Thoughts of a Convergence Journalist

List of Twitter links

2009-02-20T07:09:00.002-05:00

Second party services that depend on Twitter have gotten out of control. Since I found it difficult to keep up with these and I don't use all these services regularly, I decided to start a list via Blist.

Feel free to added or edit the list. I will add more bookmarks in the up coming days.

Googlahooplesoft News Network

2009-01-14T01:56:00.007-05:00

In response to my last post a pessimistic, a-lot-of-us-are-going-to-be-out-of-jobs-unless-we-take-responsibility-for-ourselves look at the future of journalism, Morgan commented that google could never take over the industry because commercial media is what supports companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo & Apple.

In response this... I would like to present googl ahoo ple soft news network concept....

What is news?
A script is written that scans "web chatter" (blog posts, comments, forum posts, flickr tags, tweets, etc.) for vocabulary works that have a burst in a occurrence on web, meaning they suddenly appear in greater numbers that normal. (Of course "a" & "the" are excluded.)

How do we build a story?
Another part of the script goes out & finds people that are talking about and sorts them or allows users to sort them by the following criteria:
Text length - a longer post, in most cases means more information
Page views
Time spent on page
Frequency of the subject
Links to a source
Etc.

We have a headline & we have some information, but not all of it is "reliable" or "accurate".

That is where the social networking aspect is worked in. There is a rating system of sources. Recommendations for the most reliable sources would be based on those who have voted for the same chatter sources as you have in past. Kind of like Amazon.com. Googlahooplesoft news recommends the following based on what other people who have viewed this story liked. Or... other people who have viewed this story gave ratings positive ratings for these sources.

I think eventually something could be written to piece meal together whole stories via a formula. This is already being done for police briefs and obits at some papers. Why couldn't you write a story that way?

Less circulation means ↑ wood to build coffins

2008-12-28T12:45:00.002-05:00

The bodies are piling up. The plague has hit newsrooms everywhere.

No worries. Circulation & the number of inserts is down so we have extra wood for coffins.

Since my time at a small paper in New England, I have seen the departure of a handful of colleagues that in some cases I barely knew. The smell of layoffs is everywhere.

All of us are running stories that are saying, 'Bailout this' and 'bailout that.' We are the band on the Titanic.

Do you know what we have in common w/ the automakers in Detroit? We both created a bad model.

What is the difference? If we lobbied congress and got something out of it, it could be viewed as an industry wide Staples Center debacle. How could we be viewed as impartial?

The only reason we are still around is because Google hasn't written an algorithm to cancel us out. Don't wait for someone to give you the answer or give you some special training. Take matters into your own hands as part of your New Years resolution. Start training yourself. ~~Your job~~ Your livelihood depends on it.

For your entertainment:
God Rest Ye Weary Journalists (Tidings of new media journalism)

And because every article should have them....

Related links:
Newspaper Death Watch
TypePad for Journalists (Formerly the TypePad Journalist Bailout Program)
Tribune Company Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
Roll call III: Say goodbye to more of your friends
My letter to a veteran journalist friend who was laid off

NPR plans to cut 7% of workforce

2008-12-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

NPR made the announcement earlier this week.

A memo was sent to NPR employees from NPR Interim President and CEO Dennis Haarsager explaining extent and circumstances surrounding the cuts.

From the memo:
"These cuts include the elimination of 64 filled and 21 unfilled positions, many of which are associated with the two cancelled programs."

Read the full memo Haarsager to NPR staff.

....

On a side note, I wonder how the economy is going to effect PBS.

Screening ONA Entries - Investigative (Small)

2008-06-15T04:29:00.001-04:00

I have a place in my heart for investigative pieces. I have probably been through four packages.

There was one that really stood out to me. It was like, "Yes! Now this is what this contest is about." It got the only "Pass" and "definitely" that I have passed along. It was very refreshing.

I did have to pass up the opportunity to vote on one piece, because a professional friend of mine did it. I knew as soon as I said to myself, "Ooooo, I didn't see this piece by [so and so]. I wonder how he and his family are doing these days," that I had to click the "Conflict of Interest" button.

Back to screening. This is more fun than I thought!!!

Screening ONA Entries - Breaking News

2008-06-15T02:47:00.002-04:00

All those years of sitting in a black room at the POYi and CPOY judgings and looking at thousands upon thousands of photos, listening to the clicks of the judge's pressing their vote buttons and finally hearing someone say 'in' or 'out' is paying off.

Out. Out. Out. Out. In. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. In.

Finally. I have been able to employ those skills as a screener for the judges for the Online Journalism Awards given out by the Online News Association.

I couldn't find anything on the site about confidentially, but I am going to make the assumption that it would be poor form to discuss the specific sites. So, I will write about the generalities that I am seeing.

I have been through four packages so far in the Breaking News category, and I have to say that the two biggest things I am seeing are site issues in Safari and a lack linking to related elements. It is like all the elements exist, they are not navigable from another element's page.

If I recall correctly, on the first four that I looked at I said...

Out - definitely. Out - definitely. Out - borderline. Out - borderline.

Depending on the package. I am spending anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes with each package.

As for now, I am going to evaluate one more entry, then I am going to walk up to the store, grab a coffee or five and continue. I will update again if there is anything interesting to note.

One last thing - for god sakes people do your video kits not have mono pods or tripods? Please use them. I have never gotten car sick before, but somehow watching too much web video shot without a tripod makes me ill.

Keep Subject Line to 50 to 80 Characters

2008-06-07T17:16:00.002-04:00

Keep email subject lines at 50 or 80 characters for most effective open rate, according to an article posted on Online Media Daily.

MediaPost Publications - Email Analytics Reveal Sweet Spots in Subject-Line Length

My reactions: I wonder if this study took into consideration the platform that the receiver is reading the email. When you have your email client open, you often have your folders or options taking up space on the left side of the screen. Then in the center you have sender info, subject info, date and time.

The author, David Goetzl, gives the example: "Find out Secrets to Spice up your Barbecue this weekend and all Summer Long and enter to win a New Weber Grill."

Who has space for that kind of text in their subject line?

Round 1: Plurk vs. Twitter

2008-06-02T22:52:00.003-04:00

It is Plurk in the right corner, and it is Twitter is in the left. Who will survive?
Will Twitter remain true? Will the public tweet demanding more? Who will win?
Stay tune. I am going to try to take period screen shots of Alex ratings.

Can't We All Just Get Along: Sharing Code w/ Your Brother

2008-06-01T22:57:00.001-04:00

In the world of journalism major media corps have many children, but the children not familiar with the concept of sharing digital developments unless momma or papa forces them. "If you don't play nice, we will cut your budget another 10%."

With print products, traditionally completely finished content is shared between sister organizations. Stories. Photos. Packages. While I am young to the industry, I have not seen very many collaborative efforts on reporters from sister papers. For example: If there a natural disaster, multiple papers from the same mother company will all send reporters to the location. Then they send reporters to Washington to get the reaction. What they don't do is say, "Okay - you, from paper X, are 50 miles away from the disaster; you go to the disaster. You, from paper Y, are located in D.C.; You go see what congress is doing about this. Then we will bring the pieces together and have our editors fight over who gets to edit it."

In the same way that this happens, technology developments are rarely shared also. When they are shared it is in a completed form. For example, paper B creates a package on a major local event that becomes national, brothers and sisters of paper B pick up the package through a company intranet. Besides interactive story packages or video, the only other example I have seen of major sharing is major company wide site designs, and this is usually to standardize ad sizes in order to sell national advertisements.

Why not share more pieces?

For example, a individual newspaper decides to jump on the Django band wagon as the app's foundation. Another newspaper under the same mother co. does the same. Both get databases from the state to build an app on local school statistics in comparison to the general population. Both generate the app in their respective shops, across the country, without communicating to each other.

In the end - the work they have done overlaps. The general population data would come from the census bureau, so both parties would have developing similar structures. Well, poop! Who wants to do work that is already done, when we can start on the next project?

Even with the education data - there are certain characteristics of the data that are going to be the same.

I use the Django example, but this idea applies to those blocks of code too.

I am not sure why this hasn't happened yet. The only reason that I can think of is the loss of identity a newspaper can be subjected to under the umbrella of a media conglomerate. Maybe individual newspapers are not so much brothers and sisters, but more like step-cousins twice removed. They acknowledge each others existence, but they only cross paths at funerals and weddings.

I am advocating the start of a grassroots brotherhood effort. Send a fellow developer at a sister paper in your company an im and see what they are up to.

"Help thy brother's boat across, and Lo! Thine own has reached the shore." - Hindu Proverb

Hacking Twitterfeed: iTunes > RSS

2008-05-24T21:18:00.008-04:00

Twitterfeed is not perfect, but combining it with Yahoo Pipes gives you a lot more flexibility. Pipes allows you to manipulate RSS feeds without dealing with raw code, so you can mold one or more into a newly shaped feed.

Recently, I had this problem where I wanted to send a bunch of RSS feeds to publish automatically to Twitter. This was great in theory, until the podcast had to go up. The issue with the podcast was that the XML was written using iTunes tags. Here is what one item looks like:


<item>
<itunes:author> Ed O'Keefe / washingtonpost.com</itunes:author>
<itunes:subtitle>Plus: What Politics Can Do About Obesity</itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary>A recap of the day's political news, and analysis from The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com.</itunes:summary>
<enclosure url="http://cdn.washingtonpost.com/podcast/p3podcast052208.mp3" type="audio/mp3" />
<itunes:category text="Politics & News"></itunes:category>
<itunes:duration>17:25</itunes:duration>
<itunes:year>2008</itunes:year>
<itunes:keywords>Politics,politics,The Washington Post,washingtonpost.com,news, washington</itunes:keywords>
<guid>
http://cdn.washingtonpost.com/podcast/p3podcast052208.mp3
</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 22 May 2008 10:05:00 GMT</pubDate>
<title>Post Politics Podcast: David Broder on the 2008 Presidential Race</title>
</item>

Twitterfeed could translate all of it, except for the link. If you are reading this, I am guessing you are looking for an easy fix to this problem. The solution is not that hard to implement.

Before I get into an explanation of how I did this, take a look @ the end product, the P3: Post Politics Podcast pipe.

INSTRUCTIONS:
You need a yahoo account.
Go to the pipes page.
"Create a New Pipe"
From the left hand column -
Under "Source" drag a "Fetch Feed" into the main area.
Enter the URL of the offending iTunes feed.
From the left hand column -
Under "Operators" drag a "Rename" module into the main area.
From the drop down, select the iTune tags you want to rename and then enter the way you want to rename it.
Example: item.enclosure.url RENAME link
Note: you don't have to write item.link
Repeat for every item you want to ensure is transfered over
Then, connect the dots on the tops and bottoms of the pipes, save & run.

Here is the resulting twitter: P3: Post Politics Podcast.

That's it! Pretty simple hack!

GRAPHIC: The best Thanksgiving wines

2007-11-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC:
The best Thanksgiving wines

Choosing a wine that complements the diverse flavors of a Thanksgiving meal can be a challenge. Use this guide to find the wine best suited for your meal and your taste buds.

CATEGORY: VIDEO/MIXED MEDIA (CPOY 62) FINAL

2007-11-09T15:25:00.000-05:00

This is the second viewing of the VIDE0/Mixed media round, with judges' comments.

Film Camp - GOLD
U.S. Border Patrol - OUCH, this was mentioned as an Award of Excellence, but then they decided to pull back and voted it out.
Diagnosing Love - OUT

CATEGORY FINISHED.

Correction to early blog posts

2007-11-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

I have a correction to an earlier posting. The category on Thursday afternoon was INTERACTIVE not VIDEO/MIXED MEDIA. The judges switched the schedule, without notification. The blog titles affected have been corrected.

CATEGORY: VIDEO/MIXED MEDIA (CPOY 62) ROUND 1

2007-11-09T14:48:00.000-05:00

This is the first viewing of the VIDEO category

A New Life - OUT
ICOM828 - OUT
No Title Provided - OUT
Extra Innings - OUT
5th Inning - ? - I missed it.
Stream Team - OUT
Staying Young - OUT
Airsoft (OHIO) - OUT (I thought it it was entertaining if that counts for anything.)
Futvolly - OUT
The Art of Glass Blowing - OUT
Old Creek Ranch Vinery - OUT
Film Camp - IN
WATER POLO PLAYER - OUT
BINGO - OUT
DRUM CIRCLE - OUT
U.S. Border Patrol - IN
E-BAY Train Ride - OUT
Daniel Johnson - OUT
1/34 BCT Returns to Sauk Centre - OUT
New Cadet Week - OUT
Virginia Tech Tragedy - OUT
Acting Class - OUT
Redirecting Their Energy - OUT
Diagnosing Love, Energy - (Loading problems)
The Teaching Hands of Deaf Basketball - OUT
Pulling Together - OUT
Daughter of Cancer - OUT

Diagnosing Love - They are having problems loading this video. There is nothing they can do about it, because this is how they received the file.... Like 10 minutes later. They are playing Jack Johnson in the background.

Diagnosing Love - IN - Watched only partly,because of loading issues

ROUND 1 - END

CATEGORY: Still/Audio Story (CPOY 62) FINALS

2007-11-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

AWARDS:

GOLD: The Mac
SILVER: News Cadet Week
BRONZE:Lennie Edward, A New Future

Awards of excellence:
Hunting for Friendship
F is for Failure
The john Deere Shuttle

FINALIZED - This category is complete

CATEGORY: Still/Audio Story (CPOY 62) SEMI-FINALS

2007-11-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

7 left from 78.

Judges begin podcasting - this blog includes some of their comments. Three will pass along to the next round?

INs
New Cadet Week - good pacing, good rhythm, good photos, doesn't rely solely through the audio, there was ambient weaved in.
Hunting for Friendship - audio was sophisticated, but the images weren't as good as New Cadet, original story, this could have been a tighter story, could have had better sequencing and editing
F is for Failure - Too esoteric, the photos didn't do anything for me, the audio was good, it surprised and engaged me, I want to like this a lot more, people can learn from this one - for pacing, there is more room in multimedia for personal story telling like this, this reminded me of This American Life, I wasn't wowed by the photography, This would have been gold if this was another subject, if we want to send a message about what resonates emotionally, then this is it, but the photos are not that great, it's too long, the problem with most of these projects is that they used a formula that didn't work that formula is ... "my name is blah blah blah and I blah blah blah."
The John Deere Shuttle - some audio is over modulated, the audio picked up this project... "Hi, my name is Joe Blow and .... "
Lennie Edwards, A New Future good photos, if the person doesn't have a colorful voice, then don't do an audio slideshow, not everything is multimedia, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip
The Mac - I am all about the Mac, good audio, suffered from a little pacing, great photography, it is a strong piece

OUTs
Volkwagon Buddies I wanted to hear the car, I wanted to hear the metal, I wanted to hear from that guy was an expert, its too long, it is the music that brings you in, they relied too much on the audio, the photography could have been stronger

CATEGORY: Still/Audio Story (CPOY 62) ROUND 2

2007-11-09T12:16:00.000-05:00

These projects have made it past the first round of judging:
New Cadet Week
Hunting for Friendship
F is for Failure - Judge said that they need to have discussion about stills as video. The tone in his voice was apprehensive.
The John Deere Shuttle
Lennie Edwards, A New Future - This one was only watched about 1/3 the way through. It began to buffer at that point. Judge said that they should move on, the project won't recover.
The Mac
Volkswagon Buddies WOOHOO! Mizzou kid and currently one of my students made it through. CONGRATS!

Lennie Edwards, A New Future - Reopened - it is still buffering. Judges take a break. One judge explains that if an image is prepared in correctly, Sound Slides can freeze and there is nothing that they can do on there end.

Judges take a short break.

Lennie Edwards, A New Future - was being viewed from the Smoky Mountain Stories project, not the original entry, because of the technically difficulties associated with the other file.

END ROUND 2

GRAPHIC: Pub. 11/9 in the Columbia Missourian

2007-11-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

I had the centerpiece in today's Columbia Missourian in print and online.
Here is a link to the multimedia: Finding an embryo a family

It will open in a window.

Here is a link to the article online: In fight over embryonic stem cell research, some Christians turn to embryo adoption

CATEGORY: INTERACTIVE (CPOY 62) ROUND 1

2007-11-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

I came into this category an hour after the judging started. There are 17 entries, and they have gotten through 6 or 7.

There is a discussion going on of what roll can faculty advisers pay in an entry. The consensus is that faculty members can advise and direct, but they can be shoot video. A project was just eliminated, because a faculty member shot video. On the following project, the judges asked to see the "ABOUT" section from the beginning.

The Haiti project has been voted out.

Smoky Mountain Stories | CPJW 2007
A judge said, that a lot of the names (titles) are new and that they are easily identifiable in the broadcast world, but not hear.
Videos watched:
1. I missed the name.
2. A boy and his goat. (The Judges appear to be entertained. They are laughing.)
3. Country store at crossroads.
VOTING - IN

White City Stories
First, they viewed the ABOUT section.
Question brought up by judge (and their conversation) - design and functionality is just as important as content. How do we know if someone is a faculty member or not? Because we take this account in another project, because we know who the people are. How do we treat projects where there is a list of names that we can't recognize?
1. Cloistered for Christ
2. Inca Ice Maiden
3. In the Shadow of Ubinas
4. Life of a Miner - It is interesting that one story is subtitled and the another is voiced over.
VOTING - IN

Stories of Katrina's Aftermath
It was noted that David Leeson II participated in this project.
1. MISSED TITLE
2. Valerie Washington
3. Katrina Archive
VOTING - IN

Missed name - File name "sport.mov"
There is a quicktime movie. There is no page layout or presentation. Judges laugh when they find out the guy who wrestles is a principal.
VOTING - OUT

On The Line: Economic Hardship in North Carolina
About section viewed.
1. To Hell With Society - watched fully (note: this is a rarity, movies, picture stories and interactive are usually watched for only a few seconds at times before they get canceled out.)
2. An Uncertain Future
3. Timeline
4. Turning a Life Around
VOTING - IN

Everything's Bigger in Texas - Childhood Obesity
1. Jaclyn's story - watched fully
2. Ki-Aira's story
3. Romero family's story
VOTING - OUT

UPDATING HAS BEEN CANCELED. 11:04 PM
I was working on the print graphic for tomorrow's front page, and now I got to get the interactive done.

..................

UPDATE - News is whomever did the Skatopia Picture story won the Portfolio category. This is secondhand information.

CATEGORY: PORTRAIT (CPOY 62) Final

2007-11-07T01:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to get this data yet. From my understanding the judges stayed late today, and I wasn't able to catch up. There also has been some difficulties with the podcasting. I think the Portrait category was one that was effected by the podcasting troubles. This evening the judges did an extra session discussing the Feature section winners from yesterday, because of the problems. These comments were not the exact comments that the judges made during the judging.

This is all second or third hand information, so I wouldn't put a lot of weight into these updates.

I did hear the University of Missouri students took 1st, 2nd and 3rd some of the Sports Categories. Congrats Ben Reed and Tully! MU also took first for illustration.

I will probably not attend any judging on Wednesday, because there is a database I need to work on. I will try to post any info I get on finalists that may come my way. Here is a copy of the judging schedule.

Because of my person interests, I am going to try to attend Individual Video/Mixed Media Story or Essay. I am interested in this addition. I am also going to try to attend as much as I can on Friday, which is Individual Still/Audio Story or Essay and Interaction Multimedia Project.

Blogging about CPOY judging - Taking Requests

2007-11-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Surprising, I have had quite a few visitors that have been stopping by for updates on CPOY. The two locations that I have had the most visits from are Ohio and Kentucky.

Because, I can't blog through the whole competition this week, because of course work and a lack of a place to plug in my laptop, I am taking requests. If you are interested in a particular category's progress, post a comment, let me know and I will see if I can arrange to attend that judging.

CATEGORY: PORTRAIT (CPOY 62) Round 2 - Reconsideration

2007-11-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

INs that are added to the original list of INs. These are the ones that I missed.
IN - Color photo, black bg, A man has his hand over his right eye. There is light that is falling on his eye.
IN - BW photo, of a 20 something male on the far right hand side of the frame. The image has an ethereal feel to it. The man is dressed in dark clothing but the rest of the image is white.
IN - there is one more - more info to come.

Images that are reconsidered from the outs
The outs are being viewed at 9 to a screen. Images that are viewed for a 2nd time are blow up and looked at individually. Judges are the ones who stop and ask to see the image a second time.
2nd time - image of a woman pilot, most of the image is sky, caption is read, she carries a charm
2nd time - caption read, Adam Crawford after a fight, something about Hooters - Judges said that it has a very Diane Arbus feel to it.
2nd time - caption read, Amber Hickleman, drag race, Michigan - Judge said very nice caption.
2nd time - Margret Stephens had her golf cart stolen, image from the outside of the house looking in through one window. most of the frame is the siding on the house - Judge said very nice caption.
2nd time - when brothers fight, only escape, Gaza strip, man floating in the sea, there is a beach behind him and half the image is sky
2nd time - (Just out of curiosity - Judge) caption read, iLatex series, studio shot, white bg
2nd time - Laquisha Jones made to the top American Idol something or other, from Flint, Michigan
2nd time - Katya, Russia Film something, photo taken in Switzerland, there are huge dark birds in the image (IMAGE WAS ADDED TO INs)
2nd time - Katie Tutle, Chilocothe, OH, She is a photo student who makes a 45 minute commute to Athens
2nd time - Man with Budweiser tat on the bad of his head (IMAGE WAS ADDED TO INs, Judge said that it was the captain that made difference.)

The end of reconsideration - checking for podcast preparations.

My battery is dead. You will have to get the winners from the podcast. I will try to do a updated winning post later.

CATEGORY: PICTORIAL (CPOY 62) Gossip

2007-11-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

This judging was on Sunday evening. Word is on the streets (of the University of Missouri) that the image that won GOLD was not exactly ... hmm... I am wondering how to write this, while still remaining to be PC. Some of the photo students disagreed with the judges choice for GOLD.

CATEGORY: PORTRAIT (CPOY 62) Round 1

2007-11-06T10:44:00.000-05:00

Judging resumed.

There maybe typos, because I am blogging while I am looking at the screen, as not to miss photos that may pass as "IN". I am not really watching the computer screen.

There are a lot of outs. It is expected. There are thousands of images.

IN - Woman on the water, looks like a beach. The water is blurred and in motion. There is a pier in the background. It is sunrise or sunset.
IN - Little, maybe asian looking out a train or bus window, a green statue in the background maybe the Statue of Liberty.
IN - I missed it because the other two prior to this one and this one were very close together.

IN - B&W image of of a person with a large mohawk. The person is facing to the right. The background is dark/black. There is a light source coming in from the right. They are leaning there head backwards.

IN - Elderly man with a walker in front of a brightly lit window. He is behind a bed. Overall, it is a clean shot.

Judges take a break - After making it through the 2nd 300 images in the Portrait Category
Judges return - 300 more images to go

IN - Personal with an leathery face, only head up, wearing a black hat, the image is B&W, quasi-out-of-focus BG

IN - Woman with big orange hair in the water up to her shoulders, she is in the 3rd lower part of the frame. She has a small dog on a small boogie board or small surf board.

IN - There is an black boy looking slightly upward. He is either scene through glass or there a reflect on the glass behind him. There are a lot of other people in reflection. The reflection is blurred.

First round Portrait is done. There are 10 images that are IN. From here on out, the judges will go through all the outs in mass, looking at multiples ones, 12 to 16 at a time on the screen to see if there was anything they passed up. Then they will go to the INs and kick out anything that doesn't deserve to be an IN.

Judges take a brief break. Bad music fills the room, while people chat and/or grab a beverage.

No more updates to this blog.

CATEGORY: PORTRAIT (CPOY 62) First Round

2007-11-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

I showed up after class, during the middle of the first round of portrait judging. All images labeled "IN" have made it for further consideration. There are some that made "IN" before I showed up, so this list is not all inclusive.

Judge 2's button is sticking. The judging is paused for a second for technical difficulties.
Judging has been paused.

Did any photos pass that may have been voted in, but were voted out, because of the malfunction?

CATEGORY: FEATURE Finalists (CPOY 62)

2007-11-05T18:50:00.000-05:00

The judges have decided to award the following photos:

GOLD: Vietnam orphanage
SILVER: Couple kissing on Charles bridge
BRONZE: Woman in kentucky with 30+ cats
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Family of 14 in a car
Boy entering inflated balloon earth
Boy and brother flipping from truck into hay in Mexico
Teens in Seattle hanging out in front of yellow wall
Elderly couple kissing

CATEGORY: FEATURE (CPOY 62) Judge's comments

2007-11-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

We have two car pictures and two from the Vietnam orphan edge.
The family of fourteen is much richer.
The kid going into the tent...
It's a photograph that I could live with on my wall.
The suburban kids..
You know what hurts it for me, the kids on the left... (this picture) feels so fifteen like there is nothing to do.
Great color. Great color.
It's very now.
Can someone talk about the cow?
The hamburger, I don't get.
The kiss, it is a great moment, but technically....
This is a Missouri picture. This is POY picture. It is a black and white moment.
We all respond to this on a human level.
I care.
I don't want to knock it.
There is a fair amount of frustration that something was missing.
Why are you frustrated?
The basics are the moments.
The intimacy. The emotion.
The human condition.
This one is okay. It does what it is suppose to do.
In illustration it was all about perfection. Here it is about intimacy.
Especially in a feature situation
Even if it is just eating at the table.
It lacks intimacy.
What is the moment there?
It is a child being a child.
It puts you there.
In
In
In
Out
In
In
Out
Out
Out
In
In
In
You have 8 in.

The new website & RSS to HTML widgets

2007-10-22T01:10:00.000-04:00

As you know, I am currently building my website. I am going to have the lastest blog posting on my homepage, so anyone who stops by can read it.

To post my blog on my website, I am taking the RSS feed that Blogger creates and parsed it using Magpie, which spit it out as html. I did run into a couple of problems, but all-in-all after I got started it took me about 2.0 to 2.5 hours to get it set-up and running. I am not sure how long, because I spent some time looking at various RSS to HTML tools.

There are other ways of parsing RSS to HTML:
&bull Google Search on 'RSS to HTML'
&bull Google Gadgets
&bull SpringWidgets (Brought you by Papa Mudoch.)

There is a trade off by using most of these tools. The easier it is to use and set-up, the less control you have over styling and branding. Usually, the first thing that you have control over is the styling. While, I didn't go through every tool, I noticed all but Magpie left there stamp on the page. Uncle Rupert's tool was the easiest to you, but you practically lose complete control.

Later on, when I get some time, I am going to mess with the script to grab RSS feeds from various locations that I have work published.

Sorry about the test posts

2007-10-22T00:48:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the test posts. I am creating a widget for my new site that will post a feed from my blog.

Education and technology

2007-10-18T02:06:00.000-04:00

Something to think about...
From Prof. Michael Wesch and students at Kansas State University:

New Site Launched

2007-10-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

NICAR's Uplink is now a completely online publication! Now I am moving onto tackle the mothership.

Social Network News

2007-10-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

Google picks up Jaiku. Visit the link for a Q & A section on Jaiku's site. A couple of hours later, Google's stock hits $600 a share. Google is worth about $190 billion.

Steve Rubel predicts, via Twitter, Yahoo will pick up Twitter within 45 days.

"A social network for two" is a song that was written and posted by Ze Frank today.

2008 Election Coverage

2007-10-09T07:11:00.001-04:00

These are election coverage tactics that peaked my interest. For good or bad they are listed in no particular order. If you know of others, please post them to the comments.

Candidate match game - USATODAY.com
    This is really well done.

2008 Election Collection Widget - Washingtonpost.com
    About, News, Campaign Events, Funds
    This is a fun widget. Click on the more on Campaign Events and they use Google maps to show the location of the event. There is a lot of good information, but the numbers are hard to translate, because there are no side by side comparisons on specifics.

Election Guide 2008 - NYTimes.com
    Candidate finance (Flash), Schedules, Calendars, multimedia, quotes about issues
    Overall this is a pretty nice package, but it has a little room for improvement. I feel like over all the site could be more visual. There are just a lot of database driven lists, but they aren't as informational as the Washingtonpost.com's lists.

ElectionVine - Newsvine.com
    This is a super cool toy. Newsvine created a voting widget that people can place on other sites. Then when people vote from other sites, the info is brought back into newsvine. Newsvine gives an overall picture of who is in the lead according to their poll, and then breaks it up by website. (See this in action on this blog. I have it in the right column.)

Campaign 2008 - CBSNews.com
    This is a good idea, but it is very flawed. A lot of the visuals are simple, which makes them easy to understand, but after you are done consuming it once, you are done forever.
    The navigation is horrible. It took me a second to figure out how to get around, and some how I switch multimedia and found myself looking at the 110th congress and not the election. I had to retype the url to get back to the start.

AP Content
Campaign Finance
    I don't think anyone is doing anything that is this comprehensive. Too bad I had multiple errors that read "Error loading XML file." One of the errors appeared when I tried to load the map. The thumb of the map on elections page looked much like the NYTimes thumb.
Race '08 where the candidates stand
    Clean and start forward chart of where the candidates stand. Only problem - I can't figure out why it was made in Flash. Flash lessens accessibility. This could have easily been made with HTML and CSS.

The Truth-O-Meter - St. Pete Times
    "A scorecard separating fact from fiction." This project looks at what candidates say in comparison to how true it is.

New additions:
10.09.07 4:34 p.m.
Candidates + issues matrix - MSNBC.com
    This combines both the candidates and the issues. You have the ability to agree or disagree with the candidate. It's a pretty neat project, because it combines more than one layer, but it is slightly confusing and takes forever to load.
This project needs a simplified overall summary of all users. If you click on the all users' ratings tab, you will see a sea of green and red. While you can zoom in to get specifics, I think the checker board is a little overwhelming.

10.10.07 2:19 p.m.
Candidate Schedules - NYTimes
    This maps out where candidates have been and how many visits they have made.

10.10.07 2:20 p.m.
Issue Coverage Tracker - Washington Post
    See which issues the candidates have been covered the most for. View by candidate or by issue.

Internships, jobs and interviews, OH MY!

2007-10-07T16:04:00.000-04:00

I always wondered if recruiters knew that with a single phone call they could crush you.

I hang up phone and think to myself:
“Why did I say that?”
“They probably think I am an idiot. Was I over zealous?”
“Did I say too much? Did I not say enough?”
“Did I over sell? Under sell...”

In the days that follow, I check my email and sometimes there is something and sometimes there is nothing.
“Do write back?”
“How often?”
“When is the appropriate time?”

I am not dating. I am looking for a place to do my professional project.

This is not new to me. I have been through them before with my first two internships.

I can remember the Sun-Sentinel’s phone call so vividly. The Director of Photography at the time, Tim Rasmussen, called me on my cell. I was at my mother’s house in Florida. I can remember covering the mouthpiece of the phone and jumping up and down on the couch like I was Tom Cruise on Oprah.

While I am no longer jumping on the furniture, I still go through the same set of emotions.

For students who may be reading this, I recommend taking a few minutes to breath before your interview and checking out some online dating guides for tips to help you through the process.

Here are some from Datingtips.com
Intend to go on your date
Emphasize on mutual interest
Talk about activities you could do together
Avoid asking them out while drunk

.....

As for employers, I only have three recommendations. These are from my own person experiences.

1. Take the time to form relationships with runner-up candidates. You don’t know who or where they will be in two years, five years or ten years. You may want them on your team later on.

2. Do not use students as idea machines. They can sense it, and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth. That bad taste will be associated with the company, not with you.

3. Do not talk interview someone unless you are seriously interested in them and have something to offer them. (This goes along with tip 2.)

AOL, Yahoo, Google predicted to beat Myfaceborkutspace

2007-10-07T16:00:00.001-04:00

How the Portals Will Win the Social Networking Wars (From Steve Rubel Lifestream)
"Every time I make a prediction, there's a better than 90% chance I am going to be wrong. But this one, you can take to the bank. The portals - AOL, Yahoo, Google, Windows Live, all of them - will be big winners in the social networking wars..."

Print writers protected from mass exposure

2007-10-07T15:53:00.001-04:00

New Time Inc. contract wouldn’t require web work - Lost Remo...

"..The Newspaper Guild and Time Inc. would not require any online writing - and wouldn’t penalize writers who turn down online writing..."

New Site Launched

2007-10-05T05:38:00.001-04:00

New website launch:
Missouri Photojournalism

I helped a former student, Amanda Lucier, launch the new Missouri Photojournalism website. The design is hers. I helped on the tech side of things. We also had an impromptu teaching section.

While there are somethings that can be improved with the site, I believe the basis of the design is nice. If you can believe it, the photojournalism website prior to this launch was all text and no photos. In comparison to what existed before, this is a 100% improvement.

Yeah for Amanda Lucier! Congrats on a job well done.

Video graphics

2007-10-05T04:17:00.001-04:00

Dow Jones (WSJ) video animation showing the growth of Walmart stores.
This is an awesome use of video for a graphic.

Wall Street Journal Online

Net News

2007-10-02T02:14:00.001-04:00

Beta allows users to embed ESPN video - Lost Remote TV Blog
Some question issues with syndication content.

Last week, Belo announced that they made an investment in Mochila, an online syndication company. Today Belo announced they are splitting into two companies. Their newspaper publications will split off into a pubically traded company. As the end of the day, their stock goes up, but their bonds are considered "junk."
That's a lot of changes in a short period of time.

About a month ago, I was sure that the News Aggregation for Dummies had been written when MySpace jumped on the bandwagon. I must have missed the announcement for the last dummies publication, because I am now certain that Starting Your Own Social Network for Dummies has to exist.
This week's new social networks hosts are iWon and AskANinja.com.

During the 2007 SXSW festival, Ask a Ninja made a special delivery, where the Ninja declared social networks to be untrustworthy.
The Ninja said, "Big thing over the last 10 years, we have seen the transition from reality TV to online social networking or as I like to call it.. LIES and BETRAYALS!"
Watch the video to learn more.

In response to the news Steve Rubel's link of the day is a wiki on how to quit facebook.

Study says partner up with Yahoo. Newspapers that partner with Yahoo could see a 20% to 40% growth in the second half of 2008.

USA Today launches "Play the 'Candidate match game'."

Food for thought: Latin Americans online

2007-09-26T15:40:00.001-04:00

From CyberJournalist.net
QuePasa.com Spearheads Citizen Journalism for Latinos
"QuePasa.com introduces QuePasa News Network, the first online Latino Citizen Journalism News Channel"

I believe that Latin American publications in the U.S. have dismissed online development for a long time. Yeah, there are websites, but they do not develop online content as far English American websites do.

While working in South Florida, I was told that the audience online just wasn't there for Latino media. Latinos don't go online, so why should we develop.

You should develop, because Latin Americans are not going to go through the same process of adoption of technology as English Americans. Latin Americans will make incredible leaps in a shorter periods of time.

For a long time, English American media has been going, "Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!... What are we going to do? How do we manage this beast?" English American media has taken a reactive approach, instead of a proactive approach.

QuePasa.com is a major development in Latin American media. This marks the transition from proactive to reactive. Over the next couple of months and years, there will be a string of developments with Latin American media.

Case study: The Czechs and technology adoption

My mother, a Czech, had no cable television, no television, no call waiting and used dial up for a long time. She only used the internet to check her email. (She had no understanding of the work that I do.)

After visiting the Czech Republic in January, I discovered that her sisters, who are not of a high wealth status and live in a rural area, not only had high speed internet, but they regularly used Skype and played RPGs that also them to interact with Germans, Italians and Slovaks.

I returned to the U.S. and shared this information with my mother. Over the summer, she called me to tell me she upgraded to high speed. I will never forget what she told me...

Mom: "Joo vill nehverrr giss vat I 'ave!" (You will never guess what I have)
Me: "What's that?"
Mom: "I git fast interrrnet! Aund... I can talk un de phun aund be un de internet et de same time. Can joo beeleaf dis?" (I get fast internet! And.... I can talk on the phone and be on the internet at the same time. Can you believe this?)

She saw my work for the first time.

Her decision to adopt came as a reaction from technological advancements in her own country. After talking to her, she explained to me that it was more influential to her, because she felt that as a Czech-American, she is suppose to be more advanced than a Czech in the Czech Republic.

We need to look at how Latin media outside of the U.S. is developing and how it is being used to know where to develop Latin media in the U.S..

Also, we need to take into consideration, the age of my mother (sorry mom) and the age of most Latin Americans in the U.S.. My mother does not have the exposure to technology in her age, but most Latin Americans in the U.S. are younger than her. They are working adults with families. They have children, who are attending school. Think about how much technology has penetrated out schools.

QuePasa.com is a natural fit. Family and friends are important to Latin Americans, and it gives them a means to reinforce those connections.

We need to stop being passive about this and starting active, because it too late to be proactive. That time is over. It is reactive from here on out.

Web link

2007-09-24T17:38:00.001-04:00

The Web is your Web site; search is your navigation
"... A journalism organization’s value will be measured by, for example, “content views” or “time spent on content” instead of page views or time spent on page..."

Nature of the beast

2007-09-24T16:59:00.001-04:00

This week's shift left little time to breath. Besides what reporters handed me, I did not time for extra extras, but I did have time to learn the nature of the beast.
In general, TV stations are behind print media in web development. The major factor lies in deadline structures.
Print newsroom often work for days and for larger stories, weeks, in advance. This gives time for the writer to communicate with interactive department on the development of content.
Broadcast newsrooms work day to day, sometimes even often hour to hour. This gives little room for an interactive department to develop in-depth content for the web.
TV news has special super powers, something that print will never have. TV viewers are more likely to multi-task while consuming media. According to eMarketer, in 2006, 102.6 million adult internet users also watched tv while going online.
WHOA! WHOA! HO! HO! Stop the presses! 102.6 million! What are we doing here people? Why are we not paying more attention to not only 102.6 million, but a 102.6 million which is a captive audience?
Imagine this. Scenario 1: John reads an article in the newspaper, sees a tease for a web extra in print, tears it out and shoves it in his pocket to view later. Scenario 2: Jane is watching TV and she see a plug for more content on the web. In a heighten emotional state of fear, she thinks, "If I don't visit now, then this opportunity will be lost forever." Jane then visits the site. As for John, he never made it to the site, because next time he sees the web tease he tore out, it is shriveled up and dried out, because it just came out of the drier.

Media companies need to turn away from the convenience of creating web content for their print outlets and start pushing resources towards their TV stations. On the station level, web departments need to start developing applications that process content can be packaged under tight deadlines, because that is the nature of the beast.

Image sources:
"Internet's impact chart" was taken from Bottom-Line Pressures Now Hurting Coverage, Say Journalists published by the Pew Research Center.
"US Adult Internet Users Who Use Other Media While Going Online, 2006 (millions)" was taken from Two-Thirds of Internet Users Watch TV While Surfing the Net published by eMarketer.

Technies ousted by social networking?

2007-09-24T04:25:00.001-04:00

The cat is out of the bag. The techies lost control. Digg is looking into Social Networking to recognize articles.
Digg Goes Deeper with Social Networking

Crazy ideas

2007-09-21T06:37:00.001-04:00

Imagine using this (still buggy) tool to deliver news. The whole world could change.
Zap Reader

Free news at midnight tonight

2007-09-19T15:52:00.001-04:00

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site - New York ...
I knew it wasn't going to last. It goes against everything the internet stands for.

Buzz Machine's take on the matter: Mo who?

News aggregation for Dummies

2007-09-17T03:06:00.001-04:00

Once when walking through a book store with a friend, out path was blocked by a large table of banana yellow books all the same size and shape, all with the word DUMMIES. My friend picked up the first book she saw and turned to me and said, "Just what we need, more dummies getting pregnant." I think we spent a hour next to that table, just trying to find the most ridiculous way to complete the sentence, "Just what we need, more dummies XXXXXX." Living Longer for Dummies, Doing Business in China for Dummies, Sucess for Dummies, Consulting for Dummies, The Complete MBA for Dummies.... the list goes on pretty far. It is like that series of books became a disease of topics over night.

I think the same the has happened with news aggregators. I can't find it, but I know the book must exist, Creating Your Own News Aggregator for Dummies. Now it seems like everyone and their brother has one. I just stumbled across Myspace's news aggregator.
Myspace News
New Media - MySpace News

Yes, they are mixing the idea of news aggregation and Digg, which is different from prior ideas. Personally, I just don't think that Myspace is going to make as a "reliable" source of news. Myspace rough around the edges. I get a certain tabloid-like vibe from them. I have been turned off by the site, because every time, I log in I end up with a bunch of spam messages.

People on the web are comparing them to Digg. It's like apples and oranges. Digg fans are going to go to Digg for the Easter Eggs that are posted. They can get aggregated news from anywhere.

My conclusion... if you want aggregated news, you are going to go to Google. If you want voted news, you are going to go to Digg. So, where does Myspace fit in?

More links about Myspace's News Beta
MySpace News: The Digg Killer 03/08/07
Exclusive: MySpace News Pics 03/13/07
Do you think myspace's just released news aggregator can compete with Digg? Is it a "Digg Killer"? (Online Poll) 04/19/07

Googlinians and Yahooites

2007-09-17T00:21:00.003-04:00

My fiance, Josh, and I are sort of an odd couple. We met back in my undergraduate days while I was working nights at the Columbia Daily Tribune. He was and is a pressman, and I worked in post press operations and went to school during the day for photojournalism. He proposed to me, then I became an interneti.

When I went webbie, we joked about the irony of our career paths. Then one day recently I suggested taking my idea for my master's project to Google or Yahoo. This is how our conversation went.
.......
Josh - "What? What am I going to do?"

Me - "Baby, they have to have some sort of printed publication near by that you can work for."

Josh - "No they won't! You don't understand what those places are like. There will be no place for me. They have their own cities with names like Google Town and Yahoo City. Do you think that they have printed publications in place like that. I'll bet you they don't. I'll bet you they don't even have recycling pick up for paper, because they just don't have any."

Me - "Baby, if I am going develop this series of mapping idea for news organizations, I think Yahoo or Google would be the best places. I don't want to waste my time developing a concept, when it could already be in the works."

Josh - "What happens if everything turns out? What happens if you stay? How will you hide me? You are going to have to tell your co-workers one day what I do for a living?"

Me - "Baby, you are being silly."

Josh - "All those Googlinians and Yahooites are going to mock me*. They won't even let me on the compound. I can't even work the elliptical machine at the gym, let alone a computer. They will know I am a fake.... After you finish your project, you will exit the techno, Mormon-like cult compound to tell me that you are going to leave me for some Drew Carey look-alike**. I'll bet you those places are full of them."

Me - "Baby stop, you are being ridiculous."

Josh - "Next thing you know, you will take my Histoogle idea, sell it too Google and leave me."

Me - (Me LOL.) "How am I suppose to take you seriously? I'm done with conversation. I'm going to back to work."

Josh - "Are you mocking my Histoogle idea?"

(Me exits stage left.)
......

*This sentence has been edited for professional purposes. Josh agreed to this edit. The original content contained a few curse words and sexual references.
**Please refer to the YouTube video of Ben Clemens, Director, Yahoo Design Innovations, in my last posting. A friend asked me, aren't you afraid to post a comment like that, especially since you are planning on pitching your project to Yahoo and Google. I told her that the best places I have worked at were so because I got along with my co-workers so well, no matter how much money I did or didn't make. I would like to think that a co-worker or supervisor would be flattered by such a comment. Then I continued to explain, that it was my fiance, not I who said it, and that I have nothing for or against Drew Carey look-alikes.

Search bursts and news websites

2007-09-16T23:03:00.001-04:00

Yahoo is studying patterns of search bursts. Search bursts are clusters of searches that originate from one geographical area. At Wired's Next Fest, Ben Clemens, Director, Yahoo Design Innovations, and Online Journalism Review's Noah Barron discuss how this could be used news websites.

Ben Clemens, Director, Yahoo Design Innovations at Next Fest
YouTube - Ben Clemens at Next Fest

The original ORJ article: Not all that Wired about it: Communication technology gets the short end at NextFest

Thinking hacks

2007-09-13T17:44:00.001-04:00

A breath of fresh air...

scottberkun.com » #56 - Creative thinking hacks

"...Here’s a test: quickly pick two things in front of you, say this web browser and your annoying, smelly friend Rupert. Now close your eyes and imagine different ways to combine them.

If you’re stuck, here are three:

Rupert with a minimize button
An annoying, smelly web browser
Web browsing on, or with, Rupert’s face..."

User comments, a broken system

2007-09-13T17:38:00.001-04:00

Google added the option to comment on news stories, but only by those mentioned in the story. Read more: Google News Adds Barely 100 Comments in 30 days

Good? Bad? I can see where they are going with it. After monitoring boards during some of my internships, they can get out of control in numbers and in content. On the linked blog above, there were a couple comments made that suggest everyone should be able to comment and those mentioned in the article should be noted so.

I was always an advocate for a user ranking system, sort of like Yahoo Answers or system similar to that which the Naples Daily News uses. In both situations users are able to vote comments up or down. If a comment receives so many negative votes, it is blocked out, but not deleted. A user has to consciously click "view" to view the comment. I am not sure why more media outlets do not use such a system. While it is not full proof, it does assist with a great deal of the monitoring, well, at least more than an automated system that tries to deny in appropriate language.

Google's system does add to a story. It takes what is a journalist "conversation" potentially into a debate, but as one person mentioned in a comment on the blog, the comments become less genuine and can come of PR-ish.

Shall it be spelled GoogleAP or Googleap?

2007-09-05T11:09:00.001-04:00

Welcome to a new world of Googleap.
Google will now host AP news, instead of linking off to other websites. This will translate as a revenue loss. See > Time to rethink the AP model? - Lost Remote TV Blog
So maybe this is not Googlezon, but for news media it is still kind of scary. Maybe we slow down with pulling stuff of the wires for the website as a result? Wasn't the notion always to have something, so if we don't have something, let's hope the wires do?

Bio writing 101

2007-09-04T12:15:00.001-04:00

Bios are awkward. It’s like going on a first day. How far do you go before you gone too far? How personal should you get? How much professionally related content do you include? How long do you make? It’s an odd thing to write about yourself. Do you use the first person? Do you use the third person?

It the end, they all say the same thing. They identify education, major experience and sometimes family or they are only two sentences long. I usually never get passed the first two sentences.

During the redesign of my website, I thought about what do with my bio. Your biography is important, because it is that extra spot on your website to say something that you couldn’t fit anywhere else. It is the chance roll in Yatzee.

My bio will be built from quotes that came out of my mouth over the next month. This way, people can learn not only something about me, but about the real me. After I collect all my quotes, I will reassess the situation to make sure I am not hanging myself.

This is what I have collected so far…

“My inspiration as a journalist came at a very young age. My parents couldn’t afford diapers, so they wrapped me up in newspapers. I have the scars to prove it.”

“During middle school, my first exposure to interactivity came when I made a folded paper fortune-tell (a.k.a. Cootie Cather, a.k.a. Gadalotschka, a.k.a. Heaven and Hell, a.k.a. Nebo Peklo, a.k.a. Spå or Spålapp) out of newspaper. Today, might ask a question like, ‘Who will be the next member of President Bush’s staff to resign?’”

Wired.com pre-time stamping stories?

2007-09-04T00:32:00.000-04:00

Okay, I just discovered an article on Wired.com's website, that is time stamped for 2 a.m. tomorrow morning. I found the pre-time stamped article at about 11:10 p.m. today.

Link to the article.
Here is a screenshot...

Is this something that is happening at other places? Hit me up, if you know of any other occasions that this has happened.
.......

This part was added at 11:41 p.m.....

I went back to Wired.com and found out that it is a Wired.com practice. It has been done on more than one article. I wonder if this is a general practice for Conde Nast Publishing or if this is just a Wired.com practice.

Another photo of pre-time stamping proof:

Food for thought

2007-08-30T23:33:00.001-04:00

When to remove online content

"As if the ins and outs of Web publishing weren't challenging enough, news organizations are facing growing questions about whether, how and when to unpublish..."

Web photo ethics: Things just got worse

2007-08-28T12:15:00.001-04:00

A algorithm developed by Dr. Ariel Shamir and Dr. Shai Avidan that will automatically resize photos by disregarding pixels paths that contain the least amount of information.

In the great words of Ze Frank, "Holy crap on your mom's shoes!" I can't believe it. I am speechless. What does this mean for ethics and photojournalism and the need for immediacy on the web? Heart-attack.

More info about the program is located below the video.

Name of the system is Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing.
The programmers are Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir.
Article: Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing (PDF)

Blogs that talk about it...
I Want This In Photoshop Immediately
Fascinating! Content Aware Image Resizing

Original Source:
The Marker IT (Hebrew)

WOO HOO!

2007-08-28T00:10:00.001-04:00

WOO HOO!
Ex-Star-Tribune publisher raises $1.1 million to start online daily

Virtual beauty content

2007-08-27T14:24:00.001-04:00

What has this world come to? Vote for your favorite virtual beauty?

Flickr: SecondLife MISS WORLD & MR WORLD

Mindmapping and the Internet

2007-08-26T17:25:00.001-04:00

Mindmapping always seems like a good idea, each time we rediscover it. Why don't we do more of this?

WikiMindMap
Maps out articles as they appear in Wikipedia. You can travel from article to article quickly,without having to load the text.

bubbl.us - free web application for brainstorming online
Bubbl is a basically a flash based Wiki that allows multiple people can us to visually brainstorm. It's created by a Russian and a Kazakhstani pair of computer programmers. In the journalism field and in the corporate field, I definitely see the possibilities.

Reuters has a virtual bureau chief?

2007-08-23T11:49:00.001-04:00

I grew up in the world of communicating through to friends through underground BBs (Great-great-great-great-grandfather of Myspace) and LANs (local area network). I even earned some extra money in college by playing first person shooters competitively (i.e. Counter-Strike).

But, I caught by surprise when I discovered the following.

Reuters has a virtual bureau chief. They have one full-time employee, whose job is to cover the virtual world of Second Life. Why? Because there is real money to be had in Second Life, with real people creating real businesses.

Watch the video below for more...

Here is the link to the original story, which includes text and another video:
On the vagaries of a Second Life by Adrienne Arsenault

.......

There is also a photographer, Marco Manray, who makes a living off of photographing virtual worlds.
Here's his website: MyFirstSecondLife.

ConvergenceJournalist.com is down

2007-08-22T12:24:00.000-04:00

All posts from my blog that link to my website Convergencejournalist.com have been suppressed, because the website is being redesigned.

If you are looking for anything in particular, you can email me at Jackie@convergencejournalist.com or stop by my homepage and message me through the messenger that is connected to me live when I am online.

I hope to have the new site up by the end of September.

Digital Media and Learning Competition

2007-08-21T14:00:00.001-04:00

Check out the Digital Media and Learning Competition.

Innovation Awards
$250,000 and $100,000
Innovation Awards will go to pioneers who are exploring new digital models of learning that build upon and enhance the informal, networked, and collaborative styles today, especially but not only among youth. These projects will demonstrate new modes of learning in many environments.

Knowledge-Networking Awards
$30,000-$75,000 each
Knowledge-Networking Awards will go to creative and dedicated communicators. Not every digital inventor/developer is a skillful knowledge-networker. How can good ideas be circulated widely, taking full advantage of the Web's potential for collaborative thinking, where many can contribute, shape, and share?

Remember the little people who posted this on their blog. : )

Telling Google you have moved

2007-08-21T12:25:00.001-04:00

As casual “Sunday bloggers”, we often don't think of the repercussions of moving domains. As webbies, it might be more evident and considered a no-no.

There are sometimes when it has to be done. Moving a domain can be devastating, as I found out during one my internships.

Telling Google Your Domain Moved

There’s a few things you might need to adjust in the different Google apps when moving to a new domain...

1680 Results - Harry Potter and me!!!!!

2007-08-02T22:01:00.000-04:00

I created a flash chronology of the Harry Potter series. I killed myself over it. I read all the books and watch all the movies. (Thank goodness Mass Media Seminar prepared me to read hundreds/thousands of pages quickly.) Then I summarized it all.

It was shared among Tribune owned papers and television stations.

Typing: "Jacqueline Kazil" "Harry Potter"
into Google resulted in 1680 results!

Check it out here: "Jacqueline Kazil" and "Harry Potter"

Preventing Cancer Together

2007-03-25T23:48:00.000-04:00

This is a story that I edited, while I was working for KOMU.com.

Searching for an answer

2007-03-22T05:21:00.000-04:00

Autism Story Gets Published

The story on autism that I edited was published yesterday in the Columbia Missourian.

On a side note -
While I appreciate the Missouri Method, I am a little disturbed by how the journalism school has changed since 2003. Classes seem to be over packed, and it has become more difficult to get a story published through the Columbia Missourian or aired on KOMU. Some classes are so over crowded that there are not seats or equipment. It's really disheartening that they lowered their standards to allow more students in. I think it is beginning to be counter productive.

KOMU work

2007-03-19T01:53:00.000-04:00

KOMU work:

Coordinated/reported on/edited:
Holiday Online Shopping
Comparing Prices Online/Avoiding Internet Fraud

Edited:
Forum Focuses on Growth

Stats on user clicks and browser settings

2007-03-15T11:35:00.001-04:00

(This is an article I found interesting on user clicks and browser settings.)

As mentioned in my last post, we’ve been collecting the X/Y coordinates of clicks, together with other relevant data (including: screen resolution, text size settings, user agent and “time to click”).

read more | digg story

Kudos, hodge podge, and tearing apart the structure of the class

2007-03-05T01:40:00.000-05:00

This post is about the editing and reporting courses in the convergence sequence at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism.

The convergence department is still working out kinks in the system. There are three foundation courses: Fundamentals, Reporting, and then Editing. The editing course edits the stories from the reporting course. In the following post, I point a possible restructuring of the course that I believe will be beneficial to everyone's education.

Kudos to Jordan in the reporting class.
My kudos for this week goes out to Jordan in the reporting class. Jordan was not Cham's partner for the week, yet he gave her a ride to assist her in her reporting duties. Jordan went out of his way to drive Cham out into the country to a location that was 40 minutes away from campus. I am writing this as part of my blog, because I wanted to make sure that Jordan got the recognition that he deserves for doing such a good deed.

Editing this week
There wasn't much to do. Kevin and Nan took care of themselves by going straight to Sarah Ashworth, and Cham, who is flying solo this week, is still working. We will be working together tomorrow afternoon/evening in the lab.

Restructuring the class
For this week's blog, I am going to pitch a reconstruction of the class. As a student editor, sometimes I feel that my job bypassed. There is tension between the reporter trying to get the story in on time and the editor actively playing a roll in the process.

I propose that reporters have until 5 p.m. on Thursdays to turn in their unedited stories. At that time the editor has the ability to take the story and pump some life into it where it is lacking. This being said the editors should have from Thursday at 5 p.m. until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to work with the reporters, news outlets, and professors to polish the story.

Pros:

Students would have better clips and so would news outlets. Students are throwing work together. Sometimes they are coming in with rough drafts at noon on Thursday. It is difficult for an editor to get them to go back out an do more reporting, when the reporter has other obligations. This is not the real world. In the real world, reporters would only be reporting, not going to classes, studying for tests, or working jobs that interfere with reporting.

Editors could exercise their editing skills. If a student turns in an edit of their story Thursday, the editor would be given more time to make the story a solid story.

Editors would see the "rough", and try to sell it to a particular outlet as a piece slated for a certain date. It is difficult to go to the Missourian, KBIA, or KOMU to discuss publishing a certain story, when that story has no form yet. In the real world, we would know the work of our reporters. We would know what to expect from them, which includes quality and depth of a project. Often there are other elements that could go along with the story, that the reporters are not able to do. We could pursue a more developed piece by adding extra elements, such as graphics or photos, if they were not produced by the reporter or if it needs to be reproduced either by the reporter or a specialist.

The professors would not have to give a lower grade in hopes that the reporters improve upon the story. We often say, "Give them a B+ or a C+, so they go out and do more reporting. This could be a good piece." Let's stop saying "could" or "would". The words "could" and "would" express probability. The words "will" expresses a prediction. Either say that they will or rework the deadlines so they will.

This opens up the possibility for a different kinds of stories that the editors turn down because of time restrictions.

Cons:

This messes up the structure of the class. No body likes change, but that is what this industry is about now. We should all get used to it.

There is a chance that reporters might push their deadlines further. Solution? When reporters turn in their story ideas, they also turn in a due date on their story pitches. Let's throw away the set date of Thursday at 5 p.m. I think this could open up the doors for a lot of stories that "could" have been good, but were rejected. This means turning over stories that have a shorter deadline or long deadlines.

Digg.com employees threaten to strike

2007-02-24T14:46:00.001-05:00

Wanted: Repair person for Dig Dug tabletop machine"If I can’t get it working again, the developers have threatened to stop coding. The repair has even stumped Kevin believe it or not. Please help me keep the digg staff happy and send your qualifications to: diggdugg at digg dot com. We are located in San Francisco so our only requirement is that you are local."

read more | digg story

Leak trial reveals flaws in note-taking

2007-02-24T14:43:00.001-05:00

And, as the monthlong trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has shown, they're no more reliable if the notes belong to FBI agents, journalists or White House aides....college students, for example... only about 30 percent of important classroom information makes it into a typical student's notebook.

read more | digg story