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New Media

New Media, Press

Shirky’s ‘Shock of Inclusion’

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In 2010, Clay Shirky (then at Harvard, now at NYU) wrote about the changing nature of the news business, in a concise, insightful essay entitled, The Shock of Inclusion and New Roles for News in the Fabric of Society.  It’s well-regarded and so has been oft-cited.   These four calendar years later, it’s still the…

Freedom of Speech, Local Government, New Media, Press

Local News

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There’s a paywall up at Janesville’s GazetteXtra.com, with some content available for free, but much more local news now behind a paywall. I’ve no idea whether their effort will be a success, and the best one can say is that it will be tough going. Everyone at the paper surely sees that. In the end,…

New Media, New Whitewater, Press

Horses and Automobiles, Contemporaneously

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For thousands of years humanity used horses as a major means of travel and transport. There were other kinds of locomotion during that long span, but until the automobile horses were a dominant part of rural and urban travel throughout much of the world. The first automobiles, considered from the perspective of horses (that is,…

City, New Media, New Whitewater, Press Release

City Announcements

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Let’s assume, as with Whitewater’s 12.4.12 Common Council meeting, the city adopts sensible guidelines for filling vacancies by appointment. The vacancy process adopted at the meeting was the work of Councilmember Binnie and City Attorney McDonell, and one can find the draft of their work online in the 12.4.12 council packet. As with a school…

Freedom of Speech, Law, Local Government, New Media

First Amendment and Social Media in Federal Lawsuit Against City of Honolulu, Local Police

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There’s a case in Hawaii, in federal court, that may limit a city’s restrictions on municipal webpages and social media. If municipal agencies establish Facebook or other social media pages, can they censor critical comments from among all other comments? That’s the question before the court in Hawaii, about the comments policy of the Honolulu…

Business, New Media

Update on Friday Poll: Is Facebook a Fad?

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Last Friday’s poll asked whether Facebook seemed a fad.  Most respondents said no, but almost as many said that it was, or that they weren’t sure. Commenters were, I’d say, skeptical of the company. Well, fad or not, all the world’s talking about the problems FB’s stock is having.  (I didn’t think it was a…

New Media

Daily Adams

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Readers have asked why I now have a third blog (www.dailyadams.com). It’s straightforward, really. I mean Daily Adams to cover state or national topics from a libertarian perspective, Daily Wisconsin to publish squibs with news of the Badger State, and FREE WHITEWATER to post original local content (and re-post state & national topics from Daily…

Freedom of Speech, New Media

The Simplicity of Blogging

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The important dynamic for blogging is one that I tweeted about yesterday: write what you believe, and defend what you write. If one writes from conviction, and defends that writing (and the liberty to write), one has a good chance of making one’s way through good times and bad. (In the course of defending something,…