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New Source of News and Reports about Iraq
IraqSlogger is a new source for news about Iraq. Editor and Publisher says that IraqSlogger aims to be "a one-stop-shopping clearinghouse for nonpartisan information, including material coming out of Iraq itself from natives of that country, not from foreign correspondents." Although much of this site may be of interest to government information specialists, several areas may be of particular interest:
IraqSlogger is the creation of Eason Jordan who is a former CNN chief news executive and, according to Editor and Publisher, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee to Protect Journalists and has won various Emmy, Peabody and Headliner awards and directed war coverage for CNN in Somalia, Yugoslavia and Iraq.
The IraqSlogger about page says:
IraqSlogger reports on traditional topics as well as extraordinary topics: black market prices in Baghdad, the buzz on Iraq's streets, the latest graffiti in Iraq, and more. IraqSlogger's contributors include journalists in Iraq, the U.S., and elsewhere who are committed to providing insightful and, at times, unconventional, reporting and analysis, as well as links to, and critiques of, reporting and analysis in U.S. and Iraqi news outlets.
Editor and Publisher says:
His site includes everything from links to op eds and articles in mainstream U.S. papers to "viral videos" and jokes from Iraq. Jordan points to "nuggets" missed by the U.S. media, such as Iraqis getting "addicted" to the TV series "Lost," or the latest kidnapping of contractors. Not merely a collection of links, it will focus on what he calls "original reporting from Iraq beyond the traditional." One of the site's unique and most valuable services is a daily roundup of news from Iraqi newspapers that few in the U.S. media have ever bothered to translate. Jordan has Arabic speakers here and in Iraq providing this service, and so far this week, these columns have gotten "far more" traffic than anything else on the site. A staffer in Iraq also monitors blogs there. -- Former CNN News Chief To Launch 'IraqSlogger' Site, By Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher (December 13, 2006)
Early reviews of the site are mixed. One commentator notes that "this company is mixing up the job of making available a free news-reporting service with that of hiring themselves out as private intel consultants/providers, offering themselves to the highest bidders." (What is IraqSlogger?, by Helena Cobban, Just World News, December 14, 2006.) Continue reading
NASA contracts with Google for access to images, data
Google soon will index content from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Content indexed will include three-dimensional maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle and will "allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars," according to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Future endeavors will apply Google's search features to scientific data.
- NASA-Google partnership ready for liftoff By Caroline McCarthy, CNET News.com, December 18, 2006
- Google To Index Content For Federal Space Agency by Aliya Sternstein, National Journal's Technology Daily, December 18, 2006 PM edition [subscription required]
New alternative to YouTube
Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network is new service that offers politicos an alternative to YouTube and similar sites.
CHBN "is a powerful, interactive, internet broadcasting platform created specifically for those with vested interests in politics and government affairs. CHBN empowers its members with user-friendly, internet video technology tools to communicate with targeted audiences and the general public. CHBN provides a free service for broadcasting member-generated political video content. CHBN is a one-stop portal for viewers to see the latest political news, legislative updates, committee hearings, speeches, commercials, and countless other political videos.More information on their About page and in this article: New Political Site Aims To Compete With YouTube by Heather Greenfield National Journal's Technology Daily December 18, 2006 PM edition [subscription required]. Continue reading
World Digital Library project
UNESCO and US Library of Congress host meeting on World Digital Library project, UNESCO (30-11-2006)
UNESCO and the Library of Congress will host a meeting to pave the way for the launch of a World Digital Library, an internet-based, repository of knowledge from all cultures and in all languages. The meeting will seek to establish a network of experts and partners who will work on the project.Continue reading
Why we care about privacy
Every now and then, someone asks one of us at FGI why we still care about privacy. The often unspoken assumption is that we don't have privacy anymore and we should just accept the fact and live with it. But we still believe that it is an important right for citizens to be able to examine information collected, compiled, and created by our government without worrying that the government is monitoring who is reading what and what our interests are. Here is a good item that goes into the current state of government spying on citizens and why it is bad. I recommend it. As he says, "If a Government is permitted to collect and maintain vast dossiers on its citizens, that information is going to be abused" and "our democracy can only function if citizens know what its Government is doing."
- The Federal Government's domestic intelligence-gathering on U.S. citizens by Glenn Greenwald, Unclaimed Territory, December 03, 2006.
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