Dee Blind Mice

The London freesheets and the web – Part 3: Voting – currybetdotnet – 24 September, 2007

The next part of Martin Belam’s series on participatory aspects of London’s freesheets.

Voting’s a funny one. A lot of people seem to be mad for the web voting as a way of getting users to interact with websites, but most of them seem utterly fatuous. In the London paper there is a vote to decide which of a selection of 2 articles is boring and which is interesting – or More or Bore? It’s not much of a choice really, is it? What if both articles were boring? Seems an easy way for the paper give readers the impression they’re influencing editorial decisions when really the most important decision is in choosing which two articles to put up for the vote.

PubDef.net – St. Louis Politics

An interesting story where YouTube took down videos in response to complaints of copyright infringement by a TV station. The first video removed and about which the complaint was made was a story about that very TV station and their failure to follow up a story involving political corruption. One might have thought the use of video would be covered by Fair Use, but apparently that didn’t persuade YouTube.

onesmallproject.com

This is a call for submissions fascinating-looking project looking at the built environment of slums/shanty towns/squats, basically people not in “authorised” accommodation.