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Provocative post that suggests that the problem isn't online advertising, but advertising as a whole – the Internet introduces the idea of a world without advertising and alternative methods for making purchase decisions and no one wants to go back to the old method. Not very helpful on the subject of finding alternative models, though.
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Useful overview of some distributed human translation projects, though with an overfocus (IMHO) on quality control issues. Looks in some detail at World Wide Lexicon and at Meedan
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One of the very best talks at TED 2009 – Nathan Wolfe tries to stop pandemics by studying the transmission of diseases via blood from animals to hunters via the bushmeat trade. Rather than fighting an unwinneable fight "against bushmeat", he works closely with hunters to monitor their health and study disease spread. A really brilliant and inspiring guy.
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Evgeny Morozov looks at Bluehost's censorship of Belarussian and Zimbabwean blogs. Evgeny treats it as censorship, rather than as sloppy business practices on the part of Bluehost – still not sure what I think on that subject.
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The Huffington Post and Atlantic Philanthropies team up to build a team of 10 journalists and lots of freelancers to help fill gaps in investigative reporting left open by journalistic layoffs. Budget is around $1.7m a year, and content will be available to other outlets the same day it breaks on HuffPost. Very cool idea, though yet more evidence for the argument that hard journalism may need to be foundation supported