city during the time that Jon Burge was in power and the torture of prisoners (he was a police commander) was ongoing. Saul Bellow's Dean's December includes a fictionalized treatment of two of Burge's torture victims who commit a terrible crime, but whose torture by police debase the process of justice. While awaiting the public release of the full investigation and report on Burge's inhumanity, there are citizen groups working on some kind of action against Burge. Citizens Committee to Bring Jon Burge to Justice Petition : [ powered by iPetitions.com ]: "The Citizens Committee to Bring Jon Burge to Justice is calling upon elected officials of the City of Chicago to stop using taxpapers money to pay for the pension and defenses of Burge. The Special Prosecutor for the city has documented 192 African American victims of torture, yet Burge continues to receive a pension paid by taxpapers. On May 19, 2006, Judge Biebel issued a decision to release the Special Prosecutors report. For over twenty years lawyers, Amnesty International and victims have fought to bring about justice. The City Council of Chicago will be the recipients of petitions during the next two to three months. "
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