The other day Bob Garfield had a good kvetch about dumb comments on newspaper websites on his show, On The Media, and I posted my two cents, but I still don’t feel better. I think that’…
Reads, Listens
Reading list of books, magazines, newspaper articles, other physical documents, or online posts
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled
Playlist of posts listened to, or scrobbled
In the decades after America’s founding and the establishment of the Constitution, did the nation get better, more just, more democratic? Or did it double down on violent conquest and exploitation?
Reported, produced, written, and mixed by John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. The series editor is Loretta Williams. Interviews with Robin Alario, Edward Baptist, Kidada Williams, and Keri Leigh Merritt.
Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.
Photo: Cotton bale, Old Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Photo by John Biewen.
J.K. Rowling ( Scholastic Press)Chapter 5: Diagon Alley
Chapter 6: The Journay from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
📖 Read pages 56 to 100 of 277
Finished chapters 5 and 6. I always forget how faithful the first movie was to the book.
The state’s largest labor union has fought hard for health care. And now it’s fighting Bernie Sanders.
In the summer of 1787, fifty-five men got together in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the United States, replacing the new nation’s original blueprint, the Articles of Confederation. But why, exactly? What problems were the framers trying to solve? Was the Constitution designed to advance democracy, or to rein it in?
By producer/host John Biewen with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Woody Holton, Dan Bullen, and Price Thomas. The series editor is Loretta Williams.
Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.
I’m sure I’d heard of Shays’ Rebellion before too, but couldn’t have given these sorts of specifics. I’m sure the version I learned in US History class was also pretty sugar coated and sparse.
Some useful reasons why.
Currently, there is a growing movement from the independence of the web, towards dominant companies. These companies offer organized information, but this comes at a price. We lose our independence more and more. The Unitive Web is a proposal to have both organized information and independence. It offers one generic approach closely compatible with the current web, which makes it possible to create a global open virtual space of information which is responsive and reliable. It offers open customization of user interaction, open bottom-up schema mapping, integration of (AI) algorithms, and facilitates in the protection of privacy. The aim of this group is to discuss any aspect of it and share specifications. For more information, see this <a rel="nofollow" href="https://youtu.be/lzXON9Eigtg">video about Unitive Web</a>.
Vaguely interesting, but let’s see what their video holds in store… I’m piqued by the idea of complexity theory embedded here, but not sure that they can directly influence the outcome so easily. This seems like a bunk idea somewhat grounded in popular science gone fringe.
The other day Bob Garfield had a good kvetch about dumb comments on newspaper websites on his show, On The Media, and I posted my two cents, but I still don’t feel better. I think that’s because Bob’s partly right: comments do suck sometimes.
So, instead of just poking him for sounding like Grandpa Simpson, I’d like to help fix the problem. Here are ten things newspapers could do, right now, to improve the quality of the comments on their sites. (There are lots more, but you know how newspaper editors can’t resist a top ten list.)
I love this list which I feel is very solid. I also think that newspapers/magazines could do this with an IndieWeb approach to give themselves even more control over aggregating and guiding their conversations.
Instead of moving in the correct direction of taking more ownership, most journalistic outlets (here’s a recent example) seem to be ceding their power and audience away to social media. Sure people will have conversations about pieces out in the world, but why not curate and encourage a better and more substantive discussion where you actually have full control? Twitter reactions may help spread their ideas and give some reach, but at best–from a commentary perspective–Twitter and others can only provide for online graffiti-like reactions for the hard work.
I particularly like the idea of having an editor of the comment desk.
At some point, something changed. First, I no longer find social networks to be the uplifting, positive places they once were. In fact, in 2020, they’re pretty distressing places. The bad content, intrusive advertising, and terrible privacy practices are untenable.
That means the numerator of the cost/benefit ratio has been increasing. At the same time, the denominator has started decreasing. I’m not creating new connections on my social networks as I once was. When I do the math it’s clear that the price of my social network activity in 2020 is too damn high.
Therefore, it’s time for me to deprecate Facebook.
In software engineering, deprecation has a very specific meaning. It means a feature is not being discontinued, but it is being discouraged. It signals that the feature can be expected to be removed at some future time. Most importantly, it says there probably is a better way to do it.
I’m hoping that better way is blogging. I know, I know, the blogosphere is pretty moribund these days. However, I’ve become very interested in the Indie Web movement. I hope that it becomes a usable way to have conversations on the web outside of the silos of social media networks.
I love the engineering framework given here. It’s also a great motivation for why one should go IndieWeb.
If you have a Wordpress blog, you can add it you your account and post to it from the Pine.blog site and app.
There's so many great features planned for Pine.blog, but I've compiled a list of the big ones here. Features might be released out of order, but I've tried to keep them, roughly, in the order I intend on releasing them. Keep in mind, this list is not static. Features may be added/removed at any time.
By signing up for Pine.blog you'll have access to a new kind of social network. Pine.blog combines a blogging app with a feed reader that's jam-packed with cool features.
- A fast and beautiful timeline of posts from sites and people you follow! Keep up with the news and the people you care about in real-time!
- Follow unlimited sites and users easily. Just search for them in the Pine.blog index and click Follow, or add a site manually using it's feed URL.
- Save posts as favorites. Keep track of interesting posts from anyone you follow by favoriting them.
- Post to your own site with Pine using the built-in Wordpress integration. Simply add your site in your account settings!
- Discover new, awesome people and sites to follow using Pine's built-in search engine.
- Import subscriptions from other services using Pine's OPML import!
- Use Pine from the web, an iPhone, or iPad via the Universal iOS app!
- With Pine you can follow almost anything. Just copy the URL from the page and follow it using either the app or the web!
- Blogs and Microblogs
- News Sites
- YouTube Channels/Users/Playlists
- Tumblr Blogs
- Mastodon Users
- Other Pine.blog Users
What are Webmentions? Webmentions are a technology that allows people who use Pine.blog or another compatible platform (i.e. Wordpress, Blogger, Micro.blog, Mastodon, etc) to like, comment on, and reply to each others posts, even across platforms. Think of it like being able to like a photo from Instagram on Twitter.
gRegor Morrill (gregorlove.com)I often come into an IndieWebCamp without a specific project in mind. Sometimes I will get inspired by the discussions. If not, I always have a list of things to tweak on my site; or improvements to indiebookclub, indiewebify.me, or other indieweb tools. I have recently been working on updating my p...
Jean MacDonald (micro.welltempered.net)What is the IndieWeb? A people-focused alternative to the “corporate web.” A place where you own and control your content. A home base from which you can syndicate and share with people on other websites, including social media. How can I participate in the IndieWeb? Get your own domain name. Th...
Some excellent work here by Jean following her session at IndieWebCamp Austin yesterday.