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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When I landed this past week in the O-R-Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, I had been flying a cumulative 20 hours since leaving Seattle. After clearing customs into South Africa, I made a beeline to the restroom to freshen up. On the wall of the spotless restroom was the sign photographed to the right.

I haven’t yet seen a sign like that in SeaTac Airport, but in South Africa it’s not surprising given how ubiquitous cell phones and text messaging have become.

The breathless adoption of mobile telephony on the African continent–with South Africa leading the charge — means that I learn as much about the power of mobile adoption and use when I travel there as I do when I am walking around the hyper-connected city of Seattle.

The African continent has impressed me again and again the last seven years with their creative utilization of mobile–which in large part inspired the first course I taught for the MCDM, Emerging Markets in Digital Media. Today, the African market is growing to include producers as well as consumers. According to Erik Hersman, co-founder of Ushahidi and the voice behind the blog White African, the African continent is in a great position to produce relevant technology moving forward.

Why? Read more…

In 2007 I moved to Seattle, WA and found a tech savvy community in the Pacific Northwest. I found myself in the office of the Director of the MCDM Hanson Hosein and we began talking about the program, my background in journalism, and a documentary I was producing on my great uncle, the late musician Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter.
After the meeting I was convinced and ready to sign up! The only thing I didn’t ask him was what sort of jobs most graduates seek once they are “finished” with the program. At this time in 2008 there was only one person who seemed to get a decent job by using digital media and social media marketing and that was President Barack Obama who Hosein titled as being the “first digital President” in an earlier post.

Every class I took in the MCDM program helped me to prepare for my next unforeseen big move to South Africa. Our move was swift and took place during both the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. When I arrived here in Johannesburg I found digital media everywhere and moving at a rapid pace. One thing that I have witnessed is how SMS messaging is everywhere and even playing a role in civic engagement. The second week we were in the country we drove over a pothole and not long afterward the car began to slow down. The deceivingly rain-filled pothole had caused a flat tire and I had to change the tire. Days later I read in the local newspaper The Star (yes print media is still relevant) that a new initiative called LEAD SA started by local radio stations and print media to help develop pride in South African sports teams and encourage “good Samaritan” efforts has now fixed over 4,000 potholes across the Johannesburg area.  This is how it works here in South Africa:

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Transmedia Storytelling and Net Neutrality were the topics of the night last Tuesday at the MDCM’s first ever Four Peaks public salon. The salon started with a live broadcast of MediaSpaceTV featuring an interview between MCDM director Hanson Hosein and Brent Friedman, CEO of Electric Farm Entertainment. Transmedia Storytelling, an interactive and multi-platform storytelling method, is according to Friedman, a way of exploring “additional tributaries,” and selecting tools from a “digital sandbox.”

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I’ve often wondered what kind of technology my 5-year-old daughter will be using when she grows up. The following is proof that I have a feeble imagination. But the folks at MIT Media Lab make up for what I lack.

What if you no longer needed a cellphone, computer, computer mouse, iPad, digital camera or any number of other devices. What if you replaced a whole stable of hardware with a small wearable gizmo around your neck that interacted with your hand gestures.

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The Seattle Times has a couple of niche sports apps on the market right now and both are doing very well. As a newspaper guy, this is exciting. There is likely a future here for newspapers and plenty of money to be made. Identify a niche audience (that you already write for) and develop an app that caters to their interests. I’d pay lots of money for these Seattle Times apps, they are that good.

I have a journalism degree and daily newspaper experience, but I’m also a digital media nut and a huge Husky football fan. Imagine my euphoria when I first saw the Seattle Times was launching a Husky football app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Their Husky football blog is like the Bible to me, and an iPhone app sounded too good to be true.

But how useful would it be? Would I trust the content? How about the functionality? I didn’t want this to be a giant advertisement for the Seattle Times.  I wanted it to be all Huskies all the time. One season in, I’m happy to report this is purple and gold nirvana. It’s the most immersive, accessible and, of course, portable Husky football experience I have ever known. Thank you, Seattle Times!

OK, OK. Enough gushing.

I respect this app. It’s a big step for journalism and the newspaper industry in general. Readership is down across the country. Revenue is shrinking, and newspapers are struggling to reach new audiences in a digital age that crippled their business model long ago. Enter the niche app. This is a new dawn for newspapers.

I could already find the information and stories featured in this app on my iPhone using mobile Safari. But I don’t always want to tap dance through various bookmarks and zoom in to the content I want to read. The app puts it all in one place. It costs $2.99 for a one-time download, but I would pay $2.99 a month for this. I’m not the only one, either. Managing Editor Heidi de Laubenfels told Lost Remote the app reached “20 percent of our total expected sales in the first two days and continues to do quite well.” The Times’ latest app, one for the Husky men’s basketball season, currently ranks on the iTunes list for top paid sports apps.

My question initially was whether or not I would trust a similar app released by a non-objective news source. The UW Athletic Department did just this, releasing a Coach Sark app not long after the Seattle Times released its football app. The content, not surprisingly, was not as deep. The interface was wonky, and it wasn’t objective in the slightest. Not even the fact that proceeds from the $2.99 purchase went to charity could rescue this app from the bottom of the league standings.

Time and trust are in limited supply these days. The Seattle Times is an organization I trust and provides me with content I believe in. Newspapers everywhere should take notice of this endeavor. Find a market—foodies, concertgoers, American Idol-lovers—and meet them where they are. Smartphones are growing exponentially and apps such as this are, hopefully, a sign of things to come.

I love free stuff, but this is the kind of content I want and will pay for. Are you listening, newspaper executives? I would pay for this. I would pay monthly. And I would pay a lot more than $2.99.

Image from "This" Magazine

If this past summer’s controversial presidential election in Iran was any indication, Twitter has fast become a major platform for political discussion and grassroots organization on the global stage.  Social media, particularly the micro-blogging service Twitter, flexed its muscles during the opposition protests of the Iranian election results, and, at least for a month or two, it seemed that a global on-line conversation about democracy in Iran might actually help change the political climate of that country.  While it appears that the government of Iran eventually succeeded in squelching the unrest and cracking down on protests, it has become pretty clear that the nation of Iran will never be the same – and Twitter is partially to thank for that.  Considering the case of Facebook use in Iran, once you’ve got a taste of that sort of social freedom, it’s difficult to turn back. Read more…