Interesting article

Forget F-Stops: These Cameras Have Area CodesWell, I got my photo phone today, so I guess my blog will go photo blog. I will be at the Newsplex next week, and if possible, I will be posting photos of the News emporium of the future.

As I cogitate about collaboration and begin a new project on collaboration and teaching, I found this new piece by Clay Shirky about the group and how it contains the seeds of its own distraction, if not destruction. Group software and group dynamics do revolve around people, and that means the social cannot be ignored.

I posted an item last year about these "WiFi WarDrivers" but the whole WiFi thing has expanded so much I need to do it again. The idea in brief, is that once one sets up the WiFi, as I did for example, to allow me to sit on my backporch and work on Internet things, one needs to address WEP or other kinds of security and encryption. I was shocked to find that my next door neighbor had a WiFi network as well as I did. And guess what? When mine isn't on, I can use his, as he doesn't have any encryption. The war chalking thing is to locate nodes and use symbols on buildings, as in "M..." where

One beggar pretends to trip, and slaps a M in chalk on Beckert's back, as he stands in front of a fruit stand, using the knife he kills children with, to cut an orange for another potential victim.

The mark alerts the cognescenti to the kind of encryption and port that is available. My Auntie Hildur's mother believed in giving hungry men sandwiches during the Depression, and her house was "hobo chalked" to indicate "no dog, sandwiches." That is one of the connections that caught me about the warchalking/wardriving idea. Don't leave file sharing on, use WEP encryption, those are a couple of pointers. Good luck, and try WiFi--it is worth taking a few precautions for.

Here is an interesting new tool from Poynter, the Convergence Catalog which is an interactive way to explore how convergence is playing out in media partnerships around the USA. I think they are making a big mistake in still thinking "USA" and not going global, but it is a start. Good browsing for future reporters who are trying to figure out what they need to know to land that first job.