17512 Columbia

Archive for March 25th, 2012|Daily archive page

today’s news … Sunday, March 25

In Uncategorized on March 25, 2012 at 6:00 am

today’s news and information gleanings from here and there! 

Quote for today… “A library book … is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, is their only capital.” – Thomas Jefferson

  • Unbelievably, for the third consecutive week at too many restaurants: “person in charge does not have adequate knowledge of food safety.” See the week’s county restaurant inspections in  Lancaster County – Lancaster Sunday News. 
  • Hungry for Hunger Games: “Local librarians and educators say teens cannot get enough of “The Hunger Games” trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins. Indeed, teens seem enthralled by the whole genre of dystopian fiction, which explores imagined worlds in which people are controlled by oppressive authorities, and must struggle to retain their dignity and humanity. And yet, on Thursday night, local movie theaters were packed with thousands of young moviegoers, eager to watch, at midnight, the first screenings of “The Hunger Games” movie. The movie reaped $68 million in its opening day, including nearly $20 million from midnight showings. – Lancaster Sunday News
  • “Police in Columbia are investigating a stabbing that took place Friday night. According to Columbia police Officer Brent Smith, the stabbing happened in the first block of South Fourth Street around 9:50 p.m. Smith said the incident ‘involved a large fight that ended up with a stabbing.’” – Lancaster Sunday News

ProPublica report: “If TV Stations Won’t Post Their Data on Political Ads, We Will”

In Government, Opinions on March 25, 2012 at 5:46 am

This Pro Publica report delves into who is behind the heavy political advertising spending.

“Every local broadcast station has a repository of documents about political advertising that you have a legal right to see but can do so only by going to the station and asking to see ‘the public file.’

“These paper files contain detailed data on all political ads that run on the channel, such as when they aired, who bought the time and how much they paid. It’s a transparency gold mine, allowing the public to see how campaigns and outside groups are influencing elections.

“But TV executives have been fighting a Federal Communications Commission proposal to make the data accessible online. They say making the files digital would be too burdensome — it ‘could well take hundreds of hours for a single station,’ according to comments filed with the FCC by the National Association of Broadcasters.

“Others have taken their case a step further. As reported by Bloomberg Government, Jerald Fritz, senior vice president of Allbritton Communications, said in an another FCC filing that online availability ‘would ultimately lead to a Soviet-style standardization of the way advertising should be sold as determined by the government.’ (NPR’s On the Media did an excellent segment recently on broadcasters’ opposition to the proposal.)

“We tend to like the idea of public data being online. Since TV stations won’t put it online themselves, we decided to do it ourselves — and we want your help.

“Working with students at the Medill journalism school at Northwestern University, we looked at five local stations in the Chicago market.

“You can explore the results yourself: Here are detailed breakdowns of when the ads aired, during which programs, and how much each spot cost: Read the documents from the local affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and CW.

“Big thanks to Medill students David Tonyan, Julie O’Donoghue, Vesko Cholakov, Safiya Merchant and Gideon Resnick, who visited the stations Monday.

“We intend to enlist more readers in checking their local stations as the election campaigns slog on. The general election is likely to usher in even greater spending, and such spot checks could keep an eye on how big spenders are influencing the election. If you’d like to join in, please fill out this form.

“Campaigns and super PACs are required to report their spending on independent expenditures to the Federal Election Commission within a day or two, but they often just report how much they paid ad-buying firms, which can disguise how much actual ads cost and where they’re airing.

“What’s more, the files could be a window into what may be otherwise undisclosed spending by ‘dark money’ nonprofit groups that are playing an increasing role Read the rest of this entry »

The Conversation: “A new way to share – why Pinterest isn’t just another social network”

In Everyday Living, Lists, Opinions, Opportunities on March 25, 2012 at 5:17 am

Pinterest’s tasty layout is only part of its appeal. Pinterest

“I’m still trying to understand the whole thing but there must be something to it. It’s really popular!”

That’s my sister-in-law writing on Facebook in late January about Pinterest – one of the real up-and-comers in the world of social media.

In case you haven’t succumbed, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard or scrapbook to which users “pin” images, video, or snippets of text from other websites, or content they’ve uploaded themselves.

Those pins can then be organised into categories (“cooking”, “sport”, etcetera). Users can comment on or share the pins, and other people can pin them to their personal Pinterest boards as well.

Sound simple? It is. Sound like yet another social bookmarking site? It is.

Despite not being unique, and currently still being invite-only, Pinterest is 2012’s breakout social media marketing darling.

“Social media fatigue’

Every new social media service faces two related forms of user resistance. The first is the “tool for task” problem: “What will service X do that service Y doesn’t do?“ The second is the “friend silo” problem: “Why do I need service X when all my friends are in service Y?”

If a new social media venture (such as Pinterest) can’t successfully address both of those questions, the future is likely to bring stagnation (sorry, Google+) or a slow death (sorry, Unthink).

But Pinterest seems to have hit a Web 2.0 sweet-spot, providing compelling answers to both questions. It delivers highly revisitable, personal collections that have high social interest and are extremely easy to share.

Sure, Pinterest resembles any number of “social collection” services. It combines online bookmarking (like Delicious), online photography (like Flickr), and social news (like Facebook). But the way it combines these features makes for a valuable new addition to the social media landscape.

Me first, others second

An individual’s Pinterest site has both individual and social qualities. Users collect things for themselves with a view to returning to the collection themselves.

That desire to return and see the collection grow, to compare and contrast an ever-larger but relevant set of things is a huge part of Pinterest’s success.

The fact other friends are not on Pinterest is no barrier to use because the service has value to the individual first. This is in stark contrast to a service such as Google+ or Facebook which, without friends to follow, offers a less-than-complete experience.

Of course online photography sites such as Flickr could also act the same way, but such sites tend to be about uploading one’s own content rather than collecting material while online.

To continue reading this article from The Conversation, click here.

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