While the lines continue to blur among the quality and types of content produced by traditional media and their Web-based counterparts — including amateurs, hobbyists and start-ups — the battle over distribution is just heating up.

Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson recently wrote of Web sites, like Google, that aggregate content without paying fees to the content creators, “There is no doubt that certain Web sites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet.”

This criticism of aggregation without payment has merit but misses the broader point. Once traditional media operations opened themselves up to search engines and began sharing their stories in RSS feeds, the cat was out of the bag. Disconnecting their online presence from the rest of the Internet simply isn’t an option, and nearly all experiments with Internet-only subscription fees have been unsustainable.

This article is part of a larger report on the state of journalism and local information in Chicago, commissioned by the Chicago Community Trust as part of the Knight Information Needs effort. The full report is available online here.

Under President Obama, data transparency, private-sector innovation, and a renewed commitment to expanding opportunity could revolutionize housing and urban planning. But just as proponents of equity, open government data, and social entrepreneurship are being appointed to key positions, and while the administration is still young, the new HUD/DOT sustainable communities initiative illustrates why the devil is in the details.

Click here to read the full article.

The organizers of this year’s N2Y4 Mobile Challenge & Conference tell us there are still a few seats left for the 2-day event convening the best and brightest from an inter-disciplinary field of hackers, entrepreneurs, activists and philanthropists.  Be sure to get your seat today if you want to be part of this unique conference!

This year’s event convenes world-class speakers and (15) “Featured Projects” focused on innovations happening  in mobile field competing for $50k in cash-prizes.  Winners will be crowd-sourced from conference participants and receive cash-awards on day 2 of the event.

REGISTER here!

Still unsure? Here’s 3 ways participants dive into the mix with the N2Y4 Conference structure:

1. Tinkerers.  Are you challenged by lecture-formats?  No worries, share your expertise, or get involved in a hands-on session happening in the NetSquared Garage.

2. Kick the tires.  Do you need real-world case studies to help inform the way you think and develop your mobile projects?  Learn more about the technology, business plans and social-impact of (15) Projects who will be engaging with Funders and Entrepreneurs to defend their work’s potential and compete for ~$100k in cash-prizes.

3. Blow your mind.  +2billion people are carrying mobile phones every day.  The “State of Mobile” topical sessions will be facilitated by leaders in both the NGO and private-sector-sphere.  Sessions promise to cover leading theories and practices.
Hear from session-leaders share  use studies of mobile-technologies and projects that are solving real-world problems, and discuss the possibilities of what an increasingly ubiquitous mobile network means to the future of business and 21st century activism.

Conference Details:

Date:  Tuesday, May 26 & Wednesday, May 27
Location: Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA
Hotel: Visit N2Y4 for more info
Registration: REGISTER here!

See you in San Jose!

Since its passage in 1968, the Federal Fair Housing Act has prohibited landlords from making discriminatory statements in housing advertisements. (Note: It also applies liability to everyone involved in the process of publishing the ad, but that’s another post for another time.) Just as classified ads have moved from the printed newspaper to the online classified website, so too have landlords’ discriminatory statements. This prohibition is unique in federal law, one of the only limitations on speech rooted in civil rights’ protections.

And HUD has now published clear instructions on how to violate it and avoid prosecution.

In a memo entitled “Guidance for Handling Allegations of Internet-based Discriminatory
Advertising against Unidentified Respondents”, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs Cheryl Zeigler instructs HUD investigators to dismiss complaints against landlords whose identities are obscured by websites and tied only to e-mail addresses. For reasons unknown to this author but which he hopes are rooted in ignorance rather than laziness, HUD has decided that some violations of federal law simply aren’t worth the trouble.

In fact, I’m nearly certain that HUD’s decision is born out of ignorance, because they have clearly demonstrated their commitment to prosecuting these specific types of violations to the FHA. In HUD v. Godlewski - a case I worked on while at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights – a landlord who hung a sign in the front window of his otherwise-exempt apartment building reading “no kids” was hit with more than $100,000 in damages, civil penalties, and attorneys fees.

This is not to say that HUD shouldn’t adjust its procedures in the handling of complaints against landlords made anonymous by the web. Not at all – by simply rearranging the steps of their typical investigations (determining whether the text of the ad is discriminatory before identifying the respondent) and adopting clear guidelines on what is and what is not a discriminatory statement (rescinded by another awful HUD memo in 1994), HUD could focus its limited resources on aggressively pursuing the landlords that create these ads.

Let’s hope that once HUD’s new leadership is approved by the Senate, procedures like this will be reformed.

At a US House of Representatives hearing last week on “Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced an new partnership. A joint task force, the “Sustainable Communities Initiative,” will address the intersection of transportation and housing affordability.

While any genuine effort to address housing affordability is welcome, this new HUD/DOT task force is particularly exciting because it reflects a new understanding of the complex issues that confront metropolitan regions and the sometimes surprising ways they intersect. Encouraging smarter planning, expanding the definition of affordability, and researching the livability of communities work in tandem to increase the use of public transportation, decrease our carbon footprint, reduce urban sprawl, enable the smarter use of regional resources, and improve affordable housing options for families. In short, this is one of those rare initiatives that seem to naturally align a multitude of interests.

Read the full post…

I first met James at the National Fair Housing Alliance’s 2006 conference in Washington D.C. We quickly bonded over our passion for fair housing and love of music and I’ve considered him a friend ever since. He is a passionate advocate, leader, and thinker whose expertise in housing would benefit New Orleans enormously. For a city still grappling with the destructive effects of Katrina while confronting a massive foreclosure and credit crisis, James is uniquely situated to take the reigns.

Visit his website at www.JamesPerry2010.com to learn more, tell him what you think NOLA needs, and make a contribution.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stands among the giants of history. The story of the preacher who helped change a nation is a core piece of our American heritage. And it’s not hard to feel as though this year’s celebration of King’s legacy is just a little bit more special; that in some small way a piece of his dream is coming true in front of our eyes.

Yet for how far America has come, inequity and injustice persist, even if they look very different than they did in King’s day. Today will be filled with wonderful and moving tributes to his memory, but I can’t help but feel that the best way to honor MLK’s legacy is to embody his spirit in our action. To that end, here’s a list of five social innovators I think Dr. King would be proud to know.

Justin Massa, founder of Movesmart.org
More than forty years after the 1968 Fair Housing Act, American neighborhoods are still often segregated by race and ethnicity. This segregation impacts everything from access to education to crime rates, and remains an important social challenge. Justin Massa founded MoveSmart.org in order to “foster economic and racial integration” by unlocking data about neighborhoods…

Maybe the coolest part of this is that Pres. Barack Obama was also on the list. Any time someone puts you on a list of five people and our new president is one of them, you know it is incredibly flattering.