Innovation Incubator

1. The Tocqueville Blog Model
In his 1840 book, Democracy in America, French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville described America’s media as a series of small, independently owned printing presses that each presented news with overt bias and vehement criticism. Tocqueville accredited the energized climate of participatory democracy in the U.S. largely to this media model. Today, blogs are quite similar to the presses Tocqueville described, except whereas in 1840, a citizen of a small community might have access to five or six news sheets that all presented different perspectives on similar topics and issues, modern Internet users have access to millions of blogs that have different perspectives on topics and issues. The problem is, where to start finding out about the different perspectives on news?

The Web site I propose would be an aggregator of blogs and similar nontraditional news content that would divide its content according to topic, and feature reports and opinions about issues and events that came from perspectives all across the social and political spectrum. Instead of reading a mainstream news report about an abortion law that features comments from sources on the religious right and the moderate left (which mainstream media have pretty much decided are the only two sides to the debate), you could read about perspectives from Marxist philosophers’ blogs that oppose abortion completely on ethical grounds, or from conservative libertarians who oppose government interference on personal matters, and from other perspectives that don’t fit within the cookie cutter frame that mainstream media have delineated.

The site would determine which blogs to feature and from which perspective they approach the issues with an algorithm that would be supplementally refined by editorial decision and user-generated feedback. The point of the Web site would be to allow the perspectives of non-official people (who rarely appear in mainstream media as sources) to inject their informed opinions into media discourse, thereby moving politics back into a realm in which average people can participate. This Web site could be used for any scale of coverage, from international affairs to local politics.

2. BlogSource
MyBlogLog is a social network for bloggers and blog readers that connects people with similar interests to blogs they like to read and/or write. Blogs currently have political power not because they have a large audience that they affect, but because they are read by people who do have large audiences: traditional journalists. Journalists more and more often go to blogs to gauge public sentiment, and BlogSource would facilitate this process by selecting blogs based on quality of content, organize them according to topic, and notifying journalists of what they’re discussing via RSS feeds.

Many blogs that discuss news events are not maintained by people who report the news. Rather, they’re maintained by people who comment on the news. BlogSource would be much like MyBlogLog in that it connects bloggers and groups them according to topic/interest, but it would monitor the content on its blogs and send it to reporters. Say John the Journalist writes a newspaper story about abortion, and fifteen BlogSource bloggers discuss it in their blogs. Furthermore, another ten discuss abortion in general (or whatever new development John had reported on in the first place). BlogSource would aggregate all of these blogs and send their sentiments back to John, who could consider these new ideas when he reports in the future, or who might even be prompted to re-report on the issue.

3. ActivistWiki
If there’s one group of people that has been derided and ignored by mainstream media throughout history, it’s been social movements. Mainstream media depend on the status quo so they can stay in business. Social movements work to alter the status quo, which is bad for business. Web sites like IndyMedia have done amazing things to allow social movement members the ability to report on issues they deem important on their own terms, but to read the articles on the site often leaves even a malcontent like me scratching my head, wanting some background information. A wiki that gives background information on social issues would be indispensable for someone who’s interested in finding out about social movement issues and activities but has missed the last couple anarchist meetings at the punk house. For instance, an IndyMedia report about an anti-IMF demonstration could link to a wiki page that describes what the IMF is and why people are protesting against it. The site could also feature all related news articles that have been posted about stuff related to the IMF.

4. Google maps showing offending businesses.
This Web site would allow users to post information about businesses’ practices that might be less than ethical, but are things businesses (and mainstream media) don’t make a big effort to share with the community. Shady employment practices, histories of unbridled sexual harassment, use of sweatshop labor, animal rights violations, and other stuff like that would all be welcome, and this information would be overlayed on a Google map so you could see that, although Weaver’s on Mass Street pays their workers a decent wage and even offers health benefits to its janitor, next door at Chipotle, they’re serving up genetically altered and abused chickens packed in tortillas with vegetables covered in pesticides that were picked by undocumented workers who make 5 pesos a day.

5. CopWatch
This would be a content receptacle for people who feel they have been mistreated by police officers. They could tell their stories and file complaints to authorities and the media using standardized templates (officer’s name, badge number, physical description, etc.). Of course, video is always welcome. Hell, we could throw this one over a Google map too.

6. CutePets RSS
This program would scour the Internet for pictures of adorable pets of all species and send them directly to animal lovers who cherish adorableness. Before you laugh, note that this is probably the most profitable of all the ideas I’ve listed here, because people will pay money for convenient cute pet pics.

7. Survivors Speak
This would be part of a larger news site. It would allow rape victims to submit anonymous accounts about their experience(s) to an editor who would publish them online, and who would play gatekeeper for the comments section.

The number of rapes that go unreported is mortifying. Not only does this leave society with scores of unpunished rapists, but it also effectively creates a culture of silence that protects them and does little to discourage others from raping. Rape victims have plenty of reasons not to tell other people about their experiences, and many of these deal with having to face the person they’re telling. Anonymous forums for survivors already exist on the Web, but this section would project the voices of victims (or even regretful attackers) into public discourse and increase the level of conversation about a topic that is not often conversed about in public. It would allow people to tell their stories anonymously to the public without fear of reprisal.

8. Blogger credentials
This Web site would offer press credentials and other services to bloggers who agree to post their content on the site. It would also offer copyediting and reporting tips to citizen journalists. The editors would exact minimal control over the messages in the content, and bloggers would be free to reject any prescriptions.

9. Cheap health service database, overlayed on Google maps
This site would feature wiki-style content about health care providers who offer service to poor and uninsured people. It would allow user feedback by people who had received care, forums for discussion about how to attain medical help cheaply, and would feature a Google maps section so people could find the health care providers nearest them.

10. Open Letter Facebook app.
This Facebook application would be designed to facilitate the production and distribution of letters to editors, to politicians, and petitions. It would provide a format, offer links to contact information of officials, and would regroup petitions and letters after they had been distributed through Facebook via friends contacts in order to compile all signatures before the letter is sent to wherever it is going.