Collaboration in Civic Spheres

Archive for the ‘Audio/Video’ Category

Documenting witness intimidation by phone – legally

by Matt Rosenberg January 11th, 2012

Since a Washington State Supreme Court ruling in 2008, King County Jail authorities have been able to continue legally recording phone calls made by detainees. County prosecutors say calls by those charged with domestic violence especially can yield valuable evidence. Signs near phone areas warn all detainees their calls will be recorded and potentially incriminating statements may be used against them. This does not always prevent them from instructing their alleged victims not to testify, or threatening them, as shown in a recent episode of the The Justice Files from King County TV.

One in three murders in King County are domestic violence-related, says King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

More episodes of The Justice Files here. Also see King County TV’s YouTube channel.

RELATED: King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor David Martin was part of a research team which supervised analysis of recordings of 25 Washington State felony domestic violence detainees using phone calls to try to convince their wives or girlfriends to recant. The article was published in July 2011 in the journal Social Science and Medicine and is titled, “‘Meet me at the hill where we used to park’: Interpersonal processes associated with victim recantation.” The authors conclude that detainees use a common set of emotional tactics to urge recantation and that victim advocates should work to raise awareness among victims of these tactics.

Public Data Ferret’s King County+Courts archive

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Mercer Island High band slays ‘em at the Rose Parade

by Matt Rosenberg January 3rd, 2012

The Mercer Island High School marching band delivered a high-energy performance at the 123rd annual Rose Parade 952 miles from home Monday in Pasadena, capping a highly anticipated five-day trip of music and sightseeing. Several band members share their impressions of the big day on the band’s Rose Parade trip blog here. Their performance earned a warm reaction along the parade route. Video is below. Note the shot from the Goodyear Blimp at the end of the clip, as the band rounds the famous parade route corner of Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards.

Highlights of the trip before Parade Day included performances at the Rose Parade Band Fest and at Disneyland, and trips to the Getty Museum, Universal Studios and the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood – after which band members created a spectacle moshing and singing in the street. From the “Trip – Day Three” post on the band’s blog:

Hyped on adrenaline, the band was treated to Universal Studios and the city walk where we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. By far the highlight of the entire trip so far was the impromptu dance party the band had. They had a DJ in the square and we moshed like there was no tomorrow. The band tore up the dance floor and while waiting for the buses, sang all the songs in our repertoire and chanted all our favorite MIHS cheers. Even the security guards couldn’t help but smile and get caught up in the moment. I can guarantee that no other band in the Rose Parade had the spirit to come together like we did tonight. Describing today’s events is impossible to do justice and like the bus driver for bus #1 said, ”coming to the Rose Parade isn’t just an experience, it’s an adventure.” There’s no place like band!

The MIHS band played at a new year’s celebration in London last year – reported here by the Seattle Times – and also marched in the Rose Parade in 2006. The band is directed by Parker Bixby with assistance from Ryan Lane and other band directors in the district’s highly-regarded music program. Numerous parent chaperones and volunteers also assisted during and before this year’s trip.

(Full Disclosure: my son is a member of the band).

Our Public Data Ferret news knowledge base is a project of the 501c3 public charity Public Eye Northwest.

You might also enjoy: “Auburn’s new poet laureate strips away the varnish“.

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A salmon story: Public Data Ferret on KUOW-FM, Seattle public radio

by Matt Rosenberg December 31st, 2011

Dec. 30th KUOW-FM Seattle 94.9 public radio aired at 4:30 p.m. PST an interview segment with me discussing a recent story written for Public Eye Northwest’s Public Data Ferret news knowledge base. The topic was a new comprehensive report by government researchers on some very serious troubles faced by adult coho salmon returning to spawn in the restored urban streams of the Seattle area.

Here’s the segment (mp3). My thanks to KUOW’s News Director Guy Nelson, who conducted and edited the interview.

Here’s the original story at Public Data Ferret.

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June 10 screening accents video storytelling, healthy communities

by Matt Rosenberg June 1st, 2011

Get an in-person look 6 p.m. June 10th in the Chinatown Community Center at grassroots videos by South Seattle residents on nutrition and health, which are featured in an innovative digital storytelling public health campaign that will utilize online mapping and collaboration with Seattle neighborhood groups. The videos feature stakeholders from The International District, Georgetown, West Seattle, White Center, South Park, and other South Seattle neighborhoods telling their own stories about starting community gardens, finding youth sports programs for low-income families, green space and exercise, smoking and other prevention and health topics. The June 10 screening coincides with an open house at the center, and refreshments will be provided. There will be Q & A with the video producers and organizers welcome suggestions from attendees on how and where to use the videos in their community outreach effort. Some of the videos are already posted to an interim Vimeo channel and in October 2011 will be available via an online map at the Mapping Our Voices for Equality (MOVE) web page. (It currently re-directs to the interim Vimeo channel).

MOVE is a digital media and health initiative staffed by several Seattle-area non-profits with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Public Health Seattle and King County. It’s part of a program in King County and 54 other locales nationwide called Communities Putting Prevention To Work, designed by the U.S. Centers For Disease Control, and aimed at obesity and tobacco use among low-income and minority populations. Following are several of the videos.

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Keynes And Hayek Throwing Down – Round Two

by Matt Rosenberg May 4th, 2011

Econstories.tv has done it again. Experience this new rap video starring the theories of “prime the pump” government stimulus theorist John Maynard Keynes versus the laissez-faire free market views of Frederick Hayek. The staging in what looks like a U.S. Senate or House committee hearing room is perfect, and the extras play their parts to a T. The intro is pretty funny, as Keynes gets a hero’s welcome from the security guard and is waved through the metal detector even though he sets it off. Hayek gets a very different welcome but is finally let into the ring. The econo-rappers state their opening arguments well, but it’s at 4:26 – after a brief joust over the lessons of WW II U.S. stimulus spending – that the flow really emanates. Here’s the whole thing.

One set of money verses:

Keynes: “My solution is simple and easy to handle. It’s spending that matters, why is that such a scandal? The money sloshes trough the pipes and the sluices, revitalizing the economy’s juices. It’s just like an engine that’s stalled and done dark. To bring it to life, we need a quick spark.”

Hayek: “Spending’s not free, that’s the heart of the matter. Too much is wasted as cronies get fatter…. The economy’s not a car; there’s no engine to stall. No expert can fix it, there’s no ‘ít’ at all. The economy’s us, we don’t need a mechanic. Put away the wrenches, the economy’s organic.”

And another.

Keynes: “So what would you do to help those unemployed? This is the question you seem to avoid. When we’re in a mess, would you have us just wait? Doing nothing, until markets equil-i-brate?”

Hayek: “Ï don’t want to do nothing, there’s plenty to do. The question I ponder is who plans for who? Do I plan for myself, or leave it to you? I want plans by the many, not by the few.”

They take it deeper, but never lose the Plain English thread. What a teaching tool. High school and college teachers of economics, political science and communications will find this a great addition to the curriculum.

Props to creators John Papola and Russ Roberts, and to Billy Scafoli as Keynes and Adam Lustick as Hayek.

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