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tom matrullo › Comments
One of the more talented newspaper web editors I've met is leaving for Yahoo; innovation is too slow http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp...
" "This is the number one Web site in the world." It's statements like that that turn the mode from credible reporting to bullshit marketing.
- tom matrullo
Longtime CNN anchor Lou Dobbs tells viewers he is resigning.
Itachi, Joe Pierce, Rochelle and 2 other people liked this
Resigning or retiring?
- Rochelle
Resigning.
- CW™
good fucking riddance.
- tom matrullo
"Dobbs, 64, said he had discussed the issue with CNN President Jonathan Klein, who had agreed to a release from his contract "that will enable me to pursue new opportunities""http://www.cnn.com/2009...
- CW™
Fox?
- Cristo
Thats my guess. He'd fit right in with the Opinion Reporting they do.
- CW™
hermits - http://hermits/
Most likely to succeed in mobile: Aloqa - http://www.viddler.com/explore...
Taehoon Kim, Ritu, David Finch and 9 other people liked this
That is a very neat app. It will be useful in places you do not know, but also, as it pushes updates, in places you do know as well. Definitely a must-have app for Android!
- Steve Farnworth
Seems like a bit of work to set all the channels, the settings for each friend, etc. - is there an app that would know all your preferences and apply them for you? Or is that one's wife?
- tom matrullo
It comes with a few default ones, but you need to get your own feeds based on your preferences. Did you watch the video?
- Robert Scoble
Tom: it's not much work. Did you watch the video?
- Robert Scoble
It all looks very intuitive. Tell you what, it would be killer on something like a hotel kiosk for users without smartphones.
- Steve Farnworth
Robert - I was thinking of you and 400 friends - each one requiring a specific setting. I'm nearly through the vid - it''s very rich - love the idea of having job info from CL coming in. Also, fantastic for GPS, no?
- tom matrullo
Desideratum: an app that would say "here there are no Starbuckses"
- tom matrullo
just watched the video at the gym. I wonder why he said he wasn't allowed to say that he was working on the iphone version? Then he said it was obvsiouly coming to iphone but he couldn't officially say it was. That was a bit odd.
- Mark
Mark: yeah that was a PR plan being exposed. Companies want to be able to give TechCrunch exclusives.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
Very smart idea and nice interview! Shall be interesting to see if it picks up. Might be too much for the average app user addicted to his 101 latest app games?
- Antonella Stellacci
Ethics in journalism create consistency of standards for advertisers' peace of mind. Similar dynamic in blogging networks: http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
Bora Zivkovic and PierLuca Santoro liked this
Jay, I'm not seeing ethics as the necessary factor in blog networks (as presented by the NYT at least). Rather, a centralized editorial point that can be "handled" by advertisers etc.
- tom matrullo
I meant this, Tom: a consistency of standards and approach reduces search costs for advertisers, not that all the blog networks have suddenly discovered journalism ethics. Rather, I was trying to highlight the economic reason journalism ethics arose in the first place, by noting that the same dynamic is being seen in blogging. Make sense?
- Jay Rosen
Yes, I see now. What I'll underscore is the technical aspect: centralized network control enables "ethical consistency" to be more easily accessible for business purposes.
- tom matrullo
That's right. So for multiple reasons, the only way advertising works on niche sites is when those sites are part of larger ad networks. Advertisers need predictability and low transaction costs or they won't advertise even if you have the audience and the demographics, etc.
- Jay Rosen
And that has implications for content, ethics, style, substance, voice and audience - ie for journalism.
- tom matrullo
Blogads has had advertising networks for a long time. Back when I was on Blogger, I got most of my ads by being a part of one of their networks. And now I am on a recognizable network (scienceblogs.com) where I don't even have to worry about ads - there are people who take care of that for all of us.
- Bora Zivkovic
AKMA By the way, I have a new phone number and home and work addresses; if anyone wants them, leave a comment and I'll email you back. I'..
yes please share - hope you're managing to catch up on sleep.
- tom matrullo
State tells schools to teach Bible literacy but not how (What in the world makes Texas think this appropriate?) - http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedc...
Mitchell Tsai, Fa La La La Lindsay, Jenny R. and 18 other people liked this
""Let's open our Bibles," the veteran Plano ISD teacher tells students daily at two public high schools in the district. And it's legal for her to do it. A new state law requires that Texas public schools incorporate Bible literacy into the curriculum. But the law provides no specific guidelines, funding for materials or teacher training. So high schools are left scrambling to figure out what to teach and how to teach it. A handful of North Texas districts are offering an elective class, but most are choosing instead to embed Old and New Testament teachings into current classes."
- Brad Williamson
from Bookmarklet
Shameful.
- Internet's Tad
And people are freaking out over Obama encouraging children to stay in school and help make the world a better place next week!? I don't get it. I'm embarrassed to be a Texan.
- Brad Williamson
reactionary :-(
- tradem
Good post Brad.
- Joe
If that happened here, I would either pull my kids from school or push to get ALL religious text taught as "literacy". If I was a student and this had happened to me, I would have made it a point to know other religious text and quote those in class.
- Admiral Anika
Is TX still a part of the union or have they already seceded?
- Michelle
Is Texas still in this Solar System?
- Joe
ahhh, the religion hits back!!
- Gtp19
There are a lot of Indians in Houston. My friends are Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. How does the school district justify this to those parents at all?
- Admiral Anika
@anika how can they justify this against the whole "seperation of church and state" line in the constitution?
- alphaxion
Well this is Texas. Church = State. Football = Church. Texas is, uh...quirky. :)
- Admiral Anika
Ridiculous
- Kamilah Gill
from email
At least there are some rationale people posting their thoughts in the comment section of this article.
- Brad Williamson
But how else should are children be indoctrinated other than by mandatory bible literacy classes in school? ...
- Rene Wirtz
I live in Texas - and honestly hope this stupidity is overturned before my daughter reaches high school age (she's 6 now). Jeez ...
- Patrick Jordan
FFS!
- Jason Wehmhoener
Well, I help teach a Shakespeare class and a world lit class. Too many of the students do not understand the literature because they don't know the books from which the references are based. One of the major books upon which the references are drawn is the Bible. You won't understand the thoughts, the metaphors or the references of even a great classic like Hamlet or the incredibly...
more...
- Melanie Reed
As Melanie said, there are many good reasons for teaching the Bible as literature. I have no problem with that. I have no problem with teaching it in conjunction with history classes that discuss the influence of religion(s) on historical events. It's also ok for a comparative religions class. For me, the problem comes when courses are used not in the ways I described, but as a method of proselytizing to students.
- Katy S
As a Texan I can assure you there are a good many reasonable folks in the State. There are also a good many who are not. :-| Nothing wrong with comparative religion classes, but I think this Bible literacy stuff is a back door into good old fashioned preaching and should not be tolerated.
- Kurt Starnes
Melanie, the Bible as "literature" is one thing and somewhat acceptable as an elective. We had that an elective in college. I have friends who teach in Texas (oddly, all of them are Jewish) and they are at a loss. They have mentioned that their more...um, forceful Christian teachers are reworking plans like it's Sunday school, only because they have free reign.
- Admiral Anika
Anika, I am not able to assess the situation since I am not there. But it occurs to me that it might appear that some are "reworking plans like its Sunday School"at this point because they know their subject. In other words. It's not proselytizing to be well-informed about your subject and to speak about it with passion. Those are hallmarks of some of the better professors I've known and I've learned much and enjoyed their classes because of it.
- Melanie Reed
FWIW, the Texas legislature has been trying to moot-ify the Texas State Board of Education for some time, but I'm not sure where this is now. These folks promoting one specific religion in public schools continue to be a source of embarrassment for me and many others.
- Kurt Starnes
Kurt - I've been reading about the craziness with the board of ed in Texas. It's really a bit frightening. From what I've read about the situation there, I feel a bit uneasy about how this might be implemented. While I can see many good reasons for teaching the Bible for the reasons I mentioned above (and the literatures of other religious and philosophical traditions, for that matter)...
more...
- Katy S
Katy - I agree with you. The problem, IMHO, is that the movement to teach the Bible as literature in Texas schools is analogous to the methods in which the veil of intelligent design was created to teach creationism as science. There is not a genuine, honest interest to teach the Bible as literature and teach it alongside other religious texts. Just my 2¢
- Kurt Starnes
Kurt, my father and mother were both teachers. He taught science. I teethed on it. I went to every science fair and was a medal winner so that meant I went on to the next round. I learned to think critically, and to observe. The one thing that I have found remarkable is how often science of the previous decade (which was stubbornly maintained as flawless) was proved untrue in the next. It led me to the conclusion that somewhere along the line we have some faulty studies going on.
- Melanie Reed
Melanie - That's the beauty of science and skepticism. And, I'm not aware of any mainstream scientists who would argue of science's flawlessness. The best concepts are fortified while the weak ones fall. I would argue that scientific principles are not wholly overturned from one decade to the next, but as we learn more, science remains open to the new knowledge. There is quite a bit of...
more...
- Kurt Starnes
Texas??? And this is the state where Obama can't give a pep talk. I give up....
- Roberto Bonini
from iPhone
After rereading the article, the law is vague, doesn't appear very popular and whole school districts, like Dallas ISD, are opting out claiming they already fulfill the State's requirements. Gotta stand up for my home State - we're not all crazy. :->
- Kurt Starnes
Why did they Photoshop crazy eyes onto that girl?
- EricaJoy
Cuz she hates life when she's in her religion class.
- Brad Williamson
Why did it not seem wise to the asshat state to require the teaching of Homer, Virgil, the Koran, Bhagavad Gita etc.?
- tom matrullo
FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!
- Harold
Tom, A typical required textbook for a u-level class, The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, does teach those pieces of literature. But keep in mind, these children live in the west. Many of them don't even know their own literary heritage let alone those of others. Many have a difficult sense of knowing what belonging means let alone, heritage where they came from. During high...
more...
- Melanie Reed
The last place I want the Bible taught "as religion" would be in a public school. As literature seems a little specious, but then I'm wasn't an English major so I really couldn't comment on its value to literature.
- Craig Eddy
Craig, for one example, psalms an example of Hebrew poetry which is unlike the construction of any other poetry. But apart from that, most of the other great pieces of classical western literature are based on it, because the writers were trained on the Bible, Homer, Virgil, etc.
- Melanie Reed
A corporation is obliged to turn a profit, it has the rights of an individual, but not the consciousness, feelings or morals.
Ariane8008 liked this
Yes. I used more words to say this less well: http://interimtom.blogspot.com/2009...
- tom matrullo
Worldwide Facebook Mobile Usage Up 300% in Last 12 Months - http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009...
Daniel J. Pritchett liked this
Maybe, but I sense no solidity to the numbers. Facebook could tank in a heartbeat.
- tom matrullo
Playing with Mac version of Google Chrome for the first time after reading one-year anniv post (download link buried there): http://chrome.blogspot.com/2009... - any Chrome fans/foes here?
Sree, I'm a PC user - have used Chrome almost exclusively since last October. It's fast, and solid. I'm now using beta 3.0.
- tom matrullo
Waiting for the UPS delivery with my passport and visa
Ladybug Heather liked this
WOOHOO!!! So glad you'll be able to get to work!
- Ladybug Heather
After all whatnot, it's almost eschatological...
- tom matrullo
"Well, hurrah!" (cit.)
- Gaspar Torriero
Taxonomies and categorical schemes rule the world. Control the categories, control the conversation.
Matthew Freeman liked this
That would seem commonsense. But the 300 million or so USians avidly debating healthcare seem blissfully unaware of what the basic models, the kinds of systems, are.
- tom matrullo
Special interest groups are largely in the business of obfuscating, distorting and manipulating taxonomies, categories and the terms of public discourse, of constructing false world models.
- Sean McBride
Alexis DeTocqueville explaining how "newspapers make associations and associations make newspapers." http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER... (Please grok.)
Bora Zivkovic liked this
very interesting, suggestive link between decentralization and proliferation of produced news.
- tom matrullo
Feingold: We're headed in the direction of absolutely nothing. http://c.oy.ly/kb8q
A comment on that post says "the people have won!" Guess so, if one can't distinguish corporations from people.
- tom matrullo
Suppose a news site regularly tested its loyal users on what they know (and what they know that isn't true....) Would that be a quality index you can sell to advertisers?
Alberto Saavedra and tom matrullo liked this
@christackett to @jayrosen_nyu would answers or score be shown to user? or more survey-ish? i like idea, but do advertisers prefer smart or gullible readers?
- Jay Rosen
More like a quality index for the reporting on the news site. If your readers aren't comprehending what you're reporting, why it's important, and taking away some knowledge from the hard work you've done, you might be doing it wrong.
- Ryan Sholin
Exactly. See where I am going? The value proposition is reality-based users.
- Jay Rosen
Surely some advertisers target the non-reality based. Surely some will want you to attract a certain percentage of gullible dolts - isn't that what built TV "entertainment"?
- tom matrullo
Absolutely. But my interest is in quality journalism, not serving up gullible enough users to make them trickable by advertisers. So this index would only be of interest to quality advertisers who want their users to know more. But isn't that the kind of advertiser quality journalism should be gunning for? What if we have to align the value propositions in journalism and advertising better in the new system than we ever tried to do--or imagined we could do--in the old? Extend this line of thought to VRM.
- Jay Rosen
"VRM, or Vendor Relationship Management, is the reciprocal of CRM or Customer Relationship Management. It provides customers with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work for both parties." http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/project... Doc Searls has been working on it at Berkman for some time. I think there potential significance in VRM Systems for News.
- Jay Rosen
Suppose readers of a site regularly tested what the writers of a site on what they know (and what they know isn't true). How would the results differ from the inverse test?
- Cliff Gerrish
You lost me on that one. I think you have an ambiguous they somewhere. Have to spell it out more.
- Jay Rosen
Also, part of context here is I am still thinking about my Tweet: If we drag Umair Haque's terms-"thin" vs. "thick" value creation-over to news we get The Politico (thin) vs. McClatchy (thick) http://tr.im/wUnC
- Jay Rosen
As much as it might seem common sense to wish to attract the sort of advertisers that would flatter end users as to their discriminating taste and global outlook, etc., one must be careful, because then you may seem to work at the level of sensibility, connotation, mutual appreciation, etc. Any time you posit a connection, even via sensibility, between news and vendor, you are asking for trouble..
- tom matrullo
This path is fraught with difficulty, absolutely. Those are a few. There are many more.
- Jay Rosen
@jayrosen_nyu -- can we talk about this -- if journalism weren't dysfunctional people would be learning how health insurance really works.
Susan Beebe, Vicki Z Lauter, Paula Camposano-Robinson and 3 other people liked this
I hope you do talk about this - it's a suggestive statement. Key is, what are the hows and whys of the dysfunctionality.
- tom matrullo
I'd like to know what, if anything in Moore's movie Sicko doesn't survive a fact check. As for journalism, it's just become lazy except areas which require effort to be sought. So with Americans' laziness as well, they're being led by the nose into areas of disinformation. (I still can't find a transcript of Bill Clinton's keynote speech at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh last Thursday - what's that about?)
- heretic_twit
@KMBReferee she wasnt ignoring them. she was trying to listen, they keep booing her down. u guys dont want exchange of ideas, u wanna yell
1/4 of all tweets are bots. http://snipurl.com/pob5u Apply the same principle to the rightwingnut behavior - it's money driven.
- tom matrullo
Great post by Rex Hammock on why he's rebooting his follow list. http://www.rexblog.com/2009...
Chris Brogan, Caio Cesar and Peter Renshaw liked this
Let's talk about nothing but twitter....
- tom matrullo
"Reporters base their work on generous people who contribute their knowledge for free -- sources." http://www.scripting.com/stories...
Tim van de Rijdt, J. D. Ebberly, Rob Sellen :o) and Robert Scoble liked this
A longer than twittable comment here: http://snipurl.com/ok9tf
- tom matrullo
Because you failed to fight for the public interest you must now suffer, newspapers http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque... I'm with you, @umairhn. Pretty much.
cguerini, Ken Kennedy, Bora Zivkovic and 3 other people liked this
Excellent point by UH - but needs to be supported by a look at what kind of financial structure would endow journalistic enterprise with the independence from corporate controls - internal as well as external. So long as they're beholden to stockholders or advertisers, the public interest will be relegated to tertiary status.
- tom matrullo
The failure he points to happened. But the social scientist in me is fixed on the fact that the journalists inside it somehow don't feel like they failed us. How does that happen? we ask ourselves. By which we mean: exactly how. Well, the inversion is a work of ideology, their professional ideology does it for them. It is also done at church. The Church of the Savvy, as I call it.
- Jay Rosen
That ideology is precisely why they fail to see that they are in the position of the slave vis a vis the plantation owners - Comcast, Verizon, et al.
- tom matrullo
Which is why I devote such minute and some would say obsessive attention to the Church of the Savvy.
- Jay Rosen
Poweful: "Yet, by failing to protect the public interest, they [newspapers] helped create the conditions for the transfer of value away from people who do stuff, to people who speculate on stuff."
- Ken Kennedy
All programmers have a Socratic obsession with truth. The program doesn't run until you get it true.
Sherry BakerBrio, Mark Essel, umanesimo and 3 other people liked this
Does a program that runs incorrectly still represents truth?
- Amit Morson
This sounds like a performative model - what works - nothing to do with truth.
- tom matrullo
Amit, yes it represents a truth, but not the truth you wanted.
- Dave Winer
A program that does a divide-by-zero is not dealing with the truth. A program that accesses an array element that does not exist, is not truthful. A program that JSR's to a random bit of memory has lost its mind. Completely divorced from reality. A program caught in an infinite loop is never going to solve a problem.
- Dave Winer
I think, like everything else, truth is in the eyes of the beholder. Most programmers code to their version of the truth. When that truth isn't accepted universally by other programmers or users they are not happy.
- Kyle Shank
Given a more complex program, it's often not that easy to ascertain whether it's representing the truth anymore. Even if you take the narrow definition with divide-by-zero and other obvious errors. So I guess we settle for getting it sufficiently true - for subjective values of "sufficiently".
- Udo
Truth is "the universal witness" of what is and what works, so of course programming has to do with truth.
- Gus
Our designs begin internally and are produced by our efforts. The manifestation of our abstract imagination realized in a concrete manifestation is truth. Yes Dave, I heartily agree our code is our truth, but only the code inspired by our own interests and passions.
- Mark Essel
Madhav Tripathi liked this
See: #NPR: Live coverage of GM news conference - you comment and the comment becomes part of the coverage. http://www.npr.org/blogs...
- tom matrullo
An example of the drivel that used to pass for news. Daily papers were filled with crap like this. http://www.chron.com/disp...
Dan Morrill AKA Techwag, Tyson Key and Andrew Terry liked this
Unclear whether "used to" is the right tense.
- tom matrullo
hehehe tom
- Mark Essel
Web sites are still full of crap like that. See virtually the entire output of TechCrunch for examples :)
- Ian Betteridge
I meant it to be ironic, so much of what you hear about papers is about their glory, we should remember it all including the miserable and mundane. Pros were paid to write lots of junk like this
- Dave Winer
don't be too harsh on techcrunch, they have some good writers like MG Seigler, even the tosser Arrogantington pulls out a good post now and then
- Mark
Paul Lafargue: The Right To Be Lazy (Appendix) - http://www.marxists.org/archive...
labor, wages, slavery
- tom matrullo
wiki.dbpedia.org : About - http://wiki.dbpedia.org/About
database for wikis
- tom matrullo
Angels & Demons from the Book to the Movie FAQ – Do the Illuminati Really Exist?, by Massimo Introvigne - http://www.cesnur.org/2005...
"Weishaupt originally claimed that the Illuminati originated with the last King of Persia who was a Zoroastrian by religion, Yadzegerd III (†651 d.C.), although he confused him with Yadzegerd II (†457 d.C., King of Persia from 438 to 457), and built a whole genealogy listing many famous historical characters. When Knigge joined the Order, he asked Weishaupt for evidence of this genealogy. Weishaupt wrote back in January 1781 that the genealogy was an “innocent lie”, in fact needed because not many would have joined a newly established order (see René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande, Paris: Hachette 1914, 227 – the book is the doctoral dissertation of a famous French historian, and a key source for the Illuminati). Rather than being offended, Knigge agreed that a mythical genealogy was indeed needed, and proceeded to build one of his own, where the Illuminati were declared as having originally been founded by Noah, and revived after a period of decline by St John the Evangelist."
- William Harryman
from Bookmarklet
It was not uncommon for distinguished families and cities to trace their lineages back to similar illustrious ancestors. I believe several towns in Italy (and probably elsewhere) point to their origins as the place Noah's ark first encountered land after the flood. Are we any less starved for bullmyth?
- tom matrullo
Like It Or Not, Twitter Is Becoming Infrastructure - http://regulargeek.com/2009...
Daniel Rowley, Mike Fruchter, Suresh R Iyer and 15 other people liked this
so unless something monetizes, it's a "toy"?
- tom matrullo
Tom, not exactly a toy, but if Twitter really got stuck at less than 5 million users, and nobody found a way to monetize anything (including the data), then what is it? "Toy" may be a bit harsh, but if there is no money being made by anyone, it is really just a hobby, right?
- Rob Diana
that's an interesting question Rob - because so much of the claims for twitter seem to be based on it's value for various social goods and uses - It'll be revealing to see whether its fate will finally be determined by the economic component you point to.
- tom matrullo
Wel, if it can't make money, how will it last? People won't just keep throwing large sums of money at it just because...
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Rahsheen, but it is really cool! I mean, even Ashton Kutcher likes it :P
- Rob Diana
dont diss toys. they're fun and people spend good money on them. ferraris for example.
- Kingsley Joseph
Continuing... It's one of the big challenges in J-school: knowing why and then how to make video that isn't TV. It's hard.
many examples of "not tv news" on the Web; did a project 3 semesters ago that was a big *rocketboom* success
- Brad_King
might start with critical analysis of TV news as genre, voice, literary mode
- tom matrullo
my rules: the writing had to be hard news. video could be fun + funny. no more than 7 mins total for 4 stories. un- or bundled.
- Brad_King
listening to "Zapp - http://blip.fm/profile...
reblip Kaleem1966
- tom matrullo
from Blip.fm
listening to "Eminem Underground Ken Kaniff Track 20 Relapse - " - http://blip.fm/profile...
this musical boy
- tom matrullo
from Blip.fm
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