Alex Madrigal (of The Atlantic) on his recipe for countering misinformation on the viral web:
…I decided to do the only thing that seemed likely to help, in some small way:Â create content that would A) counter the misinformation, B) have authority, and C) be as viral as the bad information.
See his results as he wrestles with the fake photos going viral, post Sandy.
A just-released joint press release from Bertelsmann, the corporate owner of Random House, and Pearson, the corporate owner of Penguin, announces that the two companies have […] come to terms on a deal to combine their book-publishing businesses.
OK, then. And now what.
 It’s official: Random House and Penguin announce agreement to merge » MobyLives.
The world’s first open contest to celebrate excellence and beauty in data visualizations, infographics and information art.
And here are the winners for 2012:
Data Journalism
Gold: CNN Home & Away, Stamen
Silver: Government Spending, Guardian data and graphics teams
Bronze: Metallica on Stage, Deniz Cem Önduygu, Amaç Herdağdelen, Eser AygünInteractive Visualisation
Gold: Notabilia, Moritz Stefaner, Dario Taraborelli, Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia
Silver: The American Energy Spectrum, Hyperakt, Deroy Peraza, Eric Fensterhei
Bronze: Evolution of Web, Hyperakt, Deroy Peraza, Eric FensterheiData Visualisation
Gold: Information graphics in context, Peter Ørntoft
Silver: Look at the sky, Carla Fernandez / Arce
Bronze: Lunar calendar, Dimitre LimaInfographic/Infodesign
Gold: Cover mania, Michele Mauri
Silver: Envisioning emerging technology for 2012 and Beyond, Michell Zappa
Bronze: Paulo Estriga CV, Paulo EstrigaMotion Infographic
Gold: Afghanistan – What is the true cost of war?, Peter Jeffs, Tom Stevenson
Silver: Stuxnet: Anatomy of a virus, Patrick Clair, Scott Mitchell
Bronze: Economist – The Seventh Billion, Economist.com teamTool or Website
Gold: The Antimap, Trent Brooks
Silver: FF Chartwell, Travis Kochel and FontFont
Bronze: Gephi, Mathieu Bastian, Sébastien Heymann, Mathieu JacomySpecial Awards
Studio Award:
Best Individual Contribution:
Student Award:
Timeline of the Universe, Omid Kashan
Corporate Award:
The Interactive UK Energy Consumption Guide, Epiphany Search (Gaz Battersby and Bryan James)
Information Art:
Judges’ note: Regrettably the entries did not meet the necessary standards.
Community Award
Metallica on Stage, Deniz Cem Önduygu, Amaç Herdağdelen, Eser Aygün
Challenge Winner, infodesign
The Top Most Profitable Movies of 2001 Across 22 Story Types, Cristina Vanko
Challenge Winner, interactive
Budgets Big and Small, Daniel Leventhal
Ultimate Award – Most Beautiful
Information is Beautiful Awards Winners! – Information Is Beautiful Awards.
Worth knowing (and maybe worth celebrating, at least a little bit):
A landmark fair use ruling: a judge in the Southern District Court of New York has ruled that Google’s program of scanning books for libraries, and giving them copies to use for full-text search is fair use. The suit was brought by the Authors’ Guild against the Hathitrust Digital Library, which holds the digital books for the library.
China has its first literary Nobel Laureate as the prize has gone to 57-year-old novelist Mo Yan. Yan is said to make use of magical realism and satire in addressing China’s recent history. His books have been frequently banned in China and “Mo Yan†is a pen name meaning “don’t speak.†Yan’s given name is Guan Moye.
Author Alex Shakar wrote about Yan’s novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.
Yan’s style here is maximalistic, headlong, sloppy to be sure, but bursting with life; or rather, lives — human and otherwise. A Chinese landowner is executed at the dawn of the Cultural Revolution, and the story follows him literally to hell and back, again and again as he’s reborn in a progression of animal incarnations. Each time, he winds up near his former family and participates in its dramas, goes on animal adventures, and witnesses the hardships, cruelties, and absurdities of life in China over the last half-century. Mo Yan himself shows up as a character from time to time.
The Millions : Chinese Novelist Mo Yan Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
