« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »
Hey, the folks at the National Presidential Caucus are having a big deal on December seventh. People are using the net to change the way we govern ourselves, and it's worth taking a look.
The idea is to give power to everyday people to discuss and deliberate the candidates and the issues is both important and powerful. This is what participatory democracy is all about.
Hey, the guys from NewsTrust are building something new, tools that help people find trustworthy news. Their technology allows everyone to work together to rate and filter the news, and figure out what's fair and factual.
They just got a pretty good grant from the MacArthur Foundation to expand their service. This is for real:
Unlike other social news sites, NewsTrust.net features news and opinions rated by its members based on quality -- not just popularity. The non-partisan site's unique review tools empower the public to evaluate fairness, sourcing, context and other core journalistic principles. NewsTrust.net tracks quality ratings and reputation for each news publication under review, to help identify trustworthy sources. The service also ensures the reliability of its evaluations by rating its own reviewers and validating their expertise.
I believe in what these guys are doing, and have contributed my time and money.
Hey, you probably know about so called "astroturf" sites, that is, sites which pretend to represent honest grassroots citizens, but are fake. Usually, they're run by PR or lobbying gangs paid by suspect politicians or unsavory corporate execs. This includes the swiftboaters, both in the literal or generic sense, who've already started to attack honest politicians.
Turns out, groups like the Center for Media Democracy, Consumer Reports WebWatch, and Sunlight Foundation are starting to do the hard investigative reporting to expose the bad guys. They're already off to a really good start, reporting in a purely nonpartisan manner.
Check out two early reports:
Disclaimer: I'm pretty impressed by Consumers Union and Sunlight Foundation, so I've joined their boards.
Hey, the folks at Curbed do really good street-level reporting on real estate, and they're doing new stuff to engage everyone:
What ever shall we do with Sea Wall Lot (SWL) 337, the site south of China Basin Channel (in Mission Bay) that is currently used for Giants and commuter parking. The Port Commission is launching an effort to "Develop a diverse mix of uses at SWL 337 that reflects San Francisco's unique character and promotes a vital urban environment with lively interactions between workers, visitors and residents, and broad use and safe enjoyment of public spaces." Read: The City of San Francisco is seeking Utopia, and it's your chance to envision it. Enter ONE idea, ONE paragraph to describe it, and ONE rendering. That's it. December 3rd deadline, up to $500 in cash prizes. Details below, questions and entries to sf@curbed.com
Check it out here
Hey, we need The Daily Show and Colbert Nation back on to get trustworthy news.
Me, I just did the "Pencils2MediaMoguls" thing, lots more here:
Okay, what is Pencils2MediaMoguls?
We’re asking people to use our site to buy pencils to send to the six media moguls who run the six corporate conglomerates.Why pencils?
A lot of different fan sites were suggesting that people send pencils to networks and studios. United Hollywood and Strike Points met with some of the television showrunners, and together we decided to follow the fans’ lead.Pencils have become the symbol of our cause: We are putting them down until we get a fair deal.
Symbolism, whatever. Let’s face it -- isn’t this kind of a waste of pencils?
We were worried about that too, so we found a vendor who makes environmentally sensitive product: California Republic Stationers. Their pencils are made from sustainably harvested wood, which means they don’t deforest.We’ll also send the media moguls suggestions about where they can donate the pencils to non-profits that teach kids how to write. After all, the CEOs aren’t writers. It’s not like they can use them.
Looks like the winners in the war include contractors, particularly Halliburton/KBR. From the CPI report:
KBR, Inc., the global engineering and construction giant, won more than $16 billion in U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2006—far more than any other company... In fact, the total dollar value of contracts that went to KBR—which used to be known as Kellogg, Brown, and Root and until April 2007 was a subsidiary of Halliburton—was nearly nine times greater than those awarded to DynCorp International, a private security firm...According to David Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, the outsourcing of government has escalated across the board over the past five years, although oversight of the process has shrunk during this same period. In an interview with the Center for Public Integrity, Walker noted particular problems with military contracting. "We have identified about 15 systemic, longstanding acquisition and contracting problems that exist within the Defense Department—which is the single biggest contractor within the U.S. government—that we are still not making enough progress on," said Walker, who heads the Government Accountability Office. "I mean, this stuff isn't rocket science."
But not all contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan are reported in this federal data system, including awards originating at one contracting agency in Baghdad, which reports only some aggregate totals for inclusion in the central database. Because the agency has so far refused to furnish these missing contracts, the Center is now seeking copies via Freedom of Information Act requests.
Disclosure: I'm on the Center for Public Integrity advisory board.
Well, interviewed earlier for a Danish publication, I learned that I'm also a nørd or nörd.
Previously, I had learn that in the Netherlands, I'm a nerdje.
We're everywhere...
Hey, the Huffington Post is a big deal, pushing ahead what's happening with journalism online.
I particularly recommend Rachel Sklar's Eat the Press for good media commentary, and Thomas Edsall's Get Off the Bus for presidential campaign coverage you can't find elsewhere.
Me, my stuff is at huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark
Hey, this was an experiment in 'net based collaboration, pretty cool.
Ken Goldberg, professor at UC Berkeley and grad students on removing the camera.
The gallery is still up at the CONE Berkeley site
(the gf feels the house finches in the photo are doing something inappropriate)
