Jonathan Rauch (we discuss his concept of demosclreosis several times) hates not only blogging, but the impact of blogging on discourse. He suggests that the way we interface in a blogging environment makes a particular type of discourse more likely to emerge.
Its an interesting point. The technology impacts political discourse. We know this already of course. The development of radios changed the executive branch, and television impacted the type of people we elect president. Which just now seem to be fully coming to terms with the way the bloggosphere impacts politics. The reviews are not good, but change seems underway.
For people who want to read and think, which is still a lot of people, the worldwide web is an incorrigibly hostile environment. Thank goodness, it is already in the process of being displaced by the far more reader-friendly world of apps, which is hospitable to quality writing and focused reading, as opposed to knee-jerk opinionating and attention-deficit-disordered skimming. The blogging format, I believe, was an outgrowth of a particular technological moment, specifically the gap between the decline of paper and the rise of HTML5. Its heyday is over.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, August 6, 2010
Christina Romer -- Head of the Council of Economic Advisors -- to Step Down.
The Huffington Post claims her resignation is due to conflicts with official within the Obama White House Staff (The CEA is part of the Executive Office of the President): Romer's resignation came amid a report that she had been frustrated that she didn't have as much access to the president as Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council.The story mentions a New Yorker article which also highlighted conflicts between Romer and Summers:
Romer had run simulations of the effects of stimulus packages of varying sizes: six hundred billion dollars, eight hundred billion dollars, and $1.2 trillion. The best estimate for the output gap was some two trillion dollars over 2009 and 2010. Because of the multiplier effect, filling that gap didn't require two trillion dollars of government spending, but Romer's analysis, deeply informed by her work on the Depression, suggested that the package should probably be more than $1.2 trillion. The memo to Obama, however, detailed only two packages: a five-hundred-and-fifty-billion-dollar stimulus and an eight-hundred-and-ninety-billion-dollar stimulus. Summers did not include Romer's $1.2-trillion projection. The memo argued that the stimulus should not be used to fill the entire output gap; rather, it was "an insurance package against catastrophic failure." At the meeting, according to one participant, "there was no serious discussion to going above a trillion dollars."
Given the increased possibility of a double dip recession, perhaps the decision to not go over a trillion dollars, almost certainly a political decision, was unwise. Previous posts have highlighted the conflict in the Obama White House between the political team and the economic team over how best to deal with the recession.
8/7/10: Update
Here's some background on her resignation and how the story broke. The author tells us it had been known for weeks, but the story broke before the White House could annouce it and has beem trying to contain how the resignation has been framed. The author points to the comments specifically:
Check the comment section on Hotline On Call, and you'll get a sense of how challenging it is for the White House to contain a story once it breaks. Larry Summers is the bad guy; HE should have been forced out; HE hates women; he's muscling women who have good advice out of the way; why is the president so reliant on him and Tim Geithner, anyway?
A sample:
"Summers was the worst pick ever, along with that weasel Geithner and Rahm "Karl Rove" Emanuel. At least Romer was a progressive voice to counter the the Harvard/Chicago axis that represents Goldman Sachs, Wall St and the kind of unfettered, unregulated, "free"-market larceny that has been eroding this country's economic vitality for 30 years, while making the rich much richer still. Summers and company are the same ding-dongs and charlatans posing as economic gurus who have enabled the on-going plunder of America
"The person writing this could be a world-renown policy expert or someone with great insight into the motivations of the White House economic team. Or, he or she could be a crank. One would not know from reading the commentators' post that Summers is among the most forceful advocates for more spending...that Summers and Romer were among those who pushed the Senate and the House to consider a state bailout bill that, two weeks ago, had no chance at passing.
Suddently this story has shifted from one about economic policymaking to media relations in the age of the internet. Which raises a question: Has the increase in available information actually increased public ignorance of government, politics and public policy due to the increase in the noise that purports to be informative?
Romer had run simulations of the effects of stimulus packages of varying sizes: six hundred billion dollars, eight hundred billion dollars, and $1.2 trillion. The best estimate for the output gap was some two trillion dollars over 2009 and 2010. Because of the multiplier effect, filling that gap didn't require two trillion dollars of government spending, but Romer's analysis, deeply informed by her work on the Depression, suggested that the package should probably be more than $1.2 trillion. The memo to Obama, however, detailed only two packages: a five-hundred-and-fifty-billion-dollar stimulus and an eight-hundred-and-ninety-billion-dollar stimulus. Summers did not include Romer's $1.2-trillion projection. The memo argued that the stimulus should not be used to fill the entire output gap; rather, it was "an insurance package against catastrophic failure." At the meeting, according to one participant, "there was no serious discussion to going above a trillion dollars."
Given the increased possibility of a double dip recession, perhaps the decision to not go over a trillion dollars, almost certainly a political decision, was unwise. Previous posts have highlighted the conflict in the Obama White House between the political team and the economic team over how best to deal with the recession.
8/7/10: Update
Here's some background on her resignation and how the story broke. The author tells us it had been known for weeks, but the story broke before the White House could annouce it and has beem trying to contain how the resignation has been framed. The author points to the comments specifically:
Check the comment section on Hotline On Call, and you'll get a sense of how challenging it is for the White House to contain a story once it breaks. Larry Summers is the bad guy; HE should have been forced out; HE hates women; he's muscling women who have good advice out of the way; why is the president so reliant on him and Tim Geithner, anyway?
A sample:
"Summers was the worst pick ever, along with that weasel Geithner and Rahm "Karl Rove" Emanuel. At least Romer was a progressive voice to counter the the Harvard/Chicago axis that represents Goldman Sachs, Wall St and the kind of unfettered, unregulated, "free"-market larceny that has been eroding this country's economic vitality for 30 years, while making the rich much richer still. Summers and company are the same ding-dongs and charlatans posing as economic gurus who have enabled the on-going plunder of America
"The person writing this could be a world-renown policy expert or someone with great insight into the motivations of the White House economic team. Or, he or she could be a crank. One would not know from reading the commentators' post that Summers is among the most forceful advocates for more spending...that Summers and Romer were among those who pushed the Senate and the House to consider a state bailout bill that, two weeks ago, had no chance at passing.
Suddently this story has shifted from one about economic policymaking to media relations in the age of the internet. Which raises a question: Has the increase in available information actually increased public ignorance of government, politics and public policy due to the increase in the noise that purports to be informative?
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Blogs v Science
An author wonders why science blogs, at least the popular ones, spend so little time discussing science:
Clearly I’ve been out of some loop for too long, but does everyone take for granted now that science sites are where graduate students, researchers, doctors and the “skeptical community” go not to interpret data or review experiments but to chip off one-liners, promote their books and jeer at smokers, fat people and churchgoers? And can anyone who still enjoys this class-inflected bloodsport tell me why it has to happen under the banner of science?
The same point can be made about political sites of course. Perhaps there's something in the medium itself that encourages the juvenile, or are we living in a superficial age?
Clearly I’ve been out of some loop for too long, but does everyone take for granted now that science sites are where graduate students, researchers, doctors and the “skeptical community” go not to interpret data or review experiments but to chip off one-liners, promote their books and jeer at smokers, fat people and churchgoers? And can anyone who still enjoys this class-inflected bloodsport tell me why it has to happen under the banner of science?
The same point can be made about political sites of course. Perhaps there's something in the medium itself that encourages the juvenile, or are we living in a superficial age?
Monday, November 2, 2009
Want to Investigate Governmental Agencies?
From Texas Watchdog, an invitation to learn how to investigate quasi-governmental agencies, what we call single purpose local governments:
Hope you can join us for the next Trent TV, a free monthly webinar for journalists, bloggers, citizen-journalists and activists. We’ll be discussing how to look into hospital authorities, sports authorities, and other agencies that are not 100% government like a public works department, but definitely not private corporations. We’ll talk about the types of records these agencies keep and how to peel back the layers of bureaucracy and get a closer look at how they spend taxpayer money.
Join us at 11:30 a.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 10, at newmediatv.org.
Given the state of journalism, this might be how we find things out in the future.
Hope you can join us for the next Trent TV, a free monthly webinar for journalists, bloggers, citizen-journalists and activists. We’ll be discussing how to look into hospital authorities, sports authorities, and other agencies that are not 100% government like a public works department, but definitely not private corporations. We’ll talk about the types of records these agencies keep and how to peel back the layers of bureaucracy and get a closer look at how they spend taxpayer money.
Join us at 11:30 a.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 10, at newmediatv.org.
Given the state of journalism, this might be how we find things out in the future.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Elections and Legitimacy
Elections, as we argue in 2301, are devices which among other things connect the general population with the law, thereby lending it legitimacy. But if an election seems to have been fraudulent, the opposite can occur. This is especially true if the fraud seems obvious, and a large percentage of the population agrees. The governing system then loses legitimacy, society crumbles and either government does something to reestablish legitimacy or removes the pretense and just clamps down on the population.
This may help explain the results of the recent election in Iran. Its president was reelected by a comfortable margin, a result which seems improbable based on popular opinion. Fraud is widely suspected. Protests have erupted, and some suspect a coup is in the works.
Andrew Sullivan claims that this story is only breaking because the blogosphere is pushing it, not the mainstream media. Even Twitter helped.
This may help explain the results of the recent election in Iran. Its president was reelected by a comfortable margin, a result which seems improbable based on popular opinion. Fraud is widely suspected. Protests have erupted, and some suspect a coup is in the works.
Andrew Sullivan claims that this story is only breaking because the blogosphere is pushing it, not the mainstream media. Even Twitter helped.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Did the Blogosphere Drive the Palin Selection?
Maybe.
Here's a blog, started in February 2007, which has pushed her selection.
Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President.
What does this tell us about contemporary politics?
Here's a blog, started in February 2007, which has pushed her selection.
Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President.
What does this tell us about contemporary politics?
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blog Action Day
In case you were wondering what all the excitement was about October 15th, it was blog action day 2007.
As best as I can tell, it was an effort to use the blogosphere to raise awareness of a common issue, in this case the environment, by having multiple blogs post on the topic. Over 20,000 did, though I don't know how one determines whether this was successful. There are over 100 million blogs apparently--many dead. 20,000 ain't much in comparison, and who knows whether policy makers will take this type of things seriously.
But it's another example of how people are trying to figure out the best way to use this new medium.
As best as I can tell, it was an effort to use the blogosphere to raise awareness of a common issue, in this case the environment, by having multiple blogs post on the topic. Over 20,000 did, though I don't know how one determines whether this was successful. There are over 100 million blogs apparently--many dead. 20,000 ain't much in comparison, and who knows whether policy makers will take this type of things seriously.
But it's another example of how people are trying to figure out the best way to use this new medium.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Crusader Watch
While scrolling through other sites related to the Islamic State of Iraq I stumbled across Crusader Watch, which seems to be an Al Qaeda friendly blog. It'll worth a look from time to time.
Of course I'm sure this'll put me on some NSA watch list, but I'll blame my students. They put me up to this.
Of course I'm sure this'll put me on some NSA watch list, but I'll blame my students. They put me up to this.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Nothing Changes?
The Mainstream media has been covering the latest (physical, not cyber) gathering of fans of the Daily Kos, a left-liberal blog that has helped pull the Democratic Party--for better or worst--further to the left than it was when Clinton was president.
E.J. Dionne calls Markos Moulitsas--aka Kos--the left's answer to Rush Limbaugh, whose mastery of talk radio has never been duplicated by liberals. Many are suggesting the internet, as a medium, tilts as much to the left as talk radio tilts to the right.
Like most opinion leaders on the edges of the liberal conservative spectrum, Kos focuses as much, if not more, rage on moderate Democrats willing to compromise with the president as he does on Republicans. The more powerful they become, or seem to become, the more they can persuade candidates to stake out positions to the left.
As an indication that they are succeeding, almost all the Democratic candidates spoke before the Yearly Kos, though none attended the annual meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council. The DLC helped develop the centrist ideas that won Clinton the elections of 1992 and 1996, and Gore the popular vote in 2000. But nothing fails like success and the liberal wing, which began rearing its head with Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy (Dean was an ex-DLC'er by the way) now wants it all. Which may not be a good thing for Democrats if they want to win in 2008. There just aren't that many hard core liberals out there.
Commentators also seem to point out an irony of the yearly convention--which was aimed at the liberal blogosphere. Once you got to see them, they looked suspiciously white, male and middle aged, just like everyone else in politics.
It makes you wonder if, once the web becomes mainstream, we'll be back where we all started.
E.J. Dionne calls Markos Moulitsas--aka Kos--the left's answer to Rush Limbaugh, whose mastery of talk radio has never been duplicated by liberals. Many are suggesting the internet, as a medium, tilts as much to the left as talk radio tilts to the right.
Like most opinion leaders on the edges of the liberal conservative spectrum, Kos focuses as much, if not more, rage on moderate Democrats willing to compromise with the president as he does on Republicans. The more powerful they become, or seem to become, the more they can persuade candidates to stake out positions to the left.
As an indication that they are succeeding, almost all the Democratic candidates spoke before the Yearly Kos, though none attended the annual meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council. The DLC helped develop the centrist ideas that won Clinton the elections of 1992 and 1996, and Gore the popular vote in 2000. But nothing fails like success and the liberal wing, which began rearing its head with Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy (Dean was an ex-DLC'er by the way) now wants it all. Which may not be a good thing for Democrats if they want to win in 2008. There just aren't that many hard core liberals out there.
Commentators also seem to point out an irony of the yearly convention--which was aimed at the liberal blogosphere. Once you got to see them, they looked suspiciously white, male and middle aged, just like everyone else in politics.
It makes you wonder if, once the web becomes mainstream, we'll be back where we all started.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Investigative Blogger
According to this story, one of the factors which led to the deterioration of the case against the Duke University lacrosse players was the persistence of Robert D. Johnson, a history professor from Brooklyn College.
Soon after the case began he began a blog (Durham-in-Wonderland) which he used to explore questions he developed concerning the merits of the case. His discoveries apparently guided the defendant's lawyers as they developed their defense.
Should we expect more of the same? Can weblog be effective tools for private citizens to bring attention to criminal cases they find problematic?
Soon after the case began he began a blog (Durham-in-Wonderland) which he used to explore questions he developed concerning the merits of the case. His discoveries apparently guided the defendant's lawyers as they developed their defense.
Should we expect more of the same? Can weblog be effective tools for private citizens to bring attention to criminal cases they find problematic?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
From Bloggers to Journalists
The evolution of internet content continues.
Blogs are attempting to go beyond simple commentary to full on reporting of events. Sometime ago, talkingpointsmemo--one of the first liberal blogs--started a new site where they invite readers to contribute actual news, and even hired a couple of reporters on its own.
Assignment Zero, sponsored by Wired, is doing the same.
The times keep on a-changing.
Blogs are attempting to go beyond simple commentary to full on reporting of events. Sometime ago, talkingpointsmemo--one of the first liberal blogs--started a new site where they invite readers to contribute actual news, and even hired a couple of reporters on its own.
Assignment Zero, sponsored by Wired, is doing the same.
The times keep on a-changing.
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