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  A summary... of far more feeds than any human being should consume in a day.   Here's what you might like to know about for tomorrow:
  
  According to the folks at Daily Kos: CNN is incapable of getting its story straight about Geithner.  It looks like Politico has decided to spin this one too.
  
  Windows Live will apparently be showing Facebook updates soon — according to TechCrunch
  
  And in a loosely related manner Google will be giving you the chance to undo that angry email you just sent to your boss without thinking.
  
  Also, over at ZenHabits.net they have an article on making decisions better.  Great reading for those of you interested in focusing a little more and getting more done.

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Learning digitally Lifehacker has an excellent post on the Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education.

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Become A Citizen Journalist (Or, You Know, Just Enjoy Social Media) OK, you've read the latest post about how new media is changing the world, the news papers are dying, and soon everyone will in some small way be contributing to a global news infrastructure. Well, here's the truth of the matter; probably not everyone will be involved in sharing news all the time. Being involved in social media whether its just you taking photos for your friends to see or taking video of the occurring natural disaster is, at its heart, just a situation of location and having the right equipment on hand to effectively communicate with the world.
  
  Let's face it — we don't all dream of constantly sharing news but a lot of us take photos or video and wish we could send that to our friends right now. However, many of us also do wish that we just happened to have the right stuff on hand to capture that video of the rude policeman, the extremely helpful service technician, or the fireman saving a cat from a tree. These are the little moments in life that, at one point, went without notice and often times never made it beyond your friends or the local newspaper at best. Well, technology is enabling you to share your stories in ways that you haven't been able to up until now. So, let's go through what you might want to consider adding to your social media "toolkit" so that you can broadcast those events.
  

  Image via Wikipedia

  
  First, let's talk about what you need in terms of hardware. Your first "need" these days is a good mobile phone. Today many mobile phones take video, audio, and can capture images. These are absolutely fine, but for ease of use and power you can't beat a smart phone. The iPhone probably will serve you the best in this regard (even though it can't capture video) because of it's applications, which can connect you to a lot of services. Your main criteria for a good phone should be: video (if you don't have other devices to do this), camera functionality, internet accessibility, and ease of use. Also, don't forget to buy a decent plan if you intend to be sending data back and forth. If you're going to use it heavily don't hesitate to get an " unlimited everything" plan which most carriers offer for about $100/mo So, let's say it again: the most important device in your social media toolkit is your phone — so don't be cheap.
  
  
  The following pieces of hardware you might want to consider are what you might call optional. They are really only a necessity if you want to perfect your craft or just produce higher quality media. The next piece of hardware you'll want to consider after a phone is a good digital camera. The Canon SD1000 hits a very nice price point and delivers great quality out of a point & shoot camera. Although your needs and wants will differ on a camera you should consider something that can collect video as well as great quality photos.
  
  As you specialize more the next piece of hardware you're going to want to look into is a video camera. Obviously most video cameras aren't exactly the pinnacle of portability so that adds in other factors you may to consider. If having an always available stand alone video camera is a big deal to you you probably can't go wrong with something out of the Flip Video family of cameras. The Flip Mino HD looks to hit a good price point while providing reasonable quality for the price. However, if portability is less of an issue and power is more of a concern, consider a small HDD camera that isn't too much of a hassle and will deliver superb video. Amazon should have a lot of great info about these cameras and what people are recommending.
  
  Recap: Optional devices help you specialize your media a little more, bringing excellent quality and portability to the table. That means you'll be delivering a higher quality experience to your friends or the people who happen to get the news you capture.
  
  
  The next category of technology you'll want to include in your toolkit is software. Software makes the world go round, and using the right services can help you to share your data and get great feedback. So, let's discuss each major piece in detail. First, the essentials:
  
  Twitter is a status or microblogging service that enables you to quickly share the text equivalent of a soundbite — 140 characters. This is a great way to let people know what's going on, what you're thinking, or even to send people links to a photo you've just taken on your mobile phone using twitpic. If you have many followers on Twitter you can also send out links to your latest news articles, etc. to help share them with your friends. Twitter is an essential simply because of how quickly you can share information from your cell phone (which you made sure to get, right?).
  
  It doesn't matter what blogging service you use but you will want a blog. If you can write, add photos and video, and get comments you have a functional blog. Everything else is just gravy. Some excellent blogging services include: Blogger, Wordpress, and TypePad. Out of those three it's really all about flavor, you can't go wrong with any of them. Blogs are essential so that you can be easily located and that you can write detailed articles for your friends and readers; consider your blog to be headquarters for you as a citizen journalist.
  
  The following services are all optional; they make your life a little more easy, but they're really not at the core of the experience. Here's the list:
  
  
  

  • Flickr - Upload photos and short video to flickr so that it's VERY easy for you to share. A full account costs about $20/year [Link]
  • YouTube or Vimeo - Having a place to upload video means that you can easily spread and share important moments. Any video uploading service will work, but these are two of the highest quality. Vimeo costs about $60/year but provides you with more control than YouTube. [ Links: Vimeo YouTube]
  • Tumblr - Kind of an aggregator of all of your content. It's a nonessential but it helps to consolidate all of your content into an easy to follow location. It's free to use and easy to set up. This one can't hurt you. [Link]

  
  Finally, don't be intimidated by all of the options available to you as a social media generator. Remember that the point of this toolkit is to be prepared for those little moments that you might want to share — whether you're sharing them with an audience or with your friends. The media you generate is news to someone, and you should never pass up the opportunity to share a worthwhile moment with the world (although if it's illegal to share photo or video, you shouldn't). It's highly probable that you're already armed with the absolute essentials you need to get started and that you're already, in some ways, generating media today. This toolkit is all about expanding on that, and having fun with it. Welcome to the new world of media.
  
  Writer's note: This article doesn't include software or hardware that you would use to deliberately record and broadcast yourself. I realize this, and I'll write an article on producing your own podcasts and videos soon. This article in particular is just covering the tools you would use to record and post impromptu events — which are often the most valuable.
  
  [Cheat Sheet Below]
  
  

  Hardware to have:

  
  

  • Mobile Phone (preferably a smart phone like the iPhone)
  • (Optional) Digital Camera (w/ video recording)
  • (Optional) Video Camera (Focus on portability and how quickly you can get it running so that you can use it)

  Software to use or accounts to have:

  • Twitter
  • A blog (wordpress, blogger, or typepad)
  • (Optional) Flickr
  • (Optional) YouTube or Vimeo (or any other video sharing service)
  • (Optional) Tumblr

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Nyeri, Kenya: A Real Opportunity

      Occasionally a great opportunity crosses our individual paths, presenting us with the possibility of unique experiences, learning, and sharing with others.  Recently, such an opportunity has been presented to me; in January of 2010 a small group of people from Davis & Elkins college — the institution I attend — will be headed to Nyeri, Kenya (Wikipedia link) for what the professor leading the trip calls “a friendship mission.”  This represents such a rare opportunity that I feel compelled to take part. 
  
  Nyeri is a city in the higher mountainous regions of Kenya.  Relative to its neighbors the city is modern and clean; but that doesn’t mean that life there is necessarily easy for its citizens compared to ours in the western world.  Nyeri has a very diverse culture with a mix of western and Christian influences as well as traditional African cultures.  According to the those who have made similar trips to the area the people there are friendly, have a great desire to share knowledge and culture with us, and quite enjoy our presence there. Sounds like a wonderful place, doesn’t it?
  
  The trip is largely ambassadorial in nature. We will visit, share experiences, and take in the culture.  That includes doing things like reading to the young children there, participating in their church services, and sharing knowledge and (probably) equipment with them.  I also see this as a great opportunity to include the world in the experience using techniques and technology afforded to me as a citizen journalist.  It would be irresponsible of me not to use every media avenue afforded to me to bring back not just photos, but video, written essays, and audio interviews and discussions.  If the goal of this trip is to learn from one another, then using the concept of citizen journalism to spread the knowledge and experiences of these people is not just a fascinating experiment in social media, but a responsibility under the mission of the trip.
  
  
  For myself though, this trip offers opportunities that I as an American in rural West Virginia have not been fortunate enough to have until this point.  This trip presents me the opportunity to do what so few Americans get to do such as learning from people I might never have met, and being given the opportunity to make a lasting impression on the world and do some good in this world in a visible way — all with the hope that the trip will leave a lasting impression on me as a person. 
  
  However, this opportunity is far from guaranteed to me.  There are costs associated with this trip: plane tickets, inoculations, living expenses, passport costs, etc.  that — precisely because I am a young student living in rural West Virginia — I am unable to afford on my own.  The professor responsible for organizing the trip and myself sat down and come up with what we feel is a fairly accurate estimate for the costs: $4500, roughly — assuming there are no major changes in travel costs. 
  
  I have been granted great opportunities, like the option to attend college, because of the generosity of those who have offered scholarships to students in my situation.  My experience at Davis & Elkins college has been a life altering one, and I hope that — with your generosity — I may be able to have another such experience.  In return for your contribution of $20 or more of the trip I’ll send you either a DVD in the mail or a media folder filled with the content I produce while in Africa — your choice.  All of the content will be hosted online in locations such as YouTube, Flickr, and this blog, as well. Of course, anyone who helps me reach my goal will have my sincere gratitude and an email with the locations of all the content online, as well as being publicly credited for sponsoring my trip.
  
  Finally, if I do not reach the level of sponsorship I need to be able to make it on this trip all funds will be returned to the original donors.  If there are excess funds available I would like to use that money to purchase equipment or goods for the children we will be visiting. 
  
  Thank you so much for taking the time to read and consider this.  The fact that you’ve read this far says a lot about you, because there are other things you could have been doing.  If you’ve chosen to help sponsor this trip, you have my gratitude and I would like to be in touch with you shortly if you would be willing to provide me an email address that I can reach you at. 
  
  Below is my paypal address: which is one of the most convenient and safe ways to transfer funds.  My only request, for the sake of organization, is that if you donate money that you include your preference of “DVD” or “No DVD” in the subject portion of the form on paypal’s website. I would also love to have enough info to publicly thank you so if you would include something like "Carol from Tenn." in the email that would be very helpful. Or you can use that space to let me know you'd rather be anonymous.   Again, thank you so much.
  
  
  If you'd like to contribute via an alternative method, email me at adamposey@gmail.com
  
  I will post weekly updates about the progress we're making towards the trip, including: total amount raised, thank you's, and general updates about how things are looking for the trip.
  
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  If I Ran The [New York Times] Replace the name of the newspaper in the brackets with whichever one you would like.  The end result should be the same.  This is a little creative exercise.
  
  If I ran the [New York Times] I would...
  
  

  • I would realize that having all my content in one place is bad business in the distributed web.  I would forge partnerships to have the content delivered to as many places as possible, asking for a cut of the revenues in return.  I would take the content to the user, not expect the user to come to the content. 

  
  

  • I would slim down my front page to three columns: Breaking News, Important Stories, and Popular stories.  Every category would have a similar page.  

  
  

  • I would try to forge relationships with international journalists, rather than paying to send my employees all over the world constantly.

  
  

  • I would create a system that would be rewarding for the people who enjoy sharing and discussing news, so that they help spread what's important.

  
  

  • I would recognize that there is no longer a silver bullet.  No one method reaches everyone, you have to be everywhere and the only way to be everywhere is to make it very easy to be talked about. 

  
  

  • I would recognize that advertising needs to change.  It needs to be interesting, engaging, and useful.  If my users feel like they are being screamed at by ad agencies every time they refresh a page on my site, I will pay for it in ill will. 

  
  

  • I would take down any remaining pay barriers.  Content is now free for readers, as it should be.

  
  

  • I would earn some revenue by giving bloggers, etc. access to our correspondents in other countries for a fee.  In this way Bloggers can also be part of the news making, rather than just commentary. 

  
  

  • I would work to build a network of up-and-coming freelance reporters to engage in a downward bidding cycle for stories.  

  
  

  • I would do everything I could to encourage young minds to not just read the news, but consider it.  I would deliver a different version of the news that could be given to young children.  Lots of pictures, etc.  There is no reason that news content cannot scale with age as well. 

  
  

  • I would start sponsoring bloggers by delivering their content to our readers.  This would be a way to create a useful discussion around major events and articles, and hopefully expose more sides of a story.

  
  

  • I would dedicate entire sections of the site towards movements and ideas.  There is a place in the news for political activism, and it should be incubated. 

  
  

  • I would make sure that people could count on us to help them be informed. 

  
  

  • I would help to make the news more democratic.  I would involve our readers more. 

  
  

  • I would create a series of bookmarklets that would allow a person to quickly glance at the latest news without needing to stop what they were doing. 

  
  

  • I would link people together around topics and encourage a debate.  This would help to bring in new viewpoints for us to consider in future writing, as well as helping to create useful discourse. 

  
  

  • I would try create a news recommendation system by offering simple ratings options for every story.  This would allow us to tailor content and advertising with accuracy.  

  
  

  • I would create a new category of advertisement not unlike the idea behind pay-per-post.  Web space is unlimited and I don't think a well written article from a corporation is in bad taste.  

  
  It'd be easy to go on, but I think you have the idea.  What would you do if you ran the [New York Times]?  Think on it. 

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Health Care Reform: Please "Set It and Forget It" Health care reform is such an interesting issue, and so politically divisive. I am wary to post a strong opinion one way or the other about it, because that may inevitably lead to an argument. Both sides of this argument are absolutely correct in their core stances. For instance, the left believes Health Care should be available to all, and at a reasonable, price, etc. While the right does not oppose this, they are scared to death of government doing anything other than military matters. This is a case where I find the middle ground to be the truth: The leftists are correct, in my opinion, but the Right is right because, well, they exist. Our political right-wing is why a government health insurance plan should not exist—to keep them away from it.
  
  Let me just issue a couple disclaimers here. I'm a Democrat. I consider myself to be slightly left of the center of American politics in most matters, and I have no opposition to the idea of a leftist government running and operating a health care plan. I am, however, concerned about our government running and operating a health care option, or even having the ability to manipulate it once it's created.
  
  I philosophically agree with the public plan. Health care is an essential part of living in any developed nation. It's one of the things that increases the quality of life for everyone, enabling everyone to give their all and live happily. In an ideal government, a government with unchanging morals but forever changing tactics, we could trust that a public plan would be top-notch along with a bustling medical industry running right beside it. If the spirit of this health care reform could thrive eternally, I would support a public plan.
  
  With that said, however, our government is anything but consistent. That is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength in that, during extraordinary times, we will be capable of responding rapidly in theory, and always adjusting what our nation is. But at the same time, our nation's politics are fairly consistent and reliable. The left, in general, enjoy the government—and the right hate it. Sometimes we see a convergence on certain issues, sometimes the parties start switching roles, but always there is a group for larger, more effective, government and always a group who seek to minimize the role of government.
  
  It is because of that eternal consistency in our politics that I am very wary of a public insurance plan. During the last 30 years (what I will call the Reagan Era) the very people who openly professed to hate our government have been in control of it. They have been extremely effective at dismantling, disabling, deviating, or otherwise rendering impotent, our social institutions. If it was a progressive tax system that favored the middle, it was changed. If it was an organization that could not be easily removed, it became fodder for political appointees with little to no experience (Heckuva job, Brownie!), or they sought to change it (privatization of Social Security, anyone?). Over the last 30 years of Republican rule (largely uninterrupted) many of our government's institutions have been broken because the party favored private industry and small government (even the military was not spared the private industry treatment). They, and the parties that will come after them, are the source of my fear of government health insurance.
  
  Yes, I'm afraid of heavy handed government intervention in a public insurance plan. I'm afraid of it because the current minority party has never been shy about taking social programs and demolishing them. The tide that brought the Democratic party into power will eventually leave, even if it is 30 years from now, and another party will take the helm for a time. The health care plan being proposed is too important to be subjected to the political whims of a party that often can ride into office on a single issue (Like happened directly after Sept. 11th) that has nothing to do with these institutions. The neo-conservative Republicans like Bush were given authority politically because they were the party of military action and might—not because we didn't like our social institutions, or because we agreed with their economics.
  
  So, when they say: "Americans don't want government messing with their lives," I have to agree: We don't want a government ruled by people who hate government messing with social institutions that help us live our lives. We don't want important social agencies controlled by people who desire to shred them. We don't want medicare prescription plans adjusted so that not every medicine can be covered, leaving the patient to pay out of pocket for some. We don't want millions left homeless, in desperate conditions, while Brown's doing "a heckuva job." And we don't want Social Security thrown to the dogs in the stock market, just so the friends of the Republican party can get a little more rich.
  
  It is because of historical precedent, and the guaranteed change of the political tide, that I cannot easily support a full blown public insurance option run by the government, and why you should strongly reconsider it if you do. The staff that run this government right now will not always be there. The staff that run it in the future will be varying degrees of knowledgeable, or worthy. And I don't even want to think about the future "changes" that could be made by a small-government party in the future. We cannot build a lasting institution off of a political institution that is about as consistent as a sand dune in a windstorm prone area.
  
  A few months ago, I privately told my friends that I didn't see any reason health care couldn't be operated like a credit union: for the benefit of everyone who participated in it. I'm glad to see that co-op (roughly analogous) is not just on the table, but has been worthy of several mentions in the New York Times. I'm glad that Republicans support the idea for all the wrong reasons, and that Democrats think the idea is workable. If we do get a public insurance option though, the bill creating it must be armed with teeth, tricks, and traps to prevent tampering in the future by people riding in on a political movement. No matter what though, it is my hope (and it should be yours too) that our government creates an effective program for all americans, capable of managing and funding itself, and then forgets about it; lest future generations have their health care service altered in disgusting ways to push money back to private industry.
  
  As Ron Popeil might say to the government right now: "Set it and forget it!"
  
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Focus

  Thanks to technology and the internet there has been an explosion of data like nothing this planet has ever seen before.  Likewise, there has been an explosion in distractions, things to complicate our lives.  Many applications that claim to make you more productive deliver notifications to steal your focus, compelling you to respond or to put what you’re doing down in order to deal with the issue at hand.  In fact, these things do not just derail us in the moment, they steal our long term focus.  How many times have you responded to an instant message or a Facebook notification only to find hours of your day gone?  We must enact a plan for ourselves to regain our focus, motivation, and determination in an era of constant distraction.
  
  I think it goes without saying that you would like to focus more, get more done, and feel better at the end of the day.  You want to focus on the big stuff because that’s where your life is headed.  If you don’t keep your mind focused on your goals you’re likely to wind up somewhere in your life that you didn’t plan on being at or want to be at.  I bet you have grand ambitions for yourself, and that those ambitions don’t involve being distracted by the notifications on your desktop.
  
  Many tools have been created to help us eliminate distractions in our lives, or to handle ourselves more effectively.  Great techniques have been produced to the same ends.  Although, as my friend John (an incredibly productive MIT student by my measure) would say: “tools and techniques are not a replacement for willpower and motivation.”  I would say that — after my own missteps and false leads — he’s correct in that basic theory.  We cannot simply live our lives from one notification or to-do item to the next and proclaim that to be focusing on our goals.  Instead we should use our innate talents, common sense, and a desire to excel to help us produce focus. 
  
  I won’t try to cram all of the great ideas I’ve been given, or had the good fortune to come up with, in one post (I know if you’re reading this you’re no doubt struggling for time!) and so today I’ll talk about a few things you can do immediately to get yourself focused, motivated, and on the right track.  These are all things that you can start doing the instant you leave this page, and I’ll put some links at the end of the post that can explain some things further or give you an idea of where to get started. 
  
  The first activity you can do is to exercise.  That’s right — exercise.  Consider this kind of warm up to get you going in your day.  Exercise releases endorphins that help focus you, gets you into better shape, and will lighten your mood.  Likewise, think of exercise as a parallel task for you to undergo as you learn to focus more in your daily life.  There is a reason that exercise is recommended for children with ADHD. For many of us exercise is not a common task and so building it into our routine requires motivation, focus, and drive.   There is an excellent post on ZenHabits (link below) that can assist you in getting started (I’ve used it as a blueprint since I am unable to pay for a gym membership right now)
  
  The next, and my personal favorite, is to meditate.  Meditation for you might conjure up images of Buddhist monks and ancient warriors, but I assure you it is an activity that will change your life if performed with some regularity.  Meditation is even being looked at as a means of therapy for people with attention problems.  People who meditate regularly are more capable of bringing themselves back to task quickly than people who do not meditate.  I can personally attest to that phenomena.   To get started you might start with guided meditation and then move onto just meditating without the voiceovers.  I’ve done some preliminary googling for you on guides for getting started, although if you need any more help past that shoot me an email and we’ll scour the web until we find what you need.
  
  The last activity is to visualize your life.  It becomes much easier to do well if you see yourself doing well.  It’s easier for me to clean a room if I have an idea of what I want that room to look like when I’m finished.  Likewise, you should take great care to consider the desired outcome of any action and always insure that these outcomes are in line with what it is you desire to do in the longer run. That is to say: do not move the trash bag to the other side of the room if that will complete the immediate goal of moving the trash bag but hinder the larger goal of cleaning the room.  You should always be able to visualize progress.  This piece of advice is perhaps the most abstract, philosophical, and yet useful of all the suggestions I have offered you today.
  
  So, take what you will away from this post.  There are no concrete road maps because the techniques have to be adjusted to us all as individuals.  However, as a broad outline, there’s some good info here that might just help you get started.  If you have any other tips please leave them in the comments. Enjoy!
  
  Links:
  
  ZenHabits: How To Get Bruce Lee Strength Without Ever Going To A Gym
  
  ADHD Treatment and Exercise
  
  Google Results for: Getting Started on Meditation
  
  Study: Zen Meditation Really Does Clear the Mind
  
  
  

  

  Technorati Tags: motivation, discipline, adhd, ADD, attention, focus, determination,

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
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  Something is missing. I wasn't alive during the time when flyers littered the streets proclaiming that if I didn't perform a certain service such as volunteering, carpooling, or growing a garden that I was not doing my duty as an American. I feel fortunate not to have been subjected to that kind of pressure on one hand, but on the other hand I have to wonder why similar tactics are not being employed today. It seems to me that this is the perfect time to market behavior changes to Americans.
  
  Where's the full page ad in the newspapers and on websites proclaiming that we should turn off our lights when we leave the house, or that we should be taking part in the buy local food phenomena? Isn't this the perfect time to be encouraging people to carpool and conserve gas or even to upgrade to new technologies such as hybrid electric vehicles?
  
  One might consider these kinds of propaganda techniques to be less than savory in our highly informed, critical, and cynical society. But I think that the people that elected President Obama on such catch phrases as: "Change We Can Believe In", and "Yes We Can" are not only willing to listen to highly publicized calls for certain behaviors but probably even want them.
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
• 

  Creating a Surveillance State: Citizen Journalism is On Our Side [About 5 Minutes to read]

  Image via Wikipedia

  Welcome to 2009 — It's been a rough year for newspapers already and it's barely started. There is a need for the news like never before, and yet here we are killing off our newspapers. Why? We can speculate endlessly about the root causes of the death of print-news as we know it but to what end? It is high time that we as a society realized that with the democratization of data we have an increased responsibility to spread data and news. It is not just our duty, it is our right. It should also be our pleasure to do so as it has its benefits.
  
  First let's look at the state of the newspaper. So far this year many have either gone under (Like the Rocky Mountain Post) or transitioned to an online only form (like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Advertising revenues for newspapers have been widely reported as down, thanks to the recession, and people simply don't seem to be buying up print the way they were a decade ago. It seems that the print media are, not necessarily through any fault of their own, a sad casualty of a society wide change. Which would be not be so bad if their brethren in the media industry didn't insist on causing their own problems.
  
  See, in the two other major forms of media which are television and radio the stations have adapted to what's widely known as infotainment today. Which is to say that they will give you one part news and one part commentary to keep you interested. Each station will appeal to its own niche and the whole thing becomes kind of recursive. That means that you can truly never trust these stations to deliver news to you in the purest form possible for a station. Therefor you can never really trust them. Millions of people are being mislead by these stations. The whole situation the news industry finds itself in, the choice between being either unprofitable, dead, or just another form of entertainment, is pathetic and there is no dignity or integrity in it.
  
  Fortunately, a new age of news is upon us. We're just a few entrepreneurial steps away from having a beautiful and thriving news industry filled with more information than we know what to do with. Much of it from people who are willing to provide it for free. The digitization of data has enabled everything to be everywhere in virtually real time. That's a game changer for the entire world, and as you'll see this new media doesn't just have the potential to be insanely profitable (although probably not in the same ways we think it might be) it has the potential to change the way power structure works around the globe. We'll call this citizen journalism.
  
  The first, and perhaps the most powerful initial byproduct of citizen journalism is that it empowers people. Let's think back to the idea of the surveillance state — 1984, if you will. Cameras will be everywhere, watching our every move. Enslaving us. Well, ladies and gentleman welcome to 1984. The view is quite different than the one we anticipated. Today, there are cameras everywhere. But they're not necessarily turned on us as citizens. Instead of a surveillance state what we have today is surveillance OF the state. Imagine for a second that you've dealt with an abusive policeman, today that policeman doesn't know if he is or isn't surrounded by cameras. We've seen cops suspended for being downright rude when in uniform, because they got caught by a cellphone's video camera. This new technology brings us to a surveillance state, but not in the way that anyone ever thought it would have. We are the ones holding the cameras.
  
  The next already visible byproduct of this change in data is that news is instant, instantly available, and everywhere. If someone has a cell phone camera images and maybe even video of an accident or other incident will be available SOMEWHERE instantly, possibly live streaming. Between all the microblogging tools, availability of email from one's phone, etc. "breaking" reports can be sent anywhere, from anywhere, at any time. News will now be constant and instant. Believe it.
  
  For all of its benefits though, we're still not at the point where "citizen media correspondent" is an actual job title and so we still have a ways to go. There are quite a few areas where we need to do a lot of thinking, like: How do we fund this? Should it be volunteer? Non-Profit? How do we find each other? Is there going to be a public registry of citizen journalists available? Where will news appear? How will we know where to send it? Where will people receive it? Should we be teaching this in schools now?
  
  The truth is that citizen journalism will probably rely much on the infrastructure that traditional journalism has created. The idea of nodes of information being available that people can subscribe to, etc. or a single mega-feed that people can get. We'll have to work harder on filtering technology so we can deliver the best, most relevant, news to the people who need to see it. There are a lot of logistics of citizen journalism remaining that need to be figured out. But make no mistake, citizen journalism is in some ways already here. Times are changing, and I couldn't be more happy with it.
  
  
  
  
  
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  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
• 

  Change the Healthcare Debate: Ask More Questions

  The current debate about healthcare for all Americans has proven to be extremely polarizing.  People often see the choice as either government run or completely free market capitalist.  I don’t believe this is the case, and I bet that when you step back and think about it neither do you.  There’s probably no greater hypocrite in this debate than myself, either.  I received tens of thousands of dollars worth of surgery to fix my partially formed cleft palate from medicaid.  Yet despite my history with the system provided by medicaid I still wonder to what extent the government should be entitled to be involved in the healthcare industry.   My thinking on this has brought me to this conclusion: we offer too many solutions to the healthcare problem without doing enough listening.  We’re all too quick to take sides based on our current situation.  With that said, let’s ask ourselves some more questions that will hopefully get us thinking about this debate a little differently.
  
  The biggest question for me is: can our government be trusted to be stable as an insurer?  A quick look at the history of federal funding for stem cell research should tell you that the more reliant our medical industry is on the government the more subject it becomes to the political whims of those who lead the government. You’d be in a real pickle if stem cell based treatments were considered distasteful by the president when you needed them. This conclusion leads me to believe that consistent legislation designed to protect Americans against price gouging in health care as well as encouraging innovation in the industry is the best third option.  For similar reasons I believe that a completely free system would probably have other unintended consequences — many of which we’re seeing today.
  
  So, with a renewed commitment to examine the problem let’s take a moment to reexamine why the costs are so high.  The way I see this is as a crime of intermediaries; there are three major factors (as I see it) in your healthcare: drug companies, insurance companies, and your doctor.  So let’s just start asking questions about your doctor.  How much did it cost him to get where he is?  Also, we have a stereotypical image of the rich doctor playing golf, but is that kind of incentive bringing us better doctors?  What happens if we take that away by demanding lower costs in the actual service?  Likewise, when speaking about drug companies, we have to ask ourselves some more questions: How much does R&D actually cost? Are they greedy when they demand thousands of dollars for a bottle of medicine or are they simply trying to recoup costs?  After all, don’t many of those companies sell or free their drugs from patents in developing nations?  As for insurance agencies, I think we have all seen the studies on the inefficiencies in how they operate.  We should still ask ourselves how much providing insurance costs these companies or if they have built up a system that spends more on red tape than actual insurance.
  
  I’m not going to pretend to have the genie in a bottle that will solve this entire situation, but let’s go into some more questions we need to ask ourselves about potential solutions.  After all, I think we’ve all spent a little too much time offering opinions and not enough time asking ourselves tough questions.  Let’s start with some ideas for lowering the cost of the medical services (doctors, nurses, etc.).
  
  We know that medical schools are not cheap (I wouldn’t want the doctor who had his license after an undergraduate degree only).  With this in mind how can we reduce the costs?  What if the government subsidized the doctors’ education on the order of 50 to 60% of cost provided they stayed below a certain price ceiling when providing care?  Would subsidizing education be less expensive than a massive governmental insurance infrastructure trying to absorb these high costs?  If we did that would the already ineffective downward pressures on tuition costs for medical schools be removed, causing prices to skyrocket?  Would a computerized healthcare database (presumably government run and protected) be a way to help lower costs at the point of service?  Would an office promoting a “subscription plan” (i.e. regular visits, diet discussions, preventative care) be able to bring down costs while presenting family practices and hospitals with relatively steady income even from those who aren’t sick?  These are all some ideas, I’m sure you have some as well and it would be a great contribution to the post if you would leave them in the comments.
  
  On R&D (research and development) for medicines and treatments: we know this stuff is expensive.  It takes millions of dollars and years of trial and error to produce a new drug, right?  Those costs have to be recouped. We already pay too much money for these drugs as it is.  So my questions are more about how to exert downward forces on these costs.  Can we, perhaps, award public recognition; “jump the line” priority FDA review; or other incentives to R&D companies that manage to bring in drugs under a certain cost?  Wouldn’t they be itching to get their drug on the road immediately to recoup costs more quickly?  Could we offer a “softpatent” protection to medicines and treatments in particular that would go beyond the 7 years, require competitors pay a low cost (ceiling set by legislation) to the patent holder, so that the drug company stands to profit even if they set the drug somewhat free?  I’m sure you have some input and questions of your own so please contribute to the debate in the comments.
  
  Lastly, we have insurance companies.  These guys are in a bad way.  My questions are a little more overarching for these companies.  If administrative costs are so high that they’re spending more on them than actual insurance, then wouldn’t a more simple plan structure be optimal to reduce that cost?  If you had a choice of maybe just one very broad plan that would not recognize any condition as preexisting (their lawyers spend too much debating over this, it’s expensive, right?) and would treat everything the bureaucratic process would become much cheaper right?  It would just be an issue of making sure claims were legitimate, wouldn’t it?  If that’s too simple, what about a single plan with a progressive cost structure?  What I mean is that the man making $200/hour is ironically probably paying less for health insurance (both in sheer cost and as a percentage of income) than the worker making $12/hour, and getting a better plan.  It seems to me that perhaps if it could be worked out so insurance companies are income aware the price would drop for those who need it to.  My last question: should insurance companies even be for-profit?
  
  
  I feel like, by this point, you’ve probably noticed the debate isn’t as simple as we’ve made it.  While healthcare for all is a moral imperative, we’ve allowed ourselves to be gridlocked on ideological grounds.  I don’t think we can honestly say that the government has no role in providing a solid healthcare industry; nor can we say that government should simply absorb the cost without any thoughts on how that might look in a government that shifts ideologically as quickly as ours does.   When we have this debate in the future I hope that we will be willing to recognize the points of the other side all while keeping the moral of the joke about the economist and the $10 bill on the sidewalk in mind.  If the solution were simple, or easy, it would have been done by now.
  
  

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  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent
• 

  You Simply Have to Read These 4/19/2009

  This is the first installment of "You Simply Have to Read These" which is how I'm going to bring you news, articles, and opinion from other sources so that you can easily pass them along to your friends. 
  
  Shai Agassi thinks he's solve the electric car problem. I'm not entirely certain I agree with the method, but he seems to have a really well thought out plan.  Take a look.
  
  The GOP is being urged by a lot of people to drop the gay marriage debate.  Including the strategist for the McCain campaign.  Meanwhile Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com has a break down on the popularity of the gay marriage movement.  You can't argue with this guy's stats.
  
  NATO rescued 20 people from pirates — and then had to let the pirates go. 
  
  Unfortunately Iran wasn't being as friendly when sentencing a journalist to eight years in prison.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You simply have to see this.. huge meme on the web right now.
  
  Also, looks like relations with Cuba will be improving little by little now.
  
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  11 months on
  ReservedCurrent