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The 50 best apps of 2013
From lifestyle and children’s apps to games, social networking and the downright useful, here are the 50 best apps of the year
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US Replies to Terrorists’ Online Lure
Concerned by the attempts of Al Qaeda and its global affiliates to attract more Americans and other Westerners, the State Department is stepping up its online efforts to combat violent extremists’ recruiting of English speakers.
The campaign is starting at a time when intelligence officials say dozens of Americans have traveled or tried to travel to Syria since 2011 to fight with the rebels against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen now puts English subtitles on its website propaganda. The Shabab, the Islamist extremist group in Somalia, publish an English-language online magazine.
State Department officials acknowledge that the new program is a modest trial run that faces a vast array of English-language websites, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos and Facebook pages that violent extremist groups have established largely uncontested in the past few years. But American and European intelligence officials warn that Al Qaeda’s efforts to recruit English-speaking fighters could create new terrorist threats when the battle-hardened militants return home.
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How the internet will save the Indian press
Stepping away from the shallow allegations of ‘paid media’, and above the usual hand-wringing rhetoric peddled by the likes of Vinod Mehta, Jose takes a bird’s eye view of the evolution of the Indian press to answer the thorny questions that preoccupy us all: “Why is our journalism so pliable? What gives external forces the temerity to shape the media to their own ends? What is it in our democratic culture that makes the media subordinate itself to the legislature, executive, judiciary and corporations—making it susceptible to inappropriate influence?”
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Public to back investigative journalism
Uncoverage, a website that will be announced on Monday, will test whether the public cares enough about investigative journalism to pay for it. The site, to be at Uncoverage.com, will allow journalists and nonprofits to seek crowdsourced funding for both articles and topics like, for example, the Syrian war. Money for general topics will be split up among projects by the site’s editors.
The nonprofit investigative group the Center for Public Integrity has signed on as a partner whose projects will be featured on the site.
The commercial site is being founded by Israel Mirsky, an entrepreneur who said that the current model for financing investigative journalism was broken.
“I am passionate about depleted uranium” he said, “but if I want to see more on the topic, my only choice is to buy a paper where reporting on the topic has appeared before and watch for future articles. I can’t imagine a less effective and satisfying way to get journalism on a topic I care about.”
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Founder of Reddit and the Internet’s Own Cheerleader
They are usually referred to as Internet enthusiasts. In this New York Times article, hear it from “The Mayor of the Internet”, as dubbed by Forbes Magazine. Reddit foundation Alexis Ohanian and the Internet.
“When I get a prank call, I don’t blame AT&T,” he said. “I blame the person who prank called me.”
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Rieder: Gearing up for a journalism juggernaut
How Pierre Omidyar’s free-spending, ambitious news start-up is coming together
“Omidyar wants to launch a news organization that is not narrowly focused on, say, investigative reporting, though it will do plenty of that. Instead, he envisions a wide-ranging powerhouse that will cover an array of subjects and attract a broad swath of readers. The idea is to create a mass audience that will magnify the impact of the hard-hitting stories the site aims to produce.”
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11 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business
“My name is Stephanie St.Claire, and I am an unfunded entrepreneur. I’ve been in business for 3 years, after engaging in my own personal and tenuous renaissance (uh…divorce) and rediscovering my Divine Core Purpose. In other words, I grew a pair of ladyballs and started living the life I always wanted to while making money doing it.
But there was a LOT to learn, and some of those things weren’t covered in Who Moved My Cheese.
Throw these 4 rockstars into a blender, and you’ll have a composite sketch of me in the first three months of my business …”
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Google Unveils Tools to Access Web From Repressive Countries
Google Ideas, the New York City–based “think/do tank” run by the Internet search giant, is launching several new technologies designed to highlight hacker attacks around the world and help people in repressive regimes access the Internet. The new products, which are being announced on Monday at the Google Ideas Summit in New York City, represent the most substantial offerings delivered by the three-year-old Google policy unit and could be a major boon to activists and reformers in the world’s most closed and repressive societies.
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20 tools and apps for digital journalists
A collection of some of the best storytelling, search and productivity tools and apps for journalists.
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The rise of the reader: journalism in the age of the open web
Katharine Viner, deputy editor of the Guardian and editor-in-chief of Guardian Australia, gave the AN Smith lecture in Melbourne on Wednesday night. Here’s her speech:
“I’d like to begin with a true story.
I was recently conducting a job interview for a Guardian role, and I asked the interviewee, who had worked only in print journalism, how he thought he’d cope working in digital news. In reply he said, “Well, I’ve got a computer. I’ve been using computers for years.”
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Facebook Users in the Mideast and North Africa: 28 Million Daily
As digital media penetration in the MENA region grows at such a fast pace, it is interesting to view this evolution within the global context. This Wall Street Journal article reveals striking facts and figures on this topic.
“The figures in the region mirror the global trend of people using Facebook, but the advertising-dollars are yet to catch up despite overall growth in digital spending, according to Jonathan Labin, head of Facebook in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.”
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Controlling Access to Online Information in Jordan: the Role of ISPs
In autocratic counties such as Jordan with no system built to ensure accountability, models of control over internet access may range from legislative measures enforced by the government to informal techniques exercised by the private sector.
Formal censorship techniques are exercised through a legislated framework for law enforcement to block websites, and fine journalists, bloggers, editors-in-chief, and owners of online content. The design of the legal framework relieves Jordan from local and international pressure given that it is only applying the rule of law put forward by an elected parliament. In this blog Reem Almasri talks about the informal techniques the country have used, and still use, to control access to information in cooperation with the private sector, especially internet service providers.
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A Score or More of Languages in Your Pocket
Apps so far or even google translate does not do an accurate job in translating from Arabic to English or vice versa. Will there be something more accurate that can be created on the horizon?
“The more a translation app is used, the more it learns to statistically make correct associations with sounds, text and meaning. The latest translation apps incorporate voice-recognition software so you can speak as well as type in the word or phrase you want translated and then get both a text and audio response.”
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Ted Blog
Further reading on ideas worth spreading. The TED Blog shares interesting news about TED, TED Talks video, the TED Prize and more.
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TEN MOST POPULAR JOURNALISM BLOGGERS IN AMERICA?
Some of the popular journalism bloggers in America but there is a UK version as well. A great resource for journalists and those looking for information on the profession as well.
“I’ve grabbed the baton and produced a chart of the top ten American journo-bloggers, based on combined subscriptions via Google Reader and Bloglines”
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How Many Teachers Use Technology in the Classroom?
Great infograph on how the use of technology has given us the opportunity to do so much more in the classrooms.
“According to a press release, close to 74% of all teachers surveyed said they use digital resources — tablets, computers — to expand and reinforce on content in their classrooms. Among the other highlights: 69% of those surveyed said educational technology helps them “do much more than ever before” for their students, with the most commonly used resources being online lesson plans, interactive web games and online articles.”
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GRAY MATTER: Learning From Failure
People love to read only about success stories it seems. NGO’s, institutions, schools and others always highlight success but what isn’t it worth learning from failures? Since many success stories most probably faced failure somewhere along the road. And this is what this article speaks about.
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Major papers’ longform meltdown
Despite the creation of an App that lets you read all the long form stories from various news and magazine sources, this article in the Columbia Journalism Review talks about the decline of long form articles in the most prominent newspapers.
“When it comes to stories longer than 3,000 words, the three papers showed even sharper declines. The WSJ’s total is down 70 percent to 25 stories, from 87 a decade ago, and the LA Times down fully 90 percent to 34 from 368. The New York Times’s record was more mixed. It published 25 percent fewer stories over 2,000 words from a decade ago, but 32 percent more stories over 3,000 words.”
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A Writer Revisits the Ancient Laptop He Used in College
This is a light story on our relationship with our laptops and writing.
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“Laptop is dusty these days. His shell is slightly scratched. But he’s still bright on the inside—even polished—thanks to the years of oiling by fingertips and palms. He bears the marks of his experience. The A, S, E, D, C, O, L, N, and M keys are worn down to a point of near-illegibility. There’s evidence of lots of activity on the BACKSPACE key—though, having just sifted through a bunch of writing from those years, I think maybe not quite enough. Crumbs were, and continue to be, a problem.” -
50 blogs by journalists, for journalists
This is a great list of blogs by Journalists who are blogging and also journalism academics. This list includes 50 blogs, including journalists who share some tips and expertise. This is a treasure.
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“We invited people to nominate blogs via Twitter and received a good number of responses, many of which we have included here.” -
How to edit your story for accuracy
12/10/12
by Rana F. SweisAs a reporter, you must gather information and interview sources quickly, then explain what you’ve learned concisely and clearly. Once that’s done, it’s tempting to ship the story to your editor or hit “publish” on your blog.
Resist that temptation. You need to do one more thing to ensure your story contains only accurate, unbiased and verified information: edit your story line by line.
Investigative reporter Nils Hanson shared his advice for line-by-line editing at the recent Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) conference in Cairo. More than 200 journalists and academics, mainly from the Middle East, attended the conference, which included training sessions and networking opportunities with international investigative reporters and trainers.
Hanson, who reports for the popular Swedish TV news station SVT, and is a member of ARIJ’s board, offered these tips for editing for accuracy:
Have your address book and notes handy
Make sure your list of sources and their contact information, as well as notes from your interviews, are close at hand. There may be facts you will need to double-check as you edit.
Keep an open mind
“Are you hit by tunnel vision? That’s the big trap,” Hanson said. Tunnel vision is the tendency to hold on to a certain belief even when evidence points elsewhere. Reporters sometimes do this without realizing it, Hanson said, so stay open-minded when reporting and editing your story.
“Listen to the skeptical, examine the expert and question the victim,” Hanson said. Think of the recent BBC scandal, in which an alleged sex-abuse victim admitted to wrongly accusing a former politician of attacking him. “Can victims prove their allegations?”
Examine each fact
Ask yourself if there is essential information missing and if all assertions are grounded in fact. Mark each fact, name, figure and quote in your story, and then verify it. “Watch out for overstatements, such as ‘everybody says’ or [that] they haven’t done anything,” Hanson said.
Verify all data, including statistics. “Even data presented by interviewees must be verified,” he says.
Evaluate your sources and decide if you need more interviews
Do your sources make conclusions that others might criticize? Point that out.
Reporters need to make sure they talk with many people, including those they don’t like or who don’t like them. They should also include people who are controversial or who may seem a bit odd—or just wrong—to the reporter.
“Did the people criticized in your story have a chance to reply to all serious criticism aimed against them?” Hanson asked.
“Look at the overall picture and check if it is unbiased or if it is written in an accusatory tone,” he explained. “Who or what could give a different picture?”
Protect sources and check copyrights
Make certain that a source you have promised not to identify will not appear in published documents or in photos or video. Also examine graphics and copyrights, including logos and statistics revealed in charts or graphs.
Check your gut
After examining your report line by line, Hanson says to ask yourself two final questions. First, ask yourself, “Are you troubled by anything?” If the answer is affirmative, be honest with yourself and your editor about what that is.
Finally, ask yourself, “What might generate criticism?” Don’t automatically take those parts out. Instead, address those critiques in your story.
If you follow these steps, you’ll be much less likely to need to issue a correction—or to regret publishing the story at all.
Rana F. Sweis is a freelance journalist and media researcher. She writes mainly about political reform, refugees and social issues in the Middle East. She is also the lead researcher in Jordan for the Open Society Institute-sponsored Mapping Digital Media Study. You can visit her website and follow her on Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Rogue Sun Media, used with a CC-license
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New Adventures in the Newspaper Industry
An article in The Economist finally delivers positive news about the newspaper industry after several years of terrible news. The Newspaper industry has taken a real fall the past few years and the process of digitization has been tough for many – those who survived were the innovators. Many didn’t make it.
“Things have started to look a bit less grim, particularly in America. Revenues from advertising are still falling, but those from circulation have at last started to stabilise. At some papers, such as the New York Times, circulation revenues this year are forecast to offset the decline in advertising for the first time in at least five years.”
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Why Technology-Penetration Rates are Worthless
Katy Pearce, an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Communication, argues that Internet penetrations rates aren’t important. She warns of generalizations such as “84 percent of women in country x have a mobile phone…therefore women’s empowerment through technology is possible. She writes that it is not surprising that countries with a younger, better educated and wealthier societies would have higher Internet penetration. At the same time, she argues, the price of the internet is also a factor. She lays out in the article specific factors that make general statements on penetration levels irrelevant. Worth a read.
“So what is to be done about this problem? There are a few options. One may be to stop caring about penetration rates. This is not a race. Given the numerous contributing factors to these rates, the actual percentage is essentially meaningless. Given the way that these are manipulated, deemphasizing penetration rates may be best. Another solution would be an attempt at better measurement. Surveys would be best.”
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Social Innovation and Future Engagement
Will businesses, governments and non-profits finally realize the potential of social innovation. This article says there are some that are doing that already like OpenIDEO that partnered with non-profits, businesses and governments to create a series of collaborative social innovation challenges. Read more about the networks that have been formed, the fundraising that has taken place and the benefits of collaboration.
“The success of collaborative social innovation initiatives shows that organizations and people are capable of co-creating innovative solutions to complex problems, and has created a new model for change makers to showcase their innovations, for governments and foundations to find solutions to societal issues and for businesses to realize sustainable growth.”
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Social Media Shedding Light on Environmental Issues
Social media networks are used to shed light on environmental issues in Jordan, Jordan Times, reports. As you will remember with the Ajloun Forrest and Birgish, the campaigns took a life of their own on social media but it was also the fact that action was taken offline as well that the campaigns have succeeded so far.
“Environment protection societies and NGOs deem social media networks a “great and exceptional opportunity” to make a positive behavioural change in environment protection and the consumption of water and energy, Shoshan told The Jordan Times. ”
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