Hyper-Local News Sites Evolving

If your local newspaper shuts down, what will take the place of its coverage?...A number of Web start-up companies are creating so-called hyperlocal news sites that let people zoom in on what is happening closest to them, often without involving traditional journalists.

Read more at The New York Times, April 12, 2009

A few local samples of "local" blogs - though of a different nature than those described in the article-
baristanet.com

glocallynewark.com

And Coming soon:
The Newark Mosaic

Do they fit the bill as growing alternatives to newspapers?  Are their writers/content creators "reliable"?  Is this the future of journalism?

Is this grassroots journalism filling the gaps left open by the conglomerates?

It'll be interesting to see how the big media corporations handle this niche market in the coming years.

Future of Newspapers & Journalism

Blogger Norman Oder discusses the future of newspapers & journalism, particularly in relation to the emergence of blogs. He summarizes key points from a recent Senate hearing on the newspaper crisis (watch video).

Oder also connects the conversation about the future of journalism to the development of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

The most contentious issue, via Gawker and the New York Times’s Opinionator blog (as noted below), concerned the claim by former Baltimore Sun reporter and “The Wire” producer David Simon that he doesn’t see bloggers covering nitty-gritty local issues like zoning board hearings.

Read the full post here. Can bloggers fill in the gaps or are we witnessing the demise of journalism and the Fourth Estate?

...Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, who has proposed a law that makes it easier to convert for-profit newspapers to charitable status, suggested that “our newspapers are a check on not just local government, and the federal government, but on corporations, on businesses, on community activity.”

How has the absence of robust local investigative journalism affected Newark?

TRANSMEDIA ACTIVISM: Storytelling for Social Change

Check out this article from NAMAC on how transmedia storytelling can be used to educate audiences, form communities, and address social issues.

“transmedia activism” is one of the best ways to have people connect to a cause, by exposing them to a variety of media properties over various distribution channels—which opens up avenues for dialogue and provides an audience an educational experience about workable solutions—and then working with the most creative and engaged audience segment to facilitate the creation of their own content that further explains the cause and inspires action around it.

Sued for Tweets? Can Law Keep Up?

CNN reports singer Courtney Love is getting sued for writing derogatory tweets about a designer. A tenant is sued for tweeting about (or is it defaming) a "bad" landlord.

But that's not all! Sexual harassment? Jurisdiction? Inheritance? Anonymity? There are so many issues when you stop to think about it. Can the law keep up? "It's a time of cultural shift and this is going to take a while to stabilize itself and shake out."

Read more and watch what you tweet.

"All Eyes on Murdoch" as he Defends his Newspapers Against Google

AFP story, published on here on Yahoo 11/15/09.
If link expires, try this link

Rupert Murdoch, who is considering charging internet users a fee to read stories from his newspapers, is accusing Google "of 'stealing' from his vast newspaper empire" and is threatening to "block the search engine from accessing its content."

The newspaper industry, hurting for revenues in the age of the free Internet news content, is carefully watching Murdoch's moves. Will this be the beginning of a new strategy to increase revenues? Or is it a misguided move that will simply shut Murdoch's "news" organizations (Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Fox News, among many others) out of the vast world of advertising and readers that Google's search engine can deliver?

How Google is Remaking the Media Landscape

Prolific author and N.Y. Times Columnist Ken Auleta speaks about his latest book Googled: The End of the World as We Know It on WYNC's Leonard Lopate Show.

A fascinating account of Google's rise and its impact on our culture and media landscape, including the newspaper, television, telephone, and advertising industries.

Listen at around Min 11:00 when he talks about why these changes pose serious challenges to independent journalism, investigative reporting, and issues like keeping those in power honest. "If newspapers continue to shrivel...you lose something...the blogosphere does not substitute for that"

Cloud computing is also discussed at minute 17:00.




Watch an excerpt (not the whole interview)

ABC Social: Play in our sandbox

"ABC Social: Episode Commentary is a new ABC Full Episode Player feature offering unique insight directly from show experts and fans, creating a more informative and entertaining viewing experience."

Spoiling is now officially sanctioned and virtually embedded into a show's on-line presence.

Here is a media company embracing collective intelligence and participatory fan engagement, viral marketing strategies employing social networking, and affective marketing strategies designed to enhance the emotional commitment of fans across multiple platforms.

Fans say  "Why go to fan forums when you can now spoil within the sandbox provided by ABC?"
Producers say "Why let the viewers go play elsewhere when we can build them our own sandbox (and target them with our ads)?"

Links: Star Wars Fan Films

Here is a raw compilation of links related to Jenkins' Chapter "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars" on the dynamic relationship between media companies, franchises, and fan communities.  Near the end is a quick set of links to mash-ups on YouTube. Feel free to add suggestions via the Comments section below.

Links

What Does "The Cloud" Look Like?

CNN Reporter John Sutter hunts for "The Cloud" and finds lots of secrecy. While more and more of us use and rely on cloud computing, we, like John, don't really know where our files really live. John's story takes us across the world to a growing number of huge, bricks and mortar data centers. A short video also explains the basics of cloud computing.


In the video below, CNET's reporter Ida Fried peers inside Microsoft's new data center. Two if its designers describe some of the planning and technical design aspects behind such data centers.

Outfoxed & Brave New Films

Scroll down to watch OUTFOXED.

Brave New Film's work is a great example of political activism and documentary production in the age of convergence. They employ e-mail lists, social networking, and viral strategies at the core of their production and distribution strategies. Their videos become central to broader on-line political activism.

This documentary is one of their first works. They were very active in the 2008 campaign and continue to be active in challenging right-wing misinformation campaigns and using media to advance a progressive agenda.

To get the full experience of their work, subscribe to their YouTube channel, Facebook campaigns, and e-mail list. (Even if you disagree politically, it's useful to see how they employ these technologies to advance their cause.)

More on Brave New Films & their recent projects.

VIEW: Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
By Robert Greenwald/Brave New Films
(This playlist contains 8 parts. I recommend watching them in order.)

RIP: A Remix Manifesto

RIP: a Remix Manifesto

A VERY engaging and UPtempo doc exploring one of the most important issues of our time: corporate control of intellectual property - including music, films, and even life itself! This is about piracy and so much more - like your ability to borrow, quote, re-use, critique, create...

The re-mix movement, fueled by the participatory nature of of our evolving convergence culture, stands as a beacon of resistance, hope, freedom, liberated mice, and...FUNK

Lead the way, GIRL TALK!

DOWNLOAD the entire documentary at

http://www.ripremix.com/

REMIX the doc itself & contribute to the project at 
 http://opensourcecinema.org/

The David Letterman Affair

Old Media meets New Media in revelation of sordid late-night affair!
Read all about it. David Letterman's affair backlash.



Letterman admits to affair. Fans are abuzz trying to "spoil" the story by "sleuthing" all over the web for details. "video search: letterman affair"

Old media CBS is protective, plays cat & mouse game with YouTubers, keeps video confession off cyber-air-waves.No mention of on-air confession on Letterman's show web page. Comments section is on fire!

Twitter's buzzing. Search #letterman.
Blogs are buzzing. Type "blog:david letterman affair" in Google search for 50,000 returns.

Recording Power to the People

A great summary of tips & strategies for adding video to tell your community stories from Community Media Workshop.

Power to the "little brother" with a camera.

This is useful for non-profits, citizen activists, and anybody who wants to enhance their online presence and tell their stories with compelling video.

It will become relevant to our final project later in the term.

Ethnic Media Survive in Sinking Market

From National Public Radio
Though these are grim times for major news organizations across the country, a few organizations — often labeled "ethnic media" — are thriving.

Many of these newspapers and broadcast stations are doing well because they've tapped into an expanding audience — the sons and daughters of immigrants.

Listen to the story on NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102802880

The Press & Dissent

The press thrives on fostering dissent. It is in their interest, as dissent keeps us tuned in. Dissent (conflict) is at the heart of drama. Keep this in mind next time you watch "the news."

A coalition of sentiments is not for the interest of printers. They, like the clergy, live by the zeal they can kindle and the schisms they can create. It is contest of opinion in politics as well as religion which makes us take great interest in them and bestow our money liberally on those who furnish aliment to our appetite... So the printers can never leave us in a state of perfect rest and union of opinion. They would be no longer useful and would have to go to the plough."
--Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1801.

Can there be an alternative? Is news on the web different? How?

Facebook & Journalism: What you Should Know

From Mashable.com, Facebook & Journalism: What you Should Know

In addition to the audio of a panel discussion on the topic, this post has links to two other interesting articles: Journalist's Guide to Facebook, Journalist's Guide to Twitter.

Great Cell Phone Video

Transnational/Transcultural motifs, production on mobile technologies, a global distribution network... all within a very clever and simple video. The local becomes universal in more ways than one.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FROM CNN
(Click here if the embedded window doesn't respond)

Facebook as a Tool for Social Change?

From CNN: a short report on the use of Facebook in the Middle East.

Do you use Facebook for socially engaged dialogue and activities?

FCC Expected To Announce Support of Net Neutrality Monday

FCC Expected To Announce Support of Net Neutrality Monday

Posted using ShareThis

Remember going to the video store for films?

I'm surprised Blockbuster is still around. Brick and mortar video stores are a thing of the past, and they are shutting down thousands in the coming year. But they are doing everything possible to adapt to the delivery of home/filmed entertainment in the age of convergence. See their web site for the multiple delivery systems they offer. But can they compete in the age of bitTorrent, hulu and YouTube?

Yahoo! & Twitter: White House Q&A on Health Care

The White House answers' questions from "netizens" via Yahoo! News and Twitter.

An example of the new kind of participatory culture in the age of convergence.

"News" in the Age of Twitter: Obama & Kanye West

From the L.A. Times: read what happened when an ABC News correspondent prematurely twittered a report that President Obama called Kanye West an "jack***."

Of course, there is a second layer of reporting here, with the LA Times reporting on the inappropriate report and echoing the news, giving the story a longer life!

Professional standards for journalists are being challenged in the age of 24/7 connectivity and immediacy.

Local News is the Heart of Democracy: So Why is it disappearing?

View This video from PBS' Bill Moyers
and consider what happens when we lose local news converage.

Why Michelle Obama's Hair Matters

This recent article from Time Magazine explores some of the social and political nuances of Michelle Obama's hair styles, particularly as it relates to the historical currents underlying the meaning of African-American women's hair.

Read this article in relation to to the video "A Girl Like Me," produced by teen filmmaker Kiri Davis.

What role does the media play in establishing the value systems by which we define our identity? How do we learn what is favorable, appropriate, professional, fashionable, etc? Where do we get the images that help us form our sense of style and identity?

The new White House web page