Fish fry map: Great reader-created journalism
I woke up this morning to find the embodiment of what reader-generated journalism can be on the home page of my company’s web site: On the morning of Ash Wednesday, I found a reader’s Google map showing where the church fish fries will be — and inviting other readers to contribute.
If this doesn’t demonstrate the power of the community in the conversation about news, nothing does. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Feb. 21 to Feb. 24
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Feb. 21 through Feb. 24:
- Debate: The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and online media – While I really, really wish "traditional" media would evolve faster, it has and always will evolve. There doesn't need to be an "us vs. them" mentality — especially if news is a conversation and we're all part of it. "Both the old and new media have their own wisdom," Salina Christmas, former newspaper journalist turned web editor, tells Journalism.co.uk.
- Another Way To Look At Terms Of Service Agreements: Wordle Visualizations – TechCrunch says: "Pointless? Very. Cool? Definitely…..This is what you get when you use a slick tool like Wordle (try it!) to run all the words used to make up the Terms of Service agreements of seven notable internet companies: cool visualizations that somewhat capture the essence of their content."
- WordPress Plugin List – Below is a list of WorPress Plugins that can come in handy when building your site.
- How Celebrity Imposters Hurt Twitter's Credibility – Interesting post about imposters on Twitter, though I think its headline doesn't do it justice.
Word clouds on 7 story comment guidelines
I “acquired” this idea from TechCrunch, which tossed up word clouds from the terms of service on a variety of sites following the flap over Facebook’s recent policy change and reversal.
A couple of weeks ago, I highlighted reader commenting guidelines that I thought were worth looking at from several news sites. Thanks for the idea, TechCrunch. Here’s Wordle word clouds from those sites. They actually do show a different focus. For example, I was struck by USA Today’s emphasis on “community.” And the Washington Post’s reflects a much more legalistic approach.
Eric Zorn’s guidelines from his Chicago Tribune blog. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Feb. 17 to Feb. 21
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Feb. 17 through Feb. 21:
- USAToday and Microblogging Offline – Via chrisbrogan.com: "We think often about how the web is so amazing and how communication works online, but to really get a sense of dynamism, don’t forget to look at what’s going on offline."
- Baby Boomers, Luddites? Not So Fast – From the New York Times: "A recent report from Forrester Research indicates that while it might be tempting to categorize all aging Americans as techno-dinosaurs and Luddites, more than 60 percent of baby boomers are avid consumers of social media like blogs, forums, podcasts and online videos. That’s up from roughly 40 percent a year ago."
- The Top 21 Twitter Applications (According to Compete) – TechCrunch: "We’ve accumulated a list of the twenty most popular Twitter applications, based on monthly unique visitor data from Compete."
- CJR: Where’s the line between selling yourself and selling out? – “We’re pretty damn methodical about making sure anybody who cares about a story we wrote knows about it.” — Jim VandeHei, Politico’s co-editor.
- Using Publish2: How will smaller news staffs cover the giant stimulus story? – Etaoin Shrdlu: "Reporters will be able to search a sophisticated database of all the reader submissions – for instance, zeroing in on a particular region, or a certain company, or an individual government department. The system will let them query their readers to solicit feedback and information on specific stimulus topics. Meanwhile, Publish2 will also provide an aggregated list of links to all the best stimulus journalism around the country, which can be used to augment and extend individual websites."
Lee’s good news: “Let’s not get carried away”
Employees at Lee Enterprises were justifiably pleased by the first good news in weeks: The restructuring of debt obligations by the company. Newspaper analyst Alan Mutter injects a dose of reality by noting, “management will be endeavoring to keep profits as high as possible. In the absence of robust sales, this potentially could mean further cutbacks in staff, newshole and perhaps even the suspension of publication on certain unprofitable days of the week.”
Kurt's Tweets- Funny. SW airlines magazine bothers to mention that pacemakers are always authorized electronic devices. #fb
- A disgrace, St. Louis. People still litter? http://post.ly/OUsk
- Redemption for Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboardcross? Only click if you really wanna know. http://bit.ly/99OgbM
- West Countians: If you're in the market for a pancake supper tonight, there's one here: http://stmartinschurch.org.
- The fiddling continues, even as Rome burns.