True Confessions - September 25th

Confession: I have never downloaded a ringtone or used a Playstation — surely an indication that I’m vastly behind the times. Still, I’m an avid believer in the transformational power of technology, relying heavily on things like my EVDO mobile broadband connection and the use of google maps on my Centro when I get lost.  When it comes to social media, however, I’m just plain skeptical.  Twitter seems to be morphing into something moderately useful, Facebook has become a de facto replacement for e-mail, and LinkedIn is slowly dragging itself into the 21st century.  But a tweet from @peterjabraham today pointing out some “badass social media visualisations” left me cold. Who understands this stuff?  Thanks to @JimAnning, I finally got an explanation I understood.

Speaking of videogames Criticism of young people supposedly began with the Greeks about 3,000 years ago (Socrates, Plato, Hesiod) but it’s an easy trap to over-generalize about an entire cohort of people.  A new report out by MTV’s research arm, however, shows that kids today aren’t all that self-absorbed.  True, 37% of them “said they play videogames to stop unhappiness” but researchers also found that “they have a good grasp on reality and are simply being practical about what they get upset about or involved in.” No wonder they love to use virtual communities as a way to find friends.  The “Real World” (not the one on MTV) can be a scary place.

The News is Dead. Long Live the News. Despite their flaws, “old media” organizations really did set a solid standard for reporting the news.  But the old advertising-funded-news model is dead.  While blognoscenti have come to rely on Twitter as their most trusted news source, the inherent flaw in that philosophy is its reliance on the supposed “wisdom of the crowd”. Flying in the face of all of this is a new $5 million dollar venture to launch a professional local news project. The collaboration between UC Berkeley and KQED San Francisco was backed by venture capitalist F. Warren Hellman.  According to the NYT, their focus will be on investigative work, arts coverage and community-level reporting, an area deeply impacted by the loss of newsrooms across the country.  Coming soon: the News Pledge Drive!

Well Flickr Me Timbers!  While a lot has been written about the social value of Flickr, it’s not always obvious how the wildly popular photo-sharing site accomplishes that. My own education came in the form of a search for community in my new hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. While looking around for interesting local activities and groups, I came across “Madison 365“.  Their goal? “To collect 365 exceptional photographs of the always beautiful Madison, Wisconsin.”  I’m starting to feel at home already!