Keith Schneider | ModeShift

New Media, Old Media, Race and the Internet

by Keith SchneiderApril 11, 2007April 12, 20070

[youtube]Yd6dsrxd_Qc[/youtube] In May 2004 when writer David Brock launched Media Matters For America, the Web site that specializes in documenting the lies and otherÂ distasteful discourse that permeates talk radio and TV, I paid immediate attention.Â Mediamatters.org went up near the top of my favorites listÂ for a couple of reasons. TheÂ reporting was entirely new and airtight — the Web site made very good use of on-air clips and transcripts.Â The frame was values driven and righteous.Â Brock and …

Thinking Big in Knoxville, Tulsa, Salt Lake City

by Keith SchneiderApril 10, 2007April 12, 20070

KNOXVILLE — From his office on the fifth floor of the Knoxville City County building, Dave Hill looks across the Tennessee River toÂ 350 acres and more than two miles of riverfront. None ofÂ it is enchanting. Yet all of itÂ essentialÂ to this mid-size southern city’s plan to be a green, clean, energy efficient, and lovely statement about America’s capacity to build the century’s new world class urban centers. As my Manhattan mother might say: “Knoxville? Where’sÂ Knoxville?” …

Flip: The Unsustainables

by Keith SchneiderApril 9, 20070

[youtube]V6MKYnBULyg[/youtube] The work to make the nation’s metropolitan regions greener, cleaner, and more energy efficient is too often impeded by the overly earnest language of the movement. Sustainlane.com is trying to break through the wall of techno-legal-political speak with its Unsustainables, an animated series broadcast on the Internet.Â According to the Sustainlane.com’s editors, the Unsustainables “depicts the lives of a blended family in a modern urban environment. Each segment centers around our characters who, like …

Flip: Global Voices

by Keith SchneiderApril 7, 2007August 27, 20070

If you’re interested in what happens beyond the borders of the United States, then you also know that an awful lot ofÂ what’s reported as foreign news is distilled through the filter of government to government action, diplomat to diplomat negotiation.Â A different kind of communication is now available on the Internet, which fills that huge space between the conversation among international elites and the conversation occurring at the grassroots. Few Web sites are doing that …

More Big Boys Weigh In On Climate Change

by Keith SchneiderApril 6, 2007April 6, 20070

Â Â It was only a matter of time before global warming would become an organizing principle in the United States. Even for the conservative U.S. Supreme Court. It’s all come in a rush. This week, in aÂ 5-4 decision, the High Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority and duty toÂ regulate climate change gases produced by automobiles. The suit, brought in June 2003 by Massachusetts and 12 other states, asked the nine justices …

Smart Growth and Gentrification

by Keith SchneiderApril 5, 20070

For as long as I’ve been involved in understanding the dimensions of urban disinvestment, as well as the solutions, one more civic concern has always lurked in the shadows. That’s gentrification, the process by which wealthier people interested in moving back into a city use buying power and sway to push the poor out of their homes. As a journalist, public policy specialist, and citizen of America I’ve personally experienced almost every side of this …

Pure Michigan

by Keith SchneiderApril 4, 2007April 4, 20070

If you’ve followed what’s going on here in Michigan you know thatÂ we continue to lead the nation in too many categories that aren’t welcome — joblessness, rates of obesity and heart disease,Â income gap between wealthy and poor,Â racial segregation, home foreclosures. And weÂ are at the bottom of the heap in categories that define well-being –Â income growth, business starts, educational achievement,Â the quality of our big cities, state fiscal health. There are many reasons why Michigan has slid …

Cool Sites on Design, Cities, Environment

by Keith SchneiderApril 3, 2007April 3, 20070

Metrophile isÂ an interesting offering on Wired’s blog network. It covers trends and fashion and art, the urbanÂ snackage that makes living in the metropolitan space a more inviting existenceÂ for growing numbers of Americans, young and retired.Â The International Herald Tribune launched its Business of Green blog last month, and it’s alreadys one of the savviest forums for global business and environmental trends on the Internet.Â The New York Times carries the blog on the page it’s hidden …

Flip: Online Race for the White House

by Keith SchneiderApril 1, 20070

The Center for American Progress,Â a centrist left policyÂ think tank in Washington, preparedÂ this very useful and nifty online compendiumÂ of how 2008 presidential campaigns are using the Web.Â The NetTrendsÂ ’08 matrix is a one stop shop for Republicans and Democrats, and anybody else for that matter, to stay abreast of trends in online campaigning.Â NetTrends ’08 also is the best example I’ve found of how politics, communications technology, and the Internet have converged to make it much simpler …

In Time For Earth Day, Eco-Luxury

by Keith SchneiderMarch 31, 2007March 31, 20075

Â How mainstream has the greening of the world become? Fortune Magazine this month joined the lengthening list of big dog old media publishing “green” issues. Car companies, especially the Japanese, tout their energy-efficient vehicles.Â Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma is busy cementing his legacy as the George Wallace of thisÂ era, the man who stood on ideology andÂ misguided principle to deny an undeniable fact of experience and history: The earth is warming.Â Â Â And then there’sÂ one …