DigiDave | Communication is Key

Help Me Change Transporation in the United States

I've been a fan of Change.org ever since they hired my friend (and new father) Josh Levy. So when they launched a contest asking for creative ideas that could change America I put in my two cents and didn't give it a second thought.

That idea, to create a high speed bullet train system through major metropolitan cities has received over 800 votes on Change.org, propelling it into the next round of voting (original votes wiped away). The top ten ideas from this next round will be presented to the Obama administration. I wouldn't presume anything after that, but just that the president of the United State's cabinet would be briefed on ideas proposed by the citizenry is reason enough to celebrate.

Considering the opportunity - I decided to give my idea a third cent and a second thought.

I'm sensitive towards public transportation. Having grown up in Los Angeles and lived in New York I've seen the good and the bad. Now living in San Francisco I welcome the day when a high-speed bullet train might connect me and my fellow Los Angelinos in under three hours, for less money, less emissions and more comfort.

But why stop there? Why not connect Seattle and Portland? Then stretch from Portland to San Francisco, down to Los Angeles and San Diego.

I envision a future where one could get from Seattle to San Diego or Las Vegas in 8 hours by train. The same should go for the East Coast: Fro Miami to New York - we should should cut down on air travel and invest in a railway infrastructure.

Like my idea? Go vote for it. With enough votes we can pass on the idea to the Obama administration. Check out the other ideas too. I don't claim mine is the best - it was just how I decided to participate. Lucky for you - voting only takes... two seconds.

Calling All New York Video CJ's

My friends over at Current TV are pulling off a cool little stunt this week.
If you are in New York -- read more about it at NewAssignment.Net.

A Compendium of Knowledge: Interviews for the Networked Journalism Summit

The Networked Journalism Summit is just days away.

It's going to be an exciting event. With around 180 participants all aiming to create new working relationships/projects.

Below are 62 interviews - half of which I did over the phone, the other half via a mass email questionnaire.

They are with various players in the world of networked/citizen journalism. Enjoy (in no particular order) interviews with people who are making waves in journalism.

Janice Brand - Helium.com 

Lila King - Cnn.Com

Dan Barkin - News & Observer

Scott Clark and Dwight Silverman - Houston Chronicle

Chris Tolles - Topix 

Mike Orren - Pegasus News

Steve Safran - Lost Remote

John Oppedahl

Rob Neppell - N.Z. Bear

Donica Mensing - Reynolds School of Journalism

Amanda Michael - OffTheBus.Net

Bill Allison - Sunlight Foundation

Robin Sloan, Andrew Fitzgerald - Current TV

Jason Oberfest - Los Angeles Times

Martin Huber - Myheimat.de

Howard Owens - GateHouse Media

Travis Henry - YourHub

Alan Levy - BlogTalkRadio

Brian Conley - Alive in Baghdad

Barry Parr - Coastsider

Adrian Monck - City University of London

Chuck Olsen - The Uptake

Dave Winer - Scripting News

David Stern - MixedInk

Robin Hamman - BBC

Patrick Phillips - The Vineyard Voice

Danny Glover - Air Congress

Mary Mathews - Pound Productions,LLC

Dorian Benkoil - Digital Media Consultant/Columnist/Teeming Media

Chrys Wu - CBS TV Digital Media Group

Henry Abbott - TrueHoop/ESPN

Michael Mcintee - The Uptake

Tristan Louis - TNL.Net

Chris Lydon - Open Source Radio

Charlie Beckett - Polis

James Kotecki - Video Blogger/Politico

Rick Burnes - Faneuil Media

Micah Sifry - Personal Democracy Forum

Jennifer Carroll - Gannett

Derek Willis - Database Journalism at Washingtonpost.com

Jeff Burkett - WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive blogs

Jim Colgan - WNYC Radio

Michael Rosenblum - Democratizing Video via Rosenblum Associates

Rachel Sterne - GroundReport

Kate Marymont and Mackenzie Warren - Fort Myers

Dan Pacheco - Bakersfield.com

Emily Gertz - WorldChanging

Paul Sullivan - Orato

Jane Hamsher - FireDogLake

Merrill Brown - NowPublic

Lisa Williams - H2OTown, Placeblogger

Jonathan Weber — NewWest.Net

Rick Waghorn - MyFootballWriter

Mark Potts - Backfence

Jarah Euston - Fresno Famous

John Wilpers - BostonNOW

Jay Rosen — NewAssignment.Net

Debbie Galant - Baristanet

No Longer Attending

Simon Bucks - Sky News

Edward Roussel - The Telegraph

Howard Weaver - McClatchy

Paul Bass - New Haven Independent

15 Days Until The Networked Journalism Summit

The first Summit on Networked Journalism is fast approaching. I have my fair share of work to do before the actual conference. But it is exciting work - I get to report on the best practices and practitioners of the emerging art of networked journalism. I've been interviewing plenty of people and sucking out all their brain juices (yum).

I won't be blogging here at Digidave.org much until after the conference.

Why?

Because I have to report on all the conversations for the Networked Journalism Summit here -- NewsInnovation.com. That's where I'll be the next two weeks.

That combined with organizing logistics for the conference and still trying to get other work things done = no time for personal blogging.

BUT

I do have one good suggestion if you are looking for lighter reading: My journo-friend Maurreen Skowran (who is meticulous in the best way possible) has been bitten by the blogging vampire and is now a blogger herself.

Her First post is both poetic and telling.

"The Web whispered.
We didn’t hear it when it was born. We didn’t hear it start breathing...."

Social Bookmarker's Conference 2008

Today I met with MrBabyMan, the top Digger in the world. I had never met another top Digger in person, although I talk with many of them online frequently.

Truth be told, I had always thought he was a stay-at-home father -- how else could he find all the time to Digg so much?  I was wrong. Mr.Baby is well employed.

It was nice finally getting a chance to meet a fellow social bookmarker in the flesh. There is only so much effective communication you can do online. Nothing can replace the face-to-face meeting. We chatted, swapped stories and speculated about all the different things we imagine will happen in the future of social news.

An idea I've tossed around with some of the other Netscape Scouts (soon to be working for Propeller), Diggers and Viners is a social bookmarkers conference. It already has a nice acronym: SBC08 (Social Bookmarker's Conference 08). That acronym could also stand for Social Bookmarking Camp, if we want to stay closer to the unconference world of BarCamp, PodCamp, etc.

Why shouldn't social bookmarkers have their own conference? If the Trekkie's can have conventions, why can't we? Organizing tools are free and easy to use online.

Just say "SBC" a few times.

It rolls right off the tongue.

Don't you want to go to it already?

It would be a chance for people from every social bookmarking site -- from Reddit and Del.icio.us to the obscure (but tasty) sites like NewsTrust to the new startups like Brijit.com, to come together, shake hands, network a little and have a few laughs.

I don't imagine we'd have too many serious issues to tackle -- but if we wanted we could try and be really ambitious: A Bill of Rights for Social Bookmarkers -- not unlike the Social Media Bill of Rights, or we could use it as an excuse to hang out and get drunk later in the night. It's all up for grabs. I imagine it would be an unconference anyways - the agenda would be somewhat adhoc. Nothing is set is stone at this point.

Today SBC08 is really just an idea I've tossed around while talking with other people. If we could get Revision Three, Propeller, Reddit and Del.ici.us and a few others to split the bill, it seems possible that we could rent a hotel lobby and get some food for the event.

But before anybody actually comes to any of these companies asking for money to throw a social bookmarking convention, it makes sense to test the waters first. Am I way off on this? Is a social bookmarkers conference anti-thetical to the community? Am I a jerk for even proposing it?

Right now I'm organizing a conference on citizen journalism in New York. When that is done, if there is enough positive chatter about SBC08, then I'll try to make it happen. Once the logistics of money are handled it would just be a matter of picking a host city and spreading the word.

So here I am, testing the waters. If this is something you'd be interested in, let me know by commenting either on this blog post or whatever social news site you found this post on (just make sure I can reach you, so that I can keep you up to date on progress). If it gets enough comments it'll be easier to come to the social news companies to ask for sponsorship.

If you have any suggestions -- all are welcome.

NOTE: If this does get traction, I'll probably blog its progress here (or I'll get another URL if I'm feeling giddy). Either way -- issues will be openly discussed, decisions like host city will be made in the public and will take into account public input, and I hope the general process, if it does happen, will be a pleasurable experience to organize. But don't expect this conference to happen overnight. It's called SBC2008 for a reason. I'd expect it to be in the spring of next year -- assuming we are able to find sponsors for it early in 2008, when I'll hopefully be able to put more time into this.

NOTE 2: Full disclosure - I am a Netscap Scout -- soon to be working for Propeller.com. This post/idea is my own and does not represent my employer or whatever the hell I'm supposed to write to make sure they don't get mad at me.

Lunch 2.0, Los Angeles Representing

Went to Lunch 2.0 today. Check out the pictures.

I grew up in Los Angeles. I have nothing but love for it and I defend it with all my heart when people in New York or San Francisco speak ill of it (you know who you are).

So I was happy to see the vibrant tech scene in LA and get a chance to do a brief blog post on it for Wired.

Lunch 2.0 Hits LA: 'Hey, We Like Free Sandwiches, Too!'

While there I finally got to meet Andy Sternberg, who I knew from Assignment Zero, Sarah, a fellow Netscape Navigator and Heather Vescent who seems to be right at the center of LA unconferences.

I also was able to grab this ego shot of me and Jason Calacanis, who I referred to as the Charles Barkley in my Community Dream Team only a week earlier.

From the Wired blog post:

Search company ThisNext hosted the first ever Lunch 2.0 meetup in Los Angeles on Friday. The company's Santa Monica office, built for a staff of 12, was swamped with over 80 people all stuffing their faces with free food. Los Angeles, it seems, has a strong startup community that's itching to take on the Valley.

One of the attendees had a mouthful to say about the recent changes taking place at Netscape. Jason Calacanis, the former Netscape head who is now working on search startup Mahalo, was visibly displeased with the news that AOL is morphing Netscape back into something closer to a traditional news portal. The current community is in transition to a new URL rumored to be wow.com.

Jason had more than a few colorful words about the business decisions that were taking place, but he wouldn't let us quote him directly. Instead, he said that he would write out his thoughts in more detail on his blog.

Networked Journalism Versus Citizen Journalism Versus the Myriad of Other Names for Social Media in the News World

UPDATE: This post was turned into an article for the Press Gazette That version is shorter and cleaner, but if you want to see the sausage being made - read below.

Words often do much more than we intend. They are uncontrollable, taking a life of their own in the readers mind and the cultural nuances that readers engage in. They echo between readers, changing from sender to receiver -- like a giant game of telephone. Because everyone can have a voice on the Internet, that echo chamber can produce a lot of noise. In the end, a general consensus is usually reached, but not always without debate. (See note at the end about Wikipedia)

 

There are a lot of words I hear regularly in my recent field of work, where I'm lucky enough to work with people like Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis and I can approach older (read: wiser) people in journalism like Leonard Witt and Dan Gillmore. "Community" is one of those words and I took a playful look at it last week by creating a Community Dream Team.

Since citizen media is an oft talked about subject, I do think distinctions should be made so people can clearly understand what they are referring to when they talk to each other. JD Lasica started an interesting conversation about the terms "citizen media," "social media" and "grassroots media," which itself needs to be hashed out. What I will be focusing on in this post is "citizen journalism" -- which is a subset of the larger conversation surrounding social media that JD was talking about.

"Citizen journalism" remains somewhat of a vague but very charged term. What intrigues me about the word and why I believe it is so vague are the various synonyms it has. "Participatory journalism," "stand-alone journalism," "networked journalism," "open source journalism," "distributed reporting": Without reflection, they all mean the same thing and are used interchangingly by most people -- where citizens play an active or integral role in the collection, reporting, distilling, filtering and broadcasting of news and information.

So why do we have so many terms for this? For starters "citizen journalism" itself is pretty broad and can include many acts. Jeff Jarvis has posited replacing the term "citizen journalism" with "networked journalism." I do think networked journalism should enter the lexicon of citizen media more, but I don't know if it should replace "citizen journalism." What I suggest is a further refining of the various types of citizen journalism acts.

Take for example a car crash. People who might be walking by take photos with their phones (not an unheard of act) and then post them on their blog. Who knows, maybe through NowPublic their photos will even end up on the AP. Citizen journalism? -- Of course.

Contrast that with Assignment Zero, a collaborative effort between NewAssignment.Net, Wired News and "anyone else that participated." For four months the Assignment Zero community worked on one story, collecting 80 interviews and producing eight feature articles. Citizen journalism? -- Of course.

But these two acts of "citizen journalism" are incredibly different. The first was sporadic, spur of the moment and the act of an isolated individual. The former, a collaboration over time that required dedication and commitment.

Both are labeled "citizen journalism" because the rhetoric surrounding "citizen journalism" has yet to really grow into its own. There is no vocabulary to articulate different acts of citizen journalism. How do we distinguish these two acts from another?

The first example (the car crash) seems like an act of "Citizen Journalism" (with a big C). A person going about their day who witnesses an event, captures it and broadcasts it. It was not, however, a planned decision. The individual didn't go out with their camerae with the intention of reporting. It just happened to work out that way. NowPublic currently rests its fate on citizen journalism and it is coming close to a critical mass of people who will engage in acts of citizen journalism on its behalf (NowPublic also relies on stand-alone journalism, which I'll define later).

In the case of Assignment Zero, however, people were engaging in "Networked Journalism." They were coming together for a purpose. I don't believe "networked journalism" has reached its full potential yet, but I'm optimistic.

I don't claim to be the expert or the person who should define these terms. But, I do enjoy trying to make distinctions in my own mind, it's fun and hey, it's my blog. If you don't like it. Piss off (or leave a comment to give your own opinion).

These definitions are in large part inspired and playing off of Steve Outing's Poynter post 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism.

Citizen Journalism: An umbrella term, without a doubt, citizen journalism is when a person who does not make their living as a journalist engages in an act of journalism. Simple enough right? Again, this is a broad definition, which means citizen journalism encompasses all the other acts of journalism that will be described below. But not all acts of citizen journalism are necessarily "networked journalism" or "open source journalism." These are unique types of citizen journalism. Another way to think of it: Citizen Journalism is the class and "networked journalism" is a species. SAT Question: Mammal is to Human as Citizen Journalism is to Open Source Journalism.

(More After the Break)

BugLabs: Open Source Hardware

Last night I want to the first public showing of what BugLabs will offer the gadget world this Fall.

So what is BugLabs?

Mashable has a vague introduction: "a stealthy startup with an audacious aim: to do for consumer electronics what open source, “web 2.0," XML, APIs and the rest did for the web."

I learned exactly what Mashable meant at the event last night.

What has open source, "Web 2.0," XML, etc done for the Web? Ten years ago if I wanted to get the news, I'd turn to CNN, ABC, the New York Times or some other major media outlet. That is obviously not the case anymore. The low cost and ease with which we can make websites has decentralized the sources from which people get their news. And that is what powers the Web (and what motivates most people to blog).

Today, if I want a new gadget I rely on Sony, Phillips, Panasonic, etc etc. This is a result of economics, not brand loyalty. It's simply too expensive for other people to break into the gadget market -- it requires factories, transporation, warehouses and more.

BugLabs is looking to change that by dramatically bringing down the cost of R&D, manufacturing, etc. What they will sell (for the "hundreds of dollars") is a piece of hardware that they call a "Bug" -- a base, which can be adapted to include any number of modules. The modules, like a GPS device, a cameare, an LCD screen, a keyboard, can snap into the base device like Legos. The base can hold four modules at a time, creating all kinds of combinations (consumers will develop the modules, which means the possiblities are limitless).

(more after the picture: Note: Picture via MakeBlog: The final product will be encased in plastic and look like a consumer product. In this picture, however, you can see the base gadget and two modules plugged in on top of that.)

Hyperlocal + National: At the Same Time

It's often said that the future of journalism will be in the "hyperlocal."

I've always had a problem with that word. "Hyperlocal" -- as if just regular old local isn't local enough.

But there is a point to the idea that with a wealth of information and a shrinking world in terms of the exchange of information, the added value that a news organization can have is in covering one's neighborhood down to a tee.

I think covering issues at the hyperlocal level is fantastic. What better way for journalists to act as watchdogs then to bark in their own backyard?

The problem, however, is that we are still the fourth estate -- and the estate has to stay large enough to watch over an entire country.

The good news is: I don't think it's impossible to cover issues at the hyperlocal level and still get a national picture of issues, as long as news organizations are willing to work together. This goes against the traditional notion of "the scoop," but imagine hundreds of small news organizations covering the following topics at the hyperlocal level, but also working as a team as part of a larger investigation.

It's the anti-Kevin Sites approach. Sites is good, but I'll put my money on a network covering the following topics over him any day.

No Child Left Behind: Cover your local school -- but also find out what the change has been across the country.

City Planning/Infrastructure: Here's the current story: After the bridge in Minn. fell everyone did the story on America's baby-boomer bridges. So why isn't there a site where I can find ALL the stories from around the country -- each newspaper covering their local infrastructure and adding it to the pile?

Environmental disaster: Follow the cleanup at your local lake/river. But by sharing how that cleanup is going we can get a better sense of how this country treats its natural resources (oil excluded -- which gets plenty of attention).

Teacher's Tenure: Does it work in your town? How many teachers have tenure vs tenure horror stories?

City Healthcare: Start local and work out from there.

Etc, Etc, Etc.

Got any other stories that can be done easily at the hyperlocal level but if coordinated between several news organizations would add up to an example of distributed reporting? Holla back.

Drupal Camp Three

Yesterday I went to Drupal Camp. In part for my masters thesis and in part to try and become more Drupalized.

It worked.

Brian kroski from the New York Observer was there, as a sponsor, and told a quick story: It was after the second Drupal Camp in NYC that he decided the Observer was going to switch. A story I never told -- it was after the second Drupal Camp that I decided I would do my thesis on it too.

I wasn't feeling too well at the second Drupal Camp. At one point I put my head down on a desk to try and take a quick nap. While I was trying to make myself feel better I overheard someone talking about the history of Drupal -- from DeanSpace to CivicSpace. My ears perked up overhearing it all. What an interesting story: The popularization of Drupal in the U.S. can trace itself back to the Dean campaign. I went home, did some research, and decided that was what I was going to write about.

But onwards.

I'm still not a hacker by any means. But there was a class on PHP for beginners by this guy. In the past I've often explained myself as a translator between editorial concerns and development. During the tutorial I found myself able to interpret and understand everything that was going on. I don't think I can write code myself yet -- but I was definitely able to read and understand it. Similar to someone who can understand a foreign language when it's spoken to them, but couldn't form a complete sentence to save their life. That's where I'm at.