Information

Is it real or is it made for TV?

This entry was posted in bush Information Journalism on by

Stephen Ives made:

‘Reporting America at War’ is a three-hour documentary film that chronicles American journalists who have witnessed and reported news from the battlefield. From San Juan Hill, World War II, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, filmmaker Stephen Ives tells the dramatic stories and challenges of frontline reporting

In this interview when asked about the coverage of Jessica Lynch he said:

What’s significant about Jessica Lynch in terms of the future, is that the Army took their own cameras along the rescue mission. It’s not too big a stretch, I Believe, to imagination an ever increasingly sophisticated Pentagon shooting more and more of their own “news.” If that happens, it will challenge the media to avoid becoming a mouthpiece for propaganda

It is wise to look for independent verification for anything coming from the bush administration. And, I see no reason not to follow this rule for any future administration no matter whether democrat, republican or?
Via Cursor.

Words, Logic and Current Debate

This entry was posted in Information Journalism Language US Politics on by

Some items that may not be in the OED or the Devil’s Dictionary can be found at Ethel the Blog’s Wingnut Debate Dictionary.
An example:

O’Reillyus Interruptus (v): being cut off from making a really good point or argument by a radio or cable TV talk show host. Usually involves being loudly shouted down, having one’s mic cut (if in a studio), or being “potted down” (if calling in to a radio program). Odds of this happening are greatly increased the closer one gets to the truth

Via the Happy Furry Puppy Story.

Some Modern Dinosaurs may be a bit Closer to Extinction

This entry was posted in Capitalism Culture Economics Information Taxation Technology on by

I expect to see a lot more headphones on folks while they are at their computers (or just a wireless signal away) and not just to listen to the latest music downloads.
Check out this article about Skype, the latest hot peer-to-peer application that will be making a lot of encumbent telephone companies (both land and cellular) nervous and will have government officials at all levels wondering why their utility tax revenue stream is shrinking.
This has the potential to be a classic case of creative destruction and I, for one, think it is a good thing!
Via Assymetrical Information.

Information Rights Management

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The supporters of the Patriot Act who argue that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear will love this new bug feature that is part of Microsoft’s Office 2003, Information Rights Management or IRM:

Information Rights Management (IRM) in Microsoft Office 2003 gives organizations and information workers another mechanism to help control their own information. IRM is a persistent file-level protection technology from Microsoft that allows information workers to specify who can access and use documents or e-mail messages, and helps protect that digital intellectual property from unauthorized printing, forwarding or copying.

Mac users may not be so happy:

Because the technology is exclusive to Office 2003, it does mean that not only can protected files not be read in Mac versions of Office, they will also be inaccessile to users of older Windows versions, including Office XP. To solve this Microsoft has released a plug-in for Internet Explorer 6 that utilises a built-in HTML version of the rights managed file, which the authoring application automatically creates.

This will likely be a problem for other folks who have not submitted to microsoft. For instance, do you use open source products like Linux, Firebird, Mozilla or other non MS browsers or email programs. You may soon find yourself unable to read certain emails, web pages or documents that have been created in the Office 2003 environment.
I expect you will be reading a lot more about IRM and its implications.