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In the last two weeks, conservative blogs helped drive real world change. First, Van Jones, a presidential adviser, resigned. Then, non-profit ACORN lost funding amid embarrassing revelations. In both cases, most traditional media outlets lagged in telling the story. The Atlantic's Mark Bowden says partisan sources are increasingly setting the news agenda. He talks about what that means for the news consumer.
Addicted to the web, texting or video games? Now there’s help. reSTART, the first internet addiction treatment center in the U.S., opened its doors this summer. We speak to executive director Hilarie Cash and recent patient Ben Alexander, whose drug of choice was World of Warcraft.
The new film We Live in Public focuses on Josh Harris, whom the film calls “the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.” The film offers a window into Harris’s psyche, and the impacts of living in a digital, recorded age. Director Ondi Timoner talks about this web entrepreneur’s fascination with privacy, and with recording life’s every moment -- including the most intimate -- 24/7.
Evan Ratliff was captured this week. He's the Wired Magazine contributor who decided to see for himself whether it's possible to disappear and reemerge with a brand new identity in the digital age. Wired Magazine launched a contest. Whoever located him within one month would get $5,000 ($3,000 paid by Ratliff himself). A little lighter in the wallet, Ratliff talks about his brief life on the run.
The very public court case between Liskula Cohen and Rosemary Port seemed absurd at first, in part because it rested on the definition of the word "skank." But along the way, it set a legal precedent in New York about what constitutes defamation online. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Matt Zimmerman explains.
The Urban Dictionary, where anyone can look up some of the most clever and most vulgar words and phrases in the English language, turns 10 this year. Its founder Aaron Peckham talks about a few of his all time favorite entries.
Click here for a long version of Bob's interview with Aaron Peckham. A warning: some edgy language is used.
Over the summer Brooke hosted a conversation with Ethan Zuckerman, founder of Global Voices, and Clive Thompson, technology writer for the New York Times Magazine and Wired. The topic was homophily: the tendency for individuals to seek out others who share their preferences and ideas. While some would argue this phenomenon has existed forever, Brooke, Clive and Ethan discuss whether the internet exacerbates it or, instead, exposes people to new ideas.
While working on a piece about what it takes to disappear from your life in a digital age, Wired Magazine reporter Evan Ratliff and senior editor Nick Thompson decided to try it themselves. Ratliff has vanished. Thompson is looking for him. You can too. Who ever finds him wins $5000. Thompson lays out the rules.
