"Networked Economics" session, contiuned (note scare quotes).
Wow, there is somebody from Consumer Reports here.
To continue the thread from my earlier post, there isn't a single economist or network theorist on this panel (insert yawn here). Nic Fulton is the "chief scientist" for Reuters. He's got a PhD in Physics, but sounds like his work is more technologist than what I would consider a scientist.
Wikipedia has a so-so set of articles on network economies here and here.
Contrary to popular opinion among our vaunted media experts, everyone is not on Facebook. Again on the politics on shallow, glitzy business discourse, I am concerned about the easy use of the word "everyone." Let's talk about what we're talking about: "Everyone that matters to me; everyone that I think is important and can offer lucrative opportunities to me."
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We Media, part eight
I didn't see a transition happening, so I walked in late to the Networked Economics session.
Someone is talking about "barriers to exit." These companies "can't simply be switched off. They have to morph or be modified." I think that his name is Nic Fulton from Reuters Media.
I missed the introduction, but I don't hear anything really addressing network economies. Rather, the focus is on interaction, pro-am, disruption, etc. While these trends are consequences of network economies, they shouldn't be conflated. Last night, a conference buddy was railing against the rampant jargon flood in this scene. Of course, I was being contrary and laid out the sensible reasons for the problem (the incentive to be a jargon coiner), he really had a point. The one thing I probably will always find so boring about business culture is the shallow, glitzy discourse and the sloppy juggling of sexy new terms at the expense of specificity, rigor, and depth. I experienced it at Microsoft, and I am certainly experiencing it here, at this confab of Web content, application, and services players.
Someone is talking about "barriers to exit." These companies "can't simply be switched off. They have to morph or be modified." I think that his name is Nic Fulton from Reuters Media.
I missed the introduction, but I don't hear anything really addressing network economies. Rather, the focus is on interaction, pro-am, disruption, etc. While these trends are consequences of network economies, they shouldn't be conflated. Last night, a conference buddy was railing against the rampant jargon flood in this scene. Of course, I was being contrary and laid out the sensible reasons for the problem (the incentive to be a jargon coiner), he really had a point. The one thing I probably will always find so boring about business culture is the shallow, glitzy discourse and the sloppy juggling of sexy new terms at the expense of specificity, rigor, and depth. I experienced it at Microsoft, and I am certainly experiencing it here, at this confab of Web content, application, and services players.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
We Media, part seven
Social Experiences in Business session:
Moderator Susan Mernit begins with a comment on how the concept of community is moving from "real life" to business.
"What have you observed about wellness and well-beingin community?"
Isaac Prilletkensky, Dean of U of Miami School of Education: "Well being flourishes through relationships."
Elisa Hamlin, Blogher. "Where are the women [political] bloggers?" I notice that they had Jenn Pozner of WIMN at their 07 conference.
Maria Gallagher, Fleishman Hillard. Works in unconferencing. "Face time is much higher bandwidth."
Moderator Susan Mernit begins with a comment on how the concept of community is moving from "real life" to business.
"What have you observed about wellness and well-beingin community?"
Isaac Prilletkensky, Dean of U of Miami School of Education: "Well being flourishes through relationships."
Elisa Hamlin, Blogher. "Where are the women [political] bloggers?" I notice that they had Jenn Pozner of WIMN at their 07 conference.
Maria Gallagher, Fleishman Hillard. Works in unconferencing. "Face time is much higher bandwidth."
We Media, part six
Innovations in the activist world session, continued:
Matisse Bustos Hawkes, WITNESS. Using media to advance human rights. WITNESS is launching a new tool, The HUB (not to be confused with SSRC's Hub), a "YouTube for human rights," but oriented to action on the ground.
Q&A:
Who is Bucketworks constituency?
1) Teens 14-18
2) 27-37, trying to do what they love with work & family
3) Boomers
"But we target everybody, which everybody tells me is insane." He says that intergenerational communication is a surprise result.
Deron is now talking about "ego-altruism." "If you can make it entertaining, with an edtirorial voice, and make it easy for people to step in the way it works for them, it works."
We've moved into a conversation fetishizing the Boomer generation's common cause in activism, in reference to the "cynicism of this generation toward traditional activism." This is really bothersome to me how a flat view of history enables a weak analysis of current political trends. "The Boomers" were far from unified (hippies were not Yippies were not Panthers were not MLK-style civil rights activists were not the founders of 2nd wave feminism, etc), and it's not like everyone or even most people were involved with any of these romanticized, famous movements.
I wonder how much this narrative of "the disengaged young generation" drives the development of these new approaches and to what effect.
I also wonder about the ethics and etiquette of blogging about someone sitting right next to me.
Matisse Bustos Hawkes, WITNESS. Using media to advance human rights. WITNESS is launching a new tool, The HUB (not to be confused with SSRC's Hub), a "YouTube for human rights," but oriented to action on the ground.
Q&A:
Who is Bucketworks constituency?
1) Teens 14-18
2) 27-37, trying to do what they love with work & family
3) Boomers
"But we target everybody, which everybody tells me is insane." He says that intergenerational communication is a surprise result.
Deron is now talking about "ego-altruism." "If you can make it entertaining, with an edtirorial voice, and make it easy for people to step in the way it works for them, it works."
We've moved into a conversation fetishizing the Boomer generation's common cause in activism, in reference to the "cynicism of this generation toward traditional activism." This is really bothersome to me how a flat view of history enables a weak analysis of current political trends. "The Boomers" were far from unified (hippies were not Yippies were not Panthers were not MLK-style civil rights activists were not the founders of 2nd wave feminism, etc), and it's not like everyone or even most people were involved with any of these romanticized, famous movements.
I wonder how much this narrative of "the disengaged young generation" drives the development of these new approaches and to what effect.
I also wonder about the ethics and etiquette of blogging about someone sitting right next to me.
We Media, part five
Innovations in the activist world session:
Deron Triff, Changents: "story telling platform for extradorinary change makers in their 20s and 30s... It's about these individuals who have put it on the line to do something about these issues, using a rock star- fan model." They want to connect diverse skills and resources to change angents. Deron something strange about the "edginess" of his "changents," that they don't use the language of "activism, movements, etc." I'm not sure how this is significant. Apparently, his audience is cynical about the traditional, organizational mode of social change making. If you are post-activist, does that make you cooler, more of a rock star? Doesn't it divorce from the history of struggle, and the lessons we've learned? I don't know. I'm deeply familiar with the frustrations with many flawed legacies we have inherited from that history of struggle. Maybe this warrants further investigation. Perhaps it's just caffeine-free, activism lite.
James Carlson, Bucketworks: Bucketworks is a "health club for the brain" in Milwaukee, accessible for $40/year. They have never had a grant, never done traditional fundraising. He says his system is "way better, but we probably will ask foundation for money." It looks like a fun, hyperactive community center.
Joan Peckolick, Selfchec.org. Selfchec promotes cancer prevention.
Deron Triff, Changents: "story telling platform for extradorinary change makers in their 20s and 30s... It's about these individuals who have put it on the line to do something about these issues, using a rock star- fan model." They want to connect diverse skills and resources to change angents. Deron something strange about the "edginess" of his "changents," that they don't use the language of "activism, movements, etc." I'm not sure how this is significant. Apparently, his audience is cynical about the traditional, organizational mode of social change making. If you are post-activist, does that make you cooler, more of a rock star? Doesn't it divorce from the history of struggle, and the lessons we've learned? I don't know. I'm deeply familiar with the frustrations with many flawed legacies we have inherited from that history of struggle. Maybe this warrants further investigation. Perhaps it's just caffeine-free, activism lite.
James Carlson, Bucketworks: Bucketworks is a "health club for the brain" in Milwaukee, accessible for $40/year. They have never had a grant, never done traditional fundraising. He says his system is "way better, but we probably will ask foundation for money." It looks like a fun, hyperactive community center.
Joan Peckolick, Selfchec.org. Selfchec promotes cancer prevention.
We Media, part four
We Media Nonprofit Journalism panel, continued...
I'm hoping that this session goes interactive shortly. So far, it's been a showcase for, admittedly vital, projects (see previous post).
Ok, we are "opening it up."
John Bracken: Ellen is finding that Sunlight's audience is not the "ordinary citizens," but rather "engaged citizens."
Ellen: "We all are interested in engaging citizens, but how many people are going to go to a site called opencongress.org?" They are looking at ways to link people with common policy interests.
Sunlight is doing some crowdsourcing research projects, including one to discover how many Congress people have hired spouses for government jobs. They had 5o participants, 12 serious ones, and it was completed over a holiday weekend. One participant wrote to say "I loved this. It was like a game. I always wanted to be an investigative journalist." This participant has returned to school to do just that.
I'm hoping that this session goes interactive shortly. So far, it's been a showcase for, admittedly vital, projects (see previous post).
Ok, we are "opening it up."
John Bracken: Ellen is finding that Sunlight's audience is not the "ordinary citizens," but rather "engaged citizens."
Ellen: "We all are interested in engaging citizens, but how many people are going to go to a site called opencongress.org?" They are looking at ways to link people with common policy interests.
Sunlight is doing some crowdsourcing research projects, including one to discover how many Congress people have hired spouses for government jobs. They had 5o participants, 12 serious ones, and it was completed over a holiday weekend. One participant wrote to say "I loved this. It was like a game. I always wanted to be an investigative journalist." This participant has returned to school to do just that.
We Media, part three
I'm sitting in the National Burger King Franchisees room at the University of Miami Business School, where the We Media Nonprofit Journalism panel is getting started, facilitated by John Bracken.
3 types of nonprofits that do journalism:
1) Groups that do journalism per se (NPR, CPI).
2) Advocacy organizations (Human Rights Watch, World Votes, Brave New Films)
3) Citizen, participatory media
Ellen from the Sunlight Foundation's opening remarks: "It's remarkable, both the diversity and the success of what's happening."
Sunlight projects:
Minnpost.com is a site for laid off journalists.
Someone asked about the how the Wikileaks situation affects her work. Ellen says that she has human curators vetting the material before it is published.
John Sawyer, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is talking about Pulitzer's response to media consolidation and the shrinkage in the professional journalists pool, as well as the decline of readership.
3 types of nonprofits that do journalism:
1) Groups that do journalism per se (NPR, CPI).
2) Advocacy organizations (Human Rights Watch, World Votes, Brave New Films)
3) Citizen, participatory media
Ellen from the Sunlight Foundation's opening remarks: "It's remarkable, both the diversity and the success of what's happening."
Sunlight projects:
Minnpost.com is a site for laid off journalists.
Someone asked about the how the Wikileaks situation affects her work. Ellen says that she has human curators vetting the material before it is published.
John Sawyer, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is talking about Pulitzer's response to media consolidation and the shrinkage in the professional journalists pool, as well as the decline of readership.
We Media, part one
I'm at a conference, cheerfully named We Media. The attendees are largely coming from the journalism industry, both the incumbent side and new entrants. I'm here on a fellowship that I got after writing this (from my application essay):
As a representative of 25 organizations and, more generally, a popular movement dedicated to insuring that our media future liberates us and further democratizes society, I can help to connect We Media technology innovators to the issues, ideas, and people that are shaping the future in which their visions will develop. It's clear that We Media is about making the world a better place through communication technology; the many innovators listed on the schedule are a testament to that value. However, the impact of communications technologies on the the world is often decided in the policy domain, and I don't see many technology and communications policy actors represented thus far in the conference programming. The results of current debates over radio spectrum management for wireless networking, network neutrality, broadband deployment and digital inclusion will direct, expand, and limit the capacity of new technologies to bring positive change. Technology innovators have a stake in these debates, and I hope I can offer my knowledge and experience in the policy domain in exchange for the education that We Media would offer to me.
So, far there has been a lot of enthusiastic talk about how new communication technologies and models (pro-am, for instance) can make the world a better place. I'll be doing some official live-blogging for them later, amounting to minute taking, so I wanted to do some personal blogging as well.
I'm excited about a number of the people who are here. Right now, in their first session, we are listening to reps from OneVoice and the Hip Hop Caucaus. It's a strange mix, though, as they are sitting with the executive editor of the Washington Post, who, if I heard correctly, admitted that positive social change is not a primary goal of the Post.
Also on the panel is Katrin Verclas from Mobile Active, a group encouraging the use of mobile technologies for social mobilization. "It's a tool for organizing and mobilization." Ihope to ask her about the NARAL-Verizon case.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus, who has registered over 1 million people to vote, is given the last opportunity to speak. He is asked "How do you motivate people through media to take action on ideas?" "Media is really life and death...it has the ability to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent... when you are oppressed...then you have to create a mechanism to tell the story... The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded. If the media does not make the injustice visible, then people can actually die." "When I was on Capitol Hill, I was beaten." It took the independent media to push the mainstream media to cover the story. In their Katrina work, "We have been using mix tapes, CDs." Placing messages in between the music tracks. I'm pretty sure the suit types sitting next to me don't like the Reverend's comments.
As a representative of 25 organizations and, more generally, a popular movement dedicated to insuring that our media future liberates us and further democratizes society, I can help to connect We Media technology innovators to the issues, ideas, and people that are shaping the future in which their visions will develop. It's clear that We Media is about making the world a better place through communication technology; the many innovators listed on the schedule are a testament to that value. However, the impact of communications technologies on the the world is often decided in the policy domain, and I don't see many technology and communications policy actors represented thus far in the conference programming. The results of current debates over radio spectrum management for wireless networking, network neutrality, broadband deployment and digital inclusion will direct, expand, and limit the capacity of new technologies to bring positive change. Technology innovators have a stake in these debates, and I hope I can offer my knowledge and experience in the policy domain in exchange for the education that We Media would offer to me.
So, far there has been a lot of enthusiastic talk about how new communication technologies and models (pro-am, for instance) can make the world a better place. I'll be doing some official live-blogging for them later, amounting to minute taking, so I wanted to do some personal blogging as well.
I'm excited about a number of the people who are here. Right now, in their first session, we are listening to reps from OneVoice and the Hip Hop Caucaus. It's a strange mix, though, as they are sitting with the executive editor of the Washington Post, who, if I heard correctly, admitted that positive social change is not a primary goal of the Post.
Also on the panel is Katrin Verclas from Mobile Active, a group encouraging the use of mobile technologies for social mobilization. "It's a tool for organizing and mobilization." Ihope to ask her about the NARAL-Verizon case.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus, who has registered over 1 million people to vote, is given the last opportunity to speak. He is asked "How do you motivate people through media to take action on ideas?" "Media is really life and death...it has the ability to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent... when you are oppressed...then you have to create a mechanism to tell the story... The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded. If the media does not make the injustice visible, then people can actually die." "When I was on Capitol Hill, I was beaten." It took the independent media to push the mainstream media to cover the story. In their Katrina work, "We have been using mix tapes, CDs." Placing messages in between the music tracks. I'm pretty sure the suit types sitting next to me don't like the Reverend's comments.
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