15 posts tagged “media”
The Yes Men, those impervious impersonators of the world's most toxic rich people, are up to their hijinks again. Word over the wire is that they're coming out with a new movie, The Yes Men Fix the World, but their funny-bone still seems to be intact: t hey promise that "this film has one of the very few underwater ballet scenes you will ever see in a political documentary." Take a look.
I got suckered in to seeing what autism.change.org had to say, from this email:
Change.org Launches 7 New Blogs; Predictions for 2009
We're pleased to announce that today we’re launching seven new blogs to expand our network to 19 blogs covering the most important issues facing our world. Yes ma'am, that's a lot of blogs.The new sites include Autism, Education, Global Health, Health Care, Human Trafficking, Poverty in America, and Sustainable Food. We've hired an amazing team of experts/activists to lead each community, selected from more than 1500 applicants. We hope you'll stop by, check out their take on the issues they’ll be covering, and welcome them to the Change.org community. (As always, you can find the full list of our blogs on our Causes page.)
I'm not saying that Jenny McCarthy is behind some sort of internet witch hunt technology, but just look at what she did:
See Also: What's the Harm? (vaccine denial)
See Also: The anti-MMR mothers who are putting us all in danger (Daily Mail, UK)Despite their widespread beneficial effects, some people deny that vaccines work, or accuse them of causing various side-effects. Read more about vaccine denial
Here are 4,398 people who were harmed by someone not thinking critically.
See Also: Mumps outbreak spreads into Metro Vancouver (CBC News)
UPDATE: Michael reminds me: Leo started streaming live video in early 2008.
2008 As I See IT - Nice Fish Films | Michael Sean Wright
What was the biggest “story” of 2008 for me? It wasn’t the meltdown in the financial markets, the forced inevitability of political change or company A introducing exciting product. This was the year of us SEEING network differently. One of the great innovators in social-tech is Leo Laporte, he puts ideas into action daily. This year over 271,000 people watched his live streaming “24-Hours of the iPhone." These are truly staggering numbers. More people were watching Leo live than were tuned into MSNBC at that moment. Laporte has assembled his own DIY television network. His “netcasts” are heard by hundreds of thousands. He’s figured out how to make this social-net work. While you will see many stories of social-tool A, B or C in the year-end re-caps, they have forgotten the BIG story of the year. Leo Laporte changed the reality of what can be done on the socialnet. Take notice: The Revolution has happened this year. It wasn’t Televised - it was streamed, for free.
UPDATE: Economy Crashes, Leo Keeps Going
A shocking round of economic catastrophes dominated the news in the fall and winter of 2008. Revision3 cut loose Sarah Lane and Martin Sargent, of Pop Siren and Internet Superstar. They appear to have at least a temporary home at the TWiT cottage, to acquire new skills and/or work on their next show. Leo's pragmatic, low-key business strategy coupled with openness and generosity are what endear him to so many.
Original Post:
Possibly the most well-known name in independent tech broadcasting, Leo Laporte is launching a low-key and yet bold move into internet television.
The TWiT.tv family of shows is going to go video, and Leo recently said he was planning to start with 25 hours a week of video programming. You tell me if that's a promise or a threat. He's been exploring tech options and I've watched some video via twitlive.tv Saturday and Sunday from 11AM onward. Leo is building out his office into a small studio, purchasing cameras and lights and talking about it during the process, as he did recently on episode 140 of TWiT.
Leo has a long history in broadcasting and his close pals from the defunct Tech TV include John Dvorak, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose and D. L. Prager. Amber Macarthur, Steve Gibson, Paul Thurrott, Merlin Mann and Andy Ihnatko all do shows on the TWiT network, and the Buzz crew Molly Wood and Tom Merritt are frequent guests, as are Veronica Belmont, Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble. Leo has had some great "gets" over the years, including such internet-famous persons as The Woz.
Leo runs a small empire which isn't swimming in debt and seems to make enough money that talent and rent are paid by donations, appropriate advertisers, and well-done interstitials. In stark contrast to the standard raising of a butt-load of money from VCs and having a burn-rate that isn't necessarily sustainable, Leo has a more pragmatic and less risky approach.
Leo is the underdog mogul. He's got the numbers, the experience, the personal brand, the industry contacts, and the good will of a huge audience. He's nobody's fool and a genuine nice guy whose likely success no-one will begrudge. I admit, I'll be watching with some fascination how Leo's foray into TV plays out over the next months.
Video podcaster Dave Mora did this interview with me after the KGO Live event last weekend. He recorded it with a Flip camera. Thanks, Dave!
Related Post: Unabashed Plea: Leave Wikipedia Aloooooone (sob)
See Also:
Communications During Terrorist Attacks are Not Bad - Schneier on Security
ZDNet article by Jennifer Leggio (November 28th, 2008)
Mumbai attack coverage demonstrates (good and bad) maturation point of social media
The content on Page 2 leaves me with two choices. Either she does not understand Wikipedia, or is using it as a punching bag to make some grandiose claim about the shortcomings of social media and citizen journalism.
I attempted to clarify. See that FriendFeed conversation here. Note that she issues me a "correction" and did not respond to my concern that she flat out does not understand how Wikipedia works.
The Wikipedia article pictured on page 2 was seeded with valid information and grew from there. She saw it defaced for a moment, but didn't manage to get a "screen shot." She got the "screen shot" from a friend.
Here is the latest revision of the Wikipedia entry titled "November 2008 Mumbai attacks". I looked for the revision she cites, and failed to find it. Needless to say, that's beside the point See below.
At the time of this writing (half-past Midnight the morning of November 30) the article has extensive information, time lines, pictures, and 179 references. The number of entries in the Page history is in excess of 1500.
Is it possible Jennifer and her friend don't understand that a Wikipedia article about a disaster such as this is the result of thousands of contributions? Does she not understand that for it to appear as she shows it, someone has to delete all of the content and replace it with "Bush Sucks?"
Does she not know that this sort of defacement is extremely noticeable to the hundreds of people making contributions in real time, and the next contributor will simply "undo" the defacement before making their changes?
She is betraying a stunning ignorance or bias here. I have less and less patience with lazy opinion pieces, or pieces that take cheap shots to make some trumped-up case. And in light of the tragedy of the actual events in Mumbai, I am appalled that it is reduced to "Bush Sucks." I must say, in this case "ZDNet Sucks" also.
How many more ways can "Main-stream media" fail? I'm not sure I know the answer to that one.
UPDATE:
Found the notorious defacement(s). Two of them. Lasting 5 and 7 seconds for a grand total of 12.
OMG STOP THE PRESSES. WIKIPEDIA IS BROKEN. I CAN HAZ PULITZER NOW?
My last comment on the article:
I will eagerly anticipate articles from ZDNet on how wikipedia has attained the success it has now, and what can be improved.
I will not entertain casual sniping at one of the best examples of a massive collaborative effort to date.
I wonder if Jennifer, and others at ZDNet would care to take an "official" anti-wikipedia position, and explain that this in no way is affected by business motives and an erosion of the authority of such as ZDNet. Looking forward to it!
This morning, residents of the Big Apple were treated to 1.2 million copies of a free newspaper:
New York Times "Special Edition" site.
The date of this prank was pushed back so as to not interfere with the election. As I've mentioned before, The Yes Men are available for hire as educators in media literacy.
As always, this prank was executed with professionalism and flair.
An excerpt:
Court Indicts Bush on High Treason Charge
WASHINGTON (AP) — George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, was indicted Monday on charges of high treason. The charges, filed by Attorney General Russ Feingold late in the evening, allege that Mr. Bush, knowing full well that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction, falsified information in order to pursue the disastrous Iraq War. (See “U.S. Knew No W.M.D.s in Iraq,” on Page A1.)
The former President appeared perturbed by his own charges against him. (GAVIN BELLOWS/BOSTON GLOBE)
Related Post: Unconventional Activism: Vivoleum™ (Yes Men, 2007)
Related Post: Unconventional Activism: SurvivaBall™ (Yes Men, 2006)
Podcast Episode Link (July 15, 2008)
GillmorGang Link
I twittered:
In this episode Doc Searls goes into detail on the digital transition and implications for local, public and commercial broadcasting, television and radio, and has some very interesting things to say about "live" broadcasting in the future.Doc Searls on (no) future of traditional broadcasting - last GillmorGang podcast. Technical and encyclopedic. TV is dead. Long live TV.
A must-listen for anyone interested in staying ahead of the curve on the future of broadcasting.
UPDATE: Britrock:
ooVoo is a Windows and Mac-based free video conferencing tool currently in beta test.After June 13th only ooVoo Super users will be able to initiate video chats with 3 or more. Anyone can take part in more than 3way.
I've confirmed
I'm on my third update of ooVoo, so I guess they're still working out the kinks. The 5-way call eventually choked up... I was recording it at the time.
I hope to achieve 6-way video conferencing with this free tool... It looks promising!
evidently one can ask support to participate...
It's here!
- echo-cancellation and loopback BAD (don't use speakers)
- hot input levels GOOD ambient noise BAD
- auto-input-level-adjust + ambient noise BAD (Skype)
- built-in mics BAD when low input levels + silence is boosted to NOISE
Matt Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London, going on to become founding Editor-in-Chief of the seminal magazine RWD. In 2004, he was selected as one of the faces of Gordon Brown’s Start Talking Ideas campaign, and was presented the Prince’s Trust London Business of the Year Award by HRH Prince Charles.
He has written and produced TV series, comic strips, viral videos and records, and his journalism has appeared in The Observer Music Monthly, VICE, Complex and other publications in more than 12 countries around the world. He recently founded the non-profit media company Wedia with his wife Emily. He lives in New York City.
Article by Matt Mason on TorrentFreak
Pirates are innovators, they signal market problems and lead the way to new business models. Nevertheless, they are tagged as thieves by many. We invited Matt Mason to write an article on the pirate’s dilemma for TorrentFreak.
Mason discusses why piracy can be an opportunity as well as a threat, how pirates
innovate outside of the marketplace and how legitimate businesses can respond.
Current TV just put up an interview I did a few months back with Brooklyn producers John Carluccio and Mark Kotlinkski - They dug up some cool slides I haven’t seen before. Mark also has a production outfit called 88 Hip Hop which does some great stuff - look for his film The Mural Kings about legendary graffiti artists TATS CRU - which is well worth checking out.
Broadcast on public radio stations weekly on Friday-ish.
Browse and subscribe at the Site.
CounterSpin is FAIR's weekly radio show, hosted by Janine Jackson, Steve Rendall and Peter Hart. It's heard on more than 125 noncommercial stations across the United States and Canada.
The audio for the Leap Year Show is here.
at 8:00 I am reminded that William F. Buckley is not the best example of the sort of Conservative chap "one wants to keep around to have a good argument with."
anywhere near the cable car turn-around & Westfield Center (Powell & Market)
