Technology is a wonderful thing, bringing the far to the near as shown by one local newspaper's work to help us see just how severe the historic flooding in North Dakota really is.
The Grand Forks Herald makes use of Justin.TV for their own streaming video and chat channel showing the rising Red River of the North. I've visited Fargo and it is a delightful town despite all the jokes, but anyone with the pleasure of ever being there knows just how vulnerable Fargo and it's Minnesota neighbors are to the raging currents.
It is quite popular these days to condemn all things massive; the federal government taking bigger chunks of our money, big banks getting big bailouts, financial institutions too big to fail, the big three automakers...it's a big list.
Very common to include big media on that list, including perhaps the biggest media company on the face of the planet these days. Google clearly has supplanted big TV, big radio, big newspapers, big magazines and in many cases even the used-to-be big Ma Bell as the top example of companies and organizations.
What makes Google so unique is the way it organizes and shifts the distribution of ideas not only on the web but also for print, broadcast, and mobile.
The Radio Television News Directors Association and Foundation recently honored Google , along with Cokie Roberts of ABC/NPR, Susan Grant of CNN, and the Knight Foundation (represented by Alberto Ibarguen) with a First Amendment Award; it was, behind the scenes, a call that took some courage because some in the old media think they still own freedom of speech. They don't.
Here's what Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said about independent voices for newspapers in particular but also in general how getting to an "accurate truth" is something all of us own.
Post viewing: is it just me or does anyone else find it amazing that as every 60 seconds goes by there are 15 HOURS of video uploaded to YouTube? Wow.
