NewsTools 2008

a conceptual mashup for journalists, technologists and entrepreneurs

Maurreen Skowran
  • Raleigh, N.C.
  • United States
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Maurreen Skowran's Discussions

Interview?

Started May. 13, 2008

Knight and community foundations

Started May. 9, 2008

New news operations

Started May. 9, 2008

 

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http://maurreen.com
When you registered, you told us about a particular technology, project, service or idea you'd like to learn about, or which you'd like to present to fellow participants. Briefly, again, what was that?
The idea I originally submitted has been superceded by events.

What I now have in mind is Urban Kiosks. These could help bridge the digital divide and might develop into the penny press newstand of the 21st century.

They would be at mass transit stops and possibly other areas of high traffic by lower-income pedestrians. They might start out focused on transit information and later focus on very local information.
What resource, person, organization or company would you like to see participating in NewsTools2008 in order to spur the transformation of journalism?
* Potential target users of our products and services, to give feedback.
* Revenue raisers.
How do you define "journalism that matters," and please suggest ways for journalists and technologists to collaborate (structure, events, groups, processes) in ways mostly likely to sustain it.
That which helps people make decisions and holds power accountable.

One thing I am interested in is new potential for small communities. These may be too small to financially support traditional news operations.

One way technology might be able to help would be a digesting system for documents such as town council agendas and meeting minutes. Theoretically for instance, Joe Blow could scan in the minutes and then some type of more-readable report could be made. And the council votes could go in a database.

Another idea is an aggregator set up for small communities.

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At 1:41pm on March 24, 2008, AndriusKulikauskas said…
P.S. I am organizing a workshop Ethical Public Domain: Debate of Questionable Practices perhaps you might like to join us online?
At 1:40pm on March 24, 2008, AndriusKulikauskas said…
Maurreen, Thank you for your comment and for blogging about our Includer. We're making steady progress, but its evolving like your kiosks. Ricardo in the UK has been a great blessing. He has written hundreds of pages on our wiki about making the most of marginal Internet access. He has thought through variants of the Includer that would use a Bluetooth enabled phone. He has provided two thousand dollars of funding for me so that we can start buying parts, we bought a Gumstix processor and also a digital picture frame that I have experimented with. I have put our lab's archive (25,000 letters, 4,000 wiki pages, chat archive) onto USB flash drives and shipped several dozen to Africa. We have also had a huge growth in our network in Kenya where we organized 100 peacemakers in a Pyramid of Peace to avert genocide there. This has also shown the practical need for an Includer in the field for peacemakers to be able to write reports from rural areas. Also, we have seen the usefulness of using mobile phones to connect to the Internet. And Ricardo has purchased and prepared and sent to Africa several inexpensive laptops. So we're heartened by steady progress and my main hurdle is to find relevant income streams, for example, a friendly customer who might hire a team of 100 correspondents. I'm glad that we will meet and I will learn more about your projects and I hope we have a chance to work together during the three days and afterwards!
 
 

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