Tablets have been around for a while, it's time we finally learn how people use them.

Well, SND STL was amazing and is finally in the books. After a little recovery and catch-up-on-reading time, I’ve found my next side project: The Poynter Institute’s new eye-tracking study, focused on tablet design and user experiences.

I remember when the previous eyetracking studies were released it was kind of like this kid on Christmas morning. I’ve regularly referred to them and re-read them throughout my career and now to be involved in the project now is amazingly humbling and exciting. The group involved in this round of research is like my fantasy journalism design team: Sara Quinn, Dr. Mario Garcia, Jeremy Gilbert, David Stanton, Rick Edmonds, Regina McCombs, Roger Black, Rusty Coats, Andrew DeVigal, Jeff Sonderman, Jennifer George-Palilonis, Michael Holmes, Damon Kiesow, Miranda Mulligan, Tor Bøe-Lillegraven, Nora Paul, Robin Sloan, and Matt Thompson.

Our focus this time around, tablets, are an interesting beast because they seem to marry dynamic and interactive content of the web with the portability and “lean back” nature of print or even TV experiences. Often lumped in with mobile devices, tablets are similar, but very unique in many ways. Mobile is always with you and very utility, speed-driven; tablets tend to be portable within the house and workplace, and early research shows that people tend to consume more content and for longer periods on them than either mobile or the web.

We’re going to look at design challenges such as which view do people people prefer to consume content in most frequently – portrait or landscape.  Even in those two options, I suspect the behaviors from users on an 10-inch, letter-box shaped device like the iPad may differ greatly from those on a 7″ tablet, like the Kindle Fire. Or the type of content they’re consuming will likely also change the results, from my personal anecdotal experience (and what I’ve observed in others), I tend to read text more frequently in portrait mode and video in landscape no matter what device. But that’s just anecdotal.

There’s lots to learn and this research will offer ‘more than a hunch’ solutions to help us all improve our products. Specifically, we’ll focus on some of these issues and questions, which Sara spelled out in her original announcement post:

• Tools and tasks: How intuitive can tablet navigation be and how long does it take to successfully complete a task?
• Satisfaction: How happy are users with an overall experience and how does that impact their perception of the credibility of the source?
• Comprehension and retention: Which forms help people to understand and remember what they have seen or read?
• Business and revenue: What strategies might work for news organizations? For advertisers? For consumers? How might editors set up a newsroom to create content for a tablet product?

How you can help right now

• Your questions - Share your thoughts, comments and suggestions on the Poynter Eye-Tracking research page on Facebook and follow along there to learn more about what we’re learning.
• Funding – The Knight Foundation and CCI Europe is helping kick in money, but the more funding, the more extensive research we can do. Please contact Sara about this at: squinn [at] poynter.org.

Spring is upon us! And with it, another crop of enthusiastic, bight-eyed, bushy-tailed journalism graduates hatch from their cocoon of schooling and flutter to the market. For all of you students out there (and anyone else looking for advice), let me save you some bumps and give you some of my career advice that they didn’t really tell me in journalism school.

First, make sure you’ve read:

• The 94 ultimate list of resume, job board, interviewing and networking resources
• The Journerdism online journalism salary survey
• My advice to students at the Center for Center for Innovation in College Media

…Now on with the journalism career advice:

Go with your gut.
I’ve found that about 80-90 percent of the time, the gut is right. When doing this though, be sure to recognize the difference between fear and your true gut instinct. Just because you’ve lived in Little Town, USA all your life and leaving may be scary isn’t your gut instinct. Trusting a boss is.

Your boss matters way more than where you are working.
Horrible, stifling, untrusting, unengaging, uncaring bosses will crush your soul faster than anything. Choose your boss wisely. I’ve been pretty fortunate throughout my career to have bosses that gave me some leash and threw me some bones.

Your coworkers / your environment matters a lot too.
Surround yourself with people that inspire and encourage you that you can learn from.

Toxic environments will destroy your life faster than Crystal Meth.
Avoid them like the plague. This isn’t your high school boyfriend that you may think you can ‘fix him and he’ll be a keeper.’ Maybe you can sometimes, but by the time you do you’re finished fixing it, you’ll be going to be bitter and old. Get out as quick as possible and read the No Asshole Rule if you’re stuck in a toxic environment or if you see one forming.

Research your job and compensation package like you would preparing a legal argument to keep your mother out of jail.
Call in favors, references, background checks, the whole 9-yards. Be unrelenting and meticulous when your interviewing. Document everything possible. Save emails, notes and if it’s legal (and they consent) record the phone conversations. Hold people to their word. (We do this for reporting stories, why would you do anything less when it comes to making decisions about YOUR life and career?) Find out how that organization works inside and out. Go through the benefits with a fine-toothed comb. Know what “vested” means (Because that dollar-for-dollar matching the HR rep is touting doesn’t really become your money until you’ve worked there for 2-10 years, depending on your corporate overlord’s ‘generosity.’ I actually had an HR rep laugh and say “Too late, we gotcha now” when she explained to me what vesting was.) Understand the market and city you’re going to live in and what the clear cost of living is.

One. page. resume.
Seriously. You’re not that cool, yet.

Save the cutesy cover letters.
You have about 5-7 seconds to sell yourself, starting… now.

Website.
Seriously. Put one up. A bio. A portfolio. A contact page. A resume. Blog if you want. [Some people say this mandatory, but I've found it sometimes hurts my view of some people, rather than helps. I think it's like editing a photo portfolio -- you are judged and remembered by your worst work. So actually, I guess that's helping me out from hiring idiots, right? Then blog away! ]

Work in a city/place that you love (or can learn to love).
A job is a job. It’s only 8-12 hours a day. Don’t live somewhere you hate or you’ll start to hate your life. Also, don’t be afraid to try something new though. Florida was a state that I’d scoffed at most of my life and genuinely hated for giving Bush the presidency in 2000. Having lived there for three years, I can now say it was an interesting place to live. I have a lot of friends there still and many fond memories. I’m happy to have moved on but it was perspective changing experience that I’m glad I had.

Awards don’t really matter. (But they really do.)
They shouldn’t. But if I’ve got dozens of resumes with similar previous experience, skills and portfolio between candidates, someone who’s won half a dozen awards for their work versus someone who’s won none will probably get them put in the ‘to check out further pile.’ Outside of ladder climbing, winning awards just feels good. Recognition for hard work is important. Just don’t stress about it too much, because awards are so random and subjective depending on the panel of judges. (Watch as many contest judging events as you possibly can and you’ll learn this quickly.) One thing to remember: You can’t win awards if you don’t enter. I’ve judged a couple dozen contests, and I gotta say, sometimes people win just because there wasn’t really any competition and they paid an entry fee, so someone has to win.

“I know that douche bag” syndrome.
Journalism is a small world. And people take all sorts of crazy paths. You’ll probably find that some people who absolutely abhorred the web, who wouldn’t talk to you at all in school, let alone make eye contact, will come around. And sometimes even start drinking your Kool-Aid. Ethan Plaut, an origami ninja master and really fun, quotable guy from Northwestern, one time made an observation to a group of us grad students that, “One day, we’re going to look up on TV and see another of us and go, ‘Hey, I used to know that douche bag!’” (I’m totally butchering that quote and am not really delivering it’s meaning correctly but this kind of realization has happened to me several times. And every time I think of Ethan.

Ladders lead to loneliness.
The higher up you climb in this business, the lonelier it gets because you don’t know who’s really your friend, who’s trying to use you and what they’re trying to get out of you.

Say “thank you.” All the time. And mean it.
It’s two words and it means a lot. Especially to people who give you advice, their time and help you in your career. It’s a small world. This is a thankless job. Don’t be an ingrate.

Simplify.
Make organization and the elimination of clutter (especially information clutter) a life long process. Twitter is neat, but addicting and dangerous. We lost a lot of good men in the war to Twitter.

There are a remarkable amount of independently wealthy journalists.
Let’s be honest. Wages in journalism are bad for many reasons, one of which is there’s a lot of journalists that can afford to take horrible pay because their parents/trust funds/husbands/wives can support them. It’s not fair, but that’s the environment.

People are really busy. Don’t freak out if they don’t get back to you immediately.
I used to take it personally when someone didn’t respond to my emails, but I’m getting to the point where I can’t answer everything (although I’m trying my best). Respect people’s time. Speaking of which…

Get back to people as quickly as reasonably possible.
Comeuppance is a bitch.

Doing stuff by committee isn’t cool.
Don’t be afraid to be a tyrant if you have the vision. Design, writing, any creative process by committee is a horrible process. BELIEVE ME.

Being really good looking helps. A lot.
(Believe me, I know!) But seriously, being attractive (in any industry) counts more than it should. And unfortunately it often helps much more than actual talent or experience.

Being really nice helps. A lot.
Because who wants to work with a jerk? Even if the jerk is more competent, most people will pick the nice, less-skilled person.

Being good at ‘networking’ helps. A lot.
I’m not a fan of this either, but it’s true. Deal with it and evolve accordingly.

Keep studying.
I’ve said this many times before. NEVER. LEAVE. SCHOOL. (Or rather, never stop learning.) Congrats on your degree. Now you have a lifetime of learning to do. Keep reading. Keep researching. Keep growing. You just finished the first swimming leg in an Iron Man triathlon around the world. Get on your bike and start peddling.

Get ‘fuck you’ ‘peace out’ skills.
People always ask me what skills I think they should have. Everything is an answer, but I’m not sure it’s the best because truely, the jack of all trades is the master of none–especially as evolving technology continues to make basic-level skills obsolete. My real answer used to be: “You need ‘Fuck you’ skills. Like a hand with a raised middle finger, you need to have a bunch of little fingers of skills in many different areas like flash, social media video, writing, audio, programming, CAR or whatever, but one area that you’re really awesome in (the middle finger). So if things are really bad somewhere, you’re awesome at that skill and you can say, ‘fuck you’ and move on.” (Kinda like FU money.) But recently, I unveiled a new theory while rappin’ with some Mizzou j-students: It’s a little risky to put all your eggs in one basket. So I’m thinking, “Peace out” skills are better. (It’s also less vulgar than ‘fuck you’ skills.) So my advice is: Be familiar with as many aspects of journalism as possible — have a little of your fingers in everything — but have two disciplines that you’re really awesome with. Hence, the “Peace out” sign. When it comes time to say “Peace out” it’s best done with the body slightly askew, throw the peace sign rapidly in a downward motion sideways, cock your head, scrunch your lips, blow out your cheeks and enlarge your eyes. Practice in the mirror before actually doing this on the job, to make sure the effect is totally perfect. You don’t want to be “That guy who was really great in Flash and Video Animation, but when he left he awkwardly poked himself in the nose and make a farting sound with his mouth. What was his deal?”

Have a backup plan.
Seriously. This industry is in a massive transition. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

“On the job experience” is still more valued than “Technical or skill experience.”
Unfortunately, there’s still a culture of ladder climbing and ‘putting your time in’ at many organizations. Most really skilled, smart tech people aren’t going to sit around doing web monkey producer work while they ‘put in their time.’ This is one of the reasons newspaper journalism in it’s current form will continue to fail unless it gets corrected abruptly

Competitive markets are fantastic.
Most people don’t realize this because in newspapering, you can probably count the number of truly competitive mid- to large-sized markets on your two hands. But it’s absolutely critical to keep evolving and doing great work. The Internet has basically (in theory) made every market infinitely competitive, but most of the folks wearing ties in the nice offices don’t realize or acknowledge that yet. And they won’t until it’s too late. (Honestly, it probably has already passed that point.)

Corporations, in general, are horrible, horrible things.
They are built to minimize risk and maximize profit. By doing so, they generally choke out most attempts at innovation, inspiration and new ideas.

Freelance like your life depends on it.
…Because at the least, your livelihood does. It’s very likely at this early point in your career, you’re going to get stuck doing the lower-level work. Freelancing often allows you the opportunity to pick up jobs and learn skills that you otherwise wouldn’t because you’re working third shift night cops. Or copy-and-paste web producing. Or shooting mugshots of buildings. It also requires you to have some business sense, which is critical for all journalists in this age.

Get a life, hobbies and friends outside of journalism.
I need to follow this more, but it’s so important for your health and perspective on the world.

Give back.
You may be young, but you can always contribute to the profession. Here’s more info on why you should.

You should really be trying to get fired.
Ok, don’t seriously try and get fired like throw-an-M80-in-the-bosses-coffee-mug fired. But do speak out with passion, vigor and conviction to any and everyone, regardless of rank, when you see your company doing stupid things in the dying, old media way. Your company probably needs you more than you need them. You can either speak out now and try to save both your butts, or sit back, fall in line and wait for them to cut your job to save theirs.

If you don’t have it in you, get the fuck out of the way.
Sorry to be so blunt. But seriously, step aside if you’re not in it to win it.

Never relent.
…

Got any advice?
Post it in the comments!

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

If your newspaper website has an awesome blog / article / section / multimedia piece / feature / whatever and no one knows it exists except for the members of your web staff that posted it, does it really exist?

User navigation of news websites is perhaps the biggest problem for the publishing industry since Craig Newmark did what newspapers should have been doing for years.

Lately I’ve noticed four consistent newspaper navigation designs emerging among websites and one solution I really think is a step in the right direction.

First, the two old school models:

Vertical Navigation

There’s still a lot of newspaper sites that use vertical navigation, including all the Tribune-wide site redesigns. The NYTimes shook design trends (that were moving to horizontal nav.) with their redesign last year when they integrated vertical navigation on their homepage. Although their site changes to horizontal navigation whenever you click inside the site, so it’s kind of a mixed bag. The UK Telegraph’s recent redesign also integrates a hybrid horizontal and vertical navigation.

I’m still perplexed by vertical nav. (If you can explain it’s major benefits, please do so!) It may just be a legacy format, but so were animated gifs and we don’t use those anymore because better practices emerged. I just don’t really see the logic here putting a static object like navigation in the area with the hottest views–the F-Shape! And I really don’t understand why you’d want to bury some of your navigation ‘below the fold.’

Perhaps one benefit to vertical nav is there might be a slight SEO boost for having it buit static into the site, rather than as an item in a CSS list. And well, the flip side of the F-shape argument could hold water. (‘Put your static navigation where users are going to look for sure.’)

Overall, I’m a reader that digs big pictures. Big video. Wide views. And any static elements that cut that content well down aren’t cool in my book. It’s like advertising. I just gloss over it. (That is, if I actually had to look at ads and didn’t use Firefox and the greatest invention since the Internet — AdBlock Plus.)

More Vertical Navigation examples:

• Chicago Tribune
• Columbus Dispatch
• MSNBC
• San Diego Union-Tribune

Horizontal Roll Over Navigation

This decade, as CSS was widely adopted, many sites integrated the roll over navigation offering deep links into their content. This style still persists on many sites and definitely gets the job done.

Traditionally the options for this roll out vertically once the site viewer rolls over the link, but a new version with a second horizontal bar showcasing the second-tier options is making its way around the net.

More Horizontal Roll Over examples:

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Denver Post
• Detroit Free Press
• Rocky Mountain News

Now, a new trend that has me puzzled:

Basic Horizontal Navigation

Normally, I’m all for simplicity. Newspaper sites need it. But having a horizontal navigation without roll over limits you to at about only 12 options for deep linking (including advertising’s four — Homes, Jobs, Autos and Classifieds).

Most* of Scripps Newspapers sites are big on this with their corporate template and while I appreciate the cleanliness, we need to offer deep utility. (* = The Rocky Mountain News uses roll overs and is a linked example above)

The logic behind static roll over confuses me less than vertical navigation, but it’s still perplexing that on a website with 10,000+* pages of content, why wouldn’t you want to at least give readers an option to go deep and find that content from the home page? ( * = This would include articles, bridge pages, blogs, section level pages, multimedia, etc. and vastly depends on your company’s content archiving policy, so it could easily flex to hundreds of thousands of pages if you don’t expire articles after 7 – 30 days, as most sites do.)

Or maybe the Simple Horizontal Navigation is really, really brilliant. Brilliant like MySpace’s page inflating site design, which makes people have to click multiple times to get deep into your site. Bean counters love it. Brilliant!

What about the audience though?

I just don’t buy that people are going to work that hard to find your content. I subscribe to Tim Harrower’s old school design belief that anything deeper than 3 clicks and you’ve lost most people (I’d wager my paycheck that by forcing them to click a fourth time you’ve lost 70 percent of the audience. And I’d bet two paychecks that you’ll lose 97 percent for those on slow dsl or dial-up). I’m talking about the casual, daily reader surfing around (not someone not looking for the article that mentions their son by name). They don’t have to wait and dig through your site when the entire Internet is easier, quicker, more entertaining and only click away.

More Basic Horizontal Navigation examples:

• Indy Star
• NY Post
• The Oregonian
• Courier Press

The newest solution I’m intrigued by:

Site Map Navigation

The newest newspaper website navigation trend is, what I’m calling (because I haven’t seen a industry term yet), Site Map Navigation.

It’s Horizontal Roll Over Navigation, on steroids.

Using a horizontal roll over navigation, some sites are blowing out that roll over box to really showcase all the content and related sections available deep within the site. This essentially provides sitemap above the fold, on the home page without calling it a “site map” or some other insane jargon word that my mom (or other casual users) wouldn’t understand.

This method also helps combat the challenge of having immense levels of content and only one home page to showcase it on (which must be updated and changed constantly). AND it if done right, it can organize related content together so readers can understand what else is out on your site.0

My favorite live example so far is TampaBay.com and SacBee.com, who both not only get a lot of deep links in there but organize the content in logical chunks under each site sections so readers can logically see how things are organized and how deep it goes. Ohio.com also employs this method and the Sydney Morning Herald’s recent redesign integrated a “show site sections” button that is kind of a half-navigation, half-site map hyrbid.

Site Map Navigation examples:

• Sacromento Bee
• Tampa Bay
• Ohio.com
• Sydney Morning Herald

Conclusion

In conclusion, San Dimas High School football rules!

And…

The Site Map Navigation may not be the ultimate solution, but we need to integrate better logic and utlity into our newspaper site navigation because they’re a jumbled mess. We need to find a way to balance simplicity while also showcasing our vast expanses. This isn’t an ultimate fix by a long shot but it’s a step towards organizing our content — and perhaps more importantly — easily communicating to readers how the site is organized so they can connect with related content and what they want, when they want, as quickly as they want.

Welcome Journerdism, version 3.0.

You may notice I’ve made a few changes around here.

Say goodbye to:

• Confusing, rambling 32472389472398 word headlines
• Only one to three updates a week
• Low levels of comments and conversations
• A lack of social book marking tools and half a dozen other utility enhancements

Say hello to:

• Logistical / posting changes – Some of you RSS readers may have noticed this already. I’m moving away from massive-link-dump-entries into a straight feed of links (often referred to as the “jambalaya” on the site), along with occasional longer-form commentary, trend stories, reviews and tutorials. This should benefit all of us: I won’t have to take the time pulling together the entries of links every couple days, you’ll get the links faster and in many different forms (there’s more RSS and email options now — I should note, if you’re already on the RSS feed service won’t be interrupted. You’ll still get everything. I’m just adding RSS options for those people whom don’t want to get the barrage of news links or don’t want my stupid opinion pieces) and, as I said, I’ll have more time to work on larger stuff. These changes should mean that there will always be something new on the site each day (unless I’m deep in the woods AFK).
• Ads - Nope, I’m not really putting ads on the site. But I am offering a ‘recommendations‘ page (in a separate area away from the content) with suggestions for gear, books and other assorted nerd stuff. I get regular emails querying me for info on training and gear, so I figured this would be a good way to get that info out there, while also possibly getting a little cash to help pay the web hosting bills. I’m pretty firm in focusing on this site as a educational news resource (I’m not looking to get rich posting links and snarky comments) and until I reach Kottke status and traffic, I don’t plan on placing ads here. If there is any extra money raised after I pay for my server hosting (about $50 a year), it will be donated at the end of the year to a non-profit(s) that helps protect journerdist causes. These include: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Media and Democracy, The Center for Public Integrity, The Poynter Institute, and SaveTheInternet.Com Coalition. (If this proves to be raise a large amount of money, I’ll split the money between multiple organizations.)
• Connections opened up - I’ve opened up and cross linked a lot of my profiles on various social networks and websites in multiple places on this site. Hopefully this will make it easier to contact and connect with me, while not turning into a full-time job adding friend requests.
• RSS flavors – With the new posting format, there’s now multiple RSS feeds available. Check them out and sign up for whatever tickles your fancy.
• About me / FAQ - In an effort to be as transparent as possible and also not bore you to death telling you every time I mention Medill that I went there for grad school, I broke this down into a FAQ format and filled it out a whole lot, especially with disclosures for companies and issues that I own stock in or believe in. So if you’ve never read it, please check it out.
• Design update – The freshened theme is a Frankenstein hybrid of Hemmingway, Benevolence, Journerdism hacks and bunches of plugins. The graphic design has stayed pretty consistent, largely to reflect what journerdism is about (to me) — long, late nights learning amped on caffeine. Most of my reading/learning/productive time is spent at night. So the color scheme reflects that. The Mountain Dew-stained keyboard. The orange desk lamp light color. The dark background. The muted text, so you can read it when your brain is fried and your exhausted. One of the biggest changes I made this time is making that logo as big as I can.

I’d like to thank the folks that I drew inspiration from on this restructuring and redesign: Khoi Vinh, Rex Sorgatz, (both for the dual linkblog/longer commentary format), Jeff Jarvis (full disclosure-apalooza), Laura Fries, (contact and connect brilliance), the Hemingway guys for the backbone of the site (Kyle Neath and Nalin Makar).

Finally, I’d especially like to thank all the readers, commenters and people who enjoy this blog and share it with their coworkers, homies and other nerds. I really enjoy hearing your feedback and ideas and like I said before (and in the FAQ) I may not beg you to comment at the end of every single post, but I do enjoy hearing and learning from you. Hopefully, these changes will make it much easier for us to connect.

If you see anything acting really funky, please let me know. IE 6 really sucks (it’s dying out though–only 11% of visitors here use it). I’m still making tweaks, organizing and filling out some of the content so you’ll probably hear some jackhammers in the background for a little while.

Thanks for reading!
Will

P.S. Speaking of redesigns, over the past week or so have you seen the new:

• Chicago Tribune (Not bad, probably the best of the Trib Corporate clone sites but … Chicago is way too cool of a town to have it’s biggest newspaper use a rather generic sans-serif font for it’s masthead. I’m not opposed to sans-serif fonts or rebranding the web mast but they need something with more ”dip in the hip”than that.)
• Hartford Courant (Another Trib Corp. clone. Sure looks like the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.)
• TCPalm.com (Scripps continues cutting over to Ellington.)
• International Herald Tribune (One of my favorite news website designs gets a little fresher. I love the story-level extras box with translations to five languages available instantly.)

P.P.S. Roanoke is hiring two multimedia producers, and as you better know by now, they rule. You should apply. When you do, tell John, Meg and Seth I said ‘what’s up.’

Goodbye to the music industry
“So, why do I say goodbye to the music industry? Because how do kids find out about new music? On the Internet. Where on the Internet? Radio stations. Well, when they aren’t stealing music or borrowing their friends iPods that is.” More info. Given this disappointing news about internet radio, now check out this article on libraries:

If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today?
“I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it? I don’t think so. Perhaps they’d come up with a licensing agreement: the book costs $20 to own, with an additional $2 per year for every year beyond Year 1 it’s in circulation. I’m sure there would be a lot of other potential arrangements.”

Audio: Ted Stevens Wants To Switch Between Phones “As I Ride My Motorcycle”
I’m not sure if this is very funny or very sad. Perhaps both.

FCC Auction Should Allow for Open Wireless Network, Say Lawmakers
Finally, some positive news in telecom regulation! “This issue of open access lies at the center of the debate about rules that will govern the spectrum auction, which are expected to be released this month. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin has proposed setting aside one-third of the spectrum for an open network that would work with any cellphone.”

Study: Most US Teens, Young Adults Don’t Follow The News Closely
“Harvard University has released a study that concludes that 60 percent of American teenagers pay little attention to daily news, Reuters reports.”

’10 That Do It Right’ No. 3: ‘The Onion’
“…the success of the Onion, the weekly mix of outright fake news, commentary, and real arts-and-entertainment coverage, is far from a joke. Promoting itself as “America’s Finest News Source,” the witty chronicle has grown from a small student publication at the University of Wisconsin to a major circulation and advertising powerhouse, equipped with a formidable, user-friendly Web site with all of the modern online offerings of any 21st- century newspaper.” The ‘Noke is on the ’10 That Do It Right’ list too!

Zillow expands into hyperlocal news
Oh-oh.

Suggestions for “scared” TV news sites
“I remember my days in the newsroom. Unless a viewer wrote a letter to management, most complaints went in one ear and out the other. Viewers were good for only two things: ratings and story ideas. The latter only if we wanted to listen.” Dude, TV people really are like that? I thought it was just an urban legend. Anyway, Angela has good stuff here for TV (or) newspaper sites to build audiences.

Using the Internet to Find Stories
“In a digital age, let’s expand upon that theory – let’s create Digital Listening Posts.” Great tips for reporters to get wired sources.

The Original (and Future?) Facebook
“The basic lesson is one I’ve said before, but probably is worth repeating: we collect a ton of information and only think about how it will help shape a smallish blob of text in tomorrow’s paper. And then we forget about it and move on. Now here’s the ironic bit. If you think about it, newspaper wedding announcements and obituaries (in particular) are the original social networking application: people volunteer or even pay to have these announcements printed, they hand over personal information that could be quite interesting or relevant in other situations and they really, really like to see those announcements in the paper.”

About our redesign — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
The Sun-Sentinel joins the Orlando Sentinel in rolling out Tribune Corporate’s new “Gen3″ cms and layout template.

MySpace – Still The King (for now)
“I can imagine that all the Facebook hype is a little annoying to MySpace – which is still the largest site on the Internet. That may be some of the motivation behind the press release going out Thursday morning saying, effectively, that they are still the King of Social Networking.”

Sigbritt, 75, has world’s fastest broadband
“A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books – with the world’s fastest internet connection.” (via Digg) Hm… 40 gb, eh? I wonder if there’s a ‘Mr.’ Löthberg.

News-Gazette Launches Harry Potter Niche Site
I’m sorry, I don’t ‘get’ Harry Potter but I’m sure there are people who don’t ‘get’ Star Wars. I applaud this niche site effort.

What j-students need
“… You’re absolutely out of your mind.” These are awesome.

House Passes College Cost Reduction
“House Passes Single Largest Effort to Help Students Pay for College since GI Bill Bill Would Boost Scholarships and Reduce Student Loan Costs at No New Taxpayer Expense WASHINGTON, D.C. – By an overwhelming vote of 273 to 149…”

OMG — My Boss Wants To Be My ‘Friend’ Online
“But when his boss, in his 30s, invited Mr. Dyer, 24 years old, to be friends on the social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook, dodging wasn’t so easy. On the one hand, accepting a person’s request to be friends online grants them access to the kind of intimacy never meant for office consumption, such as recent photos of keggers and jibes from friends. (‘Still wearing that lampshade?’)” Note to self: Remove last weekend’s streaking photos from MySpace.

Medill – Great Storytelling in Visual Formats at Robb Montgomery
“Next month we’ll be gathering along Lake Michigan for a presentation and coaching in visual journalism at the annual meeting Alternative Journalism Workshop of Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.” All you Chicago readers should get to this.

YouTube – Michael Moore vs. Sonjay Gupta
My question is answered: The broadcast media does make corrections!