Josue Sierra

This article covers an interesting new tool that helps users discover media bias.

Users download Spinoculars, a toolbar that sits atop the browser and lets readers know if the story they are reading has any phrases or words that indicate bias. (It works only in Firefox now and will work in Internet Explorer in a couple weeks.) It highlights those phrases in a big red box, and readers can click to find out what exactly SpinSpotter found wrong with the phrase.

The concept is novel, and considering our times, probably something many consumers would love to have. But, I have to say I don’t really see how its going to work. They will have to prove its effective and accurate first.

Desperately wanting to find spin, I went to the Silicon Valley gossip site, Valleywag, which makes no qualms about writing stories with its own snarky spin. Yet calling PR people “the most annoying people in our inbox” did not raise any red flags on SpinSpotter. Writing that Rupert Murdoch is “not going to have any luck recruiting an outsider to fill the spot” of MySpace China chief executive wasn’t spin either.

That is partly because SpinSpotter has started out with very few phrases in its database of spin, said Mr. Herman.

You can learn more about SpinSpotter by visiting their website.

I’m a big politics buff, so I thought this article was rather interesting as it brings together my interest in interactive media and the world of politics (and its related to a tool I have used and can recommend).

Bloggers and social media enthusiasts on the Internet have weighed in on the recent McCain – Palin ticket, and the responses have pulled the Republican nominee into a virtual tie with Senator Barack Obama in the blogosphere.

I’ve had the opportunity to test-drive the technology behind this — lots of powerful intelligence and analytic tools to help you interpret the “noise” out there.

…according to RelevantNoise(TM), Zeta Interactive’s technology that mines the Internet’s social media landscape — including over 100 million blogs, as well as countless message boards and online communities — the buzz on the Internet regarding John McCain has skyrocketed by more than 12 percent since the announcement of Palin as his running mate, bringing him virtually even with Obama for the first time in the campaign.

I’m rooting for McCain, and was happy with his pick for VP, so its nice to read the good news. From a political strategy point of view, it seems to me that all the attacks on Sarah Palin is backfiring for the Obama campaign and has them off-message.

Since announcing Palin as his running mate, McCain also has benefitted from an increase in positive posts on the online media landscape. According to RelevantNoise, the number of posts that were determined positive in tone increased from 47 percent in the month prior to announcing his VP to 59 percent positive on the day that McCain named Palin. (Click the URL to see the volume and tonal charts) – http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080903/NYW144

I’ve been looking into Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise and hope to get a closer look through a demo and maybe a trial run. Having worked in the blog world for several years, I know how powerful it can be to be able to track what bloggers are saying.

Here is how they describe it:

Are your ears ringing? They should be, because someone out there in the social internet – 75 Million blogs, countless message boards and online communities – is probably talking about you. And what they’re saying could make or break your brand or your products.

Think it can’t affect you? You’re wrong. What you don’t know CAN hurt your brand. But knowing – and staying one step ahead of the tide – can empower you to protect your company, clients, products or services.

With Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise overview dashboard, you can quickly see what these “citizen journalists” are saying about your brands across social media – and the impact they’re having – in real-time.

I’ll write more once I get a better look at the tool.

After a quick search, I found a very interesting power point I think would be very helpful to aspiring journalists. Check it out.

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We started this morning with a session with photojournalists Gary Fong & Kenneth Irby. Interestingly, Kenneth is a ordained pastor, which made for a very fun Gospel-like presentation!

I’ll be presenting along side La Shawn Barber at 1PM about the power of blogging. I have read La Shawn’s blog for a long time, but I never had the honor of meeting her. I’m hoping to learn a thing or two from her, as well as from the many other great presenters today.

You can get a preview of what I will be talking about via SlideShare.net.

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Dr. Robert Case is providing introductions for the start of the conference. I just heard the sad news that my good friend Rudy Carrasco won’t be here tonight.

Herbert Lowe will be giving the introduction keynote speech.

Herbert Lowe is director of communications for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit research and policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the foundation in May 2007, Lowe was a newspaper reporter at Newsday in New York City. He is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the world’s oldest and largest organization for journalists of color.

Lowe was elected on Aug. 8, 2003, to a two-year term as NABJ president, and served as chairman of its 19-member board of directors and chief spokesman during a period of unprecedented growth. The total of full, associate and student members swelled to a record 4,695 in July 2004, a 43 percent increase from a year earlier.