Mixing, Not Plagiarism

Helene Hegemann, first in line when they gave out the balls (or maybe she mixed in someone else's balls).

from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/europe/12germany.html

"Although Ms. Hegemann has apologized for not being more open about her sources, she has also defended herself as the representative of a different generation, one that freely mixes and matches from the whirring flood of information across new and old media, to create something new. “There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity,” said Ms. Hegemann in a statement released by her publisher after the scandal broke."

I could comment on this, but I'll just mix in something from the web:

"He that readeth good writers and pickes out their flowres for his own nose, is lyke a foole."

No point in identifying the writer. He's long dead. It's the authenticity of the statement that's important.

Here's a picture of Helene that I took.

Well.... I took it from the web. But it accurately portrays the subject.

The Man Who Looked Into Facebook's Soul - Really?

from ReadWriteWeb - The Man Who Looked Into Facebook's Soul (via 9flights):

If what people call Web 2.0 was all about creating new technologies that made it easy for everyday people to publish their thoughts, social connections and activities, then the next stage of innovation online may be services like recommendations, self and group awareness, and other features made possible by software developers building on top of the huge mass of data that Web 2.0 made public. It's a very exciting future, and Warden is about to fire one of the earliest big shots in that direction.

So,

First of all,
Facebook
does
not
have
a soul!!!!

Maybe Cocker Spaniels, Yellow Labs, Golden Retrievers. But not Facebook. Who better than a hacker to help you with group and self awareness! Jeez. Bad enough that Facebook is largely about trying to establish your image by plastering it on someone else's. Self awareness from an algorithm? That kind of thinking worries me.

When Search Engines Rank ( and other ambiguities )

Where are the ontologists when we need them!

Here's what happens when search engines rank by prevalence and popularity because they can't recognize features and prioritize multiple contexts.

I wanted to see a video of people dancing The Frug - never mind why. As some of you know, The Frug was a dance from the sixties. I was sure that I would find a video of people.... well just dancing The Frug.

Here's what Google's video search (which is, oddly, very similar to youtube search) provided for the search term "the frug" (quotes used here only):

1. Rilo Kiley singing "The Frug", a current, pleasant, made for an iPod ad song.

2. Someone unabashedly pretending to be Rilo Kiley. Apparently one of the principles of web 2.0 establishes equal value for doing and copying. . Anyhow, this copy is not so hot.

3. Rilo Kiley again.

4. "Rich Man's Frug", a Bob Fosse number from "Sweet Charity". A stylized interpretation. Nice but no cigar.

5. Rilo Kiley again.

6. And here's where it gets interesting, "Mexico's Drug War".

7. "The Pulse of Drug Development".

8. "Better Know a Lobby. The Drug Lobby".

9. "Meth: The World's Most Dangerous Drug 2 of 3".

I don't know why the avid tech press never mentions stuff like this. Guess they'll wait until Steve Jobs invents crappy search.

I'm sure that I'll eventually find a video of the plain old Frug. But it aint easy - or maybe "how to paint easy" - same difference.

Cutting Edge E Journalism Technology

This technology has been in production at Huffington Post for more than a year. Based on our observations, it appears that the NEWS-ICK (News on Weekends and Sundays Intelligent Content Keyboard) is now being tested at The New York Times.



At Huffington, the device has proven valuable and cost effective at times when aggregation was impossible and in cases for which conventional reporting would have involved some effort, unavailable skills and unnecessary expense.