pre-bib 2

The stuff I am reading about is pretty cool. I am interested in internet and civic engagement, and so far, here's what I've figured out (scroll to end if you don't care about research):
There's this notion called "social capital" which refers to our involvement with organizations and clubs. Denser social networks are said to be better, because amassed capital is assumed to lead to better welfare. Anyway, a guy named Putnam suggested that America has been losing social capital for the last 50 years (perhaps because we're working more, which would explain how businesses are getting richer!). I think that the internet lends itself to accelerated pluralism, which refers to the idea that we will be more issues-based, individualistic, and understanding of others. This certainly meshes with details held common about our generation: we don't like group work, we're regularly regarded as social libertarians, and we tend not to attach ourselves to two massive political parties (though I'm not going so far as to suggest that will ever change). The internet offers an added bonus, in that it supplements our communicative and information outlets, thus making us more effective and connected. The strong and weak ties we build to each other on facebook, and the increased ease with which we can communicate (text message, facebook message, IM, email, phone call), will lead to greater availability and more multitasking (another thing our generation is famous for). I'm worried about the "digital divide," or the difference between internet users and nonusers, but am comforted to know that poor people and minorities have been found repeatedly to be more aware of free access, and likely to use it. Anyway, to put an end to my rambling...I think things like the facebook are increasing our social bonds, which makes us more effective and/but individualistic, which will have a profound effect on social and political culture, in our lifetime.

But I could be wrong...

For This Group, Snail Mail Is All There Is - New York Times

For This Group, Snail Mail Is All There Is

"Despite all the talk about an increasingly connected world, the proportion of American adults who have never used the Internet and do not live in an Internet-enabled home has remained almost unchanged since 2002, according to a study recently released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In 2005, 22% of American adults remained disconnected. In 2002, it was 23%.

"There's a group of Americans who are really hard-core offline, truly disconnected," said Susannah Fox, the author of the report. Ms. Fox said that the truly disconnected were mostly over age 65, and less educated than the rest of the population.

As the influx of new Internet users has slowed, America's online population has become proportionately more experienced. The study found that 79 percent of Internet users have had access for four years or more, compared to 52 percent in 2002.

Wikipedia gets critically analyzed

The Guardian sent Wikipedia entries to subject experts to get their feedback and rating. Good article, and an interesting question:
Can you trust Wikipedia?

Inside the New World of Listenomics

How the Open Source Revolution Impacts Your Brands

Too bad this AdAge article will become unavailable in less than 30 days...

With Fewer Paying Up, AOL.com Shifts to Free

With Fewer Paying Up, AOL.com Shifts to Free - New York Times

The campaign has been in development for months, ever since AOL's parent, Time Warner, decided to shift strategies (again) and offer at no cost much of the content and features that had been available only to subscribers of America Online. The reason is that despite all the elaborate previous changes to the subscription service, paying users continue to flee.

"It's about building AOL's audience to make money through advertising, e-commerce and search in a much bigger way than we're able to when we were focused only on the subscription service," said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president for AOL Media Networks in Dulles, Va.

The Future Of Photojournalism - Forbes.com

The Future Of Photojournalism - Forbes.com
I'm not keen on giving people an incentive to be spies. This reminds me of 1984, where the kids are part of a group called the spies and earn merit by tattling on crimthinkers, including their parents.

That said, the business models supports this, and I'm sure it will take off.

Media Execs Weigh User-Generated News

By SETH SUTEL, AP Business Writer2 hours, 1 minute ago

The avalanche of high quality video, photos and e-mailed news material from citizens following the July 7 bombings in London marked a turning point for the British Broadcasting Corporation, the head of its global news division said Wednesday.

Richard Sambrook, director of the BBC World Service and Global News Division, told a conference the broadcaster's prominent use of video and other material contributed by ordinary citizens signaled that the BBC was evolving from being a broadcaster to a facilitator of news.

"We don't own the news any more," Sambrook said. "This is a fundamental realignment of the relationship between large media companies and the public."

Sambrook likened the increasing use of user-generated news material to a sports game in which the crowd was not only invading the field but also seeking to participate in the game, fundamentally changing the sport.

Sambrook was speaking on a panel with other media professionals at a conference on "citizen journalism" organized by The Media Center, a media think tank based in Reston, Va., and hosted by The Associated Press at its headquarters building in New York.

Larry Kramer, the head of digital operations at Viacom Inc.'s CBS unit, said CBS was eager for more feedback from listeners via its newly expanded online presence, but he said the company would keep a "filter" on such contributions rather than allow open posting by users.

The goal was to "treat news more like a loop," Kramer said. "Stories don't end when we post them. ... People respond. We wanted to create a vehicle through which people could respond."

Tom Curley, the president of the AP, noted that the news cooperative has used material such as photos contributed by users for many years, pointing out recent examples including video from the tsunami in Asia and photos from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"This is something we do every day," Curley said. However, the emerging area of citizen-generated news was still in the "first inning," Curley said. "There are lots of opportunities — The audience is growing."

Another member of the opening panel, Farai Chideya, a correspondent for National Public Radio Inc. in Los Angeles and founder of blog called PopandPolitics.com, expressed concern that many big stories may be affecting people who don't have broadband access to the Internet, resulting in a risk that they could be excluded from citizen-generated news.

Chideya said it "breaks my heart" that many poor people and people of color may not be able to participate in the online generation and dissemination of news. The big question, she said, was how to get people "in the caboose of the digital train" involved.

Chideya suggested a "middle ground" where journalists can collaborate with non-journalists, such as distributing tape recorders to people in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina to collect sound, which could then be culled and edited by NPR journalists.

In a keynote speech, former presidential candidate Al Gore, who now runs a cable TV channel that uses user-generated material, railed against the state of television, saying that the growing entertainment focus of newscasts was undermining the country's political dialogue.

"The subjugation of news by entertainment seriously harms our democracy," Gore said. "I'm trying to work in the medium of television to have a multiway conversation."

Yet even as media outlets seek more input from users, participants on a later panel said those organizations can encounter difficulties when covering their own affairs.

Jessica Coen, editor of the popular media gossip and commentary site Gawker, said CBS News' online user forum Public Eye was falling far short of expectations. Any time a large media outlet tries to launch a blog, she said, "they have to bite their tongues all the time."

___

On the Net:

http://www.mediacenter.org/wemedia05/

The Australian: Google and Sun beat at the gates of Microsoft's PC empire

Google and Sun beat at the gates of Microsoft's PC empire [October 06, 2005]

GOOGLE, the internet search king, has teamed with veteran Microsoft-hater Sun Microsystems to wrest control of the personal computer from Bill Gates's software colossus.

The possibility of OpenOffice capabilities on the Google Toolbar has observers predicting the end of the software world as we know it.

"They could turn the desktop software market on its head," said IT analyst Bruce McCabe from S2 Intelligence. "It's great for consumers, it could drive price changes at Microsoft," he said.