Viewing all posts tagged "internet"

Is Investigative Journalism Dead?

All the words and images pouring in from Haiti remind us how social media have revolutionized the standards for communicating in times of crisis. In spite of the gut wrenching imagery, it’s a positive thing that anyone with a camera, phone, or computer can publish their thoughts and feelings globally.

Crowd-sourced news and freelance / celebrity writers have reduced the need for traditional investigative journalism. We no longer rely on “the professionals” to challenge existing orthodoxies; rather, we leave the critical thinking to the people we know and trust and respect.

As other have said, disasters of the scale that struck Haiti this week usually see a huge outpouring of cash and interest in the immediate aftermath, which almost disappears within the first year. And who will do the follow up reporting? Professional journalists, or the crowd?

Posted on 15 January 2010

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Tags: haiti, internet, technology,

Amazing interactive infographic on browser share statistics. Click through!

Posted on 23 January 2010

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Tags: web, technology, internet,

FarmVille is stupid

In December I read in various places that there are more active players of the Facebook app FarmVille than on all of Twitter. Facebook claims FarmVille has 69 million active players per month, and research shows Twitter has around 18 million users. I heard this news and thought, “What is FarmVille?”

So I tried it. I built my farm. I got some ducks and a wheelbarrow. I became addicted to unlocking new crops. Getting tractors was very exciting as it quadrupled the efficiency of planting and harvesting and, therefore, unlocking further crops. The process even had some educational value: I did not know, or had forgotten, what artichokes looked like while they were still at field. But now I’m out of tractor fuel and have to click 300 times just to sow a new round of crops.

I just don’t care. Even if I were to pay real-world money to unlock special features, you are no closer to winning because you cannot win. And yet, you cannot lose either. So, what is the point?

Posted on 28 January 2010

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Tags: farmville, facebook, annoying, web, internet,

I’ve been thinking more and more about the internet and democracy, specifically bloggers’ rights vs journalists’ rights with regards to free speech. As it becomes easier for writers to get set up with their own personal publishing platforms, the distinction between “blogger” and “journalist” becomes grayer and much less relevant.

Work is generally acknowledged as journalism if meets three criteria:

it is written by a careerist (ie someone who identifies him or herself as a reporter or columnist),
it is published or transmitted by an established organization,
it covers topics related to current events, people, trends and issues.

And yet, high quality writing that meets the 3rd criteria is being produced daily by thousands of individuals who do not enjoy the same protections and rights that traditional journalists enjoy. These such writers are known collectively by the pejorative term “bloggers” and judged as second class simply because they self-publish.

Posted on 9 June 2010

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Tags: internet, politics,

I threw together this World Film Collective website to show off all the cool videos being made by the kids we connect with in South Africa duing the 2010 World Cup!