January 2012
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December 2011
1 post
November 2011
1 post
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September 2011
1 post
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August 2011
3 posts
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When is revolting, revolting?
What is a Good Revolution? We’ve spent the last year celebrating the democratic reforms of the ‘Arab Spring’. Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Jordan have all had mass movements against unpleasant regimes.
The degree to which social media was ‘responsible’ has been debated, but you have to admit… the timing is pretty coincidental.
Who’s to say that a mass demonstration of violence against a...
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July 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
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May 2011
1 post
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News Cycles & AntiTwitterganda
By now, you’d know that Twitter broke the bin Laden operation story, via IT Consultant, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual).
That Twitter got the collective scoop is, in itself, old news now. We’re used to hearing about rumours that flare into gossip, then burst into news from the tweet-vine.
What we’re less used to is hearing how Twitter provides two things sorely lacking in news today: context and...
March 2011
2 posts
“In all my time in journalism, 40 years plus, there has never been a year quite...”
– Mike Carlton, in todays Herald. He’s right. Times are getting too interesting.
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How Al Jazeera leads the world in social media for...
Stilgherrian writing in today’s Crikey newsletter… when is this guy not worth reading??
Al Jazeera’s reporting from Egypt’s revolution and now the uprising in Libya has been transformed by the use of social media and social networking tools. “The key to our success,” said Riyaad Minty, the network’s head of social media, “is getting in early.”
Following the mass protests in...
February 2011
1 post
January 2011
6 posts
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Overstating Twitter in Tunisia
This is an interesting article about the current turmoil in Tunisia and Twitter’s role facilitating social movements versus its responsibility for causing them.
Its a critical distinction to make. We’re starting to get a more sophisticated understanding of the role of social media in changing and initiating behaviours … it’s probably time to challenge some of the blanket...
“There are plenty of reasons to distrust soundbites and the kind of journalism...”
– “The Incredible Shrinking Soundbite”, Boston Globe
December 2010
2 posts
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Decisions about scissors
‘Do no evil’ was Google’s philosophy. Tongue in cheek at first, it has now grown into a watchword for those halcyon days of innocence, when Google was just a really good search engine.
The Web was developed as a haven for free thinking and sharing of ideas. Now, as it matures, we are watching many of the former free-information-love hippies scissor off their...
November 2010
2 posts
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“As far as we are aware, and as far as anyone has ever alleged in any credible...”
– Julian Assange on the new raft of wikileaked documents that include diplomats being ordered to spy on allies, and the Saudi King telling the US “we’ll keep saying your bombs are ours”.
This the difference between chaos and anarchy… I’ll bet Assange owns the graphic...
October 2010
5 posts
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September 2010
2 posts
“For conspiring with hostile governments, spreading propaganda against the...”
–
This is the reason for Hossein Derakhshan’s 19.5 year jail sentence awarded by the Iranian courts. Derakhshan is known as Iran’s “Blogfather” for leading the rising trend in Farsi blogging. The prosecutor continues to push for his execution.
Puts the fury around Conroy’s filter in...
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Broadband wins the country cook-off for Labour
Stilgherrian writes in today’s crikey.com.au newsletter…
What the NBN will deliver to Windsor’s mob
“You do it once, you do it right and you do it with fibre,” independent MP Tony Windsor said of broadband yesterday. From his New England vantage point, the differences between Labor’s National Broadband Network (NBN) and the Coalition’s late entry are stark.
Instead of...
August 2010
10 posts
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WatchThe piercing chant from the post below.
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“The post-election “line” is that the leaks are what hurt Labor. The...”
– Bernard Keane in yesterday’s Crikey newsletter
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Lame expectations in “The Twitter Election”
So we’ve now firmly established that this is NOT the ‘Twitter election’. Gotcha.
But what were we actually expecting?
That it would be a new Obama-era of campaigning, as political leaders engaged the masses through Twitter? Why the hell would they?
The Twitterati are an opinionated bunch, and as such, are likely to already have entrenched views. No point preaching to the chorus or the...
July 2010
6 posts
2 tags
Internet filter puts the common good first - a... →
A considered argument for the Internet filter by the Christian Lobby. It’s good to see - we need both cases articulated clearly so they can be weighed on their merits. Right now, the debate is too ideological, too often shrill. That’s unhelpful.
For my part, I cannot support the filter for at least two reasons. The inclusion of Wikileaks on the initial blacklist is a demonstration of...
The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com →
trib:
Long, but interesting.
“Is there anyone in the country… who thinks last night’s debate wouldn’t...”
– From Crikey’s Morning Newsletter. The debate was so boring it would’ve taken Gillard and Abbot cross dressing, swearing in Latin while firing spearguns at each other to actually make it interesting.
June 2010
7 posts
3 tags
Press Freedom in the Pacific Islands: who gives a...
Why should we care about media freedoms in the South Pacific? They’re just a bunch of tiny islands with palm trees and great beaches. You don’t need a free press to get tourists.
Why? Because we’ll soon know even less than the little we know now about our neighbours. And because without a functioning media, society sickens.
As a Fijian-based journo mate said to me:
...
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Fijian dictator Frank Bainimarama has given News... →
I managed free media workshops for a Fiji-based NGO back in 2003.
They didn’t work.
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Revealed: the leaker of Wikileaks
From today’s Crikey.com.au newsletter…
Amber Jamieson writes: WIKILEAKS
The Collateral Murders video, released in April by Wikileaks and showing the killing of two Reuters staff and other civialians by the US military in Baghdad, was a huge international news story. And now it seems, the identity of the ‘leaker’ has been leaked.
A 22-year-old US army intelligence...