No Known Restrictions: Monument Valley View (Highsmith/LOC)

2012-01-17T23:28:00.001-05:00

No Known Restrictions: Monument Valley View (Highsmith/LOC), a photo by pingnews.com on Flickr.

Gaudi Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain by D.F. Shapinsky (pingnews)

2012-01-03T23:24:00.001-05:00

Gaudi Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain by D.F. Shapinsky (pingnews), a photo by pingnews.com on Flickr.

Abraham Lincoln Wallpaper

2011-12-04T01:04:00.001-05:00

Abraham Lincoln Wallpaper, a photo by pingnews.com on Flickr.

Supreme Court (pingnews)

2009-03-15T23:33:00.001-04:00

Supreme Court (pingnews)
Originally uploaded by pingnews.com

You never know what may happen by accident.

International Space Station Above Earth, December 2006 (NASA)

2008-01-03T00:06:00.001-05:00

International Space Station Above Earth, December 2006 (NASA)
Originally uploaded by pingnews.com

Sample Production Music

2007-07-09T22:30:00.000-04:00

Girls on the Run

2007-04-26T22:06:00.000-04:00

Chicago's Millenium Park

2006-09-29T14:05:00.000-04:00

SMM_Chicago 8-15-2006 4-01-44 PM 960x1280,
originally uploaded by pingnews.com.

Shapinsky MultiMedia produces content, such as photos, sound, music, video, and also consults on web design and management. Photos under the PINGNews sub-brand have appeared on web-sites around the world include the Schmap online travel guides.

NASA Image of the Earth

2006-09-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

Earth_GPN-2000-001437 724x885,
originally uploaded by pingnews.com.

Credit: NASA.

NASA Image of the Earth

2006-09-12T12:55:00.000-04:00

Earth_GPN-2000-001437 724x885,
originally uploaded by pingnews.com.

Credit: NASA.

New York - Broadway and Empire State Building

2006-08-31T09:26:00.000-04:00

A Chicago Summer

2006-08-31T08:58:00.000-04:00

The Power of Possibility

2006-08-29T09:35:00.000-04:00

I used to be in network television news. I also used to be in academia. And I've done my share of public policy research as well as work in local government in Chicago. Suffice to say I've been around. But there is a central theme: information and power.

In many ways I found the transition from academia to broadcast news extremely brutal. But, as I got past the pressurized atmosphere, even began to enjoy the adrenaline rush, I discovered that I had always been a journalist by temperament and belief. I never could belong to any group that advocated anything, even if I agreed with their cause. Somewhere along the line, whether it was liberals or conservatives, I came into conflict with absolutes. As I realized, journalists don't like absolutes. Many don't even like the word "truth" or at least the idea that journalists are pursuing it. Much like academics, who spend their lives discussing such subjects, the best journalists understand the limits of what you can know. Everything is built on information, which comes from some source -- whether a book, a person, a computer, etc. It is always a house of cards because somewhere along the line of fact-building there is always likely to be some fact that is either wrong or misunderstood or -- even worse -- hidden from you intentionally. Suffice to say the possibilities for getting it wrong are so great that anyone who believes they can find the "truth" is essentially operating on faith rather than reason.

That is fine for some, but never for me. When I became a journalist I realized that my training as an historian had actually prepared me for a career as a producer and investigative reporter. I knew how to find information. If the presentation was dramatically different and the pressures unique in each profession, both demanded that you learn how little you know in order to press forward to know anything. And both taught me that the point of it all is to make the best information available, not gospel but informed thought. Academics hope the information filters down through society. Journalists hope someone pays attention. If the audiences are different and thus the delivery, the bottom-line is very similar.

Which is why I have embarked upon this path to create Shapinsky MultiMedia and PINGNews.com. The first is a business committed to helping organizations -- commercial and non-profit -- get the most out of there efforts to communicate. The second is an experiment in building a new kind of online news and information community, not a top-down news operation or a bottom-up "everything goes" citizen journal, but something in between -- a place where you can get trusted information. We have search engines. We have news operations. We have blogs. We have places to upload and download everything. We need more things in between, things that are not part of huge communications empires or exercises in anarchy. Some come close, like Wikipedia, but more still can be done.

All this means understanding the means available to convey information as well as what you want to say. Nothing new really. But what is new is the opportunity to communicate more cheaply and widely than ever before. What is new is the anarchy of commerce where the business world is always run by giants, but where the tools of the present make it possible for enterprises to jump out of the darkness over night. There is no telling what will make it or not even though many have good guesses and insights.

I tell people that we need to see the web as something "organic" -- that lives, moves, constantly changes, evolves, etc. My own efforts in this regard have revolved around testing the "free stuff" that exists -- ways to post video, photos, ideas as well as means for marketing. Ultimately, the very simple rules are that you have to create something that is relevant and helpful, easy to understand and use, and is not a one-way street. News organizations continue to have difficulty with this concept. So do major corporations. When they try to add on to their existing businesses things that are more dynamic, interactive, engaging, etc. they are often doing little more than putting a new face on an old product with a few fairly minor bows to technology. Television shows have web pages, polls, out-takes, extra materials, etc. That all makes sense. But it is not like a Wikipedia or a YouTube. The large organizations essentially take whatever other people are already doing and add it to their stable of tricks, whether by absorbing a company that already does it or making some of their own changes.

It is a reasonable strategy -- and one that is more likely to keep these businesses going than the alternative. Still, the reality is the not knowing. The trends are obvious. The ways to make money or reach more people, etc. are fairly clear. Doing it is the trick. And doing it fast enough. Several years ago I went to work at a public television station as a senior producer thinking that the digital technology allowed for small entities to reach greater audiences. That proved to be accurate but the speed with which video has moved to the web and broadband has taken over along with the wireless and cell-phone revolutions that are making communication even cheaper and ubiquitous (in developed and less-developed parts of the world) mean that the entire calculation has changed.

The calculation continues to change daily. That is the reality. That is underscores the power of possibility: if you have the right information and tools for interacting with it you have a good chance of succeeding in whatever market you're in. So long as you figure it out yesterday.

Photos from PINGNews

2006-05-07T00:05:00.000-04:00

Free photos from the PINGNews Media Library are available for use under Creative Commons license.

Public Information Network Group

2005-09-27T22:49:00.000-04:00

Shapinsky MultiMedia has begun PINGNews.com -- The Public Information Network Group -- a new online news and information community. For more information click here.