Blue Sky Thinking

Its the end of this blog as we know it

Fri, 22 Aug 2003 13:18:01 GMT

Due to technical reasons, this blog is moving. It is now the New Fact Almanac.

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:43:14 GMT

This blog is on vacation! Will send a postcard from next fabolous location!

News is in the edit?

Wed, 21 May 2003 18:02:26 GMT

Metafilter: May 19, 2003
Google News has reportedly confirmed they have removed Indymedia from their list of news sources. Why you ask? Apparently Google bowed to pressure brought upon them by an email campaign organized by people who disagree with some of what gets posted under IndyMedia's policy of allowing anyone to post to the newswire, and not exerting editorial control. People are claiming IndyMedia is "anti-semitic", because of trolls who sometimes post hateful posts on the unedited, user-supplied newswire.

This metafilter thread, I think, touches on many of the key issues related to the alternative media. I'm still thinking about the news coverage of the last Iraq war especially as "the truth" about the Jessica Lynch saga is emerging... speaking of which Naomi Klein compares the stories of Jessica Lynch and Rachael Corrie in her latest Globe column.

Other Iraq media links I'm still digesting:

The Unseen War - NY Review of Books
The China Syndrome - NY Times

When I read Oldenburg's Great Good Place, I thought the exact same thing!

Thu, 15 May 2003 15:54:40 GMT

Beyond the obvious benefits of coffee service in the library lays a paradigm shift centered on the very definition of what a library is and can be. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz defined it this way: “In some communities, Starbucks stores have become a Third Place – a comfortable, sociable gathering spot away from home and work, like an extension of the front porch.” (Schultz and Yang 5) One way to enhance the library’s cultural relevancy would be to reinvent it as a “Third Place.” -- any informal public gathering place as defined by University of West Florida sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his book, The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. “Our first place is our home, our second is work, and our third is a community hangout where conversation, relaxation, and social engagement thrive, and expectations are left at the door.” (Mooney)

In The Great Good Place, Oldenburg wrote that, due in part to the urban sprawl of our cities and the corresponding downward spiral of American civic life, "We do not have that third realm of satisfaction and social cohesion beyond the portals of home and work that for others is an essential element of the good life." (Oldenburg, 45) But Oldenburg took the point further: This lack of community, he argued, is detrimental not only to welfare of the individual, but also to democracy and civil society.

Amazingly, while there is not even an entry for ‘library’ or ‘libraries’ in the index of The Great Good Place, the library is an ideal candidate for metamorphosis into a “third place.” The values of democratic and no-cost access resonate with librarians. The profit motive, indivisible from a business’s raison d’etre, is absent from the government-funded library.

Back in blog

Thu, 08 May 2003 19:30:09 GMT

Invasivespecies.gov:
A Gateway to Federal and State Invasive Species Activities and Programs

This site deals with the U.S. federal government's response to the impacts of invasive plants and animals. The site has species profiles, plus information and links for news and events, laws and legislation, agencies and organizations, transportation of species from one location to another, and many other resources on issues involving invasive species. This is also the Web site for the National Invasive Species Council, an inter-departmental coordinating agency [lii.org].

Bloggers have more clout than librarians.. or are we just slower off the mark?

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:55:31 GMT

As noted below, the NY Times reversed their archive policy again after my last DaveNet on the subject. As noted here on Tueseday, I am working with the Times people on this issue. I agreed not to write publicly about it until we're finished talking. I've talked with a few people who I trust, on the same terms, to try to make this come out right for the Times and for the Web. I have another talk, as noted below, later today. [Scripting News]

Notice that an outcry of BLOGGERS made the NY Times reverse their archive policy. Why can't librarians have that sort of pull?

Some thoughts from Arundhati Roy

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 15:25:17 GMT

When the "Allies" bombed the Iraqi television station (also, incidentally, a contravention of the Geneva convention), there was vulgar jubilation in the American media. In fact Fox TV had been lobbying for the attack for a while. It was seen as a righteous blow against Arab propaganda. But mainstream American and British TV continue to advertise themselves as "balanced" when their propaganda has achieved hallucinatory levels.
Why should propaganda be the exclusive preserve of the western media? Just because they do it better? Western journalists "embedded" with troops are given the status of heroes reporting from the frontlines of war. Non-"embedded" journalists (such as the BBC's Rageh Omaar, reporting from besieged and bombed Baghdad, witnessing, and clearly affected by the sight of bodies of burned children and wounded people) are undermined even before they begin their reportage: "We have to tell you that he is being monitored by the Iraqi authorities." [Arundhati Roy reprinted from Common Dreams]

Posinoia Strikes Deep

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 15:16:24 GMT

Slate's Mickey Kaus thinks that Iran is next.

McLuhan's Messages, Echoing in Iraq Coverage

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 15:14:00 GMT

From McLuhan's Messages, Echoing in Iraq Coverage, New York Times, April 3, 2003

With the war rolling ahead on television, you the viewer are made a part of the invading army. Even the local meteorologists participate in the illusion. They give two weather reports: sunshine in New York, sandstorms in Basra.

Meanwhile, just as the audience feels a part of the army, the army becomes part of the audience. American troops on an aircraft carrier watch CNN to see how the war is playing and progressing. Soldiers are watching other soldiers on television.

That is, there is general confusion as to who is acting and who is watching. And at the crux of the confusion are the traditional eyewitnesses to war, the journalists, "embedded" with the troops. Are the television cameras the witnesses to war, or are they part of the weaponry? Or both?

In this war, the perception of winning is almost the same as winning. If Saddam Hussein can appear to be in power on television, he is in power. If the United States military can show the world that it is winning, then it is winning.

Mefi Fo Fum

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 15:10:28 GMT

From MeFi:

42 days to a Googlewash. The Register comes out all guns firing at the blogging community's apparent "redefinition" of a term, calling it Orwellian doublespeak. Is it true that a small coterie of A-list bloggers is able to change the way we (for we: read Google users) define a phrase? Or is there really something bigger going on?

The first Internet war

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 13:52:06 GMT

Over the last two weeks I've been trying to track this particular line of thought:

If the first Gulf War was the making of cable television, then the current conflict in Iraq could mark a similar watershed for the Internet and help redefine how major news events are covered.

The quote above is from an article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Evidence for such a shift may be found in the latest report, The Internet and the Iraq War from the Pew Research Center.

--

Recent figures from Nielsen/NetRatings shows that news organizations are logging record numbers for their online sites, with consumption during the 9-5 workday period outpacing activity at home. The report states that Time magazine's site traffic skyrocketed almost 169% during the week ending March 23. Britain's Guardian site surged 137% to 835,000 surfers; Fox News jumped 78%; NPR online increased 73% to 540,000 surfers; CNN saw almost 60% growth in unique users. [Poyner]

Why are the Dixie Chicks Not Allowed to Protest

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 16:15:25 GMT

Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry — with close links to the Bush administration.

The reprinted NY Times article above is disturbing. A multi-million dollar media company sponsors pro-war demonstrations for purposes of gaining marketshare.

I would like to see a follow-up article: why are the Dixie Chicks a safe target for scapgoating. I fail to believe that the same company would feel as comfortable scapegoating Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash. Why isn't the country music industry supporting the Dixie Chicks?

Ever heard a tree singing?

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 14:36:27 GMT

Ever heard a tree singing? asks noted U.S. composer and bioacoustician Bernie Krause. "It's 70 kilohertz." He told Electronic Musician magazine that "we were listening for the sounds of bats, which are up in the 47-plus kHz range," when they got a tune from a cottonwood tree. "As we listened to the tree's music, I was startled by the regularity of its pulse and the subtle rhythmic accents. It was as if we were hearing the recording of a virtuosic percussionist playing woodblocks."

Social Studies, April 1, 2003, Globe and Mail

Wondering what I'm not reading

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 14:31:43 GMT

With most of the international news coverage dedicated to the invasion of Iraq and most of the domestic news coverage dedicated to SARS, you have to wonder about all the stories that we aren't reading about. On that note, from Slate's Kausfiles

The "Jo Moore" Clampdown -- It's Not Just Castro: According to Daniel Drezner, there's a veritable wave of repression going on around the world, as the planet's dictators recognize, Jo Moore-style, that they won't be subject to the usual international press scrutiny while media attention is focused on Iraq. ... It's happening in Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Myanmar, as well as in Cuba ...[Links via Drezner] 2:51 A.M

Themestress of the War

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 19:15:19 GMT

Theme of the day: the firing of journalists who are critical of the war:

NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett on Monday, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview with state-run Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's resistance
A San Francisco Chronicle reporter suspended after participating in an anti-war rally said on Friday that he felt unfairly treated and that newspaper readers should not expect complete objectivity from any reporter. ... "I don't write about national affairs, I don't write about national politics, I write about things like (e-mail) spam," Norr said in an interview. "To me, in any normal understanding of what is a conflict of interest, I didn't (have) one."
The Pentagon said today it is asking Fox News Channel to remove Geraldo Rivera from a posting with U.S. troops in Iraq where he was accused of disclosing unauthorized information.

Bugging me. Bugging you.

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 20:45:44 GMT

Theme three: what stories are deemed worthy of inclusion for coverage?

Or, why is bugging of the UN officials reprehenable enough to be mentioned in a speech by George W. Bush...

but not worthy enough to be being covered by the American press when the bugging of UN officials is done by the United States government.

(incidently, the bugging of EU offices is safe enough to be covered by the mainstream press... and in fairness, the possible bugging of the UN security council is mentioned in passing)

False Documents

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:52:56 GMT

A lie is halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on.

The speed with which falsehood travels was a classical commonplace; e.g. VIRGIL Aeneid iv. 174 Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius alium, Rumour, than whom no other evil thing is faster. From The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

This is my introduction to another theme of the current war coverage:

Stories about false documents from the US re: nuclear materials in Iraq:

Embedded journalism

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:29:17 GMT

Karlin Lillington tells the story of a UK reporter in Iraq who is not embedded, and therefore "can say what she wants and is not restricted by the military."
[Scripting News]

I'm collecting links for a sources of news (mainstream | alternative) on the recent events in Iraq. One emerging theme is that of the curse of the embedded journalist.

Even Donald Rumsfeld says "And what we are seeing is not the war in Iraq. What we're seeing are slices of the war in Iraq. We're seeing that particularized perspective that that reporter, or that commentator or that television camera happens to be able to see at that moment. And it is not what's taking place. What you see is taking place, to be sure, but it is one slice"

Ruckenfigures

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:59:48 GMT

This weekend I first learned of the german word Ruckenfigur (the u should have an umlat). Its one of those words that doesn't seem to have an English equivalent... a candidate for a sequel to They Have A Word For It.

The closest definition is from a Google-cached discussion list book review of Wanderlust: a history of walking by Rebecca Solnit:

The walker-philosopher is, after all, a key figure of the Enlightenment. Jean-Jacques Rousseau admitted in his Confessions that he could "meditate only when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs". Wordsworth, Coleridge, Henry David Thoreau and Kierkegaard were among other famous meditative walkers - captured artistically in the Ruckenfigur, the lone wanderer so frequently at the centre of the paintings of the German Romantic, Caspar David Friedrich.

Vinegar Bible

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:34:58 GMT

Two editions were actually printed in 1611, later distinguished as the "He" and "She" Bibles because of the variant reading "he" and "she" in the final clause of chapter 3, verse 15 of Ruth: "and he went into the city." Both printings contained errors. Some errors in subsequent editions have become famous: The so-called Wicked Bible (1631) derives from the omission of "not" in chapter 20 verse 14 of Exodus, "Thou shalt commit adultery," for which the printers were fined £300; the Vinegar Bible (1717) stems from a misprinting of "vineyard" in the heading of Luke, chapter 20.

Encyclopedia Britannica Online
http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=119705

Cliche watch

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 18:24:27 GMT

The network is the...

The Network is the Social Network

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 18:19:31 GMT

Great article on social network mapping by Steven Johnson. The main spotlight is on Valdis' work in visualization. Uncovering implicit social patterns is where it's at. [Seb's Open Research]

I was facinated by this pull-quote:

Intelligence analysts once assumed that terrorists organize in isolated cells. But social-network maps revealed that the 9/11 hijackers' cells morphed into a hub-and-spoke pattern with an obvious leader: Mohammed Atta. The active structure resembled that of an IBM project team.

Magnificent Obessions

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 17:58:27 GMT

Check out the Magnificent Obsessions site, and you'll see that the world is full of people obsessively doing baffling things. [Seb's Open Research]

So so brilliant. I'm gobsmacked!

Learnware Object Exchange

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 15:50:19 GMT

According to this page from the National Library of Canada, the University of Windsor is a member of CLOE - Co-operative Learnware Object Exchange. News to me.

How to teach chemical information

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 15:44:55 GMT