Gather News
Collect news from thousands of different sources
NewsBlocks primary innovation is that news is data. Once news is converted into structured data it can be verified and stored on a censor-resistant blockchain and given a price, creating a global news marketplace that developers can use as a platform to build the next generation of news applications.
Extract Data
Use Machine Learning and crowdsourcing to extract news data
Verify & Store
Verify using the NewsBlocks protocol and add to blockchain
Create Apps
Developers retrieve data to create trusted news applications
The Medium is the Message
In the 1960s, media theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the famous expression, “The Medium is the Message,” which means that new media creates new forms of content. This change, however takes time. For example, early TV programs followed the format of radio shows. It wasn’t until much later that TV shows made full use of the capabilities of the new media.
When media moved online, content producers did not immediately realise the full potential of the new media. For example, although Wikipedia has online-only innovations such as deep interlinking between pages, it still acts very much like a static, paper-based encyclopaedia, with dull grey text-book-like pages, no video, and a whole section of footnote-like references on each page. By trying to replicate a book, Wikipedia doesn’t take full advantage of the new media functions of the web.
The Internet is not Paper
Similarly, online news articles follow a template that was created for print newspapers. Because paper newspapers are discarded each day, readers needed to be refreshed with background information – mainly past news and commentary – to help them understand the present day’s news. However, the internet is not paper. In a world where readers can access supporting data with a click, tap or swipe, and where data can be stored safely and permanently on blockchain, there is no need to continue with the thinking and designs that arise from paper-based formats.
News is Data
The primary innovation of NewsBlocks is the conversion of news to data, based on news events.
Traditional news articles generally contain multiple news events, each with corresponding data. For example, an article about a Yoko Ono art exhibition held today will almost certainly mention that Yoko was married to John Lennon and that he was murdered. These are three separate news events that can be represented as three NewsBlocks: The art exhibition (now); the marriage (1969); and the murder (1980).
March 26, 2018
Today, Yoko Ono opened a retrospective exhibition in New York. The show includes previously-unseen photos of her marriage to John Lennon in 1969, as well as a pair of blood-stained glasses, a poignant reminder of the musician’s murder in 1980, by Mark Chapman. Last year, Ono recently stated her relief that Chapman had been denied parole. The 84-year-old artist says this is the largest show she has ever put on. “I’d like to thank New York City for helping me bring my work together for the first time”. She also said that she was, “really happy”.
NewsBlocks uses a combination of Machine Learning and crowdsourcing to convert news articles into data.
People
- Yoko Ono
- John Lennon
- Mark Chapman
News Events
- March 26, 2018, Ono opens art exhibition
- Ono and Lennon marry in 1966
- Lennon murdered by Chapman in 1980
- 2017 Chapman denied parole (derived)
- 2017 Ono says she is happy Chapman denied parole
- Yoko Ono born in 1933 (derived)
Dateline
- New York
- Other datelines can be derived
Factual summary
Yoko Ono opens a retrospective exhibition that includes previously unseen photos of her marriage, plus blood-stained glasses.
Quotation:
I’d like to thank New York City for helping me bring my work together for the first time. [I am] really happy.
DATA STRUCTURE
Each NewsBlock contains a number of fields that hold data about a single news event — any discrete event that was reported in the news or on social media, such as:
- John Lennon is murdered by Mark Chapman
- Princes Diana dies in a car crash
- President Trump wins election
- Tom Hanks appears in The Green Mile
- Harvey Weinstein arrested
- Tom Cruise is interviewed by Ryan Seacrest
- Beyoncé performs live at Hollywood Bowl
- Event Date & Time – When the event happened
- Dateline – Where the event happened
- Category – The subject(s) of the event (Person, Product, Team, Organisation, Company, News topic)
- Event Type – Approximately 50 news event types, including:
- Life – Birth, Death, Marriage, Pregnancy, Divorce, etc.
- Legal – Arrest, Judgement, Settlement, etc.
- Appearance – Film, Trailer, Play, TV show, etc.
- Interview – Press Conference, etc.
- Headline – A concise, unbiased, news headline
- Factual Summary – A summary of the news event, extracted from the source article
- Quotation – A quotation by the subject, taken from the source article.
Each NewsBlock also holds links to items that are related to the Block. For example, there may be multiple sources that reference the same event, and multiple commentaries.
- Embedded Media – YouTube video, Instagram and Twitter posts, Scribd documents
- Sources – The sources that correspond to the NewsBlock
- Related Commentary – Links to commentaries about the NewsBlock
NEWSCHAIN
NewsBlocks are verified and added onto NewsChain, a tamper-proof, uncensored, permanent, blockchain.
USE IN APPS
Developers use the data stored in each NewsBlock as a platform to create the next generation of trusted news applications. For example, the Newslines application uses NewsBlocks to create a social news network that gives readers the complete interactive news history on any topic.
