tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36290637955141973062024-02-19T06:47:02.346-05:00The Eyelid DroopLiving synesthetically beyond the Mainstream Media.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3629063795514197306.post-56538670446019282362009-03-04T16:44:00.003-05:002009-03-04T16:45:34.249-05:00Hey all, I've moved over to Twitter, so if you want my musings on life, death, and art, click on the link to the right for my Twitter. Or just <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathankay">click here</a> and start Following me! Thanks.Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3629063795514197306.post-6849743407051497332009-02-18T20:58:00.014-05:002009-02-19T10:07:50.347-05:00Are Newspaper Blogs the Future of Intelligent Discussion?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fftiLOAEbY0O6FTv8cjDFdqas6t4xY4HGRi6vmJEPJp2h4gMaMUfShIVnf8T4jVxBTUiiSyzBRIGBkIxsTRf4hfvEFykdo4vBXgwelWACdfZpwjXXb1xr5WNaCgc9Yz9pa6vsfFQ-DVg/s1600-h/mobilenews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0fftiLOAEbY0O6FTv8cjDFdqas6t4xY4HGRi6vmJEPJp2h4gMaMUfShIVnf8T4jVxBTUiiSyzBRIGBkIxsTRf4hfvEFykdo4vBXgwelWACdfZpwjXXb1xr5WNaCgc9Yz9pa6vsfFQ-DVg/s320/mobilenews.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304338068532256322" border="0" /></a><br />The New York <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Times's</span> wonderful blog <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/">The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lede</span></a> was created to track news stories as they unfold in real time. It has recently shown itself to be extremely apt, however, at gathering public opinion toward newsworthy events and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Times's</span> own coverage of those events. For example, The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Lede</span> has published great long-running series about <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/russia/">Russia</a> (including a dialogue with Russian-language readers) and about <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/majlis/">youth throughout the Arab world</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Today, The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Lede</span> posted a <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/is-a-play-about-gaza-anti-semitic-read-the-script/">story about a new play</a> by Caryl Churchill that was inspired by the events in Gaza. "Seven Jewish Children" is currently running in London and might be produced in New York City. There is controversy in London over whether the play (a 10-minute collection of rhetorical questions aimed at Israeli youth) espouses anti-Semitic themes. The brilliance of the post is that it not only includes links to reviews of the play by other esteemed news sources (The Guardian, The Times, etc.) but that the blog includes a link to the <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/SevenJewishChildren.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">full text</span> of Churchill's play</a> (link to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">PDF</span>).<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>With all that has been said over the past few years concerning the interactivity of the Internet, the democratization of information, and the opportunity for every single person to voice his or her opinion, the universe of blogs, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Facebook</span>, Twitter, YouTube, and comment-enabled newspaper websites is really just a clutter of millions of opinions on millions of separate trajectories throughout cyberspace that almost never cross paths. In other words, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">everyone is</span> talking but no one is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">speaking</span>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe that a blog post like today's The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Lede</span> post about Churchill's play represents the best of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">these newer Internet tools</a>. A respected news source (the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">NYT</span>) reports a story and various opinions from other news sources. Then, it gives readers the chance to read the original source material to form their own opinions about the story, and to comment on the story. This could eventually be interactivity at its best.</div><div><br /></div><div>I say "could" because one quick glance at the comments section below the original post reveals the dark side of such interactivity. What could have been an intelligent discussion about the merits of the play quickly (and I mean <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">quickly</span>) devolved into a hate-spewing argument about the Palestinian conflict. The last place many people look for a civil discussion might be the Internet. But there's plenty of time, news, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">webspace</span> to hope, isn't there?</div>Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3629063795514197306.post-29722694818950219412009-02-02T18:05:00.012-05:002009-02-04T00:24:59.507-05:00Withholding Poll Results, Motives of U.S.-Funded Institute are Still Questioned<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_n6WJ9mhsaEdZlT9ShgAYLS58vf6pC5AqVuzmm1_XcUewXBNMLvV88eL9RnbPGJloBzZFpVk7AycpX23QT3M2YKkjO03bmPlrskADz1XPze5_HLk3Zr2qxR47eT-OhzTLUbcglh4Lrdr/s1600-h/flagofkenya.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_n6WJ9mhsaEdZlT9ShgAYLS58vf6pC5AqVuzmm1_XcUewXBNMLvV88eL9RnbPGJloBzZFpVk7AycpX23QT3M2YKkjO03bmPlrskADz1XPze5_HLk3Zr2qxR47eT-OhzTLUbcglh4Lrdr/s200/flagofkenya.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298340764174988114" border="0" /></a><br />Voting that is strongly marked by tribalism? An <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_Kenyan_crisis">explosion of bloodshed?</a> And <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17728980">ballot-counting fraud?</a> This is definitely a recent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyan_presidential_election,_2007">highly-contested African presidential race</a> - and we're not talking about Zimbabwe.<div><br />But what about political meddling to help steer the outcome of the 2007 Kenyan Presidential election that came from--the United States?<br /><br />That's what a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/world/africa/31kenya.html?scp=4&sq=kenya&st=cse">New York Times investigation seems to claim</a>. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">USAID</span>-funded pro-democracy International Republican Institute conducted exit polls for the December 2007 election, but refused to release the results (saying that the results were technically flawed) even as partisan bickering turned into a mini civil war, leaving over 1,000 people dead, and a country <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99806353">still bitterly divided over a year later</a>. <div><br /></div><div>The results were eventually released nine months later, and showed that opposition candidate <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Raila</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Odinga</span> had led the incumbent <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Mwai</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Kibaki</span>. However, back in December 2007, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kibaki</span> was named President (even though outside agencies reported numerous voting <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">innacuracies</span>). Opposition leader <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Odinga</span> now holds the new post of Prime Minister after a power-sharing agreement was brokered in February 2008.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">NYT</span> consulted numerous outside experts who have found no basis for the organization's initial rationale for not releasing the results--that it was technically flawed. Some have even suggested that events might have played out differently if the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">IRI's</span> poll results were released in a timely manner.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">IRI</span> released the results in August 2008 after consulting its own outside experts. The results, as predicted, showed that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Odinga</span> was winning over the incumbent <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Kibaki</span> by 6 percent of the vote. To those interviewed for the article, the role of politics seems to be the only explanation for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">institute's</span> initial refusal to release the results:</div><div><div><blockquote>None of those interviewed professed to know why the institute withheld the results. But the decision was consistent with other American actions that seemed focused on preserving stability in Kenya, rather than determining the actual winner.</blockquote>The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">IRI</span> has posted an especially sharp-tongued <a href="http://www.iri.org/newsreleases/2009-01-30-NYT.asp">rebuttal to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">NYT</span> piece</a>, explaining that, in fact, the institute has worked with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Odinga</span> for over 20 years and that, "What <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">IRI</span> was not going to do was release a flawed poll" that would function only to help <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Odinga</span> get elected. </div><div><br /></div><div>The response does seem defensive, but the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">IRI</span> has requested that the State Department's Inspector General review "whether the Institute withheld the poll at the behest of U.S. government officials as charged by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span>." This may not be CIA-type international spy intrigue, but the possibility of the U.S. government meddling in another country's presidential election always makes my ears perk up.</div></div></div>Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3629063795514197306.post-73437267990602408392009-02-01T21:25:00.001-05:002009-02-02T10:01:11.549-05:00The Financial Aspects of Closing the Rose Art Museum<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEied-VxafTLjwGIXPoRVnyZkUJ_nAfhVkTGTAjQQBc3ZwlcKY4_s3QQzcivM3ojWYjWS8-c-xrbabADqjKEP_hwC0kPyecDiLKU-84YLLfCq-YfzTrUyjX5cHXVAz_QLL2rzBrSoKQJ5Ee_/s1600-h/rose.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEied-VxafTLjwGIXPoRVnyZkUJ_nAfhVkTGTAjQQBc3ZwlcKY4_s3QQzcivM3ojWYjWS8-c-xrbabADqjKEP_hwC0kPyecDiLKU-84YLLfCq-YfzTrUyjX5cHXVAz_QLL2rzBrSoKQJ5Ee_/s320/rose.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298031757011162994" border="0" /></a><br />I am a recent alumnus of Brandeis University, so I have been closely following the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/arts/design/28rose.html?scp=1&sq=rose%20brandeis&st=cse">controversy</a> over its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/us/27museum.html?scp=3&sq=rose%20brandeis&st=cse">decision</a> to close the <a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/rose/">Rose Art Museum</a>, which houses the best collection of modern art in New England.<div><br /></div><div>There have been many Facebook groups created to galvanize support for the Rose, and many opinion articles written in support of the museum. </div><div><br /></div><div>The best analysis of the situation I have read so far, however, is 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{mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]-->e Nast's business magazine.</div><div><br /></div><div>Felix Salmon <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-movers/2009/02/01/why-brandeis-is-closing-the-rose-art-museum">analyzes the precarious financial situation</a> in which Brandeis finds itself, after a rapid decline in the university's endowment (which was estimated at around $700 million last year) caused by the global financial crisis (can we please have <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99885806&ps=cprs">another name</a>?). The university is also ailing because Brandeis is especially dependent upon donations to enrich its endowment, and those have frozen up for a variety of reasons (Madoff is just one).</div><div><br /></div><div>After picking apart reasons Brandeis might want to close the Rose (artworks are easier to sell when not tied to a museum; the museum is kind of a money loser), Salmon ultimately does not really buy Reinharz/French's argument that the value of the Rose's 6,000+ artworks is frozen up because they are locked away in a lightly-trafficked museum that is (admittedly) off the beaten path.</div><div><br /></div><div>Instead, Salmon argues that the artworks are <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">protected </span>under the valuable aegis of a prized cultural institution. Trying to sell the artworks after a dissolution of the Rose would be financial suicide. To raise money later on, Salmon asks, which would the Trustees like to hear: We have priceless artworks (a) that are party of a highly respected museum or (b) that have been sitting in storage ever since we closed that museum?</div><div><br /></div><div>He concludes:<blockquote></blockquote></div><div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>To put it another way: those artworks which Brandeis wishes to sell, it first puts in storage. It's a nasty and dishonest ploy on both an intellectual and an ethical level. And Brandeis shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.</blockquote></div>Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3629063795514197306.post-55374133273895515922009-01-31T18:43:00.000-05:002009-01-31T18:58:01.536-05:00Dipping My Toe InHi all,<br /><br />Here's to a successful blog. I'm taking this up because my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Facebook</span> page has become, for all intents and purposes, a crowded blog (some would even say <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblr"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">tumblelog</span></a>).<br /><br />I am a new citizen of New York City and work in healthcare communications. I graduated in May 2007 and have worked in all sorts of neuroscience research. I'm sure you'll hear a lot of (fun! approachable! interesting!) science running through these posts. Get used to it.<br /><br />I read a lot of fascinating articles (check out the blogroll on the right), watch numerous funny video clips, and constantly ruminate about science and media (at work and at home, respectively). I guess it's time to feel important enough to share all of that with the world.<br /><br />-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">JK</span>Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07810199921219152851noreply@blogger.com1