The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard This is a fabulous video that provides an overview of our consumption-driven wasteful economy and describes it (accurately) as a system in crisis. As the NY Times says, “it has been embraced by teachers eager to supplement textbooks that lag behind scientific findings on climate change and pollution.”

White House – Open Government Initiative Obama follows up on his promise of transparency and public engagement with the Open Gov initiative. Micah Sifry and Nancy Scola discuss the tools and the processes involved.

U.S. charges Somali man with piracy (BBC) WASHINGTON – The only surviving pirate of last month’s attack on an American cargo ship off the coast of Somalia has been indicted in New York, reports the BBC.

The Benefits of Distraction and Overstimulation Excellent essay examining the nature of distraction, its links to Zen, and how focussed concentration may be a thing of the past.

Professor Todd Gitlin’s Keynote at Journalism in Crisis Gitlin discusses the crisis in US journalism looking at 1. deciline in circulation 2. decline in advertising revenue 3. diffusion of attention 4. the crisis of authority 5. the deference to authority. Good points especially about 3. Cross reference this with the article: In Defence of Distraction.

Linked Data is Blooming: Why You Should Care

Here’s a post giving background to some of the debate that took place at the Social Technologies Summit 2009. It gives some good, simple explanation of the semantic web or the web of linked data and includes links to TED talks by Tim Bernard-Lees.

Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives

“Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives examines the spontaneous actions of ordinary people, caught up in extraordinary events, who felt compelled to adopt the role of a news reporter. This collection draws together 21 original, thought-provoking chapters. It investigates citizen journalism in the West, including the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, as well as its development in a variety of other national contexts around the globe, including Brazil, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Palestine, South Korea, Vietnam, and even Antarctica.”

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.