2020s
There’s a slug on the kitchen window this morning. Our kitchen is in the first floor. I can’t decide if this slug is ambitious or has had a lucky escape from a bird…
This week has given us a rather ominous look into the future of political #journalism: Dominic Cummings’ blogpost, direct dialogue and its threat to mainstream political journalism
Why aren't we taking Australia's bushfire apocalypse more seriously?
But the response to what’s transpired in Australia — again, over a period that has stretched into months — is unfamiliar, to me at least, and not in a good way. Those California fires transfixed the world’s attention, but while the ones still burning uncontrolled in Australia have gotten some media attention outside the country, in general they have been treated as a scary, but not apocalyptic, local news story.
It’s a harrowing glimpse into the future that awaits many of us if the climate crisis continues in its current direction. And we’re just not paying attention to it.
If you haven’t been paying attention to just how massive the bushfire crisis is in Australia, this set of information and links will open your eyes.
And possibly your bowels.
Oooooh, Matron…
Operio collection by Dead Lotus Couture aims to put latex “in every wardrobe”.
Journalism's Facebook narrative
Dave Winer on journalism’s narrative around Facebook:
Saying online is dangerous is like saying the subway is dangerous. But if you live in New York, you probably want to take the subway. Driving is dangerous. Everything is. Life itself isn’t safe. It’s a mix. You have to learn to discern.
The scam of pseudo-attention metrics
Part of the scam is that the pyramid scheme of attention will somehow pay off for a lot of people. It won’t. It can’t. The math doesn’t hold up. Someone is going to win a lottery, but it probably won’t be us. And a bigger part is that the things you need to do to be popular (the only metric the platforms share) aren’t the things you’d be doing if you were trying to be effective, or grounded, or proud of the work you’re doing.
It is quite remarkable that one of the biggest things to happen in UK politics so far this year… is a blog post.
Still, beats US politics and one man’s Twitter account, I suppose.
Who broke journalism?
”I would like to add that greedy and short-sighted executives and media company owners broke the industry because they were too lazy, arrogant and unintelligent to understand the ramifications of the internet to the information ecosystem.”
🔥
Consume Better — recommendations from the team at Hamburg’s NEXT conference (including myself) on digital media you’ll enjoy for the year ahead.
It’s well-known that women are under-represented amongst both Wikipedia editors and biographies, but how about in the citations.
Go on, have a guess.
This is how existing prejudice gets reinforced.
I’ve reached my daily reading goal on Apple Books. I’m using it to try to push myself to spend more time reading long-form, and not just articles on the web.
Currently reading: Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods. Enjoyable short fables about trees. 📚
Buckle up. Here we go again: Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak ‘shows global manipulation is out of control’
I included this photo in my latest Engaged Reading Digest because I like it so much. It’s very calming.
