Open source advocates: The People's News

[Fedor Emelianenko]

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I wanted to get a libertarian perspective on this.

The wonderful thing about forums, especially the really massive ones, are how it's such a great place for a meeting of minds and resources. I actually read a thread from another forum I frequent where they were actually able to solve the mystery of who had stolen a guy's motorcycle based on the security tape he uploaded to youtube!

What I see is an extremely valuable and untapped investigative tool. The same is true of how news stories from purportedly "trustworthy" places like CNN and BBC can be promptly dissected and analyzed by the same people.

So my idea is to create something like Digg + Wikipedia = The People's News. Open source news reporting, and possibly one that does criminal investigations in the future. It's just an idea in progress.

questions or suggestions?

[Bonniedundee]

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I wanted to get a libertarian perspective on this.

The wonderful thing about forums, especially the really massive ones, are how it's such a great place for a meeting of minds and resources. I actually read a thread from another forum I frequent where they were actually able to solve the mystery of who had stolen a guy's motorcycle based on the security tape he uploaded to youtube!

What I see is an extremely valuable and untapped investigative tool. The same is true of how news stories from purportedly "trustworthy" places like CNN and BBC can be promptly dissected and analyzed by the same people.

So my idea is to create something like Digg + Wikipedia = The People's News. Open source news reporting, and possibly one that does criminal investigations in the future. It's just an idea in progress.

questions or suggestions?I'm a libertarian in the broad sense so I'll give you my perspective.

Well I'm not exactly certain but are you suggesting we create a wikipedia style site for libertarian viewpoints and news?

I think that is an excellent idea, it would be even better if it took viewpoints from all radical decentralism and real libertarianism, left and right, capitalist and socialist, it would be extremely useful then.

If it was just libertarian socialist in the traditional old left way or just American style libertarianism, it would still be good, but it would turn into the same old polemics.

[Fedor Emelianenko]

I'm a libertarian in the broad sense so I'll give you my perspective.

Well I'm not exactly certain but are you suggesting we create a wikipedia style site for libertarian viewpoints and news?

I think that is an excellent idea, it would be even better if it took viewpoints from all radical decentralism and real libertarianism, left and right, capitalist and socialist, it would be extremely useful then.

If it was just libertarian socialist in the traditional old left way or just American style libertarianism, it would still be good, but it would turn into the same old polemics.

Yes, but it doesn't just have to be libertarian and with the political comments it would probably set it apart since our regular news portals offer very little analysis.

I just think back to the Iraq pre-invasion and how Colin Powell stood up there and convinced the world Saddam was a threat, and yet in the shadows the internet community had already determined the intelligence report was faulty.

THAT'S what I'm getting at. A news site that could be crosschecked by the hundreds of millions of people that use the internet everyday would be something to behold. It could shoot straight to the top in no time. :grin:

Here's what the front page could potentially look like as well with the story getting the most diggs being the headline.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v709/raichu4u/newyorktimes.jpg

[Bonniedundee]

Yes, but it doesn't just have to be libertarian and with the political comments it would probably set it apart since our regular news portals offer very little analysis.

I just think back to the Iraq pre-invasion and how Colin Powell stood up there and convinced the world Saddam was a threat, and yet in the shadows the internet community had already determined the intelligence report was faulty.

THAT'S what I'm getting at. A news site that could be crosschecked by the hundreds of millions of people that use the internet everyday would be something to behold. It could shoot straight to the top in no time. :grin:

Here's what the front page could potentially look like as well with the story getting the most diggs being the headline.


Okay I understand, but where do most of the people, who aren't like us and take an active interest in politics, get there views from?

You'd get the conservatives voting for one views, the modern liberals for another.

[Fedor Emelianenko]

Okay I understand, but where do most of the people, who aren't like us and take an active interest in politics, get there views from?

You'd get the conservatives voting for one views, the modern liberals for another.the political analysis would be ancillary to the open source fact finding. It would primarily be a news site.

In regards to the political views, I guess you could compile an analysis from each major school of political thought? you don't neccessarily need a voting scheme.

[Fedor Emelianenko]

I guess I was beaten to the punch? :(

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page

Although they lack a forum, which is what attracts many people in the first place. They could also make it look more news like in format and use a digg system.

[Bonniedundee]

the political analysis would be ancillary to the open source fact finding. It would primarily be a news site.How are the regular people going to know what the facts are?

In regards to the political views, I guess you could compile an analysis from each major school of political thought? you don't neccessarily need a voting scheme.Does Diggs not mean voting?

[Fedor Emelianenko]

How are the regular people going to know what the facts are? same criteria as wikipedia. citation or video proof.

Does Diggs not mean voting?i thought you meant it in a different context. what did you mean?

[Bonniedundee]

i thought you meant it in a different context. what did you mean?I thought you were talking about people voting or "digging"(I'm not sure exactly what this means.) for their favourite articles and the ones with the most votes will be put towards the front.

Is this what you meant?

Surely the (neo)conservatives would vote for pro-Bush articles and the modern liberals against etc etc

[Fedor Emelianenko]

I thought you were talking about people voting or "digging"(I'm not sure exactly what this means.) for their favourite articles and the ones with the most votes will be put towards the front.

Is this what you meant?

Surely the (neo)conservatives would vote for pro-Bush articles and the modern liberals against etc etcI've noticed the more one relies on the internet for dissemination of information, the less one falls into such convenient labels. In other words, the pro-Bushites wouldn't know what to use the immernet for :Cheeky:

But in such a case, I suppose you could have your top "liberal" news, or "libertarian" news, with their own respective sections.

[Fedor Emelianenko]

Anyway, I think my main point was how powerful the investigative capabilities would be if such a thing could be pulled off.

For example, what about those early reports about Black Water troops during the New Orleans flood? that unfortunately was never fleshed out.

[Hawkeye]

Interresting idea, but how exactly would you do the investigations? A free-for-all forum?

If so, that how would you prevent it to become just another internet political forum, with all it's good and bad sides?

[Nitrousoxide]

But digg is a terrible source for any political news.

Have you ever read the stuff there? Submitters use lots of tricky methods in the headlines (blowing stuff out of proportion, straight up lying) and in their descriptions because very few people "RTFA" so they can get away with it.

That, and because the the population is pretty far left, you almost never get any right leaning stuff or information which would support the conservative view of things because they either aren't dugg or they are buried.

[Fedor Emelianenko]

Interresting idea, but how exactly would you do the investigations? A free-for-all forum?same criteria as wikipedia, and from the forum take the best points to form the analysis.
If so, that how would you prevent it to become just another internet political forum, with all it's good and bad sides?we could have a digg system where the best comments or analysis are incorporated into the main article or addendum. you could also make the people with the most digs the moderators.

Just look at how this thread is turning out. Lots of good analysis on a criminal situation caught on tape.

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=207133