August 29, 2012
"Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the internet remains the open forum for everybody - from those who are expressing an idea to those to want to start a business."

—

Come on. Whatever your politics, you have to admit that President Obama jumping into an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) on Reddit was pretty cool. The President hung out for half an hour, answering questions from how he feels about Internet freedom (above) to his intentions for space exploration (it’s a priority, apparently.) Ok, so it wasn’t exactly front page stuff, but at least Obama has *heard of* Reddit. I confess too that I rather cruelly enjoyed the Redditors correcting the President’s grammar (to his ‘a asteroid’ s0crates82 quickly corrected him, “*an* asteroid, Mr President.” And some of the Twitterati commentary was equally sharp and insightful. A few favorites: 

David Steven: Recommended to a British politician he do a reddit AMA a few years back. He looked as if I’d suggested he crapped live on breakfast TV.

Tim Maly: President makes new media appearance is a story. “We have seen your subculture and recognise it” is a core narrative.

Graham Linehan: Such a brilliant move by Obama and his people. Aligning himself with Reddit while the GOP travels further and further back in time.

Umair Haque: Forgive me for suggesting it, but internet chat is not a substitute for a working civil society, much less a democracy.

5:48pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZLv7dxSOWecz
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(Notes: 8)
  
Filed under: President Obama politics reddit Internet communication media cool 
July 6, 2012
The always-excellent Clay Shirky closed out this year’s TEDGlobal (and with it, this unexpectedly monumental wrap-up of the conference.) He chose to focus on the expansion of the media with a message that reassured us that all the hubbub is to be expected. “More media always means more argument,” he said firmly. “That’s what happens when media space expands.” Then he focused on the open source movement to show how those on the edges fly the standard for upcoming innovation. Humor, too. “Look around the edges and see people experimenting with the political ramifications of the system,” he said, recounting how someone uploaded a tool for detecting naturally occurring haiku in State Department prose after Wikileaks. Yet there’s an important disconnect for us all to contemplate. As he put it: “The people experimenting don’t have legislative power. The people with legislative power are not experimenting with participation.” This is a problem we should all consider a little more deeply, even as I attempt to recover from writing nearly 27,000 words over the course of four days. [Photo: James Duncan Davidson]

The always-excellent Clay Shirky closed out this year’s TEDGlobal (and with it, this unexpectedly monumental wrap-up of the conference.) He chose to focus on the expansion of the media with a message that reassured us that all the hubbub is to be expected. “More media always means more argument,” he said firmly. “That’s what happens when media space expands.” Then he focused on the open source movement to show how those on the edges fly the standard for upcoming innovation. Humor, too. “Look around the edges and see people experimenting with the political ramifications of the system,” he said, recounting how someone uploaded a tool for detecting naturally occurring haiku in State Department prose after Wikileaks. Yet there’s an important disconnect for us all to contemplate. As he put it: “The people experimenting don’t have legislative power. The people with legislative power are not experimenting with participation.” This is a problem we should all consider a little more deeply, even as I attempt to recover from writing nearly 27,000 words over the course of four days.

[Photo: James Duncan Davidson]

9:50pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZLv7dxOrZ51-
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(Notes: 13)
  
Filed under: Clay Shirky TEDGlobal media disruption technology open source 
April 19, 2011
Quakebook is a “Twitter-sourced charity book about how the Japanese Earthquake at 2:46 on March 11, 2011 affected us all.” It’s a media project that is a product of its hyper-connected age as well as a snapshot of a particular moment, featuring as it does short essays written in the week after the initial shock had subsided but even as the longterm outlook in Japan remained far from clear. The themes of the book’s 80-odd contributors—which includes citizens caught up in the chaos alongside higher profile contributors such as Yoko Ono and William Gibson—are timeless. The importance and love of family is noted time and again, as is anger at the mainstream media’s perceived preoccupation with potential apocalypse. Above all, many of the authors urge readers to use the tragedy wisely, as a timely reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Here are some of the phrases that stood out in the book (the price of which goes to the Japanese Red Cross): I’ve lived for many years. Night has always turned to day and rain has never failed to cease. Grandfather Hibiki, Sendai To support Japan, what I would say is this: Simply do what you do every day, but do it better. Go to school or to work but with passion and energy. Engage your neighbors or community but with more sympathy and compassion than you ever have. Let these historic moments move you, inspire you and invigorate you for as long as the feeling lasts because, believe me, that initial adrenaline and humanitarian solidarity will wear off. Ride it as long as you can. Let it make you be a better person, and let it wake you up from the complacency in your life. Tokyo Twilighter, Tokyo I would like to urge everybody to be more actively involved in their local community in their everday life. Because nobody can survive without the support from others. Yumiko Takemoto, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki I had prepared, yes, but I wasn’t prepared. Annamarie Sasagawa, Shinjuku, Tokyo Somehow London and Tokyo are the capitals of my imagination, with Manhattan and Los Angeles like space stations between them. I have lived in none of these places. I doubt I will. Their function is other. Oneiric. Engines of dream. William Gibson, Vancouver, B.C.

Quakebook is a “Twitter-sourced charity book about how the Japanese Earthquake at 2:46 on March 11, 2011 affected us all.” It’s a media project that is a product of its hyper-connected age as well as a snapshot of a particular moment, featuring as it does short essays written in the week after the initial shock had subsided but even as the longterm outlook in Japan remained far from clear.

The themes of the book’s 80-odd contributors—which includes citizens caught up in the chaos alongside higher profile contributors such as Yoko Ono and William Gibson—are timeless. The importance and love of family is noted time and again, as is anger at the mainstream media’s perceived preoccupation with potential apocalypse. Above all, many of the authors urge readers to use the tragedy wisely, as a timely reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Here are some of the phrases that stood out in the book (the price of which goes to the Japanese Red Cross):

I’ve lived for many years. Night has always turned to day and rain has never failed to cease.

Grandfather Hibiki, Sendai

To support Japan, what I would say is this: Simply do what you do every day, but do it better. Go to school or to work but with passion and energy. Engage your neighbors or community but with more sympathy and compassion than you ever have. Let these historic moments move you, inspire you and invigorate you for as long as the feeling lasts because, believe me, that initial adrenaline and humanitarian solidarity will wear off. Ride it as long as you can. Let it make you be a better person, and let it wake you up from the complacency in your life.

Tokyo Twilighter, Tokyo

I would like to urge everybody to be more actively involved in their local community in their everday life. Because nobody can survive without the support from others.

Yumiko Takemoto, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

I had prepared, yes, but I wasn’t prepared.

Annamarie Sasagawa, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Somehow London and Tokyo are the capitals of my imagination, with Manhattan and Los Angeles like space stations between them. I have lived in none of these places. I doubt I will. Their function is other. Oneiric. Engines of dream.

William Gibson, Vancouver, B.C.

12:34am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZLv7dx4QVmkX
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(Notes: 8)
  
Filed under: Quakebook Japan Twitter media media industry Yoko Ono William Gibson books publishing