Better Late than Never

Image taken from Wikipedia article: Intellipedia
In case you didn't catch this article from Reuters a few days ago, the US government has created its own version of Wikipedia, nicknamed, "Intellipedia":

...its own secretive version of Wikipedia, saying the popular online encyclopedia format known for its openness is key to the future of American espionage.

The office of U.S. intelligence czar John Negroponte announced Intellipedia, which allows intelligence analysts and other officials to collaboratively add and edit content on the government's classified Intelink Web much like its more famous namesake on the World Wide Web.

First off, that is pretty cool. Secondly, it's a little frightening to think that our government has been about four years behind the technology curve on this one. I wonder if it's using Google and RSS yet?

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , Web 2.0 , Intellipedia ,

Journalist's Last Moments of Life on YouTube

(image taken from Wikipedia article: Bradley Roland Will
I hesitated posting the link to this video, but am now doing it because I believe it stands as a tribute to the very risky, but altogether extremely important job that journalists do on a daily basis. I believe it also serves as a reminder that the freedom of the press, as any other American freedom, should not be taken lightly.

The video that American journalist Bradley Roland Will took just before being shot was broadcast on YouTube on Oct. 29th. He was shot and killed on Oct. 27th, during the teachers' strike in Oaxaca, Mexico. Global Voices Online did a piece about the shooting on Oct. 31:

While filming skirmishes between paramilitaries and protestors in Santa Lucia on Friday afternoon, Brad was shot in the abdomen and neck, and died from his injuries, prompting the CPJ to call on the government to investigate Will’s death.

The video depicts the last sixteen and a half minutes of the young journalist's life. The video itself is historically important, as Will was technically a citizen journalist, and because the entirety of the video probably would never be seen in the traditional media. It is only because of the internet and an open society, that this video is available.

(Warning: as stated on Global Voices, the last minute is hard to watch, knowing the outcome.)
The English version of the video can be found here.

Andrew Venegas , San Jose , SJSU , Soapbox Prophet ,Tech , Journalism , Brad Will ,