In Focus: Earthquake in Northern Italy
Last Sunday, May 20, a strong and unusually shallow earthquake struck northern Italy, killing at least seven people, damaging or destroying hundreds of structures, and leaving thousands homeless. The magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred just after 4 a.m. local time, at a depth of only 5 km (3 mi). The affected region is home to countless historic churches, castles, and towers — many of which were damaged or toppled. Displaced families are taking shelter in tents erected on local soccer fields as rescue workers search for survivors and recovery crews try to salvage historic artifacts from the rubble.
Top: Half of a clock face on Modenesi’s Towers of Finale Emilia, destroyed following an earthquake on May 20, 2012 in Ferrara, Italy.
Bottom: A woman cries following an earthquake, in Sant’Agostino, on May 20. 2012.
Read more. [Images: Getty, AP]
Statement shoes
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Colombia Brings Libraries to the Park
Via Bilingual Librarian:
Monday morning I was out walking around downtown Bogota when I happened upon this lovely little library in the park. This stand makes part of the Paradero Para Libros Para Parques (PPP), a program created about 10 years ago to help promote literacy across the country. The program is part of Fundalectura in association with city parks.
Currently there are 47 PPP in various neighborhoods of Bogota, and a total of 100 across the country. Each stand is staffed for about 12 hours a week by volunteer (they do receive a small stipend, but apparently it isn’t much).
The PPP are often open during the weekend and while in service they offer regular library services. Patrons can check books out, and the person staffing the PPP organizes activities (mainly for children), is available to answer questions, and often help children with their homework.
“There is nothing so fulfilling as the physical act of travel — getting on a plane bound for a murky destination is one of my greatest pleasures, in spite of how arduous many of these locations tend to be. In fact, the greatest appeal of my life as an independent foreign correspondent is the freedom it provides me to explore the world and the people in it, opening my eyes to realities that are quite different than my own. There is simply no substitute for putting boots on the ground and experiencing life in difficult or developing countries. As small as the world can seem, with the immediacy of social media and instantaneous news from practically every far-flung corner of the world, it’s necessary to be reminded again of just how vast it’s always been. The connection provided by the Internet is simply no substitute for the far-richer connection that comes with seeing things up close and personal.”
T Magazine: Look of the Moment | Solange Knowles »
The singer Solange Knowles brings back the ’70s in a divine disco dress by Mary Katrantzou.
“1. The model which has guided many people’s thinking in this area, the 1/9/90 rule, is outmoded. The number of people participating online is significantly higher than 10%.”
Above is just one finding of 6 by BBC’s Holly Goodier, who has spent a good deal of time assessing online participation patterns in the UK. Here are the other 5, which she and her team culled from a general agreement that the former audience is becoming more and more active online:
2. Participation is now the rule rather than the exception: 77% of the UK online population is now active in some way.
3. This has been driven by the rise of ‘easy participation’: activities which may have once required great effort but now are relatively easy, expected and every day. 60% of the UK online population now participates in this way, from sharing photos to starting a discussion.
4. Despite participation becoming relatively ‘easy’, almost a quarter of people (23%) remain passive - they do not participate at all.
5. Passivity is not as rooted in digital literacy as traditional wisdom may have suggested. 11% of the people who are passive online today are early adopters. They have the access and the ability but are choosing not to participate.
6. Digital participation now is best characterised through the lens of choice. These are the decisions we take about whether, when, with whom and around what, we will participate. Because participation is now much more about who we are, than what we have, or our digital skill.
See here for more on the 1/9/90 rule.
(via futurejournalismproject)
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Loved this for all sorts of reason
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