The New York Times are pushing new media barriers again, this time by using Google+ hangouts to let readers talk to a UN ambassador about foreign affairs.
On May 17, columnist Nicholas Kristofhad a live video chat with UN Ambassador Susan Rice and five other reader-participants through a Google+ hangout. Google’s hangout feature is notable because it automatically detects which person is talking, and puts their video feed on the main screen.
Joining the call were a high school student, a US Army captain, a physicist, a grad student and a lawyer.
The maiden voyage was a bit rocky with choppy audio at times, but the result is really encouraging. Recording group video conversations on the cheap is still a bit of a challenge, but Google presents a solution that at least gets the job done.
Hey international news. How depressing is your coverage lately?
Does the AP Stylebook perpetuate stigma over sexual assault?
The Associated Press just released an update to the AP Stylebook, which includes a note on privacy and sexual assault.
privacy
Do not identify juveniles (under 18) who are accused of crimes, even if other news media do so or police release names. Also, do not transmit images that would reveal their identity.
Do not identify, in text or through images, juveniles (under 18) who are witnesses to crimes.
Do not identify, in text or through images, persons who say they have been sexually assaulted, and use discretion in naming victims of other extremely severe abuse.
Is the Associated Press perpetuating social stigma over sexual assault by including this line?
I remember discussing this type of problem in communication law class last semester. A woman has been raped, and a suspect is brought into custody. Your editor tells you to write an article about it. Do you release the name of the suspect, and do you release the name of the victim?
Most of the class agreed not to release the victim’s name. Then our professor asked: “Would you release her name if she had simply been assaulted, or had her car stolen? Why is sexual assault different?”
I’m still not sure where I stand on this issue, but it’s interesting to see the Associated Press’s position on it.
For the record, I don’t own a paper-copy of the AP Stylebook, so I don’t know what it has traditionally said about identifying sexual assault victims.
In 2009, Clean the World was born. It collects soaps and bottled goods from hotels (and charges them around 65 cents per month per room to participate) and reprocesses the soaps to be sent around the world. So far, more than 10 million bars of soap have been distributed to 48 countries, says Gomez. “That’s also 1.4 million pounds of hotel waste diverted from landfills,” he adds.
I’ve been reading some articles condemning “aid” as a developmental inhibitor for other countries. If a firm such as this gives soap away for free, it might discourage communities from investing in health and hygiene industry.
Nevertheless, I like the inventiveness of this idea. There are a lot of materials going to waste; we just have to find out how to use them sustainably.
CBS reports Joe Paterno’s death too soon, throws student newspaper under the bus
Cult wanted. Will sacrifice. No Christians please.
The Online Public Records Accessibility standard
I don’t see why—in 2012—you still have to ask for public records to gain access to them.
It made sense in the old days, when you simply couldn’t access documents without asking first. They were stored in filing cabinets, and some poor clerk had to get up and retrieve them for you before you could read them.
You’d think those days would be long gone, two decades after the Internet went mainstream. But even in an age where your grandmother has her own blog, public institutions require you to send in a request so a paid staffer can retrieve your document for you.
There’s also some lingering apprehension about things being “too accessible.” People don’t want divorce papers and FBI profile available to nosy neighbors and information brokers by the mere click of a mouse.
This is silly.
If a police blotter is public enough to let anyone read it at the station, it’s public enough to put online. If you’re worried about who reads it, don’t make it all public.
I propose an Online Public Records Accessibility standard (it comes with a free catchy acronym) for public institutions to adopt. Here’s what it might look like.
Any public content committed to a fixed medium shall be accessible through a website.
People should not need to “log in” to a website to access public records.
Hyperlinks leading to public records should be styled 12 pt font or higher, and should be visible without user interaction.
Documents should be directly available for download within 3 clicks of the website’s front page.
That wasn’t so hard, was it?
What would you add to such a standard? Do you think we need one?
My landlady and the one percent
“The one percent,” she told me while fighting back tears, “they make all the rules.”
There’s a story behind every housing ad on craigslist. I saw one by a 42 year-old man who had a room to rent. “Just me and my 9 year-old girl,” it said. “Available immediately.” Or the one by the single 39 year-old woman whose ad included the question “Are you single?”
The one I answered looked innocent enough, apart from the price. It was close to buses and shops, which is all I really look for when browsing these ads.
Yet here I was, sitting opposite the landlady in my abode-to-be. She was crying.
Jane hasn’t worked since her car accident two years ago. She has trouble remembering things, and needs to remind herself of appointments. I already knew that—this was my second trip to see the room this week.
“I feel so useless,” she said with infinite sadness in her voice.
She rents out the rooms in her green three-story house simply to earn a living. Her mother’s house went into foreclosure recently (hence all the items in the dining room) and now she’s fighting tooth and nail to keep her home intact.
“The one percent,” she told me while fighting back tears, “they make all the rules.”
Never before had I heard the popular phrase ‘one percent’ used with such trembling anger.
I’m used to hearing it from White middle-class 20-somethings as they sip their lattes at Starbucks. Or from Facebook-friends who tirelessly post news and blog posts about the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Watching Jane dry her tears, I realized one thing. None of us know what ‘the one percent’ really means.
Daniel is a journalism student at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Wash. He is the web editor for the Mooring Mast, and has written for the Herald in Puyallup, Wash.
