transparent

Only open news is good news: Apture, Washington Post, Times Extra

These days, you don't need to launch portal sites that vie for new audiences. You're better served leveraging existing applications to provide new functionality for venues that already attract a fair share of eyeballs or that even cultivate their own communities.

Internet activist Lawrence Lessig points out a feature of Apture, a rich media content compilation platform, that promotes government transparency by allowing bloggers and other publishers to embed links to rich media background info on politicians and their records (i.e., key moments of testimony in videos, historical source materials, government documents, and even bills and resolutions). … Read more

Google spotlights customized search differences

Google's search engine gives different responses depending on the location of a person and various other factors. On Wednesday, the company said, it will show searchers exactly what those differences are.

"Today, we're rolling out a new feature in Google Web Search that will help you better understand how your search results are already customized," said Rachel Garb, a Google product manager, in the blog post. A message will appear above the search results telling how searches were customized and offering a link to share more details.

Specifically, the message will show how search changed from … Read more

Microsoft to avoid transparency with Windows 7

Glyn Moody hits the nail on the head with his critique of Microsoft's proposed approach to Windows 7: Say little so that the market expects little.

It's not an unreasonable approach, and Microsoft did get burned for actually warning the market about what it would be providing, only to have to endure the consequences of not living up to the expectations it set, but I'm not sure it can afford to go back. Stating that it will be "more careful" with Windows 7, Microsoft's representative noted:

"We know that when we talk about … Read more

Net users are becoming their own reputation managers

With everyone becoming a producer in the YouTube age, self-branding ("The Brand Called You") has evolved from a fancy to a necessity.

Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame have shrunk to 5 seconds of microfame, and in the contained public arena of social networks, amateur paparazzi--thanks to the viral nature of social media--have the power to grant celebrity status. That, in a nutshell, is the thesis of Clive Thompson's poignant piece for Wired on the rise of "microcelebrities."

As Facebook walls make personal communications open to the rest of your trusted network, even your … Read more

Attention profiling: How radical do you want radical transparency to be?

Michael Pick of Particls has written the perhaps most comprehensive overview of attention profiling and APML (attention profiling mark-up language) to date. APML is a proposed standard that allows users to share their own personal attention profile and compress all forms of attention data into one portable file format that can be traded between attention seekers and givers:

"We have reached the point of information hyper-saturation. It can become quite a chore to find relevant content online, when there is so much other information competing for your attention. But by implementing attention profiling, it becomes possible to have the … Read more

Listening to Music: A How-to Guide

Listening comes naturally, doesn't it? Well sure, everyone with normal hearing can listen, but what do they hear? What I'm talking about is listening as a focused activity--as opposed listening where music serves as background to something else, reading, driving, running, working, or washing the dishes--active listening can be a lot more rewarding. You hear stuff in your favorite music, maybe rhythm guitar patterns, overdubbed vocals, or instruments you never knew were there can suddenly jump out of the mix. It's stuff the band may have put a huge effort into perfecting, that you only notice when … Read more

Objectivity, transparency, and the future of journalism

Traditional journalism values objectivity above almost all other principles. Many contracts prohibit journalists from becoming active in politics and some reporters actually decline to vote in order to avoid undermining their objectivity. Sports columnist John Canzano at The Oregonian, however, has recently taken a job working for Paul Allen, the owner of the Trail Blazers. Can Canzano still be objective while simultaneously being employed by Allen's NewsRadio 750 KXL?

… Read more

An architecture of transparency: Wikipedia leads the way

If you haven't been following the brouhaha around Wikipedia recently, Glyn Moody's excellent synopsis will give you the skinny. It turns out that Wikipedia is more open than anyone thought, not only because anyone can theoretically edit it, but also because it records the IP addresses of those who do.

My favorite? Microsoft's view of itself:… Read more

Clear sound gets new definition

If simplicity creates good design, this is a perfect example. With so many MP3 speakers on the market, it's almost impossible to stand out. But this system from MoMA has managed to do just that, not by adding bells and whistles but by reducing its appearance.

The "Soundsticks II," as you can plainly see, has a transparent casing that lets you inspect its innards while enjoying "high-quality stereo sound for music, MP3s, movies, and games." Uber-Review says the bases of the speakers are easy to adjust, which is a good thing because you wouldn't … Read more