December 2009
7 posts
America's Medieval New U.N. Mission →
For Eric -
Every secure enclosure, whether it’s a castle, a complex, or an entire country, defines a perimeter of concern: We’re safe inside; the rest of you are on your own. A car bomb might peel off the federal tower’s “sacrificial façade,” shatter the glass-walled skyscrapers next door, and crater First Avenue, but America’s diplomats would, one hopes, remain unscathed inside their reinforced...
November 2009
18 posts
Sustainability: advancement vs. apocalypse →
Reminded me of Tainter’s two approaches to complexity, technological innovation or collapse.
Stressing the Web, ‘NewsHour’ Begins an Overhaul →
“Already the show has picked up its pace, although by commercial standards it is hardly noticeable; some of the lengthy segments and in-studio interviews have been shaved by a couple of minutes. And now, if a story breaks late, there’s more effort to pursue it immediately for use on the air or online “rather than wait until tomorrow,” Mr. Lehrer said”
The panopticon →
“a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.”
The pros and cons of the Daily Telegraph newsroom →
“Look at the design of an “up to date newsroom” and surprisingly it looks like the Panoptikon designed by Jeremy Bentham for an 18th century prison: the goal was to control people and to give the impression that the directors always knew - night and day - what the prisoners were doing.”
Content sharing at News Corp - a long time in the... →
“The portal will be entirely internal and business-facing and will, according to the firm’s statement, “improve newsgathering efficiencies and identify areas of cost savings… investigate the company’s worldwide contracts and reliance on global news services”. Murdoch said in the release that the unit is “vital to our success as a global media entity”...
News Corp's new global content-sharing service:... →
“21st-century multi-media information service…When Sky News reports that Gordon Brown has called an election, everyone in the NWS family can run with it. When TG24 learns that Vesuvius has blown its top again, everyone in NewsCorp will have it. Immediately. And from a source we can trust - us.”
Is Murdoch's Bid to Join Bing and Ditch Google... →
“The central struggle of monetizing online news is that ad rates for web pages are significantly worse than the print ad rates that once buttressed newspapers. So for a newspaper publisher like Murdoch, big online traffic helps, but it doesn’t pay for a sprawling roster of reporters and editors.”
The Architect as Totalitarian →
“Le Corbusier was to architecture what Pol Pot was to social reform.”
The Architecture of Information: Open Source... →
Technically this is about software development but it seems pertinent to what’s happening in the news media today.
Change was in the air →
Sean Hannity uses footage of Glenn Beck’s bigger protest to make the GOP’s health care rally appear more heavily attended.
“Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive....”
– Stewart Brand
Work and the City →
“…the book offers a whistle-stop tour of a story well-told elsewhere but always worth considering - how we got into this fix, via the Taylorism-inspired production of the modern office, culminating in the hegemonic 1960s American environments. Duffy draws on sociologist Richard Sennett’s phrase of “brittle cities” to illustate the infrastructure this leaves cities with:...
Victor Timofeev →
Amazing drawings by Victor Timofeev, also check out the rest of his site.
Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse →
Recommended by Kazys
