MGP2006: Democracy & Independence -- Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World

ALUMNI NOTES: ABOUT THIS BLOG

As an ongoing resource, this blog spotlights the work of Media Giraffe Project/Journalism That Matters alumni  that fosters participatory democracy and community -- starting with "MGP2006" -- the event "Democracy and Independence: Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World" held June 29-July 1, 2006 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Organized by the Media Giraffe Project, the event drew some 300 journalists, educators, technologists and political strategists to consider the funding and future of journalism. Click on the links in the column to the left for archived teaching videos and background.  Or view the archived MGP2006 HOME PAGE. Oher MGP/JTM convenings have been in St. Louis, Memphis, Washington, D.C., and, soon, Sunnyvale, Calif.  Send "alumni" notes to mediagiraffe (at) journ.umass.edu.
GO TO MEDIA GIRAFFE PROJECT HOME PAGE

Imagining the Semantic Economy

Clay Shirky blew up the grand vision of The Semantic Web in 2003, which is probably why serious people aren't particularly alert to the possibility of a semantic revolution building in response to current conditions. That's probably because the general perspective on semantic architecture is that it must be grandiose and top-down. I believe the route to our semantic future comes from the opposite direction, and I've tried to make that case by imagining and describing a publishing system that would create information structures that could spread because the publishing system would make those structures profitable.

via xark.typepad.com

Coffee, community and consulting unique at Czech startup's hyperlocal effort

PPF Media, s.a., a unit of the Czech Republic-based insurance and banking conglomerate, is pioneering a new form of "hyperlocal" journalism based on websites in small cities and large towns, supported by regional weeklies, and a national desk in Prague called Futuroom -- and coffee shops. Roman Gallo is media-strategies director for PPF Media.  MGP PROFILE.

PRAGUE TALK: Trust, identity and the News: Making the Market for Digital Information

What will pay for journalism in the new news ecosystem?

Lecture by researcher William Densmore

When: Wednesday, August 18, 5:00 PM
Where: American Center, Tržiště 13, Prague 1 - Malá Strana

As the news and paper come unglued, what will pay for journalism in the new news ecosystem? Researcher William Densmore sketched a vision for a new digital marketplace for news and information, and explain efforts underway in the United States to make it a reality. LINK TO TEXT/SLIDES

via prague.usembassy.gov

Chicago media NGO publishes update on city's online news ecosystem

Chicago's Community Media Workshop has released its annual updated listings of the city's emerging online news ecosystem: http://communitymediaworkshop.org/newnews/

Video clip of Knight News Challenge winner: http://communitymediaworkshop.org/newnews/2010/07/brad-flora-windy-citizen/

For more information, call Thom Clark, CMW's president, at Columbia College in Chicago / 218 S Wabash, 7th floor / 312-369-6401 cell: 312-405-2142

http://communitymediaworkshop.org

Students, journalists, writers academics due at March 20-22 Nieman confab in Boston

Graduate students, midcareer journalists, writers and academics are invited to join more than 50 award-winning broadcasters, filmmakers and online experts at the ttth annual Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. The March 20-22 event is at the Sheraton Boston hotel.

The annual event celebrates the art of storytelling in every format and medium. Participants learn skills, interact with experts, share ideas with peers and expand their horizons.

Keynotes include Gwen Ifill (Washington Week), Jon Lee Anderson (The New Yorker), and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz (The Plain Dealer).

"Our theme, "Telling True Stories in Turbulent Times," reflects the urgency journalists feel to learn new skills and adapt to new technology at a time of dramatic change in the news industry," says Ellen Tuttle, communications director of the Harvard University-based Nieman Center.

PROGRAM/BIOS/SCHEDULE: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/narrative2009/

DOWNLOAD PDF FLYER: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/assets/pdf/conferences/narrative/ncnj09_flier.pdf

REGISTER: http://www.events.harvard.edu/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x82855a28

For more information, contact Tuttle at 617-495-2342, or
[email protected].

Giraffe prospect John Stauber's CMD launches "election protection" wiki

http://www.EPWiki.org

John Stauber's Center for Media and Democracy said today it had launched a new wiki web site as a "non-partisan, non-profit collaboration of citizens, activists and researchers to build a one-stop-shop for reports of voter suppression and the systemic threats to election integrity." There's also a Google group associated with the wiki:
http://groups.google.com/group/epwiki

Stauber writes in an email today:

"Our Election Protection Wiki <www.EPwiki.org> team led by Conor Kenny and Dave Johnson are working hard to make it as valuable as possible to journalists in the crucial hours and days ahead. The Election Protection site is getting a lot of traffic despite being so new, and our editors will be working hard on it after Tuesday too so as to make it a great resource for evaluating this election and preparing for the next."
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John Stauber, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy
520 University Avenue #227, Madison, WI  53703 Phone (608)260-9713
Website http://www.prwatch.org

J.D. Lasica developing proposal for regional citi-j workshops

Journalism That Matters alum J.D. Lasica, founder of OurMedia.org and author of the book, "DarkNet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation" is advancing a funding request for a nationwide series of educational bootcamps focused on increasing civic engagement through social media. The effort is undergirded by an online community of social media mentors and a resource center for social media, online curricula and peer-to-peer learning. If you'd like to contribute to the authoring process, read the proposal here:

http://writer.zoho.com/public/jdlasica/Innovation-Camps

Writes J.D.: "Everyone's invited to add their own revisions, make suggestions or share this with other interested parties or organizations."

J.D.'s at: jdlasica at gmail.com

-- bill densmore

MGP alum / Newstrust founder Fabrice Florin named Ashoka fellow

Fabrice Florin, (SEE MGP PROFILE) an MGP alum and founder of Newstrust, nas been elected an shoka Fellow for his work as a social entrepreneur to promote quality journalism online. The Ashoka Fellowship includes a three-year stipend for Florin's efforts to create "lasting, visible, systemic change in the way society sees journalism." Fabrice will become a lifelong member of the Ashoka community, which includes over 2,000 social entrepreneurs worldwide, working in economic development, education, human rights and other fields.

Florin calls the fellowship a key milestone for NewsTrust (newstrust.net). Not only will it provide much-needed financial support, but he calls it an important validation of our social news network's potential for social change -- as a compelling example of how news consumers and journalists can join forces online to find quality news coverage.

"I've always believed that good information is as important to society as clean water is to the environment," Fabrice said. "In our increasingly polluted media landscape, I see a real and growing need for quality information -- and news literacy tools to tell good journalism apart from misinformation. I want to bring these public services to millions of people, so we can filter news and information collectively, based on shared values that make us better informed as citizens. "

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, created the journalism fellowship program in February, in partnership with the Knight Foundation, with the goal of identifying "outstanding individuals with ideas that will have far-reaching impact on the field and practice of journalism, using Knight Foundation's definition of good journalism -- the fair, accurate contextual search for truth."

"This is quite an honor, coming from the folks who coined the word 'social entrepreneur,'" Fabrice said. "This gives me a special responsibility to bring this service to a broader community."

In related news, NewsTrust just launched a new version of its website.  (READ  BLOG)

Jon Greenberg posts analysis of Kilkenny Palin email

Jon Greenberg, executive editor at New Hampshire Public Radio, has written a post about the Kilkenny-Palin email which Persephone Miel posted on her blog at the Berkman Center. He says it validates some of the lessons Jon has learned form his "Primary Places Online" project -- about the best qualities of citizen observers. Here's the link, and Jon's contact info.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediarepublic/2008/09/09/anne-kilkenny-citizen-journalism-heroine/

Jon Greenberg, Executive Editor New Hampshire Public Radio 207 N. Main St. Concord, NH 03301 603.223.2435 cell: 603.724.5749

mgp2006: Announcing "Project: Report" -- YouTube's First Journalism Program

1. [Application: Project_Report_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf] (104KB) ""

Journalism That Matters event alum Olivia Ma, news manager at YouTube has announced what she call's YouTube's first journalism program in partnership with the Pulitzer Center (http://pulitzercenter.org). Ma describes it as "a journalism contest for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be covered by traditional media.

See the *Project: Report* channel page for all program details: http://youtube.com/projectreport

Or downoad this PDF: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/pdf/Project_Report_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf

Ma writes in an email:

"In each of the three rounds of Project: Report, reporters will be given an assignment to complete. Each of these assignments gives people an opportunity to report on the important individuals, issues, and communities in their lives that others do not yet know about.

"The assignment for Round 1 is to profile someone in your community, in three minutes or less, highlighting a story you think deserves to be heard by a wide audience. Video submissions for Round 1 are due by midnight EST on Sunday October 5, and a panel of journalists from the Pulitzer Center will narrow the field to 10 semi-finalists. The assignment for Round 2 will then be officially announced, and the judging for this round will be opened up to the YouTube community to determine the five finalists who will move onto the third and last assignment. Winners of each round will receive technology prizes (video cameras and laptop computers) from Sony VAIO and Intel, and the grand prize winner will be granted a $10,000 journalism fellowship with the Pulitzer Center to report on a story outside of their home country.

With Project: Report , the Pulitzer Center and YouTube hope to bring an audience to as many of these stories as possible and draw attention to important topics that have been under-reported, misreported, or not reported at all.