Journoz: Updates for Australian Journalists

Quite a lot of information for free

The Chicago Manual of Style is online at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/. This is the fifteenth edition of this guide and you can use it for nothing if you register. It has a Q&A section, too, and seems to be dipping into questions of etiquette and manners as well as quote marks, proper citation behaviour and apostrophes.

Talk about overkill

Who's got the bomb? And how many? Find out with a look at Nuclear Numbers, compiled by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (http://www.carnegieendowment.org/). Apparently, there are 2,500 weapons on hair-trigger alert around the world. That's pretty grim. Also Russia has more than 5,800 nuclear warheads, five times what the US has. The report comprises recent information about the composition of global nuclear weapons stockpiles, approximately 5000 megatons in total. Find it at http://www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/numbers/default.cfm.

Too small for the naked eye

In just a few years, the field of nanotechnology has grown into a worldwide scientific and industrial enterprise. The US National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.org/) predicts that the global marketplace for goods and services using nanotechnologies will grow to $1 trillion by 2015, and there are already more than 500 products -- self-cleaning windows, automobile paint, sunscreens -- that claim they are made with nanoscale or engineered nanomaterials. A new generation of drugs and biomedical devices will soon appear on the market as the disciplines of nanotechnology and biotechnology increasingly merge. But how safe is this stuff? Who is regulating it? A new report from the US-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (http://www.wilsoncenter.org/) looks at these issues and what the public already know and think they want. The report, Informed Public Perceptions of Nanotechnology and Trust in Government, explores public attitudes and highlights the concerns people may have about nanotechnology's uses. It's at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/macoubriereport.pdf.

Blogs for freedom

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres http://www.rsf.org/) have published a Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents at http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542. It will teach you how to blog anonymously, how to get around censorship and how to build credibility for your blog through ethical reporting. RSF developed the handbook because "Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest." The counter-terrorism boys will probably be all over this handbook -- after all, if the good guys can use these work-arounds, so can the bad ones.

Talking heads

Who are the top 100 public intellectuals in the world? Foreign Policy magazine has teamed up with the UK's Prospect magazine to provide their top 100 suggestions. It includes Jean Baudrillard, Peter Singer, Jared Diamond and the new Pope. Germaine Greer is there, as is Camille Paglia. Christopher Hitchens even makes the cut. Who isn't there? See for yourself at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3249&fpsrc=ealert050926. You can vote too.

The price of petrol

Petrol prices are in the news and MotorMouth can help you find current prices. It's easier looking on here than driving around looking at service station signs. It's a way of shopping around and comparing prices without wasting petrol. The site is at http://motormouth.com.au/ and you can search by clicking on a map or by entering a postcode (use the Advanced Search for that). You can specify the type, e.g. ULP for unleaded, and you can search by brand, e.g. Caltex, if you're committed to buying from one particular fuel company. MotorMouth currently reports fuel prices in Brisbane, the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Sorry, Canberra.

Crystal gazer

With Internet and communications technologies evolving so quickly, it would be good to have a crystal ball to see where we'll be in a couple of years' time. Do we buy the camera-enabled phone now or wait for the videophone? What else is on the horizon? If it's gadgets you want, try looking at Gizmodo (http://www.gizmodo.com/), a blog all about smart, shiny new toys like the iPod mini. If you'd like more detail, more context about where we'll all be in five years, read the Smart Internet 2010 Report (http://www.smartinternet.com.au/SITWEB/publication/files/274_$$$_14049/Smart_Internet_2010.pdf) from the Smart Internet Technology Cooperative Research Centre (http://www.smartinternet.com.au/). The report looks at how the Internet might evolve from the perspective of users and analyses global and industry trends. Technologies such as open source and social networking, voice applications and developments in eHealth are covered as are games and what will be new in mobile communications. Innovators in different domains from around the world have also been interviewed for the report. This report is where you'll see the future of the Internet, today.

Ranking rich countries 2005

Australia is still no. 4 on the Annual Commitment to Development Index created jointly by Foreign Policy magazine (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/) and The Center for Global Development (http://www.cgdev.org/). Denmark is no. 1 for aid but does less to allow trade than we do. The third of these annual Commitment to Development Indices ranks 21 rich countries on how they either help or hinder the poor in a number of areas including trade, migration and technology transfer. Rich countries may hand out vast amounts of foreign aid, but they also put up trade barriers poorer countries cannot scale. Australia is well ahead of the US (12), the UK (10) and Canada (also 10). New Zealand ties with Norway at 5. The US was at 7 last year so it's slipped as has the UK which was 4 last year. Canada has gone from 6 to 10. All three are less liberal on immigration than Australia. The rankings and other information relating to the Index is at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3221&fpsrc=ealert050906.

Robert Fisk to speak at Edward Said Memorial Lecture

In commemoration of the work of Edward Said, Adelaide University is holding an Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide on 1 October 2005. Well-known journalist and Middle East specialist Robert Fisk will deliver the inaugural lecture. Get the invitation to the lecture here.

More on ownership

Columbia Journalism Review (http://www.cjr.org/) has a web page all about what the world's major media companies own at http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/. This online guide to who owns what is regularly updated, and includes articles as well as factual information.

Master the maze

If you are trying to make your way through the labyrinth of media ownership, try Ketupa (http://www.ketupa.net/). The site profiles major media groups in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the Americas. You can find the history, a description of major holdings and a detailed chronology for around 320 media groups. There are also bibliographies to assist you with further research.

The groups profiled include broadcasters, newspaper and magazine publishers, recording companies, film/video producers and distributors, as well as academic/technical publishers. There are also profiles of the ten largest global advertising groups.

If you are interested, you can go directly to Australia's entry at http://www.ketupa.net/australia.htm. This page provides a map of the Australian media landscape, highlighting ownership, the regulatory regime, advocacy groups and major research bodies. You can also go directly to entries for media owners such as Rupert Murdoch.