David lafontaine's
Sips from the firehose
A site that attempts to render the internet down into one easy-to consume mental beverage.
Stumbling towards a more truthful web
One of the growing problems on the internet is the inability of many users to go beyond knee-jerk analysis of the information that comes gushing at us via the broadband firehose. And yeah, this is pretty much a natural for this blog.
Year-end Prediction Season Begins (with a look back)
At the end of every year, magazines, newspapers, pundits and chuckleheaded bloggers like me all do what we used to call "thumbsuckers" back in my old newspapering days. We kick our feet back on our desks, stare up at the stained asbestos-laced soundbrick ceiling and...
Training Ukraining Professors and Journalists in Kiev
Technological advances, more sophisticated and accomplished reporters – but troubling long-term trends This year, I took the lovely and learned Janine Warner along to the University of Mohyla’s institute for the Digital Future of Journalism (and yes, I am...
Hurricane Sandy Coverage on Storify: An Inflection Point?
In the past, we’d have to rely on the efforts of teams of photojournalists to comb over the wreckage, to find the enduring images, and then find a functioning film-development shop to soup the rolls of Tri-X or Kodak 400, and then try to get them to a still-functioning newspaper office to either get the shots on the AP wire, or get them onto the printing presses. I know – I covered the 1989 San Francisco earthquake under just such a set of circumstances.
Feeling like this today…
Wow. Tried uploading this to Facebook: No go. Then tried uploading to Tumblr. No go. Got this: Someone please tell me again how it is that Animated GIFs are supposedly "taking over the interwebs" when it's impossible to get the damn things to upload? Meanwhile, I feel...
Accusing Your Brand of Committing Crimes: Marketing Genius or Madness?
Mobile gaming company Playgearz issues a fake PR release taking responsibility for criminally demolishing buildings. Is it OK now to pretend you’ve committed a crime in order to clickjack people into downloading your derivative iPhone game?