Video tribute: ‘God rest ye weary journalists’
Some of my colleagues in the Post-Dispatch’s newsroom conspired to put together this video/commentary on the industry. Its worldwide premiere was during the holiday party last week. Ho, ho, ho!
Interesting stuff I saw online, Dec. 9 to Dec. 14
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 9 through Dec. 14:
- Majel Barrett-Roddenberry To Play Computer Voice In New Star Trek Movie | TrekMovie.com - Majel Barrett Roddenberry has been part of Star Trek since the first pilot (”The Cage”) where she played ‘Number One.’ Although that role was not carried over to the main series, she did get a recurring role on the show as Nurse Chapel and also played Deanna Troi’s mother Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
- Michael Skoler on newsroom culture » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism - Among his comments: “When people say news is a conversation, they don’t mean you have to have comments…You do, but that not what they’re talking about. Journalism’s a conversation because people expect there is a conversation…Knowledge is no longer viewed as congregated and only accessible to an elite.”
- So How Much Time Do You Waste On Twitter? - I’ve wasted 47,010 Seconds or 784 Minutes or 13.06 Hours or 0.54 Days with 1,567 Tweets on Twitter!
- Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites - NYTimes.com - “IDC, the technology research firm, published a study last month that reported that just 3 percent of Internet users in the United States would willingly let publishers use their friends for advertising. The report described social advertising as ’stillborn.’”
- Maryland High Court Hears Argument on Internet Anonymity | Citizen Media Law Project - “Once a court orders a blog-hosting service, website operator, or ISP to reveal the identity of an anonymous Internet speaker, that speaker irretrievably loses his/her First Amendment right to speak anonymously (in that particular context). There is no dearth of Supreme Court cases suggesting that this right is nothing to be sniffed at.”
- Corporate Blogging: You’re Doing It Wrong >> SitePoint - A blog can be a successful and useful part of the web strategy for your company. In July, we made corporate blogging our number one tip for how to speak directly to your customers — which is something you should be striving to do.
- Florida Student Sues Principal Over Suspension for Facebook Postings | Citizen Media Law Project - “Based on the relatively banal statements Evans posted (and quickly took down), I think she has a pretty good argument that the suspension violated her First Amendment rights.”
- TimeSpace: World - TimeSpace is an interactive map that allows you to navigate articles, photos, video and commentary from around the globe. Discover news hot-spots where coverage is clustered. Use the timeline to illustrate peaks in coverage, and customize your news searches to a particular day or specific hour.
7 reasons 1-to-1 newsroom training is needed
The anecdote goes something like this: A guy complains that he can’t get any work done when he’s in the office. People are always interrupting him, asking questions, bugging him for help. A co-worker reminds him the interruptions are his work. Epiphany.
I heard that story a long time ago; I bring it to mind frequently. A big part of my job is helping co-workers get comfortable with the tools of the job — tools they had never heard of when they started in journalism, or never thought they’d need.
So, while group training is important, here’s seven reasons why the one-on-one time is likely never going away. Read more
‘This is not the journalism of the future. It is now’
Teak Phillips
One of my colleagues, Teak Phillips, is a photo editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Until four months ago, he was not interested in blogging because he couldn’t imagine how to fit it into his routine. Now, he’s dived head-first into his hunting and fishing blog called Hook and Bullet. He’s learned to use Facebook to connect with other people and let them know when he’s updated his blog.
And he regularly pushes photographers to contribute to our PICTURES photography blog. Here’s his most recent note to his colleagues. Bravo, Teak:
It is important that we keep the momentum. PICTURES is regularly receiving 2,500+ page views each week and is consistently in the top 25 of STLtoday.com blogs.
If you’re not doing it already, engage with the readers. When they comment, write back. It’s not only courteous, it’s expected. Readers want to know we are paying attention.
Finally, make PICTURES go viral. If you have a social networking account (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) consider adding a newsfeed of the blog. If you read other blogs, comment on them and leave the PICTURES address in your signature.
This is not the journalism of the future. It is now. Let’s embrace it.
This is a speech that a lot more editors ought to be sharing in their own newsrooms.
Missed chance to bid on Obama’s senate seat
How nice that there are people in the world with a sense of humor while the rest of us are busy dealing with breaking news. While we were running around like crazy covering the arrest of the sitting governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, someone found time to post an eBay auction for Barack Obama’s vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.
(Among the charges from the feds: That Blagojevich tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder.)
Here’s what the eBay page looked like at approximately 2 p.m. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 8 through Dec. 9:
- Why not writing a story is innovation - Publishing 2.0 - "(We) need to stop writing stories that don’t deserve to be written."
- The Evolving Newsroom: Two ways to keep track of comments - "Backtype aggregates comments and lets you find yours either by searching against your username or whatever blog/website you include in comment registration forms."
- MediaShift . Dealing with Friend Inflation on Twitter, Digg | PBS - To this list, I'd add: how many @ replies versus substance? What does he/she post about? "Did the person fill out his profile? Did he upload his picture? What's his profession and where does he live? How many followers does he have and how many is he following? How often does he post?"
- HOW TO: Use Google Reader Like A Rockstar - "Knowing that new users are signing up and veterans are looking for some ideas to make their experience even better, we have put together a quick how-to that should offer something for everyone."
Interesting stuff I saw online from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 5 through Dec. 8:
- Xark!: Twitter: Menace or Threat? - Awesome quote. I plan to steal it and use it regularly! "The strengths and weaknesses of Twitter and other social media tools are far more apparent to the people who use them than the people who don't, so you're not breaking any news to me when you tell me about their 'flaws.'"
- Readership Institute: Get Smart About Your Readers -
- Friday procrastination: the blog gender analyser | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog - It correctly determined that my blog is written by a man. It was, sadly, only 76 percent sure.
- Justice for exploited journalism students - Interesting item. As newsrooms are downsizing, will we lean harder on interns and students? "We came to the conclusion that the problem is becoming very serious — and it’ll only get worse….So I’m now in the process of putting together a site that will allow student journalists to submit their stories about work experience. I will collate the information on a page, just like on AngryJournalist."
Please join my site as I try out Google Friend Connect
I hope you’ll meander down the left side of my page and sign up as a member of STL Social Media Guy. We can all be one of the guys. Right?
Google Friend Connect is out in beta now (heck, isn’t everything Google does still in beta?) and I wanted to give it a try. So, for the love of all that is holy, please, someone sign up so that box isn’t so scary empty!