Or, if we want to get highbrow about it: Widgetized political discourse

Amid the sea of online opinion, polls and analysis, maybe less is more. That could be a selling point for a pair of new political widgets launched by Civis Online. Read more »

Eight years ago media futurist Kerry Northrup of Ifra, a newspaper technology organization based in Germany, produced a visionary video anticipating a world of media convergence - imagined then to be a world of big media companies distributing news and information on multiple platforms: web, on-demand print, mobile, broadcast. The video was ingenious on many levels, including coming up with the term E-lancer to describe the multi-talented grunt, non-staff contract reporter who could spit out video, mobile alerts and web reports without batting an eye.

That vision of convergence - including a harmonious, silky-smoothe newsrooms staffed by two people - didn’t anticipate the emergence of social media or citizens gathering and distributing news independent of big media, through blogs, camera phones and services like Twitter. But it did include a sophisticated vision of how distributed professional news teams could collaborate and react quickly to serve and inform audiences on whatever devices they preferred to use. That was a radical idea for most print-obsessed newspapers eight years ago.

The video was also prophetic: its story was based on a massive air traffic computer failure. That’s what happened today.

The first trend from the cable networks is upon us: to cover the Democratic convention, you must drink heavily, act stupid and behave badly.

Gawker shows you where you can hang with the Ken and Barbies of the cable “talent” crowd.

Speaking at:

• We Media Buenos Aires - Oct. 14-15, 2008

Josh Cohen, Sr. Business Product Manager, Google News

Cohen is responsible for product strategy, marketing and publisher outreach for Google News globally, which is currently available in more than 20 languages and over 40 countries.

Prior to joining Google, Josh was Vice President of Business Development for Reuters Media, the world’s largest news agency.  While there, he led business development for Reuters Consumer Media team, including all activities with major strategic partners.  He was responsible for agreements with AOL, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and numerous media companies around the world for content distribution, revenue generation and strategic investments.

John H. Bell, Managing Director, Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence

John heads up the 360° Digital Influence team - Ogilvy PR’s global,  digital word of mouth marketing practice designed to manage brands at a time when anyone can be an influencer and we are all influenced in new ways.  His team has developed and executed social media strategy for clients as diverse as Intel, Lenovo, Kraft, Unilever all the way to the federal government. The team’s focus is on engaging through conversations, outreach to new influencers and word of mouth marketing.

John is a Web 1.0 graduate. As Creative Director at Discovery Communications, he transformed a single web site into 14 Web communities and services  from DiscoveryKids.com to Animalplanet.com and more. In the early nineties, when interactive television was imminent, John headed up the creative studio for the joint ITV venture between Viacom and AT&T.

Currently, John serves on the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. He teaches graduate studies in Digital Influence at Johns Hopkins University.

His blog is: The Digital Influence Mapping Project - http://johnbell.typepad.com
His twitter name is : jbell99

Polish editors tired of U.S. journo’s sob story

Don’t let the demise of the U.S. news industry fool you, or the endless chatter about what caused it and who’s to blame. That conversation, while it may be important for historical analysis, for defining new opportunities and for cathartic relief, ignores a much bigger one: Around the world, journalism is rising, not falling. The planet is connecting, reporting and using the product of journalistic activities to decide on actions and policies impacting billions of lives. Read more »

Four years ago, a handful of of bloggers received credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention. The controversial credentials, opposed by MSM, were mocked as gimmicks.

Silly, we opined back then, because nearly everyone attending the 2008 conventions would be a blogger.

Our forecast is at hand. This will be the most blogged, v-logged, streamed, and photographed convention in the nation’s history. Bloggers, video-loggers, and even party delegates will provide their take on the events at the DNC. So will the candidates, the campaigns, the networks and traditional news media.

Reticent in the John Kerry days, the DNC is encouraging independent-spirited coverage of its convention with the wired-savvy Barack Obama as its candidate. The Democrats are providing video-uploading stations for v-loggers in the convention hall and also plan to communicate with and ask for feedback from attendees with text messages.

Everyone is media in Denver. Most reporters will post blogs and videos before they file stories for their newspapers or broadcasts.

As more than 10,000 news media representatives converge in Denver, financial pressures have forced most to scale back, team up and load up online. MSM has found religion; no criticism of bloggers or opposition to them this time around. Blogging is mandatory; reporters will Twitter and shoot video. Many will rely on local delegates to blog and take photos. But many local newspapers and broadcasters are staying home, a sign of decline and of misplaced reasoning about what is “local.”

The homies may not miss much, as Everyone is taking their place. Threat Level — Wired’s blog network on privacy, security, politics and crime online – has a list of the gadgets and reporting equipment that everyday folks are taking to Denver.

Here’s a close-in prediction this time around: With a paucity of real news from a staged event that is more infomercial, carnival, pep rally and office party than political process these days, thousands of people will be looking to capture a You Tube moment.

Here’s hoping the promise of We Media will be realized with occasionally insightful reporting from a world of reporters — even as CNN takes over a local tavern, formerly known as Brooklyn’s, where the real politics are debated.

Flickr photo by Imeglioll

The text thing is more than cool. But does it demonstrate a new kind of leadership? I want more follow up than a form to donate money. Still, I’m happy to get the message about your veep candidate at the same time as everyone else, dude. And what a tool for voter turnout in November ….

Text me; my iPhone is waiting to vibrate.

Alan Muter, an astute analyst who formerly served as editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, now puts the combined value of ten major news companies at only $3.6 billion. Muter documents the $3.9 billion plunge in the value of newspaper stocks since the first of this month - a period marked by successive new lows in the prices. Astute comments, too, on his blog.

Meantime, Valleywag ponders the five ways newspapers botched the web. On the list: New Century Network, described as “the granddaddy of fuckups,”; Knight Ridder’s Viewtron and Real Cities Network; Abuzz, and Classifieds Ventures.

“The newspaper industry has a devastating history of letting the future of media slip from its grasp,” says the Wag.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reston, Va — August 21, 2008

Executives from Google, newspapers, blogs, advertising and PR firms will meet at the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art (Malba) October 14 and 15, 2008.

An influential network of media and technology executives, bloggers and social entrepreneurs will meet in Buenos Aires this fall for a regional summit focused on business and social innovation.

We Media Buenos Aires will be October 14-15, 2008 at the Museum of Latin American Art (Malba). Participation is limited to 240 people.

To register, visit: www.wemedia.com/buenosaires.

The conference is organized by iFOCOS, a media think tank and futures lab founded by media visionaries Andrew Nachison and Dale Peskin to help anyone create, operate and sustain ventures in a media-centric culture powered by everyone. Nachison and Peskin will be featured speakers at the Buenos Aires summit. Other keynote speakers include John Bell, global creative director for the digital influence practice of Oglivy Public Relations, Eduardo Hauser, CEO of media-tech startup DailyMe.com and Josh Cohen, business product manager of Google News. Other participants will include CCR CEO Guillermo Oliveto, Carlos Pérez, BBDO Argentina President, Americo Martins Dos Santos, Regional Executive Director for Americas and Europe of BBC World service, and Victor Kong, VP and managing director, MySpace Latin America.

The program, conducted in English and Spanish, includes a series of forums to help participants understand and address the challenges of a changing multi-media world, and to stimulate innovation and investment in new projects and services.

The Buenos Aires conference, presented by the Clarin Media group, is a regional affiliate of the We Media global forum conducted annually in Miami.

For more information visit: www.wemedia.com/buenosaires.

For inquiries about speaking and sponsor opportunities, contact: Guillermo Riera, Event Producer, iFOCOS, +54-911-5962-4084, Guillermo Riera

About We Media: In a world connected by digital information networks and devices, the power to produce and distribute media and communications services is now in everyone’s hands. The We Media conferences, membership community and awards help anyone create, operate and sustain ventures in a media-centric culture powered by everyone. They function as a marketplace of ideas and actions for business and social innovators. We Media connects individuals and organizations from across industries who believe the power of media, communication and human ingenuity should be applied to innovate in business and to make the world better through media. The We Media conferences, membership community and awards programs are organized by iFOCOS, a non-profit media think tank and futures lab headquartered in Reston, Virginia. More about We Media at: www.wemedia.com

Inquiries to:
U.S./English: Beth Laing, Project Manager, iFOCOS, 404-895-7406, Beth Laing

Buenos Aires/Español: Guillermo Riera, Event Producer, iFOCOS,
+54-911-5962-4084, Guillermo Riera

The men’s soccer team lost to Argentina, the women’s soccer team lost to the U.S., the beach volleyball team lost to Dalhausser and Rogers. And that was just the beginning.

Brazilians are so upset with the performance of their teams at the Olympics that they hacked the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s Web site, forcing the organization to take it down.

“Brazil stinks in these Olympics,” wrote one of the hackers. The Olympic committee posted this statement: “Dear user, our site is temporarily off the air for maintenance reasons.”

As news industry conferences go, this is the good one. The right-brainers who attend SND’s annual designfest have managed to make newspapers and websites around the world more interesting and accessible, even as their left-brainer publishers screwed up a coupla good mediums. Somehow, the creative class has remained enthusiastic about the future.

SND is sharing the stage with APME at this year’s conference at Vegas’ Red Rock Casino on September. 7-9. I’ll be keynoting with my old friend Dr. Design, who is emerging from exile to show right-brainers how they’ll rule the world. Dr. Design is expected to channel the Creative Ka.

Just go, even if you have to befriend an editor.

SND Vegas Promo Video from Tyson on Vimeo.

It took a thousand years to build a 4,000 mile wall to keep the foreigners out of China. Its taken just a few days for the World Wide Web to teach the Chinese to count.

The We Media movement has thoroughly exposed the confusion, dare we say cheating, by the Chinese to qualify a world class, pre-pubescent Chinese gymnast for Olympic competition. The gymnast, He Kexin, won an individual gold medial on the uneven bars and was one of the gymnasts who lead the Chinese team to a gold medal in the team competition. Competitors must be at least 16-years-old by the end of the Olympics year to participate.

He doesn’t look the part, but insists she’s 16. But records uncovered by bloggers and news organizations tell a different story:

– Huffington Post blogger David Flumenbaum posts documents from China’s state-run newspapers and news agencies showing that He’s age has been adapted for various competitions.
– A cached page, now changed, from a China Daily page on He.
– The New York Times first looked into the age of China’s gymnasts with a story on July 27 that focused primarily on He, whose birthdate on numerous online records was listed as January 1, 1994, making her 14 when the Games began and ineligible to compete.
– Global Voices blogger Oiwan Lam weighs into the debate, a “cold war double-standard,” on the GV network by observing that Chinese parents often change the age of their children.
– Blogger Stryde Hax, a security expert, looks at He’s passport, searches Chinese web sites and caches of google pages, some of which have been removed.
– Fool’s Mountain, a collaborative of writers focused on Chinese issues, shows discrepancies between China’s local athletic bureaus (He is from Wuhan) and the central athletic bureau.
– And if you read pinyin there’s Niubo, a forum by disaffected Chinese, on the situation. The photo of the Lincoln Memorial may throw you, though.

Age falsification is an age-old problem in China, especially in gymnastics competition. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, three years after the minimum age was raised to 16 in gymnastics, Chinese gymnast Yang Yun competed and won a bronze medal in the uneven bars (coincidentally this event is also He’s specialty). Yang’s passport said she was born on December 24, 1984 and turning 16 in the year of the Games, making her eligible. She later confessed in a television interview that she was only 14 at the time of the competition and that she and her coaches had lied about her age.