Hey homies,
Sorry it’s been sparse around here. I’ve been busy grooming my beard, working on projects/election stuff, preparing for family visiting/the holidays and putting my condo up for sale (I’ve been waiting for that perfect moment when the market had officially bottomed out).
Here’s a whole lotta catchin’ up:
Newspapers need to ‘forget about news’
CAUTHORN LIVES! “Newspapers are guilty of talking only to decision makers, he said, and people were now shifting to form their own online communities around stories that interested them.”
Exit Dean Baquet
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone at a meeting drone on about “our core competency.” If our core competency is delivering a product or service that’s obsolete, then we’d better change that competency, and damned fast before we run out of capital. So the problem is to rethink that core and identify the parts where we create unique value.”
Decisions about tomorrow’s paper
“We’ll won’t be like everyone else. We’ll tell readers something they didn’t know at 7 p.m. the night before. If they want the national report, it’s inside. But the front page will give readers a reason to pick us up.”
Google Earth in 4D
“Google skipped right past the third dimension and landed directly in the fourth (time) by offering historical maps on Google Earth. Now you can travel back in time — for example, I am looking at the globe of 1790.”
Video, not Flash for newspaper reporters
“Here’s the thing, building a good Flash story takes hours and hours (depending on the story and the content assets), and has probably less than a 20 percent chance of being a hit with the audience. Whereas a quick video can take very little time to edit, and stands about the same chance of being a hit with the audience.” I agree… With an hour of training and an open mind, just about any ink-loving journalist can shoot decent web video. Editing/production is really what takes the most time.
No Time for Sleep, Web 3.0 Has Arrived
“Their goal is to add a layer of meaning on top of the existing Web that would make it less of a catalog and more of a guide – and even provide the foundation for systems that can reason in a human fashion.”
Gannett may bid on Tribune papers
“Tribune has been hosting a number of potential bidders as part of a process it put in place in September to enhance shareholder value by possibly selling all of the company’s television and newspaper assets.”
Disney sells nearly a half million films through iTunes
Holy moly Mark Foley! Wag that tail!
Rise of the participatory culture
“When some sort of core, enabling infrastructure comes to the forefront and becomes accessible, it changes the opportunities for creation, invention and delivery (i.e., distribution) of products and services. People naturally gravitate toward it because it provides options that are better, cheaper and faster.”
“How the newsroom works” chart updates
“* “Get coffee” should be the size of South America. * “Birthday cake” deserves its own box. * As does, “Forget about visuals until the last minute.” * And “Build fantasy football dynasty.”"
2020 print predictions from the Society of Editors conference
Someone fire this guy: “Print media predictions looked grim as Rusbridger said ‘I don’t spend time losing sleep over whether there will be a paper or not because there is nothing I can do about it.’”
TimesSelect shuts out NYT columnists from the online conversation
“The New York Times launched its paid subscription service in September 2005 to mixed reviews, especially from its op-ed staff. This week’s free trial of TimesSelect confirmed their skepticism.”
Gannett Editors React to Corporate Convergence Directive
“The biggest challenge has been workflow,” she told E&P. “Everyone is trying to figure out how to balance [demands].”
MediaNews proposes to cut some Merc News wages by 30%
M. F.! Between the staff cuts and now the wage cuts, I predict that in 5 years The San Jose Mercury News will be run by a dozen undergrads and a part-time adviser from SJSU … or not exist at all. Not that there’s really a difference there.
NBC to launch 10 web series via DotComedy site
This is a great way to try out new programming. Triumph is going to rule. “NBC’s DotComedy will soon launch a full slate of original programming, some of which will incorporate user-created content.”
Bush and Rove Blew the Election on Purpose?
Maybe it’s just because Cinemax has ALL SIX EPISODES OF STAR WARS PLAYING IN ORDER ALL WEEKEND LONG … but … Rove/Bush, so… so… resembling Emperor/Vader.
AIGA Polling Place Photo Project – Browse photographs
Lamest. User-submitted. Photo. Gallery. Ever. Speaking of…
Top 10 things I am proud of today
“1. Not telling you to vote like every other wannabe goddamn civic duty holier-than-thou citizen-journalism-will-change-the-world naive dumbass blogger out there. That is all.”
Anyway, everyone had great election nights (except for the Republicans) MSNBC grows the most:
CNN vs. FoxNews vs. MSNBC and… ABC vs. CBS vs. NBC
Election03 – HeraldTribune.com | Southwest Florida’s Information Leader
The HeraldTribune.com is one of Florida’s best online newspapers. Others are awesome too, but the HT gets little credit and they do awesome stuff with programming and CAR reporting.
Online newspapers and the 2006 election: bland ambitions?
Hold up… Why does the Annenberg School of Journalism need ads on the OJR site? Isn’t this an education site? Are they really hurting for money so bad they need that big Google AdWords $75.27 check once a year? Anyway… the article.. yea. “A survey finds that many newspaper websites are not making full use of the Web to inform readers about local candidates.”
The Lessons of Online Video
“To recap: anger, no language, reframing and remember Asia.”
Encyclopedia Dramatica
Urban dictionary + Wikipedia + nerds + Howard Stern = Encyclopedia Dramatica (Probably not safe for work, depending on what topics you select).
The Office prank calls
I should probably apologize now to everyone for sending these messages.