Is Good News, news?

It’s  Good News week at a Huff that’s flush and ready to play. Arianna Huffington introduces news with out the ‘bad’ (bit like Adrianna without a ‘d’).

Preview

Adrianna has more good news

In the late 70′s (and there’s probably been many since) a survey in the US asked readers to define news and the majority (80% I think) said that only ‘bad news’ was news and  ‘good news’ wasn’t.

But what is news? It’s an interesting question, especially today. With the proliferation of  social media and the publication of  what Andrew Keen calls ‘gossip’, Huffington might just be swimming with the current.

In 2002 I launched a nightly series on the ABC called George Negus Tonight  (6:30 pm slot, four nights a week). Very quickly the show found an audience – a huge following for that key, but under played slot – doubling and sometimes even trebling previous figures. For a while that George became more popular at 6:30 on Aunty that even Dr Who (hard to believe, I know, but it was true).

It’s also true that George has a pull factor, even at 70 years of age (his Q score is – was – in the high 80′s), but GNT did well  not only because of George, but because it offered good news stories 4 nights a week at a time (6:30pm) when other networks were giving us more doom and gloom.

The audience in Australia were ready for some inspirational stuff (I had a problem and this is how I dealt with it and you can too),  maybe with the US economy in tatters, the presidential race and all its vexatious media hotting up – maybe it’s just as Huffington writes, time for a change and some good news:

I’m delighted to announce the launch of HuffPost Good News, a new section that will shine a much-needed spotlight on what’s inspiring, what’s positive, what’s working — and what’s missing from what most of the media chooses to cover. (Arianna Huffington 12/1/12)

She just might be right. Media largely chooses to ignore good news and focuses on gore and desperation instead. Huffington adds:

Everywhere around the country, people and communities are doing amazing things, overcoming great odds, and facing real challenges with perseverance, creativity and grace. But these stories are rarely told online, in newspapers, and on TV (especially if you live in a primary state being bombarded with negative attack ads).

And with social media being as prolific as it is (13,000,000 hours of video uploaded to YouTube in 2010), Huffington has a ready source of content. If she chooses to use it she’ll need to curate it before she aggregates it:

HuffPost Good News will be using a variety of storytelling tools to bridge the wide gap that separates the world as it is from the world as portrayed by the bulk of the media.

So will this be a ‘worlds best home videos and stories’, a collection of content sourced from the public? Huffington’s comments below offer a clue:

These stories of real people and their countless acts of empathy and ingenuity are overshadowed not only by actual crises — and sadly, there are plenty — but, more often, by the various manufactured crises sucking up precious media oxygen, from the deadline-pushing theatrics of debt ceiling debates and government shutdowns to the Balloon Boys, Casey Anthonys and Koran-burning pastors of the world. The excuse often given by the media is that these stories are “what the public wants.” Well, we don’t believe that, and HuffPost Good News will be our answer, and challenge, to that cynicism.

Who writes or produces ‘these stories’? Are they the stories ‘the public wants’ ? Is that just an excuse, or in Huffington’s case a challenge – a ‘call’ to arms to?  Stories like this, where a nurse gave one of her kidneys to her ailing patient – but written by who – you or the HuffPost?

A modern day Florence Nightingale

Huffington says they will be ‘stories of real people’ – but are they written by real people? Is she offering a vehicle for citizen journalism written by citizens? Will she make an offer to ‘pay for play’ – send in your best and if we like it and use it, you’ll get paid for it? Or, will she pay her journos to ‘curate’ the content generated by other agencies?

For the skeptics out there this could be exactly what the UGC world has been waiting for a wake up call. If you see your neighbors work online at the HuffPost, you might consider moving your style of UGC from ‘gossage’,  to a  level of reporting.

So check out HuffPost Good News. Here’s hoping it sets off copycat acts of good news reporting across the media. Please use the comment section to point us toward the good news we’re missing and, as always, let us know what you think.

Watch this space to find out who’s reporting the good news at the HuffPost – you or them – corporate citizen journalists or citizen journalists.

Curating or Aggregating

Not a media junky, then you may not have heard of content aggregation and curation. Yet they are current buzz-words in social media that can pit creators against curators.

What is Twitter or that App that gives you your news stories doing for you – aggregating or curating?

The Distinction

The words ‘aggregation’ and ‘curation’ can have various meanings, but put simply, aggregation is content creation, and curation is content sourcing, selecting and sharing.

Content Aggregation

Unlike curation, content creators and technology drive aggregation. People create unique content, and that content is aggregated or shared via apps, websites, news services, search engines or RSS feeds. Content aggregation always leads back to the original piece of content, so content creators like it. Aggregation is generally done by machines, algorithms, auto-aggregators.

Content Curation

People seeking out specific content, vetting it and sharing it with communities are known as content curators. They don’t need to create the content – rather they building a network of quality links to outside or external content that, in their opinion, is the best. A librarian advising you on a bunch of specific titles is/was a curator.

‘By recommending specific content to their community, they attract people that are looking for a central knowledge hub in their niche-looking for some one to follow or to be followed – someone of influence who is good at spotting other peoples good work and sharing it with their followers, as on Twitter.

So is there a difference between Twitter and that News App on which you build your paper from different sources.

Twitter, where you choose content and pass it on, share it through tweets or re-tweets, is definitely content curation. But then it’s also an aggregation site – you may be writing your own content (aggregation), but you are also selecting it to publish and then sharing it (curation).

So, lets take that news App where you choose the type of story and the media outlet you want. Well, the choice of story genre you make is an act of curating genre, but the story you get is an example aggregation. Confused – you’re not alone. Well, you didn’t choose the story just the genre. When you read the story and recommend it on Twitter its an act of curation.

What about when your News App—which is an example of curating genre (you choose the genre) and aggregating story (an algorithm chooses the story)—asks you “Do You want More of This type”? Beats me.

Well author and NYU Professor Clay Shirky  puts it this way, “Curation comes up when search stops working,” and “curation comes up when people realize that it isn’t just about information seeking, it’s also about synchronizing a community.” I’ll translate in Croatian – he means search is aggregation (driven by algorithms) and your choice of the search options (the results) is curation.

The value of creating your own content – aggregating – still rocks. But when you choose a platform on which to share yours and other carefully selected content, or when the stories that aggregating News App has ‘algorithmed’ your way and you saved carefully using Read It Later, in order to build a community and save the world on the cheap – that’s curation.

Question; Does the information you curate become and act of aggregation when you pass it on? Is the answer ‘yes’ if you pass it on to anyone and everyone (Tweet it) and ‘no’ if you pass it on to your community? But are the people that follow you your community or just the one’s you follow? It gets tricky doesn’t it.

So what’s the Value of Content Curation (Web source can’t find URL)

As we’ve mentioned, content aggregation is fast becoming content curation – for these excellent reasons.

1: Your community doesn’t have to go anywhere else for information
2: They stay longer on your social media pages
3: This improves brand identity, trust and eventually increases profits
4: You become an expert or influencer in your field because of ‘collection’ not ‘creation’
5: Sites like Twitter, Stumble Upon, Alltop and Flipboard help you curate content

What Does This Mean For Your Business? (Web source can’t find URL)

If you’ve been struggling to keep up with the relentless content demand on your social media sites – it doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. Content curation is just as important as creation and can take your business places – without the headache or expense of having to generate unique content. If you can’t afford articles for a while, then spend that month gathering the best content in your field.

How Do I Get Started? (Web source can’t find URL)

Gather the most popular keywords in your niche and use news syndication services like Google, Yahoo and MSN to source great content. Bookmark excellent blogs you come across. Use sites like StumbleUpon to get great content that doesn’t rank well for keywords – Twitter is also a good place to look for fresh links.

Syndication – not another one of those ‘ion’ words.

Content aggregation (the automated gathering of links) can be seen on sites like Google News. Overall, this type of aggregation has been seen as a positive thing for content creators and publishers, and up until very recently, it was left to technology. Content creation, meanwhile, was a human effort.

But all that changes with curation — the act of human editors adding their work to the machines that gather, organize and filter content.

For more see Social Media Magic; CMSWire and one other URL that I used and lost (sorry to the author).

RT @citizenmojo: one calculation – US wa

RT @citizenmojo: one calculation – US waged war with IRAQ for 3196 days at a cost to US tax payers of 250 mill per day plus interest and lives….

Powerful images

Check out this link

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011

The 45 most powerful images of 2011 and only 3 are not of war, death, despair or some form of destruction real or feared. What does this say about our perception of what is news? In 1977 a survey in the USA found 83% of people believed ‘bad news’ was news and ‘good news’ was not.

Here’s photo number 46 depicting a program that’s empowering citizens in marginalised communities with training and tools to create a local voice for a global audience – is it news?

‘From little things big things grow’.

Gunbalanya goes Mojo

West Arnhem College in Gunbalanya has produced their first mojo story. A train the teacher and mojo student workshop is providing the platform block for a local voice from the community.

HK and the GEN News World Summit

HK airport.  ”Go right through sir’. Next left and there they are, Taxis. The body mind remembers. But, after a sleepless night on a 747, it all seems a bit tricky when I realise I’m not that travel guy anymore.  I certainly wasn’t ready for my next sensory experience, a HK taxi and its roller coaster ride on a trolley of hope.  ”Where to sir”, was all he got out before he floored it. “Ah Shangrila – ok”. I don’t know why I even bothered, we were already half way to somewhere. Fast is all I remember, 0 – 12o kph in nothing flat, then 140 kph and  flying among a highway on a brisk HK morning with the window slightly ajar. I’m feeling wind, cold wind in my face. I’m waking – quickly – I need to be awake in case this idiot slams into something. We go faster 160kph ‘Get you there quick’. I watched the Ayrton Sena documentary on the plane and want to strangle the driver. He swerves and then, as we hit the bridge, he slows slightly to 120 . It’s only a short respite though. Fangio speeds up once he’s set his bearings in the fog that’s covering the bridge. I guess he feels travelling blind at 160kph 500 feet above the water, is best because it means we’ll be off the bridge quicker. The saving grace is that HK is a relatively small joint where everything seems to pass faster. No sooner are we off the bridge than Dalek like cranes begin to pop out of the fog.  There’s Salisbury Road. I know where we are and in a few hundred meters I’ll be home, safe at my hotel. There’s the Martini bar “Stop! I’ll walk from here”. Like hello. I’ve got another five days of this. Honkers – funny thing is – it works.

I’m here for a news conference that’s defining editorial principles and tools, to help build  the foundations to establish a sustainable business model for news media.  Maybe I’ll just hit the bar to ruminate with other Taxi passengers, or maybe, I’ll just go to my room and drink that bottle of 407 I brought over for Professor Quinn…mmm.

Honkers harbour from my hotel

Winning Mojo formula

Press Release: NT Mojos scoop the awards at the Fist Full of Films festival in Darwin. Four of the mojo films made the final 20. “I’m so excited I need to write a speech just in case” said Brendan Yunupingu whose mojo story ‘Bush Medicine’ went on to win  the hotly contested best Indigenous gala. Gerald Yawulkpuy’s ‘Ramo News’ was voted best documentary. Developed by Burum Media, supported by BIITE and funded by the Australian Government, NT Mojo teaches mobile journalism skills that can create a less marginalised Indigenous voice. “This is great for our community stand up and have our say” says Brendan, who travelled for 7 hours in a bus with his wife and baby to be at the awards. For Gerald, who made the trip from Ramingining with his mum Mia, the win brought mixed feelings. “I’m sad my dad is not here to see this, but proud of what I did – really proud”. His pride was contagious, Mia was the proudest mum in town, “Look at these boys, I can’t believe it, I have no words, just tears of joy.”

The making of NT Mojo documentary is available athttp://www.youtube.com/user/howtomojo#p/a/u/0/jRmGACFJdJo . The mojo stories are at http://ntmojos.indigenous.gov.au/. A 7:30 Report on mojo can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-11/new-life-for-indigenous-stories/3662030.

NT Mojos scoop the awards at FFOF in Darwin

Mojo Working the making of NT Mojo

The making of NT Mojo was a real adventure in citizen journalism. Nine mojos, five communities and a cyclone – a recipe for creating a new voice and a fresh perspective from remote Indigenous communities. Here’s who the team helped develop mojo practices across the NT.

Fist Full of Films

NT Mojo videos selected as finalists in Fist Full of Films Festival. Get down to the Darwin Entertainment Centre on Sat Nov 19th to support local talent making home grown content for a global audience  - Go Mojo !

Suport NT talent at the Fist Full of Films

Mojo opens dialogue in the NT

Nt Mojo staying one step ahead of ABC Open: the NT Mojo project featured on ABC 7:30 Report show’s what can be done with the right initiative, new technology and a few dollars spent wisely.

New Life for Indigenous Stories

Barbarians at the Gates

Social media at three paces as journalists and citizens face off in a global battle for territory on the fourth estate. The New News program at the 2011 Melbourne Writers Festival explores the legitimacy of social media as a journalistic tool.

Claytons news network

Check out a novel approach to content sourcing at HOWTOMOJO. What do you think?

Go2News goes live

Check out the Go2News blog by Deakin University journalsim students. Deakin mojos are using iPod Touches and iPhones with the 1st Video App to produce and edit news type stories. After only 8 hours of training students were able to produce and publish their own short story.

Deakin Journalsim empowering students to have their own voice.

Go Mojo…

Mum goes undercover and trawls through Facebook smut

Concerned mum Nathalie Brown goes undercover using ‘un-social media tactics’ to expose secret lives of teenagers on Facebook. How many concerned parents out there want to do the same?

The mother of two, posing as a 14 year old, quickly amassed 76 friends despite using a fake profile, proving how easily predator ‘friends’ could get phone numbers, raunchy photos and invites to parties.

Wanting to see what her 15-year-old could be confronted with Ms Brown stumbled on pages that had children bragging about sexual ability, skipping class, even a profile littered with porn videos and rape accusations.

“I was shocked by what I saw, especially the rape comments,” she said.

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General last month discussed whether parents should be given the legal right to see their children’s Facebook pages, with a resolution yet to be reached.

What do you think – duty of care vs privacy?

Read More http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/undercover-mum-exposes-secret-lives-of-teenagers-on-facebook/story-fn7x8me2-1226109432805

Whatever happened to MySpace?

Big M finally let go of social networking site MySpace. Bought for $US580 million, it’s reported Murdoch sold it for $US35 million. Projected revenues this year reported to be $US180 million weren’t enough to stave off the sale.

How much does it cost to run MySpace? How and why did Facebook kill MySpace? Why couldn’t Murdoch stop the massacre? Will Murdoch get a stake in the buyer, advertising network operator, Specific Media?

MySpace is also the home of MySpace Music that provides artists with a platform to reach new audiences. As a backer of Specific Media, Justin Timberlake’s role in the shuffle will be interesting to watch.

Ningbo Mojo Working

iPhone 4 takes a break from training

Exciting to hear the positive feedback from the Ningbo mojos and from the Twitter send encouraging the use of social media and new mobile technologies to help create a more democratic state through citizen journalism.

Ningbo Mojo – China’s first mobile journalists

The Ningbo Mojos – creating history in China

New iPad mirroring technology helps demostrate

Capturing moments on the iPhone as they happen

Sitting at HKIA again this time returning from China. Couldn’t post in China because Google, Facebook and access to my Blog are banned – but I guess that’s why the Ningbo Mojo workshop is being held.

The Ningbo mojo project was incredibly successful. I was lucky enough to be invited by Professor Stephen Quinn to train China’s first 10 mojos (10 from 1.3 billion possible mojo candidates – wow) and 4 teachers, all from Nottingham University in Ningbo. Mojo is so exciting that even Prof Quinn, a mojo evangelist, joined the training workshop – who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – we love your energy Prof.

With social media sites and Google banned in China, these mojo workshops were timely. And even though the block on these sites, WiFi protocols and other restrictions has temporarily slowed the upload of the Ningbo mojo training stories, the team is working hard to have these published very soon.

Once again we used Apple’s iPhone 4 and the 1st Video App from VeriCorder Technology to record and edit.

Thank you to the amazing mojos for making this experience memorable. And a special thanks to Andreas for making funding available for the project.

Check out this blog for information on when and where you can see the important stories from these talented and passionate mojos.

Signing off from Ningbo (HKIA actually).

Go Mojo…

MySchoolMojo – mobile journalism in the schoolyard.

Hi Citizens – we have been providing mobile journalism and iPhone training to students at Footscray City College. You can see their first mojo stories at http://fcc.myschoolmojo.com.au.

The FCC Mojos standing outside the school mural

Check out the MySchoolMojo web site for all the information on getting mojo happening at your school.

MySchoolMojo Training

My School Mojo training is all but completed at Footscray City College. Mojos – Monique, Adrian, Ashley, Katrina, Nick, Ashlea and Colin are ready to unleash their story telling skills.

Our web site will be up and running in a few days so stay tuned, we’ll let you know where to go to check out the mojos’ stories.

Ivo introduces the Footscray City College mojos to the Owle Bubo and iPhone 4

MySchoolMojo working

Tomorrow is the first day of the MySchoolMojo program at FCC. We selected six students to take part in a four week mobile journalism workshop. MySchoolMojo is designed to give students a new voice in our media landscape, by providing skills to empower them to think more critically about media and to produce their own stories about their community. I will keep you updated as we begin to mojo.