content and provenance

Two good articles on news, journalism, blogging and what it all means in today's world.

The war between journalists and bloggers at the Washington Post

from Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard by Scott Rosenberg

and

The importance of provenance

from BuzzMachine by Jeff Jarvis

The key takeaway from Jeff Jarvis as a content creator is:

In content, as creation becomes overabundant and as value shifts from creator to curator, it becomes all the more vital to properly cite and link to sources and even to add value to those links, explaining why the click is worth the time and encouraging people to take the trip. Good curation demands good provenance.

5 for Friday

In a quick review to help catching up on some items, I have five for Friday.

1 - Did you see that Zoho has allowed access to those with Google accounts? This is a good move. read more about it here. Have you tried Zoho? It is a competitor to Google docs and a worthy one at that.

2 - In case you missed it elsewhere, Google Street View has implemented a new feature to muddle the faces of people in the crowds to avoid privacy issues. Pretty slick. I hope it is automated. Would be a good algorithm to market for a price. Check out the posting on the Google blog here.

3 - Oh, Arlen Specter has your integrity never been questioned? Are you really not pandering to the Eagles or to Comcast?

4 - Did you hear the story about the girl who had her MAC stolen and using the "Back to MyMAC" feature took a picture of the thief using it, one of her friends was able to identify the thief so it was an easy pick up by the police? Nothing like a little technology to help. On the other hand this may also go down as one of those "stupid thief" moves! read the story here.

5 - Hey, if they can send a scent (yes, you read the properly) over to your cell phone, it won't be too much longer before "Beam me up Scotty!" can really happen. Read the short story here.

This was the week that was. Enjoy!

What did you find interesting this week?

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Lyrics for: Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)

(from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) To everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a season (Turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose Under Heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep To everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a season (Turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose Under Heaven A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together To everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a season (Turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose Under Heaven A time of war, a time of peace A time to love, a time to hate A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing To everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a season (Turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose Under Heaven A time to gain, a time to lose A time to rend, a time to sow A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late. written by Pete Seeger

Google Docs Explained

The folks at Common Craft have come up with yet another good video. Enjoy!

And when someone asks about collaborating on a document, you'll know how.

One Web Day

One Web Day is being celebrated today. It really should be celebrated everyday. The web is so special. Allowing connections, conversations, news, ideas, stories and experiences to spread so quickly. Bringing people together that perhaps would not have been together without the web.

The web is a very appropriate term to describe the connections being made. I was fortunate to be in the middle of this:

So...

• Martin at d2 wrote this post
• Steve from The Hitchhikers guide to the blogos#$&re liked it, commented, and linked to it.
• Martin then subscribed to the hitchhiker feed (so did I)
• The hitchhikers then linked to cph127
• Martin liked that too, so much he mailed Hans Henrik the founder
• They liked him too and invited him to join their ranks
• His first post, information atmosphere is up - read it

Strangers.
Continents apart.
Collaborating.

One month, start to finish...!

I am only surprised that it took one month to do so. Today's search and RSS capabilities would likely make it quicker.

Bottom line, on this One Web Day, don't take access for granted.

Celebrate it.

Celebrate it like your birthday, everyday when you rise.

Franklin: news coverage

Do you wonder how it is determined what gets published and where?

We all know that Franklin doesn't have it own newspaper. We depend upon the Milford Daily News and the weekly Franklin Gazette. Occasionally, we'll get some coverage in the Boston Globe.

Michael Morton does a good job following the stories as they develop. Why do some appear in the Milford Daily News, some in the Gazette, some in both (the ongoing Brick School story), and some not at all?

I found it most noticeable this week. I wrote about the School Committee meeting on Tuesday night.

• A piece of that appeared Wednesday in the Daily News.
• Another piece of that appeared in the Gazette.
• The teacher's contract was not discussed during the meeting. They went into executive session to discuss it and it did appear in the Gazette.

Am I missing another source?

Where do you get your news?

Every experience contains the potential

There’s an expression in my martial art - shikin haramitsu daikomyo - that is recited before and after every class. Loosely translated, it means every experience contains the potential for the enlightenment we seek. This could be it. Everyone has something to teach (even if it’s how NOT to do something) if only we’re paying attention.

The Bold is mine for emphasis!

This is a great quote written by one of the PodCamp founders, Christopher S Penn.

Consider coming to PodCamp Boston 2.

Find out more about this event here.

Register for PodCamp Boston 2.

It could be the enlightenment you seek!

Please Light the Night!

A lot of the time, pleas for donations and contributions go the human route - here’s little Johnny who needs to be saved, please open your hearts and wallets. I call Bravo Sierra on that - it’s nice, but this shows you how your money is being used.

If you’re not biotech minded, cancer researchers are looking at treating cancer like the flu or any other communicable disease, using the body’s own immune system to fight tumors, rather than just pump someone full of drugs and hope it takes. How cool is that? Going with nature and natural defense mechanisms rather than trying to sidestep them.

Christopher S Penn, and his wife Jackie, will be walking for this good cause. Will you consider making a contribution? Click through to read more and perhaps donate to this good cause!

Thank you!

PS - When I recommend a fund raising effort here, this is after I have made a contribution myself.

Franklin: Bottle & Can Drive

Franklin: Bottle & Can Drive, originally uploaded by shersteve.

If you want to support the FHS Hockey Team

Of if you have bottles and cans to get rid of

Either way, next Saturday would be a good time to do so!

Good Experience: Hans Rosling -> Myths about the Developing World

Greg wrote:

The presentation and visualization methods you will see in this video casts a new light on the value and use of statistics. You can read more about the non-profit, Gapminder that Hans Roslings founded. First watch this video, I think you will be amazed. I know I was.

The video is from TED in 2006, twenty minutes long and well worth seeing every second of it. The first five minutes is priceless on it own in depicting how expectations and perceptions are based upon "old" data.

Eleven minutes into the video, Hans clearly demonstrates the danger of using an"average". There are extremes within an average.

About thirteen minutes in, Hans demonstrates that health is more important than wealth.




or View the video.

Plenty of food for thought! Thanks for the pointer, Greg!

Franklin: Good news wanted

If you have good news about Franklin, like this, or like this.

Good news that may not make it to the local paper, send it along and I'll see what we can do to get it published here.

Send it to shersteve at gmail dot com. Be aware that I have limited access during normal business hours. You can reference my disclosure statement.

Only good news, please. There is enough bad news in the world already.