What am I missing?

I need your help, dear friends. I have a pile of books, hundreds of links from newspapers, journals and blogs, handwritten notes from personal conversations, a few archived twitter feeds from conferences, and random photographs on my Blackberry. But I feel like there's still something missing and I just can't put my finger on it.

Here are the key words and topics I'm thinking of and need your suggestions for good reads/links/videos/projects/etc:
California
politics and democracy
journalism
new media
CA-GOV 2010
participatory democracy / civic engagement

Feel free to comment here, email me at thestateofcalifornia@gmail.com or just pick up the phone and call me (if you have my phone number).

For the (partial) list of what I already have, keep reading.

Books:
Davis, Mike. (2006 edition). City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. New York: Verso.

Didion, Joan. (2004). Where I Was From. New York: Vintage Books.

Janiskee, B.P., and Masugi, K. (2004). The California Republic: Institutions, Statesmanship, and Policies. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Lakoff, George. (2004). Don’t Think of An Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.

Schrag, Peter. (1999). Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future.Berkeley: University of California Press.

Shirky, Clay. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press.

Documentary and Politics

“Putting Candidates Under the Videoscope”, Brian Stelter, New York Times, February 11, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/business/media/11video.html?pagewanted=print

“When Images Galvanized the Nation” by Shaila Dewan, New York Times, June 20, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/us/20civil.html

“Released on Web, a Film Stays Fresh”, Brian Stelter, New York Times, March 22, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/movies/23gree.html

Past, Present and Future of Journalism and Politics

“Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable”, Clay Shirky, March 13, 2009.
http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

“Get Off the Bus: The future of pro-am journalism”, Amanda Michel. Columbia Journalism Review. March/April 2009.
http://www.cjr.org/feature/get_off_the_bus.php

“Who's Afraid of New Media?” Paul Waldman, The American Prospect, March 31, 2009
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=whos_afraid_of_new_media
“Obama hasn't shied away from engaging with the new vanguard of media. And the only people who seem bothered by this choice? Old-media reporters.”

“New Media, Old Media and the Blogger in the Middle” by Jonathan Miller, New York Times, July 2. 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/nyregion/02blog.html

“Blogger, Sans Pajamas, Rakes Muck and a Prize” by Noam Cohen, New York Times, February 25, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25marshall.html?nl=pol&emc=pol

Revolution, Facebook-Style
By SAMANTHA M. SHAPIRO
Published: January 25, 2009
Can social networking turn disaffected young Egyptians into a force for democratic change?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25bloggers-t.html

“@Future of Journalism: Jeff Jarvis on 10 questions we should be asking now”, Caitlin Fitzsimmons, Guardian.CO.UK, June 24, 2008.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/jun/24/futureofjournalismjeffjarv

“The Post-Chronicle Wiki: Imaging a New Media Frontier in San Francisco” Nicole Price Fasig. AppScout: Stalking the Killer App. February 27, 2009.
http://www.appscout.com/2009/02/the_post-chronicle_wiki_imaging_a_new_media_frontier_in_san_francisco.php

The San Francisco Post-Chronicle
The Post-Chronicle is a wiki that's building a model for the daily news organization of the future. It began as a response to the possible demise of the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle. Our city by the bay might soon have no newspaper.
http://postchronicle.wetpaint.com/

“America’s Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire” by Mark Penn, The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

“State of the Blogosphere, 2008”
http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

“Can the Internet Save Local News?” Day to Day, NPR. March 17, 2009.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102001001

“The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America” by 24/7 Wall St., Time.com, March 9, 2009.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html?iid=perma_share


Journalism Schools

“J-Schools Play Catchup” Brian Stelter, New York Times, April 14, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/journ-t.html

“Columbia J-School’s Existential Crisis” New York Magazine, March 11, 2009.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/03/columbia_j-schools_existential.html

“No, Fuck You.” Matthew Iglesias Think Progress, March 12, 2009.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/03/no_fuck_you_2.php

Communications and Technology
“BBC Ends English Shortwave Service in Europe” by Doreen Carvajal, New York Times, February 19, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/business/media/19beeb.html

“NYTimes Reader Shows Graceful Future of Online News” by Ryan Singel, Wired, May 11, 2009.


Social Networking and Shared Content

“Flickr Creates New License for White House Photos” by Ryan Singel, Wired, May 11, 2009.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/flickr-creates-new-license-for-white-house-photos/

“The Wisdom of the Chaperones” by Chris Wilson, Slate, February 22, 2008.
http://www.slate.com/id/2184487/?from=rss

“The Future of Our Cities: Open, Crowdsourced, and Participatory” by John Geraci, O’Reilly Radar, April 9, 2009.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/04/the-future-of-our-cities-open.html

Slacker Be Gone!

I swear, I have not been purposely neglecting you all. I've just been busy making my way through this stack of books, movies, docs, and playing with fun new media toys. This is kind of just a teaser list of what I've been up to, with lots more to come.

Access: An Idea

Photo: Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

"By 7 a.m. Tuesday, few Cubans had heard the news, which was published in the online version of the Communist Party newspaper Granma....Cubans are not allowed to have internet in the home. So word of mouth will spread rapidly as people start to wakeup and head to work..." - NPR, February 19, 2008

"..now allowed to have internet..." and "...so word of mouth will spread rapidly..."

These are the phrases that caught my attention this morning and have stuck with me as I've casually skimmed online news media sites throughout the day.

Word of mouth. In the age of technology, the primary method of sharing news of the end of Fidel Castro's presidency is being shared in the most rudimentary method that any historical story has been shared - from person to person, voice to voice.

And then tonight, just as I was closing the various windows and checking the papers one last time, I noticed this - the BBC has ended its English shortwave radio service in Europe after 75 years of transmission.

How is it that in the same day, one society can end its most basic communication services in favor of higher technology, while another society continues to stretch the limits of its most basic - and far less efficient - method of communication to spread what is possibly the most important news in its history.

The juxtapositions are endless. The comparisons. The stories within the stories.

I am amazed that more has not been written yet about how Cubans found out that Castro resigned (though I have admittedly not done that much research on it today). Media outlets mention that the news was released online, but at most skim over the fact that Cuban families are not allowed to have internet in their homes. However, a simple Google search for "Cuba, internet access" confirms that Cubans are forced to wait hours in line for access to a computer and that internet service to individual homes has been shut off since January 2004.

Yet, as one BBC article notes "It is true that whenever a new law comes into effect here, Cubans - who are famed for their inventiveness - tend to find a way around it. "

This has sparked incredible interest and curiosity in me. It touches on all of my areas of interest - technology, access, storytelling. Not to mention it adds to my long desire to visit Cuba and adds just another item to the list of reasons to go.

hmmmm...ideas percolating.

three of a kind

Note. One of these three is the original, "natural" color, two of them have been digital altered. I'm interested in the different moods and stories they each tell...I think they're quite different and curious. Click on them to see them larger.