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Word of Mouth
TV Networks Adjust to New Competition
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, March 20, 2008.
Network television is in trouble. Viewers are flocking to the Internet and cable channels, and they're skipping over commercials with TiVo and other on-demand services. The recent writers' strike and the dispute over Internet distribution rights showed how vulnerable TV is to competition from other media. Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott talks with Robert Thompson about the new ways networks are looking to make money and how it will affect programming. Dr. Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
Pop-culture junky Laura Murphy also joins the conversation to discuss some of the best guilty-pleasures available on the tube. Laura is co-owner of Best Company Ever, a branding, strategy and production company.
(Photo by Matt Parsons)
Dr. Thompson's favorite guilty-pleasure TV show was FOX's Temptation Island (but he says he doesn't feel any guilt about it at all.)
Here are Laura's favorite guilty-pleasures on TV:
High School Reunion
High School Confidential
Quarterlife
Dirt
Lipstick Jungle
Add new comment
Network television is in trouble. Viewers are flocking to the Internet and cable channels, and they're skipping over commercials with TiVo and other on-demand services. The recent writers' strike and the dispute over Internet distribution rights showed how vulnerable TV is to competition from other media. Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott talks with Robert Thompson about the new ways networks are looking to make money and how it will affect programming. Dr. Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
Pop-culture junky Laura Murphy also joins the conversation to discuss some of the best guilty-pleasures available on the tube. Laura is co-owner of Best Company Ever, a branding, strategy and production company.
(Photo by Matt Parsons)
Dr. Thompson's favorite guilty-pleasure TV show was FOX's Temptation Island (but he says he doesn't feel any guilt about it at all.)
Here are Laura's favorite guilty-pleasures on TV:
High School Reunion
High School Confidential
Quarterlife
Dirt
Lipstick Jungle
Add new comment
Slum Tours
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, March 20, 2008.
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro are among the big draws for slum tourism - sometimes called "poorism" - a growing trend in the travel industry. Westerners pay to tour the garbage piles and open sewage in the slums of Mumbai, the townships of Johannesburg, and settlements among the vast landfills of Mexico City.
Eric Weiner is a national correspondent for NPR and the author of the book
"The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World." He recently wrote about poverty tours in The New York Times. He joined Word of Mouth to discuss the fine line of where education ends and exploitation begins.
Read Eric Weiner's article in The New York Times, "Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism?"
Read "Why We Need Micro Loans Instead Of Slum Tourism" on Brave New Traveler
Read "Slum tourism: good or bad?" in Foreign Policy
Read "Slum tours: a day trip too far?" in The Guardian
(Photo by Christopher Baan)
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro are among the big draws for slum tourism - sometimes called "poorism" - a growing trend in the travel industry. Westerners pay to tour the garbage piles and open sewage in the slums of Mumbai, the townships of Johannesburg, and settlements among the vast landfills of Mexico City.
Eric Weiner is a national correspondent for NPR and the author of the book
"The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World." He recently wrote about poverty tours in The New York Times. He joined Word of Mouth to discuss the fine line of where education ends and exploitation begins.
Read Eric Weiner's article in The New York Times, "Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism?"
Read "Why We Need Micro Loans Instead Of Slum Tourism" on Brave New Traveler
Read "Slum tourism: good or bad?" in Foreign Policy
Read "Slum tours: a day trip too far?" in The Guardian
(Photo by Christopher Baan)
What's Your Guilty Pleasure on TV?
By Andrew Walsh on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.
Thursday on Word of Mouth, we'll be discussing guilty-pleasure television shows with pop-culture professor Robert Thompson and pop-culture junky Laura Murphy. We'd like to know what your prime-time guilty pleasures are. Do you secretly watch The Biggest Loser every Tuesday? Do you lose sleep if you miss an episode of Gossip Girl?
Crayon Physics
By Andrew Walsh on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.Slate posted a great article today by Chris Baker about a new, relatively simple video game called Crayon Physics Deluxe. Baker describes the game this way:
A High-Tech Blood Drive
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, March 18, 2008.
Facebook is the second-largest social networking Web site, next to MySpace. Sixty-seven million users log on to send messages, post photos, or play games. A new Facebook application launched on Monday essentially uses the site as a high-tech blood drive.
The New York-based non-profit Takes All Types hopes to encourage blood donations overall, especially during shortages or crises. It’s the latest example of groups using Facebook for civic-minded purposes. Word of Mouth's Virginia Prescott spoke with program founder Ben Bergman, a recruiter for online media companies, about using social networking for humanitarian aims.
Facebook is the second-largest social networking Web site, next to MySpace. Sixty-seven million users log on to send messages, post photos, or play games. A new Facebook application launched on Monday essentially uses the site as a high-tech blood drive.
The New York-based non-profit Takes All Types hopes to encourage blood donations overall, especially during shortages or crises. It’s the latest example of groups using Facebook for civic-minded purposes. Word of Mouth's Virginia Prescott spoke with program founder Ben Bergman, a recruiter for online media companies, about using social networking for humanitarian aims.
The New Cartographers
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, March 18, 2008.
A new generation of cartographers is using all the techno-power of the digital age to bring maps to life. With a click or two, our computers can transport us to far corners of the world with three-dimensional views. New mapping technology is changing the news business, the real estate industry, and the way some people think about privacy. Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott talks about this with Jessica Clark, editor-at-large for In These Times magazine. She also directs the Future of Public Media project at the Center for Social Media.
Read Jessica Clark’s article “The New Cartographers” from In These Times
Visit the “Future of Public Media Project,” at the Center for Social Media
Visit the Visual Complexity website
More Links:
Worldmapper
Surveillance Societies of the World
Google Map Mania
A new generation of cartographers is using all the techno-power of the digital age to bring maps to life. With a click or two, our computers can transport us to far corners of the world with three-dimensional views. New mapping technology is changing the news business, the real estate industry, and the way some people think about privacy. Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott talks about this with Jessica Clark, editor-at-large for In These Times magazine. She also directs the Future of Public Media project at the Center for Social Media.
Read Jessica Clark’s article “The New Cartographers” from In These Times
Visit the “Future of Public Media Project,” at the Center for Social Media
Visit the Visual Complexity website
More Links:
Worldmapper
Surveillance Societies of the World
Google Map Mania
The Ever-Blurring Line Between Television and the Internet
By Andrew Walsh on Sunday, March 16, 2008.YouTube continues to blur the boundary between your television and your computer. TiVo users will soon be able to watch their favorite YouTube videos on their television sets. While other devices have allowed some viewers to bring YouTube to their TVs in recent years, the use of TiVo -- a much more widespread technology -- will undoubtedly help the website make even more headway into people's living rooms.
Does Where You Live Make You Happy?
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, March 13, 2008.
Thursday on Word of Mouth, we speak with Richard Florida, bestselling author of The Rise of the Creative Class. We talk with him about his latest book, Who's Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. Florida says we all put lots of thought into what we want to do for a living and whom we want to spend our lives with, but we don't put enough thought about where we want to live. He says location is what really matters.
Do you agree? How much thought did you put into your current location? Did you just "find" yourself somewhere, or did you think carefully about where you wanted to live? Do you think Richard Florida is right? Do we put enough emphasis on where we want to spend our lives?
Leave your thoughts and comments below.
Read an excerpt from "Who's Your City?"
Find out which is your self-defined best city to live in
(Photo of Nashua by Tracy Lee Carroll)
Thursday on Word of Mouth, we speak with Richard Florida, bestselling author of The Rise of the Creative Class. We talk with him about his latest book, Who's Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. Florida says we all put lots of thought into what we want to do for a living and whom we want to spend our lives with, but we don't put enough thought about where we want to live. He says location is what really matters.
Do you agree? How much thought did you put into your current location? Did you just "find" yourself somewhere, or did you think carefully about where you wanted to live? Do you think Richard Florida is right? Do we put enough emphasis on where we want to spend our lives?
Leave your thoughts and comments below.
Read an excerpt from "Who's Your City?"
Find out which is your self-defined best city to live in
(Photo of Nashua by Tracy Lee Carroll)
Did You Say "Pickle Sickles"?
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, March 13, 2008.
Yup, we said “Pickle Sickles”. They’re a new frozen treat make of pickle juice (although some folks may question the use of the word “treat” to describe them.) They come from Texas, where there’s a long tradition of using pickle juice in creative ways, and they’re gaining popularity. Lots of kids seem to like them. In fact, some schools have started selling them as a healthy alternative to traditional frozen treats.
The Washington Post just ran a story about Pickle Sickles, and food editor Joseph Yonan joins us on Word of Mouth this Thursday to fill us in on the details. Joe traveled around asking children to taste test the new product, and he created this video:
Yup, we said “Pickle Sickles”. They’re a new frozen treat make of pickle juice (although some folks may question the use of the word “treat” to describe them.) They come from Texas, where there’s a long tradition of using pickle juice in creative ways, and they’re gaining popularity. Lots of kids seem to like them. In fact, some schools have started selling them as a healthy alternative to traditional frozen treats.
The Washington Post just ran a story about Pickle Sickles, and food editor Joseph Yonan joins us on Word of Mouth this Thursday to fill us in on the details. Joe traveled around asking children to taste test the new product, and he created this video:
From Joysticks to Brain Waves
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, March 13, 2008.
There are long-standing arguments about whether or not video games influence the minds of young players. A game developer hopes this year to release a helmet-like headset that allows players to control in-game characters... using only the power of their minds.
Even if you’ve never played, or wanted to play, a video game, the technology is moving forward fast, and driving other developments along with it. The newest games go beyond the joystick and involve full body experiences. Guitar Hero lets you rock out with a plastic guitar-shaped controller. Rock Band adds a microphone and drum-kit controllers. The Nintendo Wii - the top-selling game console - uses handheld wireless paddles that detect location and acceleration in 3D space.
The new mind-reading headset was debuted by the start-up company Emotiv Systems at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in February. Mike Musgrove, who covers consumer technology for The Washington Post, reported on this new development, and he joined Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott to talk about it.
There are long-standing arguments about whether or not video games influence the minds of young players. A game developer hopes this year to release a helmet-like headset that allows players to control in-game characters... using only the power of their minds.
Even if you’ve never played, or wanted to play, a video game, the technology is moving forward fast, and driving other developments along with it. The newest games go beyond the joystick and involve full body experiences. Guitar Hero lets you rock out with a plastic guitar-shaped controller. Rock Band adds a microphone and drum-kit controllers. The Nintendo Wii - the top-selling game console - uses handheld wireless paddles that detect location and acceleration in 3D space.
The new mind-reading headset was debuted by the start-up company Emotiv Systems at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in February. Mike Musgrove, who covers consumer technology for The Washington Post, reported on this new development, and he joined Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott to talk about it.
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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.
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