Spalpeen

Clay, what really tipped you over the edge? Was it the eight trillionth biased, irrelevant, spammed, or purchased link on the homepage of Digg.com that made you lose faith? Or was it the fact that every politician who has successfully utilised the internet, has cynically used it to raise money for their existing political platforms? Perhaps the continuing utter insignificance of Creative Commons in relation to greater society, and the prevalence (and success) of DRM?

Technology is not innately “good.”

People split the atom, they use it to build bombs that can millions, and to provide power for millions.

People make a site that can allow anyone to vote for stories, they use it to help other people discover “10 Famous People Saved By The Heimlich“, as well as the latest obscure political development.

Crowds are not wise. They are mobs.

Clay now thinks of the internet as “just another implementation layer for special interest groups” - this didn’t have to be the case! But that’s what happens when people just invent a piece of technology and give it to millions with no guidance. There will always be a need for editorial control.

Frankly, the kind of wide eyed optimism that many people have about the internet is really unhelpful. Theories aren’t enough. Just putting it out there isn’t enough. It’ll take a lot of hard work to make the internet even a shade of the amazing place that people like Clay like to imagine. People want money and power, and the internet is just another tool to get it.

I sent this pitch into 4iP the other month, which was rejected for the following reasons: “This idea is great, but it would more likely be a print publication that would be interested in supporting the development of such a tool, rather than 4iP or Channel 4 which is investing only in multimedia platforms and content. There is also a risk that the idea is highly copiable by existing competition, at relatively low cost. Justifying the technical outlay for the basic shortening of URLs is therefore hard to justify. Do check out the aims of the fund and our submissions guidelines (http://www.4ip.org.uk) and please keep submitting your proposals.”

I agree with this rejection, but just thought I’d post my pitch on here to see what other people think of it.

Description

I’m applying for the Investigative Journalism and Broadcast Journalism MA at City University in London, and decided to interview Samira Ahmed during my internship at Channel 4 News for my application. Apologies for my constant mming and the crappy quality of the DV Cam.

Bio:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Newspaper Journalism at City
• BBC as Trainee in 1990, journalist from 94-97, presenter BBC World, News 24, Today Programme, Newsnight
• BBC Los Angeles correspondent, covered O.J. Simpson case
• Political correspondent, Deutsche Welle TV
• Channel 4 News in 2000, started presenting in 2002
• Presented the C4 Doc. “Islam Unveiled” travelled 

For a short period last summer I blogged about Nuclear weapons over at a site called Nucular vs. Nuclear. I got several visitors from institutions directly associated with the military, including one by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministry of Defense, and one visit from Raytheon’s Executive Office.

Raytheon Visit log
IAEA Visit log
MoD Visit log

It’s interesting to me how easy it was for me to track these visitors, and how simple it was to draw them to the site.

It’s also an interesting metaphor for how the internet enables us to watch the watchers, to a limited extent of course. No other generation has had the ability to see which authorities were reading their flyers or newsletters. At least with a blog, you might be able to predict when the FBI/CIA/MI6 would be knocking down your door!

“Mr Blair says he has not kept a diary of his time in Downing Street, but hints that once he leaves he will try to understand the world of the iPod and text messaging which, he acknowledges, is also changing the medium of political debate.”

Wow, just wow. Is there really hope for any kind of integration of a democracy that utilises the web when dinosaurs like these are still in power? If he can’t grasp the concept of text messaging or iPods (this quote is from the middle of a podcast, no less) then the prospect of concepts like blogging becoming integrated into the political process don’t look too great!

Read - The Guardian