Linking Art, Technology, and Data for Online Communications ...

by Keisha Taylor. This was originally posted on the TechSoup Global Blog

A host of great speakers were in attendance at the event Public 2.0: Culture, Creativity and Audience in an Era of Information Openness. The free event was held on July 21, 2011, in London. It examined the link between these areas of work and its relevance for communicating today and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Westminster. The event brought together a small gathering of journalists, academics, developers, artists, activists, and business people to share ideas, experiences and talk about future possibilities in this space.

Historic Figures Used Data Visualization to Create Change

Florence Nightingale was one of the first people to use data to help inform public policy. She discovered that the majority of deaths in the Crimea were due to poor sanitation rather than casualties in battle. She was able to use her Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army in the East to persuade the government of the need for better hygiene in hospitals. John Snow was also able to disprove the theory that cholera was an airborne disease and prove that it was actually caused by contaminated water using a data visualisation.? Nonprofits have long known the power of images (in particular photos) to gain support for and increase awareness of their work. Today, data visualisation, when done effectively, can provide additional, insightful images. These can also be powerful tools in helping organizations understand needs and influence others with the goal of realising positive social changes in communities.

Diverse Mix of Speakers/Presentations at Event

• BBC Simon Rogers, Editor of the Guardian Datablog and Datastore gave a great presentation featuring some of the ways in which the paper is using data for reporting. Full datasets are also available for download from the paper?s website. I particularly liked the transparent data model, which shows how the paper processes its data before it is presented as a visualisation.
• Ian Forrester, Senior Producer at BBC Research & Development, revealed some of the ways that the BBC is emphasising data and social media for reporting, but also examined the patterns and trends that are emerging with the proliferation of data online. He discussed how the ability for individual users to monitor and aggregate their personal data from social media sites and self-tracking devices is leading to the Quantified Self.?
• The presentation by Drew Helment of Manchester?s Future Everything examined the latest developments at the intersection of art and technology. The group is working with public sector partners to free Greater Manchester?s public data via the DataGM project.
• The Founder of Furtherfield, Ruth Catlow, also spoke about the need for cross fertilisation of art and technology during her presentation on an open source art world.
• The showcase of the DataArt project for BBC Data by Harry Robbins of Outlandish Ideas illustrated just how easy it can be to find data with the right interactive visualisations. Do explore! Santiago Ortiz of Bestario?s live demo of the new Impure visualisation software was also interesting.

NGOs Should Visualize Their Data for Greater Impact

Powerful images will forever continue to help nonprofits communicate effectively, so too can data visualisations. Nonprofit communicators need to understand how they can use visualisations to communicate not only internally but also openly with the public. I?d venture that art, data and technology will continue to merge rather than collide. The resulting visualisations and underlying raw data may become a vital means of communications in a globalised world. This is especially true if nonprofits can interact with and question the data visualisations they produce and are presented with.

How can we achieve such data literacy? There?s help!

Most notably, the new Data Without Borders initiative supported by Jake Porway, a data scientist at the New York Times, ?seeks to match non-profits in need of data analysis with freelance and pro bono data scientists who can work to help them with data collection, analysis, visualization, or decision support?. Data meetups are also sprouting all over the world to help anyone who wants to learn more about these issues. Find one near you. I look forward to seeing this type of work develop and increase!

Source: http://netsquared.org/blog/ktaylor/linking-art-technology-and-data-online-c

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U.S. avoids default but fails to dispel economy fears (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States stepped back from the brink of default on Tuesday but congressional approval of a last-gasp deficit-cutting plan failed to dispel fears of a credit downgrade and future tax and spending feuds.

President Barack Obama and lawmakers from across the political divide expressed relief over the hard-won compromise to raise borrowing authority. Nevertheless, U.S. stocks fell sharply as investors fretted over persistent economic and political uncertainties dogging the world's largest economy.

Senate approval through a 74 to 26 vote of the $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction plan, already passed on Monday by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, warded off the immediate specter of a catastrophic U.S. debt default.

President Barack Obama immediately signed the bill into law, lifting the government's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling hours before a Tuesday midnight deadline. But the rancorous debt and deficit battle between his Democrats and their Republican rivals left Obama politically bruised as he heads into a campaign for a second term in 2012.

The agreement drew a line -- for the moment -- under months of bitter partisan squabbling over debt and deficit strategy that had threatened chaos in global financial markets and dented America's stature as the world's economic superpower.

The bill lifts the debt ceiling enough to last beyond the November 2012 elections, calls for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and creates a bipartisan joint House and Senate committee to recommend a deficit-reduction package by late November. It does not include any tax increases.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said the deal reduced uncertainty in the markets.

But other worries loomed ominously for investors. Still present was the possibility of a painful downgrade of the top-notch American credit rating. And, questions lingered about the U.S. economy itself and whether the bipartisan deficit-cutting compromise could deliver the desired results.

"The bill's passage ends some uncertainty, but now markets are focusing more on consumer spending, the weak GDP number, the overall economic feel, than on Washington," said Matthew Keator of the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Wall Street stocks fell broadly by more than 2 percent, ending down for a seventh consecutive session as the wrangling over the U.S. debt ceiling faded and investors turned their attention to the stalling economy.

DOWNGRADE DEPRESSION

The U.S. budget deal did not resolve deep uncertainty over whether it goes far enough in reining in deficits to satisfy major ratings agencies, which could still downgrade the United States' AAA credit rating. Such a move would raise borrowing costs and act as another drag on the stumbling economy.

One agency, Fitch Ratings, did not rule out slapping a negative outlook on the U.S. AAA rating when it concludes a review of the country later this month, the agency's top analyst for the United States told Reuters on Tuesday.

David Riley said the review would take into account the "positive" outcome of the debt limit deal and prospects for the U.S. economy, which have disappointed Fitch.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's said in mid-July there was a 50-50 chance it would cut the U.S. rating in the next three months if lawmakers failed to craft a meaningful deficit-cutting plan.

The $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction plan approved by Congress falls short of S&P's previous assertion that $4 trillion in deficit-reduction measures would be needed to show that Washington was putting the country's finances in order.

TUSSLE OVER TAXES

Signaling tough political battles ahead over spending cuts and tax reform as the deficit-cutting plan is implemented, both Obama and Democratic and Republican leaders said their agreement, while a welcome first step, was not enough alone.

Obama, speaking after passage in the Democratic-led Senate, said the sacrifices required to reduce the deficit needed to be fairly shared in U.S. society.

"We cannot balance the budget on the back of the very people who have borne the brunt of the recession ... everyone is going to have to chip in, that's only fair," the president said in an address from the White House Rose Garden.

He said he expected tax reform to emerge from deliberations by the new congressional committee, and that a "balanced approach" in which the wealthier pay more taxes was needed.

Only moments after final passage, rival congressional leaders were handing out their political recipes for the way forward -- Republicans in favor of spending cuts, and Democrats looking for tax reform or hikes.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the bill a "first step," but urged further spending cuts.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the next round of deficit reduction should include tax increases on the wealthy, as well as spending cuts.

This pointed to another collision course with Republicans who vehemently oppose any tax increases.

Asked on Monday whether Republicans would back increased taxes if the joint special committee recommended it, Boehner told "CBS Evening News" this would be "a stretch."

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Thomas Ferraro, Donna Smith, Richard Cowan, Lesley Wroughton, Laura MacInnis, Alister Bull and Steve Holland in Washington and Chris Sanders in New York; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110802/ts_nm/us_usa_debt

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Priyanna Ramdhani reaches doubles semis at Pan Am Badminton ...

The Pan American Junior Badminton Individual Championships continued yesterday in Kingston, Jamaica at the National Indoor Sports Centre where over 16 countries participated in the Under- 11,13,15,17 & 19 events which include Boys & Girls Singles, Doubles and Mix Doubles.
Priyanna Ramdhani of Guyana once again reached the semifinals in the Mixed Doubles when she and Pedro Vasquez defeated Jamaica?s Jordan Atterbury and Brianna Lewis 21-6, 21-3 in the first round and No.2 seeded players from Brazil Felipe Banzato and Luanna Capuli 21-17, 21-13 in the Quarterfinals and was scheduled to play for the Silver yesterday against opponents from the USA.
Day Three match results are as follows:
Boys Singles Under-11 Quarter-Finals: Christopher Camacho (GUY) lost to Gustavo Salazar (PER): 21-1, 21-4
Girls Doubles Under-11 Quarter-Finals: Priyanna Ramdhani (GUY)/Brianna Lewis (JAM) lost to No. 2 Seed Tammy Xie/Helen Ye (USA):? 21-5, 21-8
Mixed Doubles Under-11 Round 1: Priyanna Ramdhani (GUY)/Pedro Vasquez (ESA) defeated Jordan Atterbury (JAM)/Brianna Lewis (JAM): 21-6, 21-3
Mixed Doubles Under-11 Quarter-Finals: Priyanna Ramdhani (GUY)/Pedro Vasquez(ESA) defeated Felipe Banzato/Luanna Capuli (BRA): 21-17, 21-13
The Guyana Team has been sponsored by: Pritipaul Singh Investments, DaSilva Optical, C&V Shipping, Rent-A-Tent, North American Resources, Republic Bank Ltd, House of Optics, Industrial Safety Supplies, Noble House Seafoods Ltd, Toolsie Persaud Ltd, DIGICEL, Lance Hindes & Associates, Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services, Ogle Airport Inc, Guyana Olympic Association, National Sports Commission, Ministry of Youth, Culture & Sports, NCP Future-Ad, Paul Bram, Hand-in Hand, Bounty Farm, Wings Aviation Ltd, Ernesto Choo-A-Fat, Christopher Lawrence & Yonex Badminton Club.

Source: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/07/31/priyanna-ramdhani-reaches-doubles-semis-at-pan-am-badminton-tourney/

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Fight over Globes broadcast returns to court (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? "And the right to broadcast the Golden Globe Awards goes to..."

A federal judge may complete that proclamation this week ? no ripping of a secret envelope required ? possibly altering the future of one of Hollywood's major award shows.

For months, attorneys for the show's organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and its longtime producers, dick clark productions, have argued over who can legally negotiate the broadcast rights for the award's gala.

While the 2012 Globes show is not in jeopardy, tens of millions of dollars are at stake along with bragging rights to a show that attracts millions of viewers each January at the height of Hollywood's awards season.

NBC has aired the show since 1998 and has a disputed deal with dick clark productions to air it through 2018.

The HFPA sued dick clark productions, also known as dcp, last November and is seeking to overturn the most recent NBC contract.

The production company, which is no longer owned by entertainment pioneer Dick Clark, argues that the deal is valid and that it has the right to produce and distribute the Globes for as long as the gala airs on NBC. It claims the HFPA has known for years about the arrangement and cites instances in which HFPA leaders have called it a "major irritant" but acknowledged that a "perpetuity clause" was in place.

At a hearing on Tuesday, both sides will continue to press U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank to focus on a 1993 agreement that brought the show back to a major network for the first time in more than a decade. Scandal knocked the ceremony from airwaves in the early 1980s and it had been relegated to basic cable until dcp brokered what turned into an initial 10-year deal with NBC.

The arrangement served all parties well, restoring the Globes to a lucrative prime-time network broadcast and delivering more than 20 million viewers to NBC for several shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Attorneys for dcp argue the 1993 agreement included a clause allowing it to produce on NBC "in perpetuity" as a partial reward for getting the show back on a broadcast network. Since dcp and HFPA began their relationship in 1983, the groups have shared revenues from the broadcast 50-50.

The HFPA, which is comprised of about 80 foreign entertainment journalists, argues the perpetuity clause is invalid. Although the clause was included in a document signed by its then-president, broadcast contracts must be approved by the full HFPA membership, the association's attorneys argue in court filings.

They point to a transcript of the 1993 meeting in which dcp executives, including Clark himself, presented the NBC deal. Some HFPA members expressed concern for how long the group would be tied to the producers, but were told that it was only for the terms of the network's proposed deal, which could last anywhere between three to 10 years.

The HFPA president at the time has sided with dcp in the current fight, writing in a declaration that she understood the perpetuity clause was necessary to protect the integrity of the show and reward producers for restoring it to a network platform.

Her credibility has been questioned by HFPA attorneys, who note that she was later expelled from the group over ethical questions.

Attorneys for dcp in court filings repeatedly state that the HFPA's actions over the years show that it understood the company's rights to produce the show and negotiate broadcast rights.

They point to the fact that in 2001, when NBC extended its commitment to air the show until 2011, the HFPA did not require a new agreement with dcp but merely extended the terms of the 1993 arrangement.

The HFPA for its part claims it did not understand the impact of the perpetuity clause until a year later, and that it could not do anything about it until after the previous NBC contract expired earlier this year.

The HFPA states the clause as interpreted by dcp creates a situation where the company has a compelling interest to keep the show on NBC, whether the network is willing to pay full value for the broadcast or not.

David R. Ginsburg, executive director of the Entertainment and Media Law and Policy Program at the UCLA School of Law, said the judge will likely focus on what rights each side had at a particular moment in their relationship.

Ginsburg, who has not reviewed motions filed in advance of Tuesday's hearing, says if the session doesn't resolve the issue, it may spur HFPA and dcp to consider a settlement. "It seems to me both sides have an interest in preserving the value of the broadcast," he said.

The HFPA remains confident there's enough time for the courts to resolve the dispute in advance of the Jan. 15 Globes ceremony.

"By mid- to late-September, in plenty of time for a move to a new producer and network, there will be a decision on whether HFPA, which has nurtured the Globes since its debut 68 years ago, is free to take its program to the network most prepared to promote the Foreign Press' charitable mission," HFPA President Aida Takla-O'Reilly wrote in a statement.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110801/ap_en_mo/us_golden_globes_dispute

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Boehner rewrites his bill, conservatives climb on (AP)

WASHINGTON ? House Speaker John Boehner hastily rewrote his stalled debt-limit bill again Friday, and former conservative foes began climbing aboard. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled he's ready to push ahead with his own version, and President Barack Obama declared "we're almost out of time" in a wrenching political standoff that has heightened fears of a market-rattling government default.

"The power to solve this is in our hands on a day when we've been reminded how fragile the economy already is," the president said from the White House as many U.S. stocks fell in response to a sour report on economic growth and widespread uncertainty over the Washington debt stalemate. "This is one burden we can lift ourselves. We can end it with a simple vote."

A simple vote was hard to come by, just a few days before Tuesday's debt-limit deadline.

On Capitol Hill, Boehner revised his measure and made inroads with reluctant rank-and-file conservatives who have argued that the deficit cuts it contained were insufficient in exchange for a debt limit hike. The leadership pushed toward a late Friday vote.

Rep. David Dreier of California said the revised measure would still raise the nation's debt limit by $900 billion ? essential to allow the government to keep paying its bills ? and cut spending by $917 billion. But a later increase in borrowing authority wouldn't take effect unless Congress sent a constitutional balanced budget amendment to the states for ratification.

That was a key demand of rebellious conservatives who withheld their votes from the legislation on Thursday night.

That balanced-budget amendment addition made Phil Gingery, R-Ga., a convert. "That's basically what many of us were holding out for," he said after GOP leaders made a fresh appeal to rank and file at a closed-door meeting.

Freshman Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said the change on the balanced-budget amendment "got a lot of additional Republican votes."

Even Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, a self-described "beat-up no" after days of arm-twisting, said he was leaning toward "yes."

The White House immediately dismissed the new version, with spokesman Jay Carney calling it "moot and irrelevant" and certain to fail in the Senate.

In a nod to the endgame, however, Carney added: "We do have to wait for that process to play out before we can get focused on legitimately solving this problem."

In the Senate, Reid pressed forward with his legislation, setting up a showdown vote for Sunday. On the Senate floor, Reid said glumly, "This is likely our last chance to save this nation from default."

The Nevada Democrat said he had invited Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to join him in negotiations.

A divided government is struggling to break the extreme Washington gridlock and head off a first-ever default that would leave the Treasury without the money necessary to pay all its bills. Administration officials say Tuesday is the deadline.

"There are plenty of ways out of this mess. But we are almost out of time," Obama said.

The biggest sticking point is the House bill's call for congressional votes to raise the debt ceiling, in two stages, before the 2012 elections. The president wants one vote before his bid for a second term. No matter how the endgame plays out, one House GOP veteran indicated that the party's internal fight had weakened the hand of its leaders.

"Everybody acknowledges that because of the dust-up yesterday we've lost some leverage," said Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio. "You can say it's remote, but there was a chance that the package yesterday, if it had been successfully voted out, would have been adopted by the Senate and signed by the president. I think everybody acknowledges that's not going to happen with this piece of legislation.

"I don't think anybody thinks that this bill is going to be passed as is by the Senate. It's going to come back to us, and we'll take a look at it," he said.

McConnell dismissed the Democratic effort on Reid's bill, arguing that it stands no chance in the GOP-controlled House, and he accused Obama of pushing the nation to the brink of an economic abyss.

"If the president hadn't decided to blow up the bipartisan solution that members of Congress worked so hard to produce last weekend, we'd be voting to end this crisis today," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

In his brief White House remarks, Obama made a fresh appeal to Americans to contact members of Congress.

The office of the Architect of the Capitol reported that the main phone circuit was near capacity. It said outside callers were occasionally getting busy signals as a result of the heavy volume.

Congressional phone lines and websites became overloaded earlier in the week after Obama asked people to contact their lawmakers about the stalemate.

Obama also asked his 9.4 million followers on Twitter to send tweets to Republican lawmakers "and urge them to support a bipartisan compromise to the debt crisis." Obama's Twitter feed planned to send out the Twitter handles of several lawmakers, starting with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby of Alabama.

"The time for putting party first is over. If you want to see a bipartisan (hash)compromise, let Congress know. Call. Email. Tweet," Obama wrote in a tweet, signed "-BO."

On Thursday, Boehner, R-Ohio, suffered a stinging setback when, for a second day, he had to postpone a vote on his proposal to extend the nation's borrowing authority while cutting federal spending by nearly $1 trillion.

"Obviously, we didn't have the votes," Dreier said after Boehner and the GOP leadership had spent hours trying to corral the support of rebellious conservatives.

If Republicans now can get Boehner's version through the House, a rapid and complex set of choices will determine whether and how a debt crisis can be averted. House Republicans will be under tremendous pressure to pass something, even if they have to make it so appealing to their right wing that the nation's independents and centrists will scorn it. As Thursday's events proved, nothing is guaranteed.

The main area of dispute between the two parties is how to encourage or guarantee big spending cuts in the future without rekindling a fiercely divisive debt-ceiling debate such as the one now raging.

Interviews with well-placed insiders suggest the following road map, assuming Boehner can get his bill out of the House:

The Democratic-controlled Senate would kill it quickly. The focus then would fall on the Senate's two leaders, Reid and McConnell. They must decide whether they can reach a compromise that can pass the Senate ? where a united GOP can kill bills with filibusters ? and then pass the House and be signed by Obama. The White House would be integral to such talks.

Republican officials say McConnell could hold a strong hand, despite the House's shaky performance. He could argue that the House finally passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling, while the Senate has done nothing but kill that bill. If Tuesday's deadline passes with no resolution, Republicans say, voters will blame Democrats.

Under this thinking, the Senate would pass a measure similar to the House bill, perhaps with minor changes to save face and give political cover to Democrats who vote for it. The House would quickly concur, with numerous Democrats and all but the most conservative Republicans voting aye. Obama would have no choice but to sign it.

Democrats say the opposite is true. Obama has persuasively argued in recent weeks that Republicans are unreasonably demanding, they say.

Democrats control the Senate and White House. If Republicans insist that a partisan, House-passed bill is the only vehicle, then public anger will fall on them, this thinking goes.

A $900 billion debt-limit hike would come first, coupled with $917 billion in spending cuts over 10 years. Under the Boehner revision, approval of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment would open a path to another $1.6 trillion in borrowing power, provided that Congress and the president have agreed to another round of spending cuts of that amount or more.

Obama has consistently rejected this condition. He says it would hurt the economy and touch off another ferocious political fight over the debt ceiling, which Congress previously raised with little fuss year after year. Global markets and investors would not be reassured by such a drawn-out, uncertain scenario, he says.

___

Associated Press writers David Espo, Alan Fram, Ken Thomas, Jim Kuhnhenn, Erica Werner and Ben Feller contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110729/ap_on_go_co/us_debt_showdown

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