We create the stories of the connected society

I owe you an apology.  Part of my role is to help manage the blog and keep the conversation among those in the WeMedia community going strong.  I dropped the ball in a big way. I haven’t posted since the WeMedia conference at the end of February.  I haven’t followed up on many of the [...]

A Facebook campaign has been launched to hold Iran responsible for the death of Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger who died March 18 in an Iranian prison. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for insulting religious leaders and engaging in propaganda. More from Global Voices [...]

A new web site called ExecTweet collects Twitter posts from assorted business executives. The site got extraordinary attention on launch this week – here are stories in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many others. Why so much interest? Twitter watchers, admirers and detractors have been a-twitter for months debating if/when/how the [...]

Originally published on NextBillion.net Two weeks ago I attended the We Media conference in Miami as a We Media Fellow . The conference was exciting and thought-provoking and made me think a lot about the state of the “development through enterprise” community and us entrepreneurs working to fight poverty through innovative, private-sector-lead solutions. I’ll share [...]

Just when I think The New York Times is beginning to understand the concept of story in a connected society, Nicholas Kristoff invokes the old “Daily Me” cliche in an op-ed column. God save us from ourselves, so says Nick. God save us from Kristoff. He ought to know better than to conjure up a [...]

Two recent metaphors, both good, from the long, sad conversation about newspapers. From South By Southwest, author Stephen Berlin Johnson’s ecosystem metaphor (pick it up at the second chapter) with chart. Or full video. And the map from latest The New York Times story that tells it all.

Bernie Madoff’s prison Twitter page, via jean’s blog. Priceless.

As I was walking down the stairs I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d stay away I just joined me2everyone.com, a new social network from the UK that many voices on the Internet say will not only be bigger than Google, but will also provide [...]

I am in Austin for SXSW and listening to a conversation about the future of government in a connected society.  The natural topics have come up — how to use data, what transparency means, the role of media, what technology standards are used, and similar. It is an interesting conversation, full of smart and experienced [...]

From The Economist: “A piece of the American experience has faded away. Fisher-Price, the toy company that used to market them, has just eliminated almost all the View-Master titles that have been a staple of young lives for almost 70 years.” I first discovered the world in 3-D on a paper disc and a plastic [...]

My daughter Amanda took the above photo in Nepal. The picture on the right is of my new granddaughter, Elizabeth Jane. I thought of them as I discovered The Girl Effect, a project from the Nike and UN Foundation that stunned global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The big idea: unlocking the [...]

Back in 2005, the host of a “phony news” show on Comedy Central was named the most trusted TV anchor. Comedian Jon Stewart responded by invoking the Groucho Marx line that he’d never belong to any club that would have him as a member. Stewart’s stature has rankled TV’s shouting heads, money honeys, and Ken-and-Barbies [...]

Since our message of optimism and opportunity at the We Media conference, a number of like-minds have sent me this video of Louis CK’s appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. You Tube has disabled embedding at the request of NBC, but you can watch it here with a laugh and a sigh.

I like to play with word mashups that impart new meaning and metaphors, but sometimes you’ve got to be careful when you apply them to a URL. Like: www.newstools.org New stools? A furniture-maker’s site? Horticulturalist’s? Bishop’s? African chieftan’s? Informant’s? Or gastroenterologist’s? Creative capitalization helps: NewsTools. The site highlights the work of the Journalism That Matters [...]

Mad Money’s Jim Cramer makes nice with John Stewart tonight on The Daily Show. Here’s the video of the cat fight from Cramer’s colleagues at CNBC. In case you missed it, the original hurts-so-hysterically takedown is here. Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, took down the original takedown on You Tube.