A true Web 2.0 story

A story I came across today about the Auto Industry Bailout was one of the best and most innovative examples of 2.0 techniques I have seen in a while. The article is on a website called The Daily Beast, and uses images and an interactive map to chart the different sides of the story (as told from sources such as The Washington Post, Newsweek, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Center for Automotive Research and more).

Not only does this include images and video input. But the most simple thing about this interactive article is that to get to any of the information you do not have to even change pages (let alone link to another website). The thumbnail of each story section has information pop up when you roll the screen over the picture.

It is apparent that whilst we are moving in a world where more is better - simplicity still reigns as king.

Can you 'defame' a city?

I understand that the people that Bill O'reilly is representing in this video may reflect a problem but just because you interview 12 people does not mean you take a honest view of the city of San Francisco. In the video below, O'reilly is attacking the 'liberal' San Francisco which is now apparently out of control.

It brings me to the idea of freedom of speech on the internet in a public forum. I come to thinking, if organizations such as Fox can cast light on anyone or anything in any manner they choose, then why shouldn't the public (as individuals) have the freedom to write on posts and discussion boards without being edited.

I understand the inherent problems with the idea, but it stands to challenge the free range O'reilly continues to have on painting people and places in negative ways to serve his motives.

The debate continues...

According to the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

However this does not set a major stance as to how websites are held accountable for the content that is posted by users on their forums or chat areas. Basically, at the moment, this is an ethical question left up to the organization as to wether they:

a) screen and edit all discussion boards and chat rooms

b) exercise no control over what users say

or 

c) provide no room for user input and discussion.

I think that clearly the third option (c) is outdated and moves against the grain of the progressive web. That would be a backwards step.

I think the first choice is the best. However with all the layoffs and redundancies that are already happening in the industry, it does not seem as though these websites could afford to hire more people to monitor and edit these interactive sections. The question also leads to, who has the right to say what should and should not be edited off a website?

These are all ideas not to be taken lightly, as in the United States, convicted crimes can reach up to millions of dollars in damages and have carried up to 5 years jail time. 

It is an extremely tough topic. And although this new found level of interactivity between generator and user we have on the web is a great thing, i think these public forums can also be extremely damaging. I was recently made aware of a college gossip website forum called Juicy Campus, after perusing the site, it becomes distressingly obvious that this anonymous website just fosters defamation and bullying to happen on a cyber level.

TAKE your friends along!

In June of 2002, Ali Kemp was raped and murdered upon finishing her days work at the local pool. The tragedy continues to haunt the local community and her fellow Kansas State University classmates. Whilst everyone continued to grieve, her parents took action creating The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation (TAKE) in 2004, dedicated to empowering women of all ages in self-defense. It is upon this backdrop which the University of Miami Sorority, Alpha Delta Phi, will host an event at the beloved ‘Rat’ on campus here at UM raising money for the TAKE Foundation. 

The event starts at 5pm on the 19th of November and costs only a few dollars per song.

SMH Post # 5: A crisis of content

This was a prime example of the failure of Sydney Morning Herald to realize that their main objective is to represent and inform the local Sydney community rather than to provide world news.

 The premiere of the new blockbuster film 'Australia' was held in Sydney last night. This movie marks a proud movement for many Australians and shows off the local talent of many of the actors. As well as this, it was held in Sydney and drew much international media towards the event. Yet the main article on the website was about Bill and Hillary Clinton (nothing of breaking news importance) and the writeup on the Australia premiere was actually under entertainment and Hollywood news.  This does not make any sense to me and is completely devoid of logic.

I believe the editors need to get their priorities in check.

SMH Post # 4: A two way street

 The Sydney Morning Herald was and still is known primarily for its print news publication. However, over the last 10 years the website has gained much credibility and respect back at home with its adaptation of technology and also the way it has appealed to the interests of its users.

I think it does many things better than many international news websites, however they have failed to secure a strong relationship with users because have failed to really adapt the technology of email news updates and sms messages. This is quite frustrating because often a heading will give the number or email to contact to provide interesting or new information, but not such service is offered the other way around.

I think this is a large mistake. Not only does it show that you are taking from your readers but not willing to extend what you can also give, but it also shows that the website is behind in technology and unwilling to adapt.

People look to online news sites for reliability and dependability. Still to this day a story in print news holds much higher credibility than that of the stories online. This is why online news have to take advantage of the ability to employ new tools to draw readers. I am puzzled SMH.com.au haven't realized this already.

A small way to capture a big icon

A team of mechanics at the University of Michigan constructed these structures of Obama which is made up of about 150 million carbon nanotubes, each measuring tens of thousands of times smaller than a human hair!

SMH Post # 3: More is less?

My biggest criticism with the Sydney Morning Herald is that they seem to go by the philosophy that if they inject as much multimedia and web 2.0 features as possible then this makes the website a better read.

I believe this is not the case. Many times I simply want text. Usually if i want to view a video i will search specifically for it myself in youtube. Often their videos are at the top of stories and this means i have to navigate past these elements (also pictures) to get to the text of the story. This is complicated and takes time. 

It seems like just a tactic to get more hits on the multimedia and make more users regularly view this content. However, I can say that from my point of view it makes my use of the website more frustrating.

Website Post #2: Content

For most people, they are looking for most relevant and up to date information when they go to a website. The book refers to this as Hierarchy. I believe SMH has structured this hierarchy extremely well.

Underneath the headline story is a bar of breaking news tag lines. These headlines are accompanied by the time of their submission. This includes the second it was submitted also. This is important to point out the relevance of the story. I think SMH fails to be a completely reliable source for breaking news. This is understandable, it is primarily a national based newscast with a 'world' section, it is not however a world news site with a national section.

For me, the SMH is a good news read because of the diversity it offers. I know that if i go there I will not just be shown the same stories which have been most popular throughout the country and world. There are horizontal bars which are mostly just a thumbnail image which are usually opinion or analysis articles.

Impressive also, is the use a of a horizontal bar at the bottom of the page which includes the header of 5 Australian news sites and underneath them ranks their top stories for the day. This is a great way to look and see what stories are important to other people all around the country.

Website Post #1: An impressive and easy to use layout

The website I have been following (as you may already know) is the Sydney Morning Herald - smh.com.au. I find the SMH a great read for many reasons and i believe the best out of any Australian news source. I think this goes hand in hand with the fact that SMH is part of Fairfax media company, Australia's largest media group. It is clear that money has meant more effort can go into creating a user friendly news website.

The usability of the website is its main attribute. The home page is quite large, and includes alot more visual elements than that of a CNN.com website. I think this is a positive, because while some may argue that scrolling down the page is a hassle (thus the small minimized cnn website) i find the larger text and the one image per story ratio to make for a much more compelling read.  If however scrolling down the page IS too much trouble, there is a banner at the top of the home page ranging from 'world', 'national' to 'travel' and 'entertainment' sections which can directly link you to these sections.

Underneath this banner are the top stories. With the latest feature story occupying a large picture with a caption and headline underneath. The best thing about SMH is that the website is always set up so that you know exactly what section of their website you are in, and just as importantly, where you can go from here.  This usability also means including the SMH logo at the top of every page so that if you wish to return to the homepage you can at any point in time.

What i find effective is under the top stories a horizontal bar of thumbnails with small captions which rotate and give the reader the opportunity to be presented various interesting stories and the ability to link directly to these stories. Like alot of other websites nowadays, each story clicked on also displays links to related coverage.

The design works as a whole. I think this element is very important for a news website, otherwise it can look cluttered and unorganized. The entire page follows the one 'structured grid design' and for this makes it a more familiar place to return for users.

The Facebook police strike again!

Following up from last weeks post of a Sydney man fired as a result of revealing too much information on the web, it seems the facebook KGB have once again struck, this time in  the form of the Virgin Mobile company. 

Headline: Virgin sacks 13 after Facebook criticism

I vow to delete my facebook once i leave college! 

- The worrying thought however is that information put up now may forever be public property.

Back to basics

The annoying thing about the journalism profession is that it seems as though successful and effective writing is 'capped' in the sense that once a journalist has the tricks of the trade down packed they cannot continue to improve. I say this mostly in regards to news writing, because from scouring through websites it seems that the more basic and traditional writing formats always win. Journalists who try to push the boundaries of news style or try to be fancy often end up being less effective.

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article about the demise of the Australian Dollar value since the economic downturn. However, for such a numerical and serious topic, the journalist unfortunately elected to go for a more 'colourful' headline - with the effect of ( i believe),  leaving the reader not really sure what the article is about.

The headline read:

Aussie's slide from parity to parody

The problem is that the article, which appeared on the front page of the SMH, was not accompanied with a lengthy sub-heading underneath and thus would of deterred many people who would of otherwise been very interested in this topic.