Category Archives: Web/Tech

YouTube Politics: Obama To Hold Google+ Hangout Monday

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill
Obama

Obama, 2012 SOTU, White House Photo

In 2007, Google and YouTube broke into presidential politics by holding a “debate” in conjunction with CNN. At the time, Google had owned YouTube for less than a year.

Flash forward almost five years. On Monday at 5.30 p.m. Eastern, Google+ (which is also less than a year old), is the stage for a presidential response to last week’s State of the Union address. As in 2007, the questions are generated by us. And as in 2007, which questions get answered is not being left in the hands of the crowd.

From 2007:

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Carnival of Journalism: What I Want For Christmas

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

My entry in theDecember’s Carnival of journalism, hosted by The Guardian Developer blog. This month’s question: If you are a journalist, what would be the best present from programmers and developers that Santa Claus could leave under your Christmas tree?

My wish for the Christmas elves? Put someone other than IT in charge of all CMS purchases. [There's an argument to be made that IT shouldn't be in charge of IT ... but that's another story.]

I make this wish (a not-very-veiled complaint) for the same reason that Don Norman criticized the design of stoves in The Design of Everyday Things. Landlords and housing developers are major purchasers of stoves. Thus, the person making the buying decision is focused primarily on price and reliability. Usability does not enter into the equation.
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A Call For Political Transparency

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

not confidentialIf you run a political site — such as a PAC or a campaign for a person or issue — then you should not be able to hide who you are in the WhoIs database.

In other words, any political action site — a PAC or a site advocating for or against a person or an issue — should contain information about the organization or person who is running the website in a Whois lookup. [To clarify, I'm not talking about opinion sites but sites that are driving campaigns.]

If you agree with me, please sign this petition. And share it!

A “private domain registration” that shows only the domain registrar, such as GoDaddy, is insufficient for political action transparency. Knowing the provenance of a website is essential information for determining a site’s credibility and veracity. This transparency is essential in an ever-crowded digital space, where setting up an online storefront can be done in five minutes.

The impetus for my soapbox Tweet and Google+ post was this site/comment. A commenter at Google+ suggested the WhiteHouse petition.

What say you? Vote for transparency by signing the petition and sharing it (or this post)! TIA!

Photo credit: Flickr CCL.

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CBS “60 Minutes” Launches Website That Only Works In Chrome For Windows

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill

Updated: This works in Chrome/Mac now (30 October) but my balkanization concern remains relevant, especially since this DOES WORK with Safari. Just use that “look …  [at your] own risk” link.

New CBS 60 Minutes Website In Safari

1. New CBS 60 Minutes Website In Safari

According to TechCrunch, CBS has created a Chrome-specific website ["Chrome App"] for 60 Minutes that “delivers high-quality video of “60 Minutes” program content, starting with the recently aired interview of Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs’s biographer.”

Based upon the screen capture in the Chrome Store compared with the screen capture on my MBP, as well as the fact that no video launches for me, this app only works with Chrome for Windows. TechCrunch says the app uses HTML5 and CSS3 animations.

This balkanization — lack of accessibility — is a problem.

Having news content balkanized in discrete mobile apps is troublesome; having a platform and browser-specific news website is antithetical to the ethic of the web.

Not only is it wrong, it’s antithetical to the spirit of HTML5/CSS as well.

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My Life With Apple

Posted on by Kathy E. Gill
Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell Jobs

Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell Jobs, 2011 by Lea Suzuki

In 1984, I convinced my about-to-be (then) husband not to buy a Macintosh ($2,495/$5,440 in 2011 $). It wasn’t just because it was expensive. It wasn’t interoperable, you see, and the dairy cooperative we worked for was an IBM shop. Mainframes and IBM PCs (not clones) didn’t talk to Macs. Heck, Microsoft Word wasn’t around yet!

Instead, we bought an Epson cp/m machine with 5 1/4″ floppies, a green screen and a great software bundle (Peachtree). And a dot-matrix printer, of course. I can’t imagine that it was interoperable either, but it was less expensive. And it was the gateway drug to the life I lead today. Continue reading →