We create the stories of the connected society

It’s not a ha-ha spoof, and it’s not a ha-ha issue, either. The environmental, social and human impact of our consumption gets so much less attention than the features and flaws of the latest release.

I am excited to announce the launch of a new project that we are calling WeThink. What is it? WeThink is a conversation about innovation and the future — an effort to explore new ideas and promote solutions to the challenges that our society is facing. What’s the big deal? If you follow our work [...]

Fifty years ago, the memo that launched the space program and put man on the moon contained just a few, clear paragraphs. The U.S. government’s plan to expand the nation’s broadband is 376 pages – and that’s just the beta. There’s a story here about how the adoption of public policy hasn’t kept pace with a global, always-on world.

The decline of US news companies has led to a call for expanded public media. But in the UK the BBC is blamed for stifling the news market – and it’s shrinking.

Fifty-six million stories. Where’s the one about transparent government?

Here’s a promising collaboration we’ll be watching – and a series of events that may interest our Washington friends. The University of Miami’s Knight Center for International Media is organizing a series of discussions in Washington on big global issues with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, an influential global policy think tank. The [...]

The internet is a wondrous anomaly, a technical and creative achievement grander than the Tower of Babel, an infinite tangle of knowledge, ideals, data, entertainment, beauty, trivia, terror, news, noise, hubris, despair. It’s a cultural blender, a mixmaster archive crammed with visions, twits and everyday things.

Back in the September, I wrote that “one of the fundamental tasks of design and business is to stand between revolutions and life, to help people deal with change.” That was the premise of The Right Brain Rules, a strategic vision and a portfolio of assets for creating value into the future. Allison Arieff goes [...]

We haven’t recorded a podcast in a while — life gets in the way, you know — but we are back on track, effective immediately. WeMedia conducts regular regular podcasts that feature in-depth interviews with prominent media, technology, and social change figures, as well as distinguished experts on current affairs and news. Our goal is [...]

On Monday, the Cambridge, MA City Council adopted a policy order recognizing that a climate emergency exists and directing the City Manager to “direct the appropriate city departments to increase the City’s responses to a scale proportionate to the emergency and consistent with the city’s own Climate Protection goals for 2010 and beyond.”  (The full [...]

There’s a media and technology feeding frenzy in Washington. Failing U.S. newspapers are looking for a bailout from the government; nonprofits, telecoms and policy wonks are scrambling to have their say and get their piece of the economic stimulus action – a few billion dollars – to expand broadband networks AND create more content and [...]

The Senate Commerce Committee announced announced the lineup for their hearing about the future of journalism.  The list of speakers includes: Senator Ben Cardin Marissa Mayer – Vice President, Search Products and User Experience, Google Alberto Ibarguen – President and Chief Executive Officer, The Knight Foundation David Simon – Author, TV Producer and Former Newspaperman [...]

The Swine Flu is big news… and for good reason.  This potentially deadly strain – a mix of pig, bird, and human viruses – is spreading across the globe.  More cases are being reported every hour it seems.  Health experts don’t seem to have much to offer in terms of definite information.  Fear and uncertainty [...]

The White House announced today that the Cyberspace Review that President Obama ordered has been completed.  Here is the statement from the Press Secretary: On February 9, the President directed a 60-day review of the plans, programs and activities underway throughout the government that address our communications and information infrastructure (i.e., cyberspace). The purpose of [...]

The entry deadline has passed, but the gallery of entries to The Sunlight Foundation’s annual apps competition is worth a look. The foundation supports projects that use technology to make government more transparent – meaning more open, more visible and more subject to public scrutiny. The foundation’s focus is strictly on U.S. policy and government, [...]