Tuesday, March 23, 2010

What Does Ringworm Look Like When It's Healing'



why the investigation is the future of journalism. But not for the reasons you think.

E 'dreams of newspaper publishers, which could save a lot of money. And maybe one day will be the end of a certain type of journalism as we now think.
This is the first journalist robot. Not articulated, but only a machine like a computer can process data and write the articles. For now, only about baseball.

The project comes from Northwestern University in the United States, Illinois Infolab detachment, which deals with artificial intelligence . It's called "Monkey Stats.
The software takes the data matches easily detectable, such as scores, the most significant processes and write a story, emphasizing the dynamics and the most important events of the game.
Also included in an appropriate title and a picture of best player in the field.

The system uses statistical models some baseball to create the article. Moreover, it has a library of narrative pieces that describe the dynamics of a major game of this sport, but also of other competitions, which allow you to compare this knowledge with those of the game played.

Stats Monkey and intelligence to adapt to any sporting event that can produce data in a meaningful way. Not only that. In the near future will be experienced in another field that produces a lot of data: the financial sector. Here we have small items such as quarterly reports on the progress of the business or grants made by a machine.

Last but not least, the software lets you include quotes from individuals or organizations that are part of these stories, how to create different writing styles for different targets.

Paradoxically, but not too much, Stats Monkey was created in cooperation with the Medill School of Journalism . The idea of \u200b\u200bthe project, far-reaching, is to eliminate those repetitive tasks of journalism, just as newsletters, reports and so on, to make room in-depth investigations and investigative journalism.

Considering cutting costs for publishers, the technology probably will not take long to spread, especially or less important in local newspapers, or on the Internet.
The journalist, therefore, to survive must develop its own creativity. For simple items, desk, we think the machines.

Alex Buaiscia

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

How To Make Prep Colyte Better

How much is a citizen who informed

lI citizen-journalist is a figure growing. It is now also awarded

journalism, you know, is no longer based only on the classic journalists. Over the years we have created several categories of "persons inform." One of these has had a boom in 2008, and continues to expand until it had in 2010, even some prizes. Let's talk about citizen journalists.

In an era when journalism has suffered a decline because of the statement of the so-called "journalist desk, or desk, which is no longer on the field to search for news, we turn to find information more and more ordinary citizens who wish to terminate or only document the reality around them.

The territory is vast economic resources and newspapers are also increasingly restricted. Quality journalism is reduced even more. To overcome the financial difficulties in the U.S., for example, some newspapers have put together their resources to the investigations.

Sites Citizenz journalism there are many hours. One of the most popular and extensive in Italy is Agoravox , started a project in France and in other developed nations. It now includes dozens of daily articles, sites dedicated to video captured by ordinary people and various thematic sections. Unlike other sites, Agoravox also has an editorial staff that takes care of selecting the best material.

The real news however, is another. Besides the fact that many blogs are now considered as sources of information by journalists, an American website, only citizen-journalists, honored in 2009 with the best cash. One of the first monetary awards, as well as reputation.

Allvoices proclaims itself as "a means of information open, where anyone can write articles and news from any country." At the end of 2008 launched a Excellence in Citizen Media program , which allowed to win up to $ 10,000 for their contributions.

The program, completed in February 2009, provided for this award for those who had reached the roof of the one million total page views. Otherwise, every 100,000 pages were dished out $ 1,000.
This year, another U.S. site, NowPublic , wants to recruit about a thousand people paid-staff, with 20-30% of the proceeds. By March, the first 100 will be hired literally. citizen journalists themselves, in other words. There are not only the money in question, but also will be given training and other benefits. NowPublic

executives have said that will take care of all the online publishing activities to develop skills and abilities in the field. Basically, a kind of returning journalism school, but made only of experience and ability to find news.
The idea is to also attract professionals such as writers, photographers and video makers.
Who pays? As usual, the advertising. The audience is about 5 million readers per month.

Here in Italy the citizen journalists are many, so as evidenced by the proliferation of blogs that talk about current until you get to those who publish a lot of material on video sites like YouTube and YouReporter . However, where other countries are trying to promote the quality, physical prizes, here in Italy, everything is still volunteering. Ensures that the plurality, but not the depth.

Alex Buaiscia

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Sore Tongue On Brushing

Surfing the Internet: You can dress up?

From Julius Caesar to Provenzano: the use of encryption systems as a historical constant



Privacy on the Internet

Privacy is a fundamental right and inalienable individual. Therefore as masters of our deeds and our thoughts have the right to hold it for us, considering the public only when we give explicit consent.

Despite legal protections, the natural instinct of man is in any case to protect themselves especially when it comes to surfing the Internet since the use of the network involves risks that are not always visible. Then obtain the tools to defend against those who want to illegally into our private space is quite a natural and not new, but quite old with origins dating back to before Christ with the scytale ladecemonica or the cipher Caesar , the latter one of the oldest of which has been recorded.

Software to protect

Nowadays security is a very strong concern linked to the spread of the networks. It is known that the effectiveness of internet has on people as media used to influence, communicate, disseminate information, as well as space for business. So do not be surprised by the interest in exploiting the wiretapping as a tool to control users, both as a strategy to increase the benefits from advertising with the knowledge of consumer habits, or, at worst, for possible blackmail. This fact inevitably encourages individuals attackers to invade land prohibited. Faced with these threats and other tools such as Tor and encryption system gpg , two software to ensure anonymity in the network, are seen as the panacea to the matter which concerns us. The

gpg is an encryption system that lets you send and receive messages via e-mail messages so protecting from possible intruders. It allows you to encrypt and decrypt the files, but above all to sign, and then certifying that were created by a particular person.

Each encryption system also has an unfavorable side for the general safety, because it is also used by terrorist organizations, from gangs Mafia and other groups to evade a possible surveillance of the authorities. An example of this occurred in the story of Bernardo Provenzano , to protect important information in its written pizzini applied a coding system based on the Caesar cipher.

That said, security is not guaranteed only for the use of encrypted messages, which at worst can be decrypted. What do we do then? This is where our aid is involved in the Tor software which allows you to surf the Internet safely without leaving a trace. The software hijacks communications on specific routes so as not to allow an analysis of our traffic, preventing others to see which sites we visited, to learn about our geographical position and to obtain information about our habits and our interests.

Beyond the borders, the complaint: how to fight it?

But the free use of the Internet that allows us to Tor is guaranteed even in countries where there is the free dissemination of opinions, and indeed there is a continuing as political censorship in Tunisia or in the case of China or Iran. Online censorship is to prevent users from reaching certain parts of the Internet or block all viewing certain sites. For this there is a need for technological tools to deal with censorship in some countries abroad. With the Tor software, the user is able to fool the filters designed with a system. It is known that during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, journalists have used this software for free access to information censored.

Carlos Fuentes wrote: " there is no freedom except in the pursuit of freedom, and this research is that which makes us free" . From this sentence it is clear that freedom consists in intelligence able to tackle the obstacles that prevent us from realizing and protecting it. The systems mentioned before are the result of this intelligence.

Carolina López Montero

Monday, March 1, 2010

Sewing Pattern Footie Pajamas

CAR: An overview

Information technology, its importance, and the journalist


How important is it now the computer and internet in our lives? And as it is for a journalist? And as for an investigative journalist?
great deal, is the answer to all three questions. But there is no difference between the different categories of people we are talking about?

Most people now use the new communication tools that technology has put at our disposal. Journalists use them to craft even more: the Internet is a great tool for finding information on the check-to-cross, to find experts, to communicate in real time, and so on. But for an investigative journalist can be a tool not only useful but essential for his research. So important that it can start from internet survey.

The CAR (Computer Assisted Reporting) is a means by which a journalist can weave data from the Internet to draw conclusions that could lead to an investigation, or even individual journalistic pieces.
Reporters are now a regular job where they get information from the database, analyze public documents with spreadsheets and statistical programs, study demographic and political changes with mapping programs given by the so-called GIS (Geographic Information System - Geographic Information Systems). The searches are conducted mostly through the Web-to-surface or deeper and communications take place via computer, sometimes for a security issue.
This can be called Computer Assisted Reporting at a glance. It 's a concept tied hand in glove with journalism "precision", which refers to the use of techniques of social sciences or other disciplines.

Over the past 15 years, several journalists' associations have established special institutions to learn, or improve, these techniques of data collection and processing. They were born in the United States, for example, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (Nicaragua, a program for investigative journalists and publishers), or the Danish International Center for Analytical Reporting (Dicar).

The site brings together the major news in the field is IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors), for example, held 11 to March 14, in Phoenix, Arizona, a workshop to offer training in the field (virtual) updates on the latest news and developments in the forefront.
Aimed at anyone wanting to learn these concepts, the training "will help journalists to stay ahead in a competitive environment" (Ire.org).

certainly a dose of basic computer is a minimum requirement, however, with the experience that you can acquired through frequent use of these tools, the results may come sooner than expected.

Alex Buaiscia