January 2009 Archives

Well at least the new administration hasn't forgotten that new media was a major part of its victory in November. With the new WhiteHouse.gov site design going live today, there are a number of new features that are firsts for an American presidential website.

First, there is a blog! And a director of New Media, Macon Phillips! And the very first posts touts communication, transparency, and participation! Is this Washington DC or Silicon Valley! And why am I using so many exclamation points!

Though most impressive of all...

"One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it."

Read the full blog post here

All of this is pretty groundbreaking in my opinion. Not that a blog is necessarily groundbreaking, and technically speaking citizens could always review legislation, but the concept of a presidential blog and online citizen review of legislation...that's just great.

Whether it be Obama or anyone else in the future, Democrat, Republican, or a third party, let's hope this sets a precedent for future administrations to follow.

Our industry like to talk about the death of print. Digital evangelists are quick to bring up economic, environmental, and user-oriented reasons that show why print media will ultimately move to the web. But one area seems to have been largely ignored...the student paper.

Well, until now anyway...

A group of students in Fairbault, MN (about an hour south of Minneapolis) were told by their superintendent that they could not run an investigative piece about an instructor until he first approved it. The students refused, citing journalistic freedoms. The superintendent responded by shutting down the paper.

Luckily the owner of a web site that hosts student publications has donated server space to the disenfranchised student journalists. In addition to being able to operate without potential censorship, they also cite additional benefits, such as more frequent updates and additional content sections.

//via The Star Tribune

A developer has made a game using real instruments that imitates a game where you pretend to play real instruments using fake instruments. Oh, and it's educational too.

From the developer:
LittleBigStar is a new kind of software that aims to blend musical accompaniment and notation tools with gaming elements. It is unique in supporting real instruments, real songs and feature software synthesizing for creating real sound.

Check it out here