Untitled: chartreuse (b)

“So while you might be spending loads of time understanding the what’s and why’s of social media, it’s almost more important to understand the dominant cultural conversations in your world or category and to see how you brand connects to them. If you get this perhaps you can create conversations that connect the two together.”

- Ed Cotton on the Brian Eno article and why “uncool” is a dead word. (via jonascarlsson)

"you follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. but you follow the money…..and you don’t..."

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:11:17 -0500

“you follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. but you follow the money…..and you don’t know where the fcuk it’s gone take you.”

- det. lester freamon, “the wire” (via atlgodp)

"Surely Tiger’s decision to outsouce sexual services to a range of competing providers is in line..."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:38:07 -0500

“Surely Tiger’s decision to outsouce sexual services to a range of competing providers is in line with Management Consultancy’s established best practice?”

- Why on earth has Accenture ditched Tiger Woods? (via heyitsnoah)

bunch: These people sat in at least an hour’s worth of traffic...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:51:11 -0500

bunch:

These people sat in at least an hour’s worth of traffic (with an hour or more waiting for them after the game), paid the highest ticket prices in the country (and one would assume the highest parking and concession), and packed in with nearly 100,000 other people to watch the Cowboys’ home game — happening on the field in front of them, mind you — in 3-D on the team’s HD screens.

When did we get here? And how far are we from paying $80 to watch our favorite team in a game of Madden on an HD screen the size of Luxembourg?

(Photo: AP via the Telegraph)

[via]

Bill Gates fund: libraries need more cash for broadband

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:06:11 -0500

Bill Gates fund: libraries need more cash for broadband :

infoneernet:

The foundation tied to the Microsoft fortune has told the Federal Communications Commission that the government should spend more money on high-speed Internet upgrades for public libraries and schools. The FCC should make it easier to apply, too.

“A growing number of schools and public libraries cannot afford connectivity upgrades because of the inability to pay for one-time only installation, equipment and transport costs,” the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation warned the Commission on Wednesday. No big surprise that Gates is active in this area. Microsoft’s general focus when it comes to broadband stimulus questions is that resources should go to “anchor institutions”—libraries, schools, and hospitals.

» via ars technica

chuckolsen: “We stand with Africa”: Flash demonstration inside...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:17:11 -0500

chuckolsen:

“We stand with Africa”:
Flash demonstration inside Bella Center supporting Africa, who briefly withdrew from COP15 talks today.

I always wanted to be a foil.

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:31:49 -0500

toycunt:

A foil is a person that contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of the main character’s personality: to throw the character of the protagonist into sharper relief. A foil usually has some important characteristics in common with the other character, such as, frequently, superficial traits or personal history.

antonella: jayrosen: This is a mock-up for a news site that I...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:45:53 -0500

antonella:

jayrosen:

This is a mock-up for a news site that I think should exist: explainthis.org

Users go to the site and find a prompt similar to Twitter’s what’s happening? or Facebook’s what’s on your mind? But instead of updating their status they type in a question they have for a team of journalists who are… “standing by.”

What I have in mind is not search. It’s not Yahoo Answers or AskReddit, either. This is for questions that cannot be answered by a simple, or even a sophisticated search. Or by the amateur expert who’s been reading Popular Mechanics since 1964. The kind of questions explainthis.org would handle have these three features:

Lots of people have this question and they want a good answer. (Which argues for a participatory system to rate questions and vote them up or down. It also means we can ask those participants for help as the investigation gets underway)

The answer is not easily obtained through search or by “looking it up.”

It takes real journalism—investigative, explanatory, seriously enterprising pro-am journalism—to answer the question completely and well.

I’ve been talking about this idea on Twitter recently. In reply Jim Marko sent me a sample question: why are we still subsidizing corn? That works! A lot of people probably have this question. It cannot be easily answered with a Google search or by looking it up in the Almanac of American Politics. And to understand why we’re subsidizing corn, a good deal of investigation and explanation are required. Which is why we need journalists… “standing by.” (Not that there aren’t good places to start; certainly, there are. And users could help find them.)

So that’s explainthis.org, which is so far just this concept sketch. The journalists who are standing by aren’t… yet. But all it takes is one news company to realize the virtues of doing their investigative and explanatory reporting this way.

Now tell me what you think of it in the comments, okay?

Notes

Inspiration for explainthis.org came from myreporter.com (for more on that site, go here) and my ex-student Cody Brown, who did the mock up, borrowing from his own start-up, Kommons.com, which applies this idea to localities (for more, see this.)

Also relevant is Help Me Investigate, started by Paul Bradshaw in the UK, and spot.us, which was launched by David Cohn, who used to work with me on NewAssignment.Net.

"Price is the only truth in the market, anything else is a lie, a damn lie or statistic."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:00:50 -0500

“Price is the only truth in the market, anything else is a lie, a damn lie or statistic.”

- Thought of the Day… « 50’s Blog

Love this! Nuff said. If you trade currencies and use Twitter, follow @50pips. Well worth the follow!

(via faithmight)

laeticia: stunning kenyan model ajuma, photographed by james...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:20:48 -0500

laeticia:

stunning kenyan model ajuma, photographed by james meakin for arise magazine.

ericfriedman: Santas on the NYC train - economical way to...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:33:52 -0500

ericfriedman:

Santas on the NYC train - economical way to travel but not sure how the reindeer feel

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it..."

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:54:51 -0500

““Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.””

- Margaret Mead (via kari-shma) (via quote-book)

kari-shma: topherchris: Nine Inch Nails | Beside You In...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:09:51 -0500

kari-shma:

topherchris:

Nine Inch Nails | Beside You In Time