ReadMe

The people — online journalists, editors, publishers, readers — and publications who are inventing the future, now.

Game Over: Video Gamers and Their Detractors Get Serious About the First Amendment
A Missouri court’s ruling that allegedly violent, sexually explicit video games aren’t protected by the First Amendment has turned up the volume of the debate between joystick junkies and family-values advocates. Both sides want to know: Is a game like Grand Theft Auto artistic expression or toxic waste?
by Juan Antonio Pastor

Grokker: The Search is On
The computer scientists at Groxis insist that scanning their eye-dazzling “knowledge maps”—a graphical alternative to the search results spat out by text-based search engines such as Google.com—is more intuitive than reading text. We’ve been visual animals since human evolution got going, they argue. But are we too word-centered to make the switch?
By Genevieve Ranieri
Posted: 12.06.02, (Issue 3).

Around the World in 80 Seconds
Still stuck in the Stone Age, on a Flintstones-speed Net connection? Upgrade to membership in The University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development’s warp-speed Internet2 Project. All it takes is a million bucks and plenty of fiber-optic pipe.
by Ruta Rimas
Posted: 12.06.02, (Issue 3).

Instapundit.com and the rise of Online Opinion Journalism
Blogging has been both dismissed as yet another Internet fad and heralded as a force that could transform journalism and the nature of the online community. The popularity of blogs such as Instapundit.com, however, has made one thing clear: mainstream media's established puditocracy is no longer at the forefront of opinion making.
by Juan Antonio Pastor
Posted: 12.06.02, (Issue 3).

Weblogs: A New Democratic Forum?
Increasingly, people are turning to the Internet as a public forum in which they can discuss anything that's on their minds. But will access to the world's biggest soapbox give rise to mindless opinion-mongering, or is it evidence of the democratizing of the media?
By Diana Espinosa
Posted: 12.06.02, (Issue 3).

Bright Blogs: Beacon for Women
Weblogs fill the void left by mainstream websites geared towards women.
by Genevieve Ranieri
Posted: 12.06.02, (Issue 3).

Launched: 12.12.01. Reproduction of material from any ReadMe pages without written permission strictly prohibited. ReadMe © 2002 New York University, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, 10 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003-6636, (212) 998-7912, e-mail: readme@journalism.fas.nyu.edu