Can established software giants — Microsoft, Apple, even Google — get “the social web”? From Microsoft, we have the ignored “social” tab on the Zune; from Google, the death of Wave (less than a year) and lackluster response to Buzz.

Apple joined the foray yesterday. I asked on Twitter if we really need a new social network, a niche one for music:

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Forget about slides. In today’s hyperlink world, a classic presentation feels like being inside of a corridor without the option to enter any of the side doors.

If you’re still stuck on PowerPoint presentations, it may be time to try out more dynamic alternatives, like Prezi, which has the financial and advisory back of TED and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

TechCrunch contributor Robin Wauters called Prezi “the coolest online presentation tool I’ve ever seen.” And Garr Reynolds, who coined the phrase ‘Presentation Zen,’ earlier this year declared Prezi a presentation tool more suitable for the digital natives than its competitors.

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Smartphone apps are hot-hot-hot! Check out this treasure trove on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android (all from Slideshare.net). Inspired by Sam (Communication Desideratum, @comdj)

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I was a little exorcised last night when I read about Google and Verizon possibly two-timing the FCC on net neutrality. In the middle of industry/FCC discussion (at least nine meetings in seven weeks), Google and Verizon reportedly reached a deal to privilege YouTube bits.

My gut response was along the lines of “so this is what ‘do no evil’ means?”

I wrote about this at TheModerateVoice and syndicated the essay on Newsvine. The TMV post was featured in TheHill’s morning reads. (Blatant self-promotion.) Woot! Read more…

KCTS 9 and InvestigateWest have partnered to bring a unique brand of journalism to the Pacific Northwest.

It may seem like an unlikely union: an old-guard public television station paired with a small, online journalism start-up. However, the two share the same commitment to strong reporting and storytelling.

Each organization, said KCTS Senior Producer Ethan Morris via email, brings different strengths to the collaboration: “InvestigateWest’s reporters are seasoned investigative journalists who have a specialized set of skills that literally take years to develop: in-depth research, database analysis, Freedom of Information Act requests, cultivating confidential sources, etc. Our producers have a separate set of skills in visual storytelling. We build our stories around the video and audio we collect with a specific focus on story narrative and arc.”

The first result of this collaboration, a 12-minute video called “Lifesaving Drugs—Deadly Consequences,” aired on KCTS on July 9 and 12; MSNBC, the Seattle Times, NPR and PBS also shared the piece. The organizations plan to collaborate on four projects a year, with a focus on environmental issues.

Carol Smith, Senior Writer at InvestigateWest, sees the collaborative model play a role in the future of journalism: “Collaboration is a way to leverage each other’s resources and talents to get the most eyes and ears possible on stories that matter.” Read more…

There are many yardsticks to measure the health of a community: from disease burden to a free press to a shrunken digital divide. I want the MCDM to continue to ask important questions related to these measurement tools and contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

Case in point:  the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has asked the MCDM to consider hosting TEDxChange, which will take place in NYC on September 20, with live streaming around the world. TEDxChange will look at the Millennium Development Goals in particular, which are currently one of the most well known—and well debated—measuring sticks when it comes to health indicators in the developing world.

This opportunity builds well off the MCDM’s successful TEDxSeattle in April of this year. To relive some of the energy from that magnificent day, here’s a recently completed “behind the scenes” look at TEDxSeattle, edited by Aaron Seeley and Terry Short. Footage shot by Michael Bean, Scott Macklin, Xurxo Martinez, Aaron Seeley, and Terry Short. The music is courtesy of Hanson Hosein.

This is right where the MCDM wants to be. Stay tuned for more details on TEDxChange as plans firm up and I hope, wherever you are in the world,  you’ll join the TEDxChange conversation come September 20.

It was widely reported this April that according to a report put out by the United Nations University, there are more cell phone subscriptions in India than sanitary toilets.

This fact speaks to India’s breathless proliferation of mobile telephony, contrasted by their staggering gaps in basic health services. Must one come at the expense of the other? What relationship exists between the two? What are the opportunities for connectivity to elevate one’s social or economic status?

Questions like these were raised in the course I taught at the MCDM last fall, “Emerging Markets in Digital Media.” The course content was informed by my work at the UW Department of Global Health, where I was based before moving to the north end of campus to join the MCDM full-time three weeks ago. I’ll be offering the course again this fall, as the inaugural class in the new MCDM “Emerging” academic pathway, which includes not only scholarship related to emerging markets, but emerging trends in digital media.

While strategic communication, storytelling, and leadership development are my background, I maintain a firm commitment to the value of global health scholarship and reporting, and work to see synergies in all of these fields. So when Journalism That Matters contacted the MCDM in early July about a survey they were designing with the global health thought leaders in this area, I was keen to share it broadly within the Department of Communication community. In a nutshell, they are collaborating to improve global health journalism in the Northwest, and see this survey as one of the first steps at crafting reporting that is relevant, accessible, and memorable.

Please take five minutes if you’re so inclined, and check out the JTM survey. They’d welcome responses in by July 31.

- Anita Verna Crofts

Related on Flip the Media:

• Mobile Phones in Developing Countries – Is Building Social Capital Enough?