Citizen journalism may not be respected by traditionally educated and trained journalists, but citizen journalists sure seem to be making lots of headway in reporting news via the web.
I've been watching and reading citizen journalism for awhile now, with growing respect. Why? Well, because some people are doing this at the risk of their lives - like citizen journalist Rami Ahmad Al-Sayed who died when he was only 27 years old, leaving behind a wife and young daughter, in order to spread the word over the internet about the military assault he was witnessing first hand in Homs, Syria.
Critics snub the idea of citizen journalists for various reasons: first, their work does not reach the same level of quality as the professional journalist. They are amateurs. Second, citizen journalists cannot be trusted to be objective. They are biased. Third, citizen journalists aren't regulated - they have no set of rules or ethical codes imposed upon them as do members of the main stream media. They are rogues.
I understand that professionals who have studied in their field for years and thereafter dedicated years of their lives to journalism as a career path aren't too happy with these interlopers. As an attorney who has seen the practice of law change to allow non-lawyers to practice law in some ways, I get it.
However, when it comes to citizen journalists, I don't care.
I don't trust the main stream media (MSM) much these days -- for one thing, the same finger pointing that is made against citizen journalists has been made much too often against members of the Fourth Estate in recent years for me to blindly trust today's news media.
What? If you want to delve more into the sad failures of modern, professional journalism then I suggest you check out Joseph Campbell's 2010 book, Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism - which you can read for free at Google Books (at least you could when I typed this). Or read the witty column in today's Gawker by Hamilton Nolan, "Mainstream Media Attack Dogs Think We're Asking Too Many Questions About Orange Pie." It pretty much sums things up.
There's room in my world for both types of journalism, and maybe that's how things should be. Here are two examples of citizen journalists blogging online that I've been following this week.
The Baltimore SWAT Standoff Blogger
Frank James MacArthur considers himself to be a citizen journalist when he isn't driving a cab up in Baltimore and he writes a blog called "The Baltimore Spectator." Recently, after MacArthur didn't show in court for a violation of probation hearing on an old weapons charge, the police showed up at his house to issue a warrant.
MacArthur didn't cooperate, and it turned into a five hour standoff. SWAT was called, but things ended peacefully at 11 pm which MacArthur stated that he intended to coordinate with the evening television news.
Now, sure, MacArthur may have done some of this in order to spotlight his citizen journalist site. However, MacArthur also had a serious distrust of local law enforcement and chronicled the events as they transpired on the web for what he viewed as his own self-protection.
Belize Murder Investigation and The Mysterious John McAfee
Meanwhile, for a few weeks now the founder of a popular computer security software company, John McAfee, remains at large even though there were reports earlier today that he had been arrested at the Belize-Mexico border. John McAfee has been blogging his story on the internet as he remains out of the hands of Belize police who are seeking custody of Mr. McAfee as a person of interest in the murder of McAfee's next-door neighbor. McAfee's blog is "Who is McAfee?"
John McAfee is blogging about his successes in evading capture by the local authorities as well as his concerns that if he is taken by Belize police he will be harmed or killed - and this continuing story is making national news basically because of McAfee's own reporting of events thus far.
Belize police officials are calling McAfee "paranoid." John McAfee's blog posts, however, don't seem to be the rambling, irrational posts of someone who is mentally ill. His position is that he believed that if he had peacefully cooperated with police at the get-go, he might be killed.
I believe that blogging is important, but never more so than in situations like this, where individual citizens are sharing their stories - as they happen - with the public at large. Maybe they aren't the most objective reports; maybe they aren't written as well as they could be; and maybe there's no set of rules or guidelines applicable to their work.
However, in both of these blogging stories by citizen journalists, you have first-hand accounts of what local law enforcement is doing, or not doing, together with the interpretation of those events by the suspect of that police power action.
I want to read this. I think lots of people do. I think we need the citizen journalist and I hope that citizen journalism becomes more respected, and protected, over time.
Citizen journalists blogging on the internet (and I include micro-blogging at Twitter) bring information to the reader that professional journalists don't provide. Perhaps they can't provide it, I'll have to ponder that one.
As for the expansion of the police power through technological advances, and how privacy rights are endangered today and Big Brother scenarios are rapidly becoming reality, I'll write about that on my opinion blog soon enough.
12/3/12
11/23/12
LinkedIn Company Pages and More: Committing to More Time and Effort on LinkedIn in 2013
LinkedIn is coming up in more and more conversations that I'm having with clients and over this Thanksgiving holiday weekend, LinkedIn actually popped up in a chat or two among friends - seems that more and more business folk are interested in learning more about LinkedIn.
Most everyone at this point considers LinkedIn as more than a site used by people looking for a job or those looking to hire. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?) Most everyone is also confused about what LinkedIn can do for them, and absolutely everyone that I have been chewing the fat with over LinkedIn is wary of the amount of time that needs to be invested into LinkedIn before results are seen.
Still, LinkedIn is a surprisingly hot topic here on the Planet Reba: people are pondering doing more on that site, it's just a question of what they will do and how much time it will require.
Of course, this is exactly what LinkedIn is working hard to achieve: just read a post or two at the LinkedIn blog and you'll catch the drift about LinkedIn's plans for the future. (Maybe it's not world domination, but I wouldn't discount the possibility.)
Should LinkedIn be a part of your future? I think so. I know that I plan on LinkedIn having more of a presence in my 2013 Schedule than ever before. How? Why?
I'll explore this in more detail in future posts; however, right now there is something that I think is worth noting now and worth your time to consider implementing on the LinkedIn networking site: it's their new company pages.
LinkedIn Company Pages
LinkedIn made their redesigned company pages available to everyone last month. LinkedIn has a nice set of pages to acquaint members with this new offering, as well:
And there's more. There's a widget so you can place a "follow" button for your LinkedIn Company page on your company's web site or blog. There's a nice FAQ section.
Best for last: LinkedIn also has everything here packaged in a set of instructional videos to make things even easier and more inviting to you.
And, yes -- it's all free. Free. (Take that, Facebook.)
Want to learn more about this? Check out this downloadable pdf from LinkedIn for those who would rather print something and read it instead of looking at a screen. (Dinosaurs do still roam the earth.) Also check out their case histories of companies who are happy with the results they've experienced with their LinkedIn company pages.
Most everyone at this point considers LinkedIn as more than a site used by people looking for a job or those looking to hire. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?) Most everyone is also confused about what LinkedIn can do for them, and absolutely everyone that I have been chewing the fat with over LinkedIn is wary of the amount of time that needs to be invested into LinkedIn before results are seen.
Still, LinkedIn is a surprisingly hot topic here on the Planet Reba: people are pondering doing more on that site, it's just a question of what they will do and how much time it will require.
Of course, this is exactly what LinkedIn is working hard to achieve: just read a post or two at the LinkedIn blog and you'll catch the drift about LinkedIn's plans for the future. (Maybe it's not world domination, but I wouldn't discount the possibility.)
Should LinkedIn be a part of your future? I think so. I know that I plan on LinkedIn having more of a presence in my 2013 Schedule than ever before. How? Why?
I'll explore this in more detail in future posts; however, right now there is something that I think is worth noting now and worth your time to consider implementing on the LinkedIn networking site: it's their new company pages.
LinkedIn Company Pages
LinkedIn made their redesigned company pages available to everyone last month. LinkedIn has a nice set of pages to acquaint members with this new offering, as well:
- Overview of LinkedIn Re-Designed Company Pages
- Connecting: How to Find and Follow Other Companies on LinkedIn
- How To Set Up Your Own LinkedIn Company Page
- Money, Honey: Set Up Products and Services on Your Company Page
- Easy Peasy Status Updates to Your Company Page
And there's more. There's a widget so you can place a "follow" button for your LinkedIn Company page on your company's web site or blog. There's a nice FAQ section.
Best for last: LinkedIn also has everything here packaged in a set of instructional videos to make things even easier and more inviting to you.
And, yes -- it's all free. Free. (Take that, Facebook.)
Want to learn more about this? Check out this downloadable pdf from LinkedIn for those who would rather print something and read it instead of looking at a screen. (Dinosaurs do still roam the earth.) Also check out their case histories of companies who are happy with the results they've experienced with their LinkedIn company pages.
8/13/12
5 Tips for Creating Strong Passwords That Are Easy to Use
Today, there is a story that those who are following the tabloid story of Twilight star Kristen Stewart's affair with the director of her new Snow White movie are vulnerable to malware attacks. Seems that evildoers like to tag their malware (viruses and the like) to popular topics -- and this Twilight saga split of the Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson is right up their alley.
One of my clients is very concerned about this, since her kids love Twitter and Facebook and use her laptop routinely - and in doing so, they've already opened the door to one or more viruses which her tech support believes gained access through those shrunk links that appear on tweets and the like. It's called "clickjacking."
Which brings us to passwords. My client's biggest concern was protecting her financial sites as well as her blogging account. Could the virus circumvent her passwords? How do you create a strong password? How can you make passwords that are strong and that are also easy to use (and remember)?
Passwords need to be easy for you to remember and hard for those computer villains to figure out, even with their sneaky password finding software. Don't share them with anyone. Don't put them on sticky notes on your monitor. Remember to change them -- say on the 1st of every month.
Here are five (5) tips for creating strong, easy to use passwords:
1. Use a quote or a short sentence that is personal to you.
Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science Department recommends sentences such as "I have two kids: Jack and Jill." For sites that only allow a certain number of characters, they suggest you memorize a short version of this sentence and use it: "Ih2K:JaJ"
2. Use two unrelated words and then add some tweaks
Tweaks? They can be whatever works for you: like added punctuation and a capital letter or two which will be easy for you to remember.
Carnegie Mellon gives an example here of "book and goat" which then becomes "bo!ok29goat"
3. Use different passwords, and change them often.
PCMag recommends that you change your passwords as often as you change your underwear. PCMag also recommends that you use different passwords for different sites: never use the same password for different things. Don't use the same password for your online banking and your email account. That's just asking for trouble.
4. Move your hands on the keyboard.
PCMag has another good idea: once you have your secret password, move your hands on your keyboard so they are one row up or one column over -- then type.
5. Make things easier to remember by having your own password themes.
ComputerWorld suggests having a personal theme to your passwords that relate to a personal life event, such as the birth of a child. OneMorePush and IceChips were given as some of their examples here.
What I'm Doing With My Passwords These Days.
Not too long ago, I was hit by an evildoer that did get one of my email account passwords. However, the damage wasn't too bad -- it was an account I had set up to receive all those newsletters, daily quotes, etc. and not my personal or professional stuff. Still, it was scary enough that I spent most of a workday setting up all new passwords and a password-changing schedule (not on the 1st). I feel safer for it, and I think you will, too.
Another thing I did: I stopped opening those shrunken links. If the tweet doesn't give me enough info for me to google the site, and if I'm not interested enough to do a Google search, then so be it. Turns out to be a nice time saving tool as well as a security strategy.
For more:
Microsoft suggestions on passwords.
Microsoft Password Strength Checker (input your password for evaluation).
One of my clients is very concerned about this, since her kids love Twitter and Facebook and use her laptop routinely - and in doing so, they've already opened the door to one or more viruses which her tech support believes gained access through those shrunk links that appear on tweets and the like. It's called "clickjacking."
Which brings us to passwords. My client's biggest concern was protecting her financial sites as well as her blogging account. Could the virus circumvent her passwords? How do you create a strong password? How can you make passwords that are strong and that are also easy to use (and remember)?
Passwords need to be easy for you to remember and hard for those computer villains to figure out, even with their sneaky password finding software. Don't share them with anyone. Don't put them on sticky notes on your monitor. Remember to change them -- say on the 1st of every month.
Here are five (5) tips for creating strong, easy to use passwords:
1. Use a quote or a short sentence that is personal to you.
Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science Department recommends sentences such as "I have two kids: Jack and Jill." For sites that only allow a certain number of characters, they suggest you memorize a short version of this sentence and use it: "Ih2K:JaJ"
2. Use two unrelated words and then add some tweaks
Tweaks? They can be whatever works for you: like added punctuation and a capital letter or two which will be easy for you to remember.
Carnegie Mellon gives an example here of "book and goat" which then becomes "bo!ok29goat"
3. Use different passwords, and change them often.
PCMag recommends that you change your passwords as often as you change your underwear. PCMag also recommends that you use different passwords for different sites: never use the same password for different things. Don't use the same password for your online banking and your email account. That's just asking for trouble.
4. Move your hands on the keyboard.
PCMag has another good idea: once you have your secret password, move your hands on your keyboard so they are one row up or one column over -- then type.
5. Make things easier to remember by having your own password themes.
ComputerWorld suggests having a personal theme to your passwords that relate to a personal life event, such as the birth of a child. OneMorePush and IceChips were given as some of their examples here.
What I'm Doing With My Passwords These Days.
Not too long ago, I was hit by an evildoer that did get one of my email account passwords. However, the damage wasn't too bad -- it was an account I had set up to receive all those newsletters, daily quotes, etc. and not my personal or professional stuff. Still, it was scary enough that I spent most of a workday setting up all new passwords and a password-changing schedule (not on the 1st). I feel safer for it, and I think you will, too.
Another thing I did: I stopped opening those shrunken links. If the tweet doesn't give me enough info for me to google the site, and if I'm not interested enough to do a Google search, then so be it. Turns out to be a nice time saving tool as well as a security strategy.
For more:
Microsoft suggestions on passwords.
Microsoft Password Strength Checker (input your password for evaluation).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)