Spotus, prisoners and professors

Howdy everyone. So here's what I got up to today: I went to an interesting talk from David Cohn, the chap who set up Spotus. 

Despite the fact that he's sickeningly young (26), he seems to have his head screwed on. We all know traditional journalism is going down the swanney, and there's a lot of hand-wringing going on from everyone who's worked in print media for the last 30 years, or anyone, like me and most of my programme, who hope to have some sort of job in the coming years.

So this is what Cohn's suggesting: a non-profit model where people pitch stories, others chip in for the funding, and after the story's been researched and written, it goes up on the site. The idea is that we get to choose with our wallets what goes up, the journalists get paid and to some degree justice gets done (if you subscribe to the idea that journos should be some sort of moral conscience, exposing injustices wherever they go).

I'm all for it. Not as a journalist (I'm not a big fan of the investigative stuff; I prefer breaking news very quickly), but as a consumer. How great would it be to think you have some input into what is covered, and you're not just a pawn in the big advertisers' game. 

It doesn't work for all stories, as Cohn admits, but it's great for the long-form stuff that America feels journalist should be doing; showing who's being screwed over and who's the bad guy. Power to him, I say. Seemed like he was doing it for all the right reasons as well - wanting to make the world a better place, rather than just line his pockets.

I also spent a good hour or so brainstorming my design project. Looks like the prison rehabilitation idea isn't a goer, as there's not enough time left in the term to implement it and get the requisite feedback. 

But we've still got some other ideas in the pan: either something for gamers who spend too much time at the console, or something for professors who are crap at public speaking. Not sure yet which one we'll go for, but we've got a week or so before we start prototyping, so a bit of grace. I'm swinging towards the gamer thingamy. I reckon there are loads of people who'd be happy to see the gaming world put to better use, and it'll be quite fun to mess around with the format.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of a murder mystery party at the moment: an interaction between social exchange, a bit of problem solving, and a smattering of physical activity as well (maybe even something like geocaching to get people out in the open). Could be fun. If you've any ideas on any of this, let me know.