9:00 AM-2:30 PM
Yale, Linsley, Chittenden Hall
New Haven, CT
Summit participants will hear from Bill Nesper, Vice President, League of American Bicyclists, about the Bike Friendly America program and from Keynote Speaker Jeff Olson, Principal, Alta Planning & Design, author "The Third Mode: Towards a Green Society."
The summit will include breakout sessions on "Attacking the Application Process for Bike Friendly Communities, Businesses and Universities;" "Complete Streets Engineering - A Key Component to Bike and Walk Friendly Communities;" and "How to Get Your Project Funded." The program will conclude with optional bike or walk tours of New Haven courtesy of Elm City Cycling, followed by a networking and social hour at O'Toole's. Copies of The Third Mode will be available for purchase at the conference. Attendees who join Bike Walk CT will be awarded $10 off of their individual registration, registration ends April 15th.
Members, Full-time Students & Yale Employees:
Early BIrd, until April 15: $25
General Registration: $30
Non-Members:
Early Bird: $35
General Registraion: $45
*Continental breakfast and lunch included.
Register Here: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=5vvygggab&oeidk=a07e74qzm1z79b79281
For More Information: http://www.bikewalkct.org/summit-2013.html
















Editorial Credibility in an Online World
by Elizabeth G. Howard
I was recruited by MomCentral.com to take part in their blog tours, when the subject was appropriate for my blogs. I have two blogs -- Letters from a Small State, which reflects on my life in Connecticut, and Honk if You Compost, my eco-humor blog.
I am on a mission with these tours: to write great reviews and thoughtful pieces for whatever I sign on to. I take the job seriously, even if the pay isn't much.
Recently I committed to review Clorox's Green Works Natural Biodegradable Cleaning Wipes. I am seriously curious about this brand-- I particularly wanted see if Clorox could sell me on this disposable product.
They didn't ... the wipes, although compostable weren't amazingly useful enough to make them worth adding to the cleaning products that are tried and truly low-impact.
Everyone's Truth is Out There
Curiously, my negative eco-humor-review was not too overly adored by the MomCentral crew-- I was asked if I didn't want to tone it down just a little bit? This has indicated to me what I have been suspecting about this far-reaching and influential website (and others like it): online reviews can often be more about promoting products than they are about giving serious consideration to the product and its impact on the audience. In the case of MomCentral, I fear this may be the case.
It is certainly true that with online writing, the lines between advertising and editorial are gone. As is illustrated by contextual advertising (ie. Adsense), where once there was a firm division between the ad and the ed, we now decide precisely what we advertise based on the page content.
The result? The more niche reporting becomes, the more difficult it becomes to evaluate the credibility, objectivity and even the usefulness of information we find online. Everyone has an opinion--and that opinion is backed by an agenda that becomes more and more hidden.
I have one recommendation, and that is awareness. For more information about how to evaluate what you read on the web, have a look here.
Posted at 06:31 PM in Awareness, Commentary, Education, Media, Products, Quandries, Tips 2 B-Greener, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)