Ideas & Trends

If the next Ken Burns comes from central Texas, chances are "Docubloggers" will discover him.

The weekly series on KLRU, the PBS station in Austin, turns average Joes into filmmakers. more

One of the things we've learned at PBS Engage during the past week – and let's face it, we've learned a lot – is that many of you are beginning to watch TV differently, sometimes "consuming" PBS content online.

As a certain pointy-eared Vulcan says, "Fascinating." more

All right, it lacks the gravity of April Fools Day or even Earth Hour.

But today has been proclaimed "Good People Day" by web wine celebrity, social media cheerleader and video blogger extraordinaire Gary Vaynerchuk.

Nothing can do justice to the idea better than his vividly exuberant video proclamation found on the page linked above. But the basic idea is to blog, Twitter, IM, wiki-post, videoblog, podcast or use some other form of social communcation to celebrate good people using the social web for good things--to help others, be kind to strangers, support worthy causes, perform public service, etc. more

It's no news that local news is in trouble -- at least the sort of local news produced by daily newspapers. Hardly a week goes by without word that another newspaper is cutting back on staff, usually at the expense of local news coverage. more

To end the week, a few amazing, amusing and alarming observations from the world of social media: more

If you're among the many who just don't "get" Twitter--the little blogette tool that lets you find out what your friends (and others) are up to--there's finally a good, simple explanation. more

Back in the olden days of Wi-Fi -- say, four years ago -- it looked as though free wireless Internet access would be a certainty, a municipal utility provided to citizens like water or electricity, only this time at no charge. But the promise of free Wi-Fi, like the dream of adorning every city with moving sidewalks, never materialized, and now looks as though it never will. more

March Madness is just as crazy as ever. But this year, it's gotten a little dangerous for the thousands of NCAA basketball fans who use social networking sites like Facebook to participate in betting pools. more

Social change can be messy, but fortunately, these days it’s also mashable.

A contest called the NetSquared MashUp Challenge is calling on Web innovators and designers to create and submit mashups that use the Web for social change. The challenge, sponsored by the nonprofit community site TechSoup, is offering cash prizes for the best mashup projects, and will distribute $100,000 to the finalists. more

What’s a good method to come up with new ways to use web for social good? Here’s a curiously reflexive idea: Start a Facebook group about new ways to use web for social good.

That’s what Art Bushkin has done. The Washington D.C. venture capitalist and chairman of Stargazer.org, a collaboration tool for nonprofits, recently launched the “Harnessing the Power of the Web for Social Good” group on Facebook. more