hi everyone -
some newspapers here in the united states are providing links to blog
entries about news articles adjacent to the news articles themselves.
this offers an incredible opportunity for community activists to bring
their ideas and viewpoints in front of the public in text and rich
media form.
as an experiment today, after reading this washington post article i
created a new blog in blogger.com and titled my blog "better planning
needed." to see the link to this blog, scroll down about half way thru
the article -- in the center of the web page.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401813.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/8wauu
then i added a single blog entry commenting on this article, with a link
to the article. i used my knowledge of html to create this link. for
those who might not know, all text links on the internet have the syntax:
<a href = "http://www.siteyourelinkingto.com";>text you're linking
from</a>
reading this aloud, you would say: "open chevron anchor hypertext
reference equals quote http colon slash slash www.siteyourelink.com
closed quote close chevron text you're linking from end anchor.
next i went to technorati.com and submitted this blog for technorati
to index.
about 45 minutes after i submitted the blog to technorati, the blog
showed up on the washington post web site adjacent to this article.
my blogging knowledge just put my ideas in front of a large number
of eyeballs reading this article on the front page of the washington
post.
you'll note that my choice of title for this blog has a large bearing
on whether people reading the article will choose to click on that
blog link. i was also careful to choose a visually pleasing
background color for my blog. blogger.com provides some very
displeasing background colors, including black. you almost never want
to choose black as a background color for your blog.
so if you know a reporter is going to be writing an article
covering an aspect of the community you're interested in, here is a
chance for you to give your own entirely unmediated spin about this
topic. new articles generally get posted onto newspaper web sites
around midnight or 1 pm. if you prepare your commentary ahead of
time, you can create a blog, copy and paste your commentary online,
submit it to technorati, and still get a good night's sleep.
early the next morning your comments will be plainly visible to
anyone reading the article online whose curiosity is piqued by
your blog title. it's fine for your blog to have just one blog
posting -- created for this single purpose.
several million people read newspaper articles online -- and that
number is continually increasing.
naturally, you can include links to rich media within your blog
commentary, including links to video you previously uploaded to
the internet archive. (http://www.archive.org), which provides
free web hosting, or flash slideshow files created with the free
version of powerbullet presenter (for windows.)
http://www.powerbullet.com
you can say whatever you want in those videos or rich media
presentations. while newspapers are highly mediated, the internet
is entirely unmediated. (see http://unmediated.org for the best
news about web and software tools decentralizing the media. also
check out and contribute to http://del.icio.us/tag/unmediated)
knowledge is power. we must seize this opportunity to bring new
ideas to people's minds -- ideas that awaken them to
possibilities, that smash stereotype myths, that infect their
minds with hope and artistic sensibilities to the new
participatory culture about to unfold.
we must tell them the things they need to hear. we must do that
relentlessly in as many ways as possible, not as diatribe, but as
the unshakable voice of reason. as the community voice rising up
to be heard.
blog on,
- phil
--
Phil Shapiro [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/ (personal)
http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/pshapiro (blog)
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/pshapiro (technology access work)
http://mytvstation.blogspot.com/ (video and rich media)
"Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others." - Desiderata
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