michael_nielsen

@lisacrost @tophtucker These justifications are partially (though only partially) post hoc.

@lisacrost @tophtucker In a societal sense, thinking about the value of news for informing citizens is better served by a longer-term defn.

@lisacrost @tophtucker In a personal sense, the normative "I should keep up with the news" is better if it includes things like Max's site.

@lisacrost @tophtucker As much as I've enjoyed this, I need to head off. Thankyou both for a stimulating conversation!

@tophtucker @lisacrost really like that as a creative strategy!

@tophtucker @lisacrost Here I am, explaining why I don't like to provide one definition. A Toph is generating them willy-nilly. I really,

@lisacrost @tophtucker Parts of Wikipedia do seem to have that as a major goal. Wikipedia as a whole, probably not. Same for many books

@tophtucker @lisacrost "history's diffs" is wonderfully evocative! Of course, now you need to define "history"...

@lisacrost @tophtucker fashion are borderline: broad trends are news, details are arguably not (not quite enough broad human interest).

@lisacrost @tophtucker Under this definition, stock prices are an edge case (not a lot of context); most traditional news fits. Things like

@lisacrost @tophtucker which aim to convey & contextualize the current state of human affairs. "Current" is a rather loose term, here.

@lisacrost @tophtucker Alright, a (rough) shot at this, subject to revision: in this conversation, I've been thinking of news as ppl & orgs

@lisacrost @tophtucker Certainly, he's not in what we traditionally call the news business.

@lisacrost @tophtucker It's a question of definitions, but at least as I think of it, Max is in the news business.

@lisacrost @tophtucker I like the term "reactive news"! Implies "proactive news", or something like that.

@tophtucker @lisacrost How do you think Vox (etc) have succeeded? And failed? What else could they have tried?

@lisacrost @tophtucker It's hard for me to believe I won't like it. The title & cover alone are almost worth it. Great coffee-table book!

@lisacrost @MaxCRoser is for interested data viz people to build new channels, like ourworldindata.

@lisacrost Actually, let me amend that, since it commits two sins I dislike (suggesting what people do, and stereotyping): a better solution