We have a number of new blogs at NPR that show promise:
Take a look and let us know what you think!
Could we use a new source of news? I’m thinking we could.
I’m calling it “Maximum Planet,” a riff on the title of Suketu Mehta’s book “Maximum City.”
It’s my belief that the future is being written right now in places like Brazil, Nigeria, India, Malaysia and China. But we’re still looking at these places as outliers, suppliers and backwaters. We don’t see them for what they are.
They are the new leaders. They see the world from a different perspective. And they’re combining the tools of the information age and global commerce with a massive advantage in human capital to chart their own course into the future.
This isn’t a new idea. It has been widely observed that the last century was the “American Century” and that this century will be the “Pacific Century.” But this shift — assuming it is actually happening — has not been fully reflected in the media. And, anyway, I’d argue that this will be much more than the “Pacific” century. There are interesting ideas and developments on every continent.
(I do want to note that NPR — where I work — is an exception to this observation. The company has long displayed a commitment to chronicling the lives of people around the world. It is one of many stand-out features of America’s premier broadcast news organization.)
I think it’s finally time for a news organization with a holistic view of the world and an innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
I’m imagining something like The Economist for the new media age, with the addition of cultural coverage akin to that found in the NYT and the human tone of NPR.
Some people are moving in this direction, from biggies such as the NYT and NPR to upstarts such as GlobalPost and GroundReport. But they aren’t quite at the place I’m imagining, yet.
I went to see Slumdog Millionaire in the theater for the first time and, while it’s true that I enjoyed it, I was surprised that it wasn’t better.
The fact is, it reminded me of the Brazilian movie City of God. Both movies follow brothers/friends from childhood as they and their poverty stricken surroundings grow into something new. In both movies, one boy follows the gangster path, while the other somehow finds his way to a life that is destined to move beyond the slums. And both films make manic-good use of music.
The difference between the two is that Slumdog was entertaining, although it tried to be more than that, and City of God was moving, amazing. It was superior art.
Apparently, this isn’t an original thought. But it is what hit me in the wake of watching Slumdog.
I was talking about this with a friend and we chalked it up to Slumdog being made by an outsider and City being made by Brazilians.
Everyone else I talked to said they enjoyed Slumdog more because, as they saw it, it involved less violence. I think they might see it differently if they watched the films in succession. But, then, maybe so would I!
I forgot to say what I specifically like about the New York Times article skimmer. There are really two things that stand out to me:
1. It provides roughly equal weight to all of the content choices available under each subject heading. That allows me to focus on searching the content instead of trying to decipher the site’s visual and editorial hierarchy.
2. It loads everything into a single frame or viewer. When I select a new subject it just reloads the same frame with a fresh batch of results. I don’t have to scroll. I don’t have to try and understand a new environment. I’m in the same environment, it’s just the information available to me that has changed.
One of the missing pieces to the puzzle is that when I do click on a story in the skimmer it takes me to a standard story page. I hope that they’ll further develop the skimmer product so that it loads the story into the skimmer window in a layout that is specific to that environment.
It’s just a week after the best snow of the year that we’ve had the most warmth of the winter! I guess spring is here.
We received 6-8 inches of snow last week, as these photos from Capitol Hill attest. This week we’re luxuriating in temperatures that have ranged from the 50s and up into the 70s. Nice! I won’t provide photos of the warmth because they just aren’t as compelling. But, trust me, it’s more satisfying to walk through a warm DC day than it is to slog through a cold DC morning.
