Google Tech Talks
April, 30 2008
ABSTRACT
Join a fascinating presentation on how to find good journalism online, hosted by NewsTrust.net, a nonprofit social news network devoted to quality news and information.
NewsTrust helps people make more informed decisions as citizens, by offering an integrated online
service, which includes a quality news filter, media literacy tools and a civic engagement network. Their free web site features a daily feed of quality news and opinions from mainstream and independent sources, based on ratings from their reviewers -- who rate the news based on quality, not just popularity. Their web review tools enable our members to evaluate fairness, evidence, sourcing and other core journalistic principles. NewsTrust rankings are based on a combination of professional and amateur evaluations, as well as computer algorithms. This presentation will include a discussion of best practices for helping people develop their news literacy skills, and becoming more discriminating news consumers. To find out more, visit the NewsTrust site: http://www.newstrust.net/
Presenter: Fabrice Florin, Founder and Executive Director, NewsTrust.net
This tech talk will be videotaped.
Following this presentation, NewsTrust will also host a smaller, one-hour Salon on Good Journalism, from 3pm to 4pm, in a nearby conference room TBD. Here's some info about that event:
NewsTrust Salon on Good Journalism - A Group Discussion*
Wed. April 30 - 3pm-4pm, Benghazi
This stimulating group discussion will explore best practices for helping people find good journalism online. As a group, we will start by evaluating a news article for fairness, sourcing, context and other core principles of journalism - using the NewsTrust review tools. We will then brainstorm ways we can encourage this type of critical thinking by using online news services such as Google News and NewsTrust.net.
Some of the questions we'll discuss in this session include:
what is good journalism? how can you tell it apart from misinformation?
how can we join forces online to share quality news with each other?
how can we encourage more citizens to grow their news literacy skills?
how can we improve NewsTrust.net to serve these goals?
how could we mash-up Google News and NewsTrust to bring this service to a broader audience?
During the meeting, we will briefly introduce what we're doing at NewsTrust to address these questions-- and ask your thoughts on how to best expand this public service in combination with other popular news sites -- to help more citizens make informed decisions about their lives and governments.
Session leaders: Fabrice Florin and Kaizar Campwala, NewsTrust.net
*Maximum 30 participants. This salon is open to all Google employees, on a first-come first-serve basis. To sign up, simply RSVP at http://go/newstrust-signup or by email to rsvp@newstrust.net
To find out more about NewsTrust, visit our site:
http://blog.newstrust.net/about/
To find out more about NewsTrust Salons, check this video on the NewsTrust blog:
http://blog.newstrust.net/2008/02/his-short-video.html
The discussion session will be videotaped, but NOT videoconferenced.
Speaker: Fabrice Florin
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The Wires that Control the Public Mindby GoogleTechTalks29,511 views
Another assumption: that news article should present both sides of a story. Now, to demonstrate that is a bad assumption: this assumption presumes there is no objective good and bad, truth and lie, but rather that all are just opinions. This is a very deep and hurtful assumption. However, if we were to use it we should, for example, let a pedophile be interviewed when reporting an abuse case - after all, we should learn the other side of the story, right?
AndyBrandt 3 years ago
Another question would be how to make sure that the whole concept of news quality is not biased or colored with the political/philosophical convictions of the site creators - or majority of users? After clicking around this site I have a feeling it is leaning to the left/liberal side. Good example is the religion section which contains no mention of what goes on in (amongst other things) Catholicism or Islam in Europe.
AndyBrandt 3 years ago
The question is... how does this system handle stories with PR spin? Even the more "reliable" sources can be tainted by references and social memes spawned by huge PR companies.
UnpopularPropaganda 3 years ago