Opinion: How to Turn a Moment into a Movement
After hearing the constant coverage from various media outlets about the Trayvon Martin case, I asked myself “How long will this keep happening? What will it take to make change happen?” I realized that if the black community wanted to see actual change it would take more than just marching. It would take a movement […]
Here’s a Look at Lollapalooza as it Gets Underway
This is an experiment with a new storytelling program called Brickflow. It draws from Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media and web URLs to create a video slideshow of the items you bring into your “brick.”
The Chicago Comic: Present and Future
Dressed in a green floral skirt, with a long gray sweater, and no taller than 4’11, Katie McVay, 25, walks into the Gallery Cabaret bar in Bucktown that’s as big as a garage. McVay waves to Johnny the bartender who looks like a cowboy from head-to-toe in his blue denim jeans and Stetson hat. McVay […]
Chicago’s Seapunked Digital Sea: Tales of Contemporary Chicago Nightlifers
Every Wednesday night the Chicago Beauty Bar hosts a party called Mainframe that flies under the banner of an internet movement known as seapunk. If one were to walk by the venue, located a stone’s throw from the city’s Blue Line Chicago stop, he or she might encounter a rogue group of oddly familiar cigarette […]
World Naked Bike Ride – Chicago | Celebrating freedom from oil, and the beauty of people.
This year on June 8th, will be the TENTH ANNUAL WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE CHICAGO. The event details are posted on various social networks. There is no alcohol permitted, and the route is kept secret until the ride. Some participants go naked, and some choose to wear minimal clothing. Bicyclists face vehicles “naked” in the […]
The White House looking for immigration sagas
From Cecilia Muñoz, Director, Domestic Policy Council for The White House comes this invitation. Do you have an immigration story to share? Share it with the country and the world: When Americans from all over the country — each with different backgrounds, each from different circumstances — all speak out with the same voice, it’s powerful in […]
Building a barbecue community in West Ridge
Harry Belafonte is playing on the turntable and the smell of smoked barbecue invades the room. Within moments of walking in, Rub’s Backcountry Smokehouse proves true to its name, and feels more backwoods Nashville than it does Northside Chicago. Vintage flags, wagon wheel chandeliers and ornamental pigs decorate the space. Through the economic downturn, struggling […]
New play confronts violence in Chicago
Three months into 2013, Chicago has endured over 60 murders. Chicago citizens have voiced their anger over the city’s violence with campaigns, and President Barack Obama visited the city’s South Side to speak to civilians about gun control. A Chicago theater group is taking a different approach to speak out about the violence that is […]
State lawmaker pushes for less employee privacy
The so-called Facebook bill, signed into law last August, currently restricts employers from asking for employee user names or passwords to personal social media accounts. Now Republican Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs wants to let employers have access to employees’ social media accounts if they visited them with a company computer or cell phone. Durkin […]
Thinglink example
Thinglink.com is an app that allows you to edit images by adding rich media tags (links to URLs, to videos, to other images, etc.) to the images. Your audience can “touch” the image to acknowledge they have interacted with it. Users can click on the interactive elements you add to any image.
Time For Tech Notes: RebelMouse pulls your social network together
Time for Tech Notes is an occasional feature of Chicagotalks.org. Send us your suggestions for tech we should talk about, or send us your review as a “Time for Tech Note.” Rebel Mouse, is a social publishing platform that allows for users to share their content in a similar way to the digital clipboard site […]
Nike’s New Campout Policy & Chicago Sneaker Culture
For sneaker collectors, camping out for their pair of shoes is a tradition that’s been going on for years. But with all the violence happening during sneaker releases, that tradition is slowly coming to an end. “Camping out is a staple in the sneaker game for me”, said Southern Illinois student Sean Poshka. “Now that […]
Malware Attack Sets Us Back – to July 15
There was a malware attack by some Russian website that caught lots of WordPress sites, including Chicagotalks.org. Visitors were being redirected, and who knows what. We are clean now, and secured, but sadly, we lost posts from July 16 to July 31. We apologize to anyone who missed a story, or to reporters whose work […]
River Water Quality and You
Mother Jones recently reported on a national river water quality study: ” If you are a fly-fisher, a rafter, or heck, just a person who drinks water, here is some troubling news: Our waterways are in rough shape. An eye-opening new report from Environment America Research and Policy Center finds that industry dishcarged 226 million pounds […]
Meet the Deputy Director of Social Media at the Chicago Mayor’s Office
Ankur Thakkar’s road to being the social media guru at the Chicago Mayor’s Office was a little indirect, but he finds that all of his interests led him to where he is today and apply to his current position. After working at the University of Chicago for 11 months, Thakkar started working in government for […]
Voters Scorecard Lets You Vote Smart, Create a Fantasy Legislature
Check your Voter Savvy with Chicagotalks.org Congressional Primary Tool Just as “pitchers and catchers report” in the Spring, voters step up for the primary elections. Chicagotalks.org and Congressionalprimaries.org bring you a fun, novel, and useful interactive tool that presents the “who’s who” for all the congressional primaries held across Illinois’ 18 congressional districts on March […]
Social Media in Uptown: Pros and Cons
In a digital age, over one billion people have turned to social media, either in the form of Facebook or Twitter. In the 46th ward, residents have turned to Uptown’s Facebook page in order to form their own unofficial neighborhood watch. Currently 1,581 Facebook users “like” the page and are utilizing it to share information […]
