Posts tagged innovation
Reach Out and Touch Something
Carnegie Mellon and Disney Research have teamed up to create a prototype called Touché that turns almost any surface — from solid to liquid — into a multifaceted touch surface.
Via Carnegie Mellon:
A doorknob that knows to lock or unlock based on how it is grasped. A smartphone that silences itself if the user holds a finger to her lips. A chair that adjusts room lighting.
They are among the many possible applications of Touché, a new sensing technique developed by a team at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Touché is a form of capacitive touch sensing, the same principle underlying the types of touchscreens used in most smartphones.
But instead of sensing electrical signals at a single frequency, like the typical touchscreen, Touché monitors capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies.
This Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing (SFCS) makes it possible to not only detect a “touch event,” but to recognize complex configurations of the hand or body that is doing the touching. An object thus could sense how it is being touched, or might sense the body configuration of the person doing the touching.
SFCS is robust and can enhance everyday objects by using just a single sensing electrode. Sometimes, as in the case of a doorknob or other conductive objects, the object itself can serve as a sensor and no modifications are required.
Even the human body or a body of water can be a sensor.
We look forward to the day Touché and Siri get together and make babies.
Call for Entries: $1 Million African News Challenge
The African Media Initiative has opened a $1 million news challenge. The initiative will offer grants from $12,500 to $100,000 for African-based projects and is modeled after the Knight News Challenge in the United States.
This innovation challenge focuses on journalism and the news media.
We are looking for disruptive digital ideas for improving the way that news is collected and disseminated.
By digital ideas, we mean tools or strategies that use the Internet, mobile platforms, data driven journalism, computer assisted reporting, digitally augmented reality, or other electronic means to improve the relevance and impact of news media.
Your ideas should be focused on providing pragmatic solutions to realworld challenges facing Africa’s media.
Your innovation should fall into any of four broad categories: news gathering; story telling; audience engagement; or the business of news.
The competition opens today with the submission deadline on July 10.
More information is available here.
Don't Like the News? There's a Button for That
Norway’s second largest tabloid is offering readers a button at the top of its Web site that will remove all articles about Anders Breivik, the man who went on a murder rampage in Norway last July, and now stands trial.
As Journalism.co.uk points out, this is similar to a Guardian experiment last year when they too had a button to remove articles. In that case, the offending media frenzy readers sought refuge from was the royal wedding.
These are extraordinary times. These are exciting times. There has been tremendous disruption, but let’s consider the huge positives that underly that disruption. There are no longer the same barriers to publishing: everyone has a printing press, and there are no gatekeepers. There are new ways for people to both consume and share news. There are powerful new technologies that can change what journalists do and how they do it. In my view, the future of journalism can and will be better than its past.
While technology holds great promise, it’s important to recognize that while technology has value it has no “values.” Technology, in and of itself, is not the solution. Yes, it can provide the means for solutions, but it is up to us to determine how to make it so.
We need to rethink every facet of the journalism model in light of the dramatic changes in the architecture of the news ecosystem.
Figuring out the future from (not Tarot) cards
via a pretty interesting paper by Nicholas Diakopoulos:
Data are numerical entities or veridical facts. Information is about adding relationships between these elements of data, or creating groupings and categorizations of data. Knowledge emerges when humans interpret, analyze, and judge information as a mechanism for driving decision making.
In his most recent writing, Dr. Diakopoulos does a lot of terminological house keeping — determining the difference between the mathematics of computing and the interactive, humanistic side of it, and so on. He also decides what a journalist’s 10 goals are. Here’s three that look really simple before he tosses in 7 lesser, or complementary, ones:
(1) striving for truth, (2) acting in the public interest, and (3) generally providing information about contemporary affairs of public interest. These can in-turn be conceived of as being reinforced by other values, goals, or activities.
The final result of all this categorizing is four giant categories — Computing, Consumer needs, Journalistic goals, and Information processes — and the 55 terms that make them up. Combining terms from different categories will, Diakopoulos hopes, create a systematic way to come up with innovative ideas. And to do that, Diakopoulos employs a card game. Each term gets its own card, and each card is color-coded depending on its category.
Here’s how to play: place the Computing cards in one pile, and all cards from the other three categories in a separate pile. Play with three people. One person takes a card from Computing and the others each take a card from the Consumer-Journalists-Information pile, and, taking what they’ve picked, brainstorm:
Combining the concepts shown on the drawn cards, the group is instructed to “generate as many different ideas as possible in five minutes”. Brainstorming can happen in many different ways, though we stress quantity of ideas since research has shown that stressing quantity over quality tends to ultimately yield more high-quality ideas.
How did it go? Well, Dr. Diakopoulos goes into detail about how he tried the game with different people, and how the groups compared. They were actually quite similar, and came up with some somewhat interesting ideas — like recreating dangerous intersections online, or examining audience reactions to real-time, unorganized events.
FJP: It sounds pretty Dada. Buy the construction paper, write the terms out in permanent marker and go find the scissors, or order readymade cards here. Or you can go take a long walk and think of your next big idea in the shower. We’re dealing with mysterious stuff here. Your call.
H/T: Nieman Lab
To accompany an article on hyperaddictive stupid games, the New York Times creates a hyperaddictive stupid game.
As you can see, I tried to destroy the site’s navigation.
Today in Jurassic Technology
Tackling voice and video transmission didn’t start with Skype, Facetime and Google.
Head back in time and we have Edison’s imagined Telephonoscope as shown here in Punch’s Almanac from 1879 (Transmits light as well as sound!) .
1910 saw another imagined videotelephony display (bottom right) in a look at what 21st century France might be all about (technology changes, fashion remains the same?).
In 1956 AT&T created a prototype for the Picturephone (bottom left) and introduced it to the public at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. In an exhibit, visitors could call and see people at another installation in Disneyland.
Frame rate: one image every two seconds.
Three Unique Publisher Apps
Digiday points out 3 mobile apps created by publishers that go above and beyond just recreating the web & print experience (look, feel, layout, content). You know, actual innovation on the mobile front:
Unfortunately for readers, it seems as though media outlets often take the path of least resistance and just port their online content into an app. There are a few, however, who forge their own paths. Here are three unique mobile apps where publishers are trying something new.
Orange County Register: This local California paper (1.3 million uniques in February 2012, according to comScore) takes a unique approach to delivering content on its app, The Peel. The outlet plays to the audience, serving stories throughout six categories — news, sports, business, trending, things to do, and photo/video gallery — that are chosen based on iPad reader’s interests and many of the stories can only be found within the application. Additionally, the app pushes content in the evening and each addition features content exclusively for the app. A novel approach for a local outlet, this app can go a long way for those living in the OC — or those just stopping by.
Download the app here.
WP Politics The Washington Post has an election 2012 specific app, which does way more than port content from its website. Sure, there’s news from the paper and a website that finds its way onto the app — like Ezra Klein’s blog or The Fact Checker — but the app delivers additional information that’s not on the site: a polling map for the uber-wonky who want to know how each candidate is faring in sentiment at any given time; candidate issues tracker, which uses motion graphics to provide users with an “at-a-glance” understanding of where each of the candidates stand, and previously stood, on the major issues of the campaign; the historical election results map, which includes every vote, in every state, for every candidate, in every presidential election since 1789, and is presented with Washington Post articles written before and after every election since 1880. This app is a political wonk’s dream as it gives information that can’t even be found on the Washington Post’s site.
Download the app here.
King’s Cross, London – Streetstories The Guardian recently released an app that lets users listen to the sounds of Foggy London Town while walking the streets of King’s Cross. Additionally, the app serves as a walking guide with more than 70 stories and two hours of audio material, all relevant to a user’s location. The app boasts of readings from Dickens (location-specific), the architecture of Gilbert Scott’s St. Pancras, as well interviews with former street workers giving listeners an oral history of the area. This is a great idea for users who want to learn more about their surroundings. Hopefully other major news outlets will follow in The Guardian’s footsteps, especially in cities around the world.
Download the app here.
What Journalists Can Learn From: Startups
“Startup culture has captivated the nation over the last few years, with starry promises of long nights spent in product development resulting in millions of dollars of funding and the potential for billion-dollar payoffs…So what lessons can media makers pull from startups?”
Syria: Songs of Defiance
Al Jazeera will begin airing a documentary on the Syria uprising that was shot entirely on an iPhone. According to the network, Al Jazeera cameras are banned in Syria and their correspondent went undercover to meet “resistance fighters, protesters, Syrian army deserters, footballers-turned-revolutionaries and cigarette smugglers who have joined the fight.”
Journalism.co.uk adds the following from an Al Jazeera press release:
I can’t tell you my name. I’ve spent many months secretly in Syria for Al Jazeera.
I cannot show my face and my voice is disguised to conceal my identity, because I don’t want to endanger my contacts in Syria.
Because carrying a camera would be risky, I took my cell phone with me as I moved around the country and captured images from the uprising that have so far remained unseen.
Songs of Defiance begins airing this Wednesday and will run through next week. Al Jazeera has posted its schedule here.
Subject: Innovation — A $200,000 Filmmaker Challenge
Vimeo, GE and Cinelan have joined forces to launch Focus Forward, a short form documentary series about technology innovations changing lives and industries from medicine to education to energy and beyond.
Via GigaOm:
The series launched in January at the Sundance Film Festival, and some of the biggest names in documentary filmmaking — including Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) Gary Hustwit (who made Helvetica and Objectified) and Jessica Yu (who won an Oscar for Breathing Lessons), among others –are signed up to make Focus Forward films that will premiere online and at film festivals throughout the year.
But to me the most exciting thing is that the project, which is hosted on Vimeo, will also be open to submissions from the general public. People who submit videos to the contest, which is called the “Focus Forward Filmmaking Challenge,” will be up for $200,000 in cash prizes, including a $100,000 grand prize. Submissions will open during the Tribeca Film Festival this April, and the prizes will be handed out next year at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
So, if you’re a filmmaker fascinated by innovation head over to Focus Forward to learn more about the competition and submitting your work.
Columbia, Stanford get $30 Million to Create Joint Journalism & Technology Institute
Via Mashable:
Big news on the innovation front: Columbia Journalism School and Stanford’s School of Engineering are teaming up to create an Institute for Media Innovation. The Institute hopes to bridge the gap between journalism and technology and encourage collaboration between the two disciplines.
The institute, officially called the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation, is made possible by a $30 million gift from former Cosmopolitan magazine editor in chief Helen Gurley Brown in honor of her late husband. The gift will go towards funding two director roles — one in each university — as well as a physical space attached to Columbia Graduate School of Journalism complete with a high-tech newsroom. The money will also help support post-graduate fellowships and “Magic Grants” to further stimulate innovation. It is the single largest donation in the Journalism School’s history.
Hello, Drone Journalism
In late November I posted about a Polish activist who built a drone, jerry-rigged it with cameras and filmed police actions against protestors in Warsaw.
The hypothetical was how new, and seemingly far-flung technologies might change the face of journalism and citizen reporting. We’re now used to a thousand photos and videos from the street. A bird’s eye view, not so much.
But the hypothetical is becoming less so. Over at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications they’ve launched a lab to study the possibilities and ramifications of “Drone Journalism”.
Via the Drone Journalism Lab (they’re posting updates on Tumblr.)
In the lab, students and faculty will build drone platforms, use them in the field and research the ethical, legal and regulatory issues involved in using pilotless aircraft to do journalism.
Journalists are increasingly faced with two problems: a growing appetite for unique online video in an environment of decreased budgets; and restricted or obstructed access to stories ranging from disaster coverage to Occupy Wall Street protests. The technology behind autonomous and remotely piloted vehicles is rapidly moving from military applications to the point where private citizens can own and operate their own drone. At the same time, high definition and 3D video cameras are getting smaller, cheaper and lighter. Paired with global position devices, they make ideal additions to an airborne platform.
In short, drones are an ideal platform for journalism.
Interested in more? NPR’s On the Media interviewed Matt Waite, the Lab’s founder, late last week.
Image: Test flying ArduCopter Hexa with GoPro camera via DIY Drones.
Most newspapers are stuck in the late 20th century formulas, scarcely varied across the country, for section concepts (even names) and types of coverage. These conventions, moreover, carry over into digital forms, and only in the past couple of years have we begun to see new forms made only for digital channels. Amid legitimate struggle in newsrooms to make this outdated formula work with vastly reduced staffs and greatly increased production demands, there’s not enough attention on creative breakthroughs — the kind of conceptual innovation needed today. What should a print edition do in a 24/7 news world? How is it differentiated from other platforms in content, format and organization?
Melanie Sill, Take it from Former Editors: Newspapers Need Bolder Change.
H/T: Kevin Anderson.
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