Idea Lab

BarCamps Without Borders: The Unconference Spreads Globally

by David Sasaki
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

OK, So you've got your own blog. You've started taking pictures and posting them online. But what's more, you've also trained some of your friends, family, and neighbors how to publish online. And, via the blogosphere, you've been able to get to know others in your city who you otherwise never would have met. Great! It gets even better. Through this new online community and conversation you have discovered that many of your daily concerns are also the concerns of your neighbors and friends. You want better public transportation. So do they. You think it would be cool to organize...

• February 17, 2008
• 3 comments

NewsTools2008 to Bring Geeks and Journalists Together

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

One truism that has remained constant over the years is that journalists and technologists rarely cohabit the same physical plane. Even when they cross each other's path, they rarely speak each other's language. And yet, any great leap forward in the new media space requires great technology. As much as journalists like to imagine that careful reporting, balanced writing and the oldtime verities of the craft are what matters most in the new digital world, upstart startups like Digg, TechCrunch and Facebook are proving otherwise. So it came as welcome news that MediaGiraffe's Journalism That Matters project will be...

• February 11, 2008
• 2 comments

Rising Women's Voices

by David Sasaki
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

A few weeks ago I interviewed Cristina Quisbert of the Voces Bolivianas project in El Alto, Bolivia. She made the point that in Bolivia - and across much of the world - women often have less access to new technologies than their male counterparts. Furthermore, once women are empowered to use new communications technologies such as blogs and online video, they are often subject to harassment in the form of comments and unsolicited, lewd emails. At Rising Voices we don't only want to help teach under-represented communities how to make themselves heard; we also want them to feel safe and...

• December 26, 2007
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