In this story, Wired discusses the state of American journalism and its choices in covering the news. It quotes Al Gore as saying that "Democracy is a conversation," in discussing citizen journalists.

Makes sense--If democracy is for sale as the article suggests, the Clue Train would go there. Web 2.0 is an important way that citizens can get involved in sharing ideas and influencing opinions.

It may be mere coincidence, but the trends that the article details appeared to be well-illustrated in last week's media frenzy around the arrest fiasco in the Ramsey case. Who chose the arrest to be the lead and virtually only story on all major networks on a day that was bloody in Iraq and Lebanon, saw a significant court decision in the NSA issue and included the public release of the 9/11 tapes?

The notorious polygamist Warren Jeffs, leader of the Colorado City FLDS sect (a rogue fundametalist group not associated with the mainstream LDS church) has been arrested and is in custody in Nevada, most likely awaiting extradition to Arizona or Utah.

One of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted, Jeffs was captured on a routine traffic stop today in Las Vegas. Jeffs, who's Colorado City, Arizona compound straddles two states, is accused of crimes in both Arizona and neighboring Hillsdale, Utah. He is accused of having sex with a minor and of facilitation of rape in connection with arranged marriages between older men and underage girls.

Flora Jessop escaped from the FLDS compound after years of abuse in the compound and has helped others escape in a way reminiscent of the Underground Railroad. She has been instrumental in helping others escape the abuse of the sect. Her national media appearances exposing the issue and demanding accountability of those in the sect who continue to exploit children in polygamist, often incestuos abuse and finance their lifestyle. This story is a particulary good account of the issues.

Jessop and others have related numerous examples of the "culture of abuse" perpetrated in the sect. Jessop tells of abuse that began virtually at birth. Babies were not allowed to cry, one of the major ways they communicate. They would soon learn to be quiet after being repeatedly slapped or held under water when they cried, setting the stage for a lifetime of mind control and abuse.

The cult-like compound has been the focus of investigations into polygamy, incest, welfare fraud and child exploitation. be s It has been said that Jeffs had up to 80 wives and he is accused of facilitating marriages between children and older men, often relatives. Another tactic was driving young boys out of town and cutting their ties with family, leaving these "Lost Boys" to fend for themselves so that young girls could be married to older men. It is really the systematic abuse of children, rather than the idea of polygamy itself that is at issue in this case.

Jeffs is considered a prophet by devoted followers, many of whom refuse to speak to those outside thegroup. The entire town is believed to be under his command and some have said they believed that Jeffs would only be captured in a Waco-like firestorm (if at all,) possibly at his compound in El Dorado, Texas or others inn the West.

Thanks to a courageous survivor and an alert Nevada trooper, this dangerous fugitive has been captured peacefully.

In this lecture at the University of Washington, Google's Jeff Dean discusses the Bigtable content storage system used in Google's backend data capacities. This content was recorded nearly a year ago, but would have been helpful answering the questions posed by Senators in last week's hearings on search and privacy, which included questions like, "Why can't we just immediately take sites down if they contain illegal, illicit or immorakl cointent? (I'm paraphrasing, but not far off the direct quote.) This content is also a virtually perfect addition to the discussion of the massive data that is the spent uranium of search, including Katie Lefren's August 23 story about the realities of data availablity in research and the dilemmas posed by the nature of the mountains of data for research and personal privacy concerns. The story in last week's New York Times, Researchers Yearn to Use AOL Logs, but They Hesitate, .mentioned Google's extensive data analysis projects (which may not have been a suprise to Google Dance watchers.) This lecture is an hour long (and quite possibly too technical to be useful to many if not most casual viewers) . I share it for two reasons. First, because the content is important, highly topical and fascinating. The presenter, Jeff Dean uses an appropriate level of jargon for the audience, and presents these complicated concepts in a way that makes sense. The other reason was my amazement at the customer experience I had with my first use of Google Video. Once I decided to checkj it out, it seemed as though I were watching it nearly instantly, amazed at the seamless way it appeared virtually instantly. The slides and a PDF of the paper about this topic were also quite easy to access. I arrived at the video through pages with numerous available subscriptions I was adding to my personalized news page. I noticed this content in one of the Google technical groups I lurk around. The point is, the content that I found after following an intuitive path was highly relevant to my research at the moment, engaged my attention with Video and with my discovery of several new beta products that Google has in the works and motivated me to use the blogging function to write this post. If you hate dealing with the plug-ins to watch video Online, Google will delight you with the video delivery options. Right now, I am watching the lecture in the pop-up Blogger interface that I accessed with just one click. Imagine the possibilities....Don't worry if this lecture is not your cup of tea. It's not the only one they have (but it tells you how they keep track of them.) As I listen to this lecture, it strikes me that the same curiosity that makes academic researchers salivate at the notion of accessing the data that is arguably one of the best uneditied views into Web users' behavior that exists, is driving the average user to experiment with Web 2.0 technologies. Using and sharing the data found on one's own personal searches and sharing those finds with others is the essence of the experience provided by sites like MySpace, Digg and Squidoo.

I recently I had some fun creating an avatar for my new Yahoo! 360 site. Lots of styles, backgrounds and cute clothing and accessory options should make Yahoo!'s avatars popular with social media users of all ages.


Also, check out my latest Squidoo lens, the Legacy of Warren Zevon.