A Microsoft App in the works called “Pedestrian Route Production,” that would provide the user walking directions around a city that avoid “unsafe neighborhood[s],”  has been deemed racist by an number of organizations, notably the NAACP of Dallas. Dallas NAACP President Juanita Wallace has pledged “I’m going to be up in arms about it if it happens,” comparing the app to “gerrymandering.” The app is patented, but is not yet available to the public. Microsoft refrains from commenting on already-patented applications.

The app would provide walking directions with large blue dots over areas in which ten or more criminal incidents have occurred over the past 12 months. I assume that this must be a very small area, limited to one or two particularly dangerous blocks, because Capitol Hill has had over 2,000 crimes last year, according to SPD crime records—which would mean one of Seattle’s most vibrant neighborhoods earns a big old blue dot.  For some, the implications of this app are irrefutable: avoid the ghetto, avoid “black and hispanic neighborhoods,” avoid low-income areas. For others, this particular feature fits logically within a GPS app that also helps pedestrians avoid impassable roads and dangerous weather conditions—remaining safe is as much avoiding violent crime as it is avoiding busy streets with no sidewalks, for example.

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From the opening minutes of the CNN Southern Republican Debate in Charleston, SC on Thursday, the tone was combative. But it wasn’t the candidates going after each other.

CNN moderator John King opened by asking candidate Newt Gingrich to address allegations of infidelity made by his former wife in an interview with ABC News.

Rather than respond to the allegations, Gingrich unleashed an angry tirade on King, and the rest of the “elite media,” to a rousing applause from the audience.

“I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.” Gingrich said, leaving the CNN anchor stammering to defend himself.

Whether or not it was the right choice of opening question, one thing is clear: in the debate, as in the campaign as a whole, slamming the media is a sure way to win points with voters. Read more…

As this story goes to post, Wikipedia is four hours from going dark to protest SOPA and PIPA.  Wikipedia is certainly the most public and probably largest internet property to take the unprecedented step of shutting down their service to protest the impending legislation.  Wikipedia follows other well known tech entities like Reddit, I CanHazCheeseburger Network, O’Reilly Media and WordPress.org in shutting down on Wednesday.

Wikipedia is planning on replacing their standard interface with information about SOPA and PIPA, protest links and phone numbers of U.S. Representatives and Senators.  Other protesting sites will also be providing similar information on their homepages.

SOPA/PIPA reaches deeply into the MCDM curriculum.  We teach the content authoring skills that SOPA supporters are trying to protect.  We teach the ethics and practices of free and unfettered internet access.  MCDMers are at the vanguard in strategizing to content monetization.  Its hard for many of us to take a confident definitive stance on SOPA because the legislation is like a house of mirrors when it comes to what we do here at the MCDM.

In the spirit of innovation and debate, we at the Flip ask you to weigh in on the issues.  Do you support SOPA/PIPA?  Are you vehemently against SOPA/PIPA?  Are you confused by SOPA/PIPA?  We want to here from you.  Let us know what you think about these pressing issues.  Please comment below.

Like any devout follower, writer and performer Mike Daisey was reluctant to ask questions about his favorite religion—the church of Apple. A self-professed gadget freak and number one fan of the ubiquitous technology company, Daisey’s reluctance is probably familiar to all of us.  In his most recent monologue on NPR’s popular series, This American Life, Daisey renews the debate about “fair trade” electronics by traveling to China and investigating working conditions at Apple’s main manufacturing plant, Foxconn.

Listen to his story here.

Is anyone truly surprised by what he found? Should it come as a shock that while hundreds of thousands of Americans are perusing the latest gadgets at this week’s Consumer Electronic Show, children as young as 12 are working full-time in China in conditions so poor their manufacturing plants are surrounded by suicide-thwarting nets? Read more…

What do a cheese monger with Asperger’s syndrome, a globetrotting photographer and an author experimenting with acupuncture have in common? They’re all great characters whose individual stories can tell us a lot about our world.

That was the premise of Advanced Multimedia Storytelling: People and Story, the course I co-taught with Sarah Stuteville this past quarter; that a short film focused on an individual character’s experience is an extremely effective means to communicate a message, whether it’s about a product, a service or a broader trend in society.

The eight students in the class produced some powerful work, and sometimes got more than they bargained for:

Erika Takeuchi set out to produce a lighthearted profile of guide dog trainers, but when she met a trainer named Joseph Skillings, things took a turn for the serious. Joseph suffered severe head trauma a few years ago after trying to help a women being harassed at a bus stop. He took up puppy training as a way to deal with the lasting impacts of his accident.

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A few months ago, I was collaborating new media models with both journalists and developers at a Knight-Mozilla News Challenge event in Seattle called hacks/hackers. About halfway through our brainstorm, a brave Seattle Times journalist spoke up and asked:

“But wait, what about the elephant in the room?”

(blank stares)

“You know…monetization.”

(frustrated stares).

Oh, yeah, that.

Indeed, monetization is the question everyone is asking about regarding the future of journalism, and no one really seems to have an answer for yet either. How on earth are we as journalists supposed to earn money for our content when online advertising revenue is dropping and people are so used to getting news content for free?

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Are you ready to supercharge your company’s story telling strategy? Creating viral buzz for your startup, is easier than you think if you know the industry’s inside secrets. So clean off your whiteboard, grab a marker and get ready to go “backstage” to learn the Top 5 Buzz Tips from Seattle’s tech media elite.

On October 13^th, the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest hosted the program, “Pitch, Don’t Spin – How to Create Buzz Around your Start-up” featuring a panel of five seasoned news experts: John Cook, Co-founder, GeekWire, Brier Dudley, Technology Columnist, Seattle Times, Leslie Helm, Editor, Seattle Business Magazine, Mike Davidson, Vice President, Social News, msnbc.com and CEO, Newsvine and Curt Woodward, Senior Editor, Xconomy.

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Last week Hari Sreenivasan the Director of Digital Partnerships at PBS and at PBS NewsHour correspondent appeared at a special event hosted by Seattle’s KCTS 9 public television station.  Held a stone’s throw from the Space Needle–Seattle’s iconic architectural monument to progress–at the small station’s studios, this was a special event for students in the University of Washington Master of Communication in Digital Media program and was followed by an interview and event with station donors.

A video of highlights from the conversation with MCDM students and a complete transcript are available on the KCTS 9 website.

According to Sreenivasan, who is a proponent of the growing “slow news” movement, “The value of breaking news is going down faster than you can post it.”
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