The media reform group Free Press announces the launch of a new "Action Network" community blog service. They invite bloggers and citizen journalists to join them in chronicling how people in their communities are working toward more democratic, just media. Registered users can post to their own blog, comment on other posts, rate, and share…
Category: Politics
Discussion on constitutionality of Guantanamo Bay at 1:30PM EST today in Second Life
Just a reminder that today at 1:30PM EST there will be discussion on legal and constitutional issues surrounding the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Sponsored by the USC Institute for Media Literacy and the Seton Hall School of Law, the event marks the launch of the "Virtual Guantanamo" build, designed to dramatically focus attention on public…
Gather.com creates “People’s Press Corps” to cover 2008 Elections
The "social media site for adults" Gather.com announces that they are launching a search for six bloggers to be their "People’s Press Corps" to cover the 2008 US elections. The winning bloggers (2 Dems, 2 Reps, and 2 Independents) will report on the 2008 presidential election, receiving "exclusive access to candidates, experts, and events." The…
To prove the Islamic fundamentalist wrong, we must agree on what matters: bacon
Salman Rushdie, Step Across the Line, 2002: The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult sufferage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women’s rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex… The…
Justice Department poo-poo’s Net Neutrality, tells telecoms to start charging for tiered Net access
Yahoo News is reporting that the Justice Department has given approval for telephone and cable companies to start charging different rates to customers based on the particular websites and services they visit. Internet service providers in the US have been seeking to change their fee and technical structure so that they can change customers more…
FAIR releasing report on dismal state of poverty news coverage
"Stop Evicting Katrina Survivors!" Originally uploaded by The Voice of Eye Tomorrow, the group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is releasing a new study entitled "Poverty of Coverage" which analyzes major television network coverage of poverty over the last 3 years. Among the findings: A low amount of coverage of poverty issues…
Global Voices gallery of national blockpages
Blog aggregator and blogger defender Global Voices recently summarized the bagillion things that they do to fight for the rights of freedom of expression for bloggers around the world. I was tickled by their new "Gallery of National Blockpages" that they have launched with the help of Citizen Lab’s technical research director, Nart Villeneuve. What…
Building the International Criminal Court, One Email at a Time
Me with Bill Pace, head of the Coalition for an ICC As I think more deeply about how non-profits can meaningful translate their work into virtual environments, I am reminded of when I as a young activist began using the internet and the web in the early 1990s. I was working for the World Federalist…
Global Warming adventure game coming to wii and Nintendo DS
Adventure Gamers has a great interview with Carsten Fichtelmann and Jan Müller-Michaelis of Daedalic Entertainment, a Hamburg-based game developer. Fichtelmann and Müller-Michaelis talk about Daedalic’s plans to release an adventure game on the issue of Climate Change called A New Beginning for the PC, Nintendo wii and DS . Here’s the synopsis from Adventure Gamers:…
YouDecide2007: Australian project puts election coverage in the hands of the voters
At the end of the year, Australia will be holding their next round of parliamentary elections. A new initiative called "You Decide 2007" is challenging Australians to become citizen journalists covering the elections, uploading their own reports, photos, audio and video. It looks like the site is splitting the difference between an unfiltered community site…