AltWeeklies Wire
New Website Replaces TV News Anchors with Virtual Avatarsnew
Sorry, news anchors -- you might soon have to share your job with avatars. A virtual news technology is turning heads by quickly creating news stories and commentary, no humans required.
NOW Magazine |
David Silverberg |
11-10-2008 |
Tech
Exploring the Philanthropic Potential of Social Networkingnew
Against a backdrop of a Wall Street meltdown, ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the most expensive presidential campaign in history, reaching out has become much more than a process of tapping tried-and-true donors. So nonprofits around Charleston are increasingly tapping the philanthropic potential of social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Charleston City Paper |
Dan McCue |
11-05-2008 |
Tech
'Crawford': An Online History Lessonnew
David Modigliani's self-made documentary about G.W.'s adopted Texas home town is the first full-length release for Hulu.com.
Boston Phoenix |
Julia Rappaport |
10-30-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tales from Craigslistnew
Wherein I celebrate Halloween by messin' with people on the internet's most popular classifieds site.
San Diego CityBeat |
Enrique Limon |
10-29-2008 |
Culture
Sarahs for Obamanew
The "My Name is Sarah" web project offers pitches for Obama from swing-state voters named Sarah.
Boston Phoenix |
Sara Faith Alterman |
10-23-2008 |
Politics
Digg's Top Users Banned for Ever and Evernew
Since early September, nearly 100 users have been banned from the San Francisco–based news-sharing site Digg.com. Speaking out across the blogosphere, some are confused: Did minor crimes warrant erasing their profiles? Others are expressing melodramatic mourning for their "fallen comrades."
A Denver Scientist Helps Second Life Go Nuclearnew
SciLands' creators hope to give science education and advocacy a shot in the arm by invading the world of video games and internet obsessions that have wreaked havoc on museum attendance rates and homework assignments. Who knows? It may even work.
Fact and Opinion: It's All Just Content Nownew
Internet values are seeping into print journalism, and internet values reward instant punditry, the more flamboyant the better. Simple, solid reporting is OK, but flamboyance is what attracts page hits, and page hits attract advertisers -- enough of them, in a theoretical tomorrow, to keep journalism afloat.
Chicago Reader |
Michael Miner |
09-22-2008 |
Media
LOL, OIC, and WTF at ROFLThingnew
Meet the latest academic discipline and realm for cultural criticism: Internet culture studies.
East Bay Express |
Elsa Kim |
09-10-2008 |
Tech
The Photoshop™ Copnew
Ken Kokotek mocked his superiors on the Internet. Now he's paying for it.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
Alex Pickett |
08-27-2008 |
Policy Issues
Artists and Others are Using YouTube for More Than Just Home Videosnew
The biggest video-sharing website isn't just for lame home videos or amateur soft-core porn anymore: San Diego artists are using it as a new medium for what they're calling "X-stream Dadaism."
San Diego CityBeat |
Kinsee Morlan |
08-20-2008 |
Art
An Ex-Scientologist and Online Pranksters Try to Bring Down the Controversial Religionnew
Before January, no one dreamed that Tommy Gorman would be backed up by the most unlikely of allies: an army of internet geeks pissed about a censored Tom Cruise video. The troops call themselves Anonymous, the president of the San Francisco Church of Scientology calls them the "electric Klan," and they have stepped out of cyberspace in masks to bring down Scientology, too.
The Human Life Extension Movement Sees a Glorious Future for Us Allnew
People involved with the loosely connected movements of life extension, transhumanism and singularitarianism think we're soon going to be able to extend our lives almost infinitely. And they're working feverishly to survive into that golden age. They're willing to pop pills and radically reduce how much they eat just to live a bit longer.
New Haven Advocate |
Adam Bulger |
08-12-2008 |
Culture
Young Tech-Savvy Voters Apparently Aren't Welcome at John McCain's Websitenew
Instead of reaching out to younger voters with an interesting mix of social networking, online campaign fundraising or, at the very least, a dynamic site that draws visitors more than once, the McCain campaign has opted for a clunky, incomplete, decidedly 20th-century online presence that does nothing to draw in new or undecided voters.
Shepherd Express |
Lisa Kaiser |
08-01-2008 |
Commentary
Forget Murky Coffee Dates -- Romantic Evasiveness Has Peaked Onlinenew
The entire discourse of "dating" today reminds me of what Roland Barthes said of text when he proclaimed the death of the author: "Everything is to be disentangled, nothing deciphered; the structure can be followed, 'run' (like the thread of a stocking) at every point and at every level, but there is nothing beneath."
NOW Magazine |
Jacob Scheier |
07-28-2008 |
Culture
