Interesting Snippets

at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Souneil Park and his collaborators have been experimenting with aggregation algorithms that feed into a news presentation called NewsCube, which nudges users towards consuming a greater variety of perspectives. Forget leaving things to chance with serendipity — their research is working on actively biasing your exposure to news in a beneficial way

It can be easy to succumb to the fallacy that, because computer algorithms are systematic, they must somehow be more “objective.” …

Any decision process, whether human or algorithm, about what to include, exclude, or emphasize — processes of which Google News has many — has the potential to introduce bias. What’s interesting in terms of algorithms though is that the decision criteria available to the algorithm may appear innocuous while at the same time resulting in output that is perceived as biased

French regional daily newspaper and website La Nouvelle République has developed mobile apps that push local news and sport to readers based on their location… The Android and iPhone apps push news about the region, city and hyperlocal area the user of the app is in.

Google News, its executives tell me, now “algorithmically harvests” articles from more than 50,000 news sources across 72 editions and 30 languages. And Google News-powered results, Google says, are viewed by about 1 billion unique users a week. (Yep, that’s billion with a b.) Which translates, for news outlets overall, to more than 4 billion clicks each month: 1 billion from Google News itself and an additional 3 billion from web search.

As a Google representative put it, “That’s about 100,000 business opportunities we provide publishers every minute.”

Citi 97.3 FM has been adjudged the most innovative African newsroom in the use of digital media ….
The station pioneered Google+ hangouts in its current affairs programs with high profile videoconferences with the NPP vice Presidential Candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the PPP Presidential Candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom among others.

The station has a very interactive Facebook page, a highly active YouTube channel and regularly updates its news website www.citifmonline.com with videos and tweets regularly

More than a quarter of those in the US and UK accessing news via their mobile each week (28%)…
In the UK, more than one in ten (13%) say their smartphones are now their MAIN way of accessing online news. … Of tablet owners, 58% use the device to access news every week in the UK

Perhaps the most disruptive feature of #waywire is its raw database of original footage from 60 content partners, including Reuters, the world’s largest multimedia news agency. In the near future, users will be able to cut original clips on breaking world news, giving them the editorial power once reserved to broadcast producers walled-off in a darkroom with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Web-savvy users could splice together the best professional footage with eye-witness citizen accounts posted on YouTube, disrupting the major broadcasters’ monopoly on video news. #waywire also plans to let users shoot and edit their own video responses to content they find around the web.

what if we abandon the idea that everyone sees the same stories? That was a pre-Internet technological limitation, and maybe we’ve let what was possible become what is right. I want to recognize that each person not only has unique interests, but is uniquely affected by larger events, and has a unique capacity to act.