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New quote comparison service from Google News: "Google News already extracts quotes from news articles. Even so, it was a pretty tedious process to compare what two people were saying about a particular topic. As you might have guessed, In Quotes allows you to do just that. You can easily read what, for example, John McCain and Barack Obama have already said about the economy, education or energy (that's just the e's!)."
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"This Wiki began as a starting tool for the ethics panel at the Online News Association's annual conference which took place on Sept. 11-13 in Washington, D.C. The goal was never to just have a panel though and after attending the "Whose Rules" Ethics Media Workshop at Kent State University, members of the three groups – ONA, KSU and Poynter – have agreed to form a partnership moving forward. For now, this partnership will involve discussing Ethical issues here on this wiki as they arise."
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Steve Outing on how news orgs "need to add the micro-personal to their news menu."
Monthly Archives: September 2008
links for 2008-09-29
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Intriguing interview about a service I'm finding increasingly useful in my ongoing quest for relevance tools
links for 2008-09-27
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@hexayurt on Twitter said that these might be the new "Hoovervilles." Well if so, they'd be a hell of a lot better and safer than the old ones!
"The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (backup link). Suitable raw materials include common building materials ( fire safe insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4' x 8' panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. It takes about two hours. The design (backup link) is in the public domain."
links for 2008-09-25
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Interesting take on how my "toxic culture of journalism" essay plays out in Malaysian media.
The BEST “Uncle Jay Explains the News” EVER!
Uncle Jay Explains the News: Sept. 22, 2008
I think he really nailed it with this week’s “news word.”
Civic media
I’m at the Constitution Center in Phila. Just saw an original newspaper printing to publicize the US constitution. That’s civic media. What if that convention was liveblogged?
links for 2008-09-19
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"With T-Mobile USA poised to officially unveil the HTC Dream–the first handset based on Google's Android operating system–on Sept. 23, The Wall Street Journal reports the phone will heavily emphasize the Google name in its branding and marketing."
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The Knight Digital Media Center has revived this popular online publication. Founding editor Robert Niles remains at the helm. His first post is running tomorrow. Check it out!
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"Check out this video demo of using Google Maps for Mobile. Demonstrates street view and walking directions".
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John Hassell of the Newark Star-Ledgers notes: " Brian Donohue of Ledger Live mentions today’s Michael Strahan divorce settlement on Twitter and gets a quick response from podcaster Jersey Todd. That leads to a phone call, which produces the hilarious segment at the 3:50 mark in today’s show…"
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Slide show presentation on social media for broadcasters. By Robin Hamman.
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Can't say I'm surprised. Probably for the best: "The Rocky Mountain News became the target of criticism within the journalism community after the paper assigned a reporter to use the micro-blogging service Twitter to provide minute-by-minute updates at the funeral of three-year-old Marten Kudlis. Now, sources within the paper confirm that editors had planned to have a reporter Twitter a second funeral that week only to back off following at least one complaint from a staffer."
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Classic social media denial: "I have one colleague here who swears blind not to be into all this social media, blogging or networking lark….yet at the same time he's set up and administers a Facebook group with 500+ members to do with his favourite football (soccer) club."
links for 2008-09-18
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I guess the Internet is not for porn, after all.. "we are what we click"
links for 2008-09-17
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excellent, thoughtful post on how librarians can play a key civic media role. I wonder how much freedom librarians have within their organizations on that front? And what kind of help or collaboration do they need or want?
Being a Citizen Shouldn’t Be So Hard! Part 2: Beyond Government
| NOTE: This is part 2 of a multipart series. See the series intro. More to come over the next few days.
This series is a work in process. I’m counting on Contentious.com readers and others to help me sharpen this discussion so I can present it more formally for the Knight Commission to consider. So please comment below or e-mail me to share your thoughts and questions. Thanks! |
To compensate for our government’s human-unfriendly info systems, some people have developed civic info-filtering backup systems: news organizations, activists, advocacy groups, think tanks, etc.
In my opinion, ordinary Americans have come to rely too heavily on these third parties to function as our “democracy radar.” We’ve largely shifted to their shoulders most responsibility to clue us in when something is brewing in government, tell us how we can exercise influence (if at all), and gauge the results of civic and government action.
Taken together, these backup systems generally have worked well enough — but they also have significant (and occasional dangerous) flaws. They’ve got too many blind spots, too many hidden agendas, insufficient transparency, and too little support for timely, effective citizen participation…