In an age of information wealth, how do we decide what's true & what's not? Allow me to introduce the world of discussion mapping. First up we have
zest (
demo here), a simple tool for threading mailing lists for easier navigation. It lacks the advanced features of the others but it's an easy starting point for structuring your discussions.
[more inside]
posted by scalefree
on Jan 10, 2011 -
6 comments
The Signtific Lab invites people to develop cutting-edge ideas through experiments of imagination and discussion.
Experiment One: what would happen if outer space becomes as accessible as the Web today?
posted by divabat
on Feb 18, 2009 -
12 comments
"We can have all the applications and Internet connectivity [...] but that still won't get at issues of lack of electricity and cartographic literacy and suppression of geospatial information by the state and their complicit corporations" reads a recent post on
Geowanking, a mailing list for GIS nerds.
[SLMLP] [more inside]
posted by finite
on Oct 9, 2008 -
13 comments
GeeksOn "A show created by Geeks for Geeks, covering topics that Geeks like to talk about." This is one of my favorite podcasts out there, most topics they cover are talked about in a very smart manner with lots of philosophy and moral quandaries thrown in, and they have gone on to get some great interviews with various people in Geek culture including
Christina Hendricks, who plays Saffron from Firefly, and its Producer, Lisa Lassek(Christina is the sister of one of the geeks),
Orson Scott Card,
George R.R. Martin,
Forrest J Ackerman,
Garrett Wang, and the man himself
Joss Whedon!
[more inside]
posted by Del Far
on Mar 25, 2008 -
17 comments
An Indonesian TV crew was invited to Malaysia for their Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign but encountered many problems.
They write up about it - and start a flurry of comments and controversy across the Malaysian government about blogging. [more inside]
posted by divabat
on Apr 6, 2007 -
14 comments
Malaysian bookstore Silverfish Books recently
pubhlished a list of books restricted by the Malaysian Home Ministry (confiscated at the border by Customs) - a list that includes
Chinese teapots,
children's prayers, and
Dora the Explorer. Banned books & magazines
aren't exactly news in Malaysia; indeed, possession of said books can lead to
severe penalties, even jail time.The Opposition
has made a statement before, but that hasn't led anywhere. However, since Silverfish's list, Malaysian bloggers have had enough with the arbitrary and Kafka-esque bans and restrictions, and have come together to form
Manuscripts Don't Burn, to protest and talk about banned books and the larger issue of freedom of speech in Malaysia.
posted by divabat
on Nov 7, 2006 -
19 comments
On September 9th 2006, 112 of the world's writers, artists, activists, and social entrepeneurs (
nominees here) will gather for a
Table of Free Voices in Berlin, Germany, discussing questions about the important issues of today. Who provides those questions?
You.
posted by divabat
on Jul 24, 2006 -
6 comments
Lakoff say - mellow frames sooth savage Thanksgiving : The guru of framing offers a handy free excerpt from his all-the-rage book, just in time to defuse tense Thanksgiving dinner situations ( All fall asleep - Lakoff or the turkey ? ). Says Penny Kolb, on the practical magic of Lakoff's approach :
"....By last night, the chat room was civil. An amazing (to me) number of posters turned off their capitalization and we were actually having conversations."
posted by troutfishing
on Nov 23, 2004 -
19 comments
Talk Energy is a filter site for discussion about sustainable energy. Their goal is to get a million people worldwide talking about energy. Members can post to a
main discussion page, create profile pages including their own journals and indentify their connections with other members. The chattiest people get free samples of neat products to
review, closing the communication loop for green companies. They're also giving away $50,000 USD in home energy renovation funds to one lucky person.
Innovators have their
own space to collaborate on ideas and projects. They're even offering
partnerships consisting of private discussion areas for any non profit that wants one.
posted by will
on Jun 1, 2004 -
7 comments
Why I Hate Advocacy. Baseball, politics, and programming languages? Mark Jason-Dominus created a classic article that is really about the general human tendancy towards flawed dialogue and the pitfalls surrounding evangelism, even though it's specifically directed towards the perl programming community. Indeed, as
in the past, some may see the "spectre of Metafilter itself" in Mark's words.
posted by weston
on Aug 4, 2003 -
19 comments
The state of college discussion has been on the down-turn. I thought it might just be at my small college in the Midwest where people don't really have much to say. Everyone's liberal, everyone believes in equality, everyone believes that the government should help the poor (and I do too), but no one seems to be able to argue these points or give any reasoning for their own beliefs. Here at MeFi we engage in debate on many subject matters, but recently debate has gotten a bad name. This generation, for the most part, seems not to want to engage in it because it is somehow seen as pointless or destructive. I say bring it on... what is the college experience if not a contentious, interesting one? What would our parents think of us?
posted by Hammerikaner
on Mar 23, 2002 -
24 comments
Indian & Pakistani ex-pats dissect world affairs, write fiction, and discuss anything and everything under the sun. I'm a typically ignorant American, so it's illuminating to read the opinions of others much more familiar with central Asia and the Indian subcontinent than I am. Site features a high level of discourse and exemplary manners.
posted by BitterOldPunk
on Jan 28, 2002 -
6 comments
