What We’re Reading December 16, 2014 7:01 pm

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Om.co

The Visual Web

With estimates that we are going to post nearly 900 billion photos to the Internet this year, Om Malik, the web visionary who founded the technology site GigaOm, takes a look at what this means for the way we communicate. After talking to a number of experts about the evolution of online photography, Mr. Malik explains why he believes photos will continue to become the fabric of the social web, why SnapChat has continued to prevail, and what to expect from new photo-sharing services of the future. — Nick Bilton

genevaoverholser.com

The Bind of Silence

In all the hand-wringing about what Rolling Stone did or didn’t do right in the saga of the University of Virginia story, one unexamined question sticks out for me. Does the enforced anonymity around rape victims make journalism about rape inherently fraught? This is the subject of a smart piece by Geneva Overholser, former editor of The Des Moines Register who has gone on to many prestigious jobs in journalism and academia. She asks, trenchantly, “How do you size up a problem that’s largely hidden?” — Lydia Polgreen

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DNAinfo New York

When Diversity Isn’t

By one measure, New York City has an extremely diverse public school district. Out of 1.1 million students, 41 percent are Latino, 26 percent are black, 17 percent are Asian and 15 percent are white. But by any meaningful measure, the schools are extremely segregated. According to this eye-opening article, half of the city’s white students are concentrated in just 7 percent of the schools, and half of the city’s Asian students are concentrated in just 6 percent of schools. As a wise student in the Bronx puts it: “When you go to school, it’s not only about school. It’s learning from each other, an exchange of knowledge. There are so many different cultures that would be great to know.” — Motoko Rich

Wired

In the Trenches With Taibbi

These days, the debuts of media start-ups seem almost constant – as do grim predictions for the futures of the institutions they are meant to replace. The Racket, Matt Taibbi’s Internet magazine, will not be among them. It died before it was born. Wired’s Mat Honan (himself headed to Buzzfeed) got in before that death, though, and the result is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall glimpse of what might have been. The piece feels sort of half-finished, which is perhaps appropriate, given the subject’s barely-there life span. — Dan Saltzstein

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The Texas Observer

Looking Back

The Texas Observer, the venerable liberal publication whose influence has always far exceeded its subscription list, has been around for 60 years. The anniversary issue is simply terrific, with a look back at 60 years of the Lone Star State’s history that includes racial unrest, the rise of L.B.J., the journalism of Molly Ivins, and – please excuse me for bragging a little here – a quote from my father, A.R. “Babe” Schwartz, a former member of the Legislature who said that the Texas Capitol, “built for habitation by giants, has always been occupied by some giants and some pygmies.” (He’s the true wordsmith in the family.) — John Schwartz