(iverson's) old currentbuzz

Where is currentbuzz.org ?

2007-04-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

Move with me to my new blogging site. You can find my archives here, but my new stuff is at currentbuzz.org If you live around Chicago or are interested in community and citizen journalism please take a read at CreatingCommunityConnections.org a site developed to publish local and hyperlocal stories about all of Chicago's great neighborhoods. No money stipends for writers (yet) but it is professionally edited. We invite photos, stories, news and schmooze.

For Web 2. presentation

2007-01-09T15:16:00.000-06:00

My blog is currently suffering from a technology problem -- I can't convert it to the new blogger beta and I haven't had time to get a new version up and running, but the URL will be the same when it is functional once more. So, for today, let's check out Web 2.0 by starting with jeteye and a jetpak I have been creating.

Reuters on trust and citizen journalism

2006-12-18T16:54:00.000-06:00

News organizations must realize everyone is both a potential partner and competitor. A 19-year-old sitting in a dorm room cranking out gossip, a well-established journalist blogging for her news organization, or a respected academic all have equal right to have a voice. Whether they have an equal voice is another matter.

How do we know what it "real" and what we can trust? Even Reuters has been fooled by photogs who re-touched work. The key is to "triangulate" and locate several views or sources. The echo-chamber nature of blogs means you have to look to where someone got information so that you aren't just reading the same post as repeated by many cut and pastings. Reuters relies on "Reuters Trust Principles of independence, freedom from bias, and integrity are at the core of what we do and what we believe in" and they fell back on them when the doctored work was discovered. They are working with software companies to better detect fraud mechanically, but the blogosphere (I think they mean "transparency, openess") and trusting their viewer/users can be correction control mechanisms.

Trust and Citizen journalism. One view from Reuters.

2006-12-18T16:44:00.000-06:00

Reuters CEO Discusses 'Trust' and Citizen Journalism

News organizations must realize everyone is both a potential partner and competitor. A 19-year-old sitting in a dorm room cranking out gossip, a well-established journalist blogging for her news organization, or a respected academic all have equal right to have a voice. Whether they have an equal voice is another matter.

Journalism Education --perspectives from students

2006-12-15T17:56:00.000-06:00

Rebecca McKinnon at Berkman at Harvard gives an "unlecture" on what should journalism education and schools be teaching. She asks, what do j schools do in terms of "added value?" Can j schools innovate and teach new skills and then not frustrate students who end up in news orgs where the CMS is old and there is a bias against innovation. J school might be a "sandbox" where experimentation and trying out new things is a good role for school, even if it will cause cognitive dissonance in the students. The teaching needs to go beyond just e-reading. Students need to be constructing experiences by connecting sites they read and using them, not just reading. How can journalists resolve the tension between the old journalism of me the author and expert with today's conversational style of communication? When everyone lectured, then lecture worked. When people start interacting and involving community, then lecturing won't work. "You will have to less of a prima dona about everything going through you." So, going into journalism to be famous or important is not an effective plan, especially in the networked world. Public wants journalism to serve public discourse by getting information the public needs. Do you serve by lecturing or by presenting voices and information and facilitating the discussion by the community? In China, the pro journos who are censored will work with bloggers who can bring attention to things in MSM. This is journalism for the right reasons even if it isn't the way things have always been done. As a professional, she didn't find much value in j ed and what it added. Now as journalism educator, living in a working world where hires are young web savvy techies or seasoned pros, and the middle group is out of luck and being overlooked by news organizations. News orgs are hiring j grads who have the web savvy and web experience, from making web pages to having exp'y writing online. Journalism educators say they are training young people with serious news orientation, including a sense of ethics and news values but these people get hired to do fluff infotainment. In the world of citizen journos, bloggers, and new media, is there a role or what is the role of professional journalists? Suggested roles for Journalism education: Research & development, experimentation -- McKinnon calls news that corporate news media won't touch but is news, "low-hanging fruit" ripe for student journalists to pursue. J schools can go after the low-hanging fruit in novel ways as through citizen journalism or blogging. J schools need to address how students can work as entrepreneurs, but this is difficult and not traditional McKinnon's master's students will blog, but must get others to link to their site. They must look at each other's work and react to others' work as well as just writing or broadcasting without regard to interactivity or feedback aka community online. News orgs now have really good Web 1 sites -- but now we are in a Web 2.0 world. She notes that Word Press CMS is more flexible than Reuters pro system. Web employees of media companies may be stuck in a pre-RSS, UGC world.

from Jeff Jarvis via Guardian

2006-12-08T17:08:00.000-06:00

"A thousand monkeys may end up typing Shakespeare, but they won't film
The Godfather. So I am coming to believe that the medium itself will be a filter for talent and substance."

Jarvis comments on trying out video making and YouTube and how the difficulty of doing broadcast well may be a natural filter for content overload

Tags: DIY+journalism

Clyde and MyMissourian makes an impression

2006-12-08T17:02:00.000-06:00

Clyde was part of a panel in the UK and explained the hybrid model he has been working on. The big points are 1. journalism students have to be guides as well as writers 2. economics dictate a print-online strategy if you want to make money 3. it isn't about what you , as in traditional journalist, thinks is important.

RSF offering blogspace

2006-12-08T12:25:00.000-06:00

Reporters without Borders is offering blogspace for a 30 day free trial. If you blog about global issues you might want to check this out.

"Help yourself" to news

2006-12-07T18:38:00.000-06:00

Editors not needed? Danish online version of computer magazine just uploads stories with timestamps. You pick the order and which stories you read. Is it a model for all publications? I don't think so, but I might like to be able to view a publication this way on occasion and view an edited layout another time. How deeply do you want to dig for content? What's the value of an editor? The ball is still in play, isn't it?

Reuters Paying for "UGC" user-generated content

2006-12-04T13:16:00.000-06:00

User-generated content is starting to generate some attention and some money. It will be interesting to see what deals are negotiated when Reuters starts to pay up. UGC

Social media spam

2006-12-01T10:56:00.000-06:00

Sites that elevate news items on a page by reputation-ranking and number of hits are apparently being spammed or tricked by ad sites, reports a blogger.spambots

(iverson's) currentbuzz

2006-11-30T11:56:00.000-06:00

I finally have time to talk about what has been happening with currentbuzz.org and why I've not been posting. It's obvious if you read it, that I haven't been posting for a couple of weeks. First, the server that hosts currentbuzz went down. Then it was fixed, but the some directories were changed. I understand why my guy did that, but as anyone who has maintained websites over time knows, it means a world of pain as far as updating all the references to the old directory paths. So that took me a couple of days. At the same time, blogger.com began to move stuff to its beta (ha, but currentbuzz apparently can't be converted for the time being.) They somehow changed their feeds and connection information. I post throughout the day, and I use lots of different computers to post, some of them are public lab computers, so I don't want my password all over. I like to use tags, so I had developed a collection of "helpers" like Writetomyblog, nowpublic, performanicing, and even the formerly trusty "blogthis" to avoid using the regular but kind of time consuming posting through blogger. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Firefox came out with an update as well. As you can now anticipate, all of my autoposting helpers were FUBAR with the various directory path, new software and new feed api configurations. And, as anyone would, I have been obsessing about getting everything working again, and not just posting. The latest, is that I got one of posting helpers to work but now my template is askew. I know exactly enough css to complicate my search for a good look to my blog. So, thus, currentbuzz hasn't been up to snuff with information on technology and journalism or media or anything else. I have gone to the best source of help a teacher can contact -- students, and my other Chicagobloggers and I am looking at going to WordPress or another software for my blog. I hope you will bear with me and that I will back up and blogging in a day or so. This happens to all bloggers I expect, but as is typical, I just didn't think it would happen to me...

Did you cybershop today?

2006-11-27T18:00:00.000-06:00

Today is supposed to be cybermonday but CNet for one is downplaying its retail importance. Did you shop today via your computer while you were at work? From AP's Joyce M. Rosenberg via the Chicago Tribune comes an interesting story that suggests that giving employees control over their time results in higher productivity. So, if we did shop on Monday, on Tuesday we will probably make up for on our time....

"The more an employee feels contented in the workplace and believes in management, the more productive they'll be and care about the goals of management," said Frank Kenna, president of The Marlin Co., a workplace communications consulting firm based in North Haven, Conn.

2006-11-27T16:55:00.000-06:00

When did a Peace Sign become Satanic or why I hesitate to move to a condo

2006-11-27T16:54:00.000-06:00

http://www.popandpolitics.com/2006/11/26/merry-xmas-you-satanic-hippie/ A woman puts up her peace sign wreath and gets totally hassled. The interesting thing from the Chicago Trib's version (really an AP story) is that the condo board refused to bother the woman but the Condo President fired them and continues to rant.

tags technorati : peace satanic antiwar

2006-11-25T16:05:00.000-06:00

HBO is maybe thinking that lots of young people just watch and don't care whether it's on TV or Internet.HBO to launch a broadband channel? | CNET News.com

Al Jazeera English reviewed. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine

2006-11-22T11:55:00.000-06:00

Well, you can watch it for yourself for free for 15min. per day, or you can subscribe via Internet. Interesting.Al Jazeera English reviewed. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine

High School journalists doing real world work

2006-11-22T11:23:00.000-06:00

There was mischief in the No Child Left Behind Act and a couple of high school students are getting to experts on FERPA and trying to change a bad provision of NCLBA.‘Privacy’ policy under attack | LJWorld.com: "Buried in the 670 pages of the federal No Child Left Behind law was a requirement that high schools provide lists of students’ names, telephone numbers and addresses to military recruiters."

Knight Brothers 21st Century News Challenge | NewsChallenge

2006-11-21T17:17:00.000-06:00

Journalists, writers, citizens and entrepreneurs-- check out this cool RFPKnight Brothers 21st Century News Challenge | NewsChallenge

CUNY Graduate School Of Journalism Awarded Knight Foundation Grant To Teach Law To Bloggers

2006-11-21T17:11:00.000-06:00

From Media Bloggers Association's Robert Cox via Internet: What’s New ? Blog Archive ? CUNY Graduate School Of Journalism Awarded Knight Foundation Grant To Teach Law To Bloggers

Bob Garfield on Video-sharing and the future of TV

2006-11-21T16:52:00.000-06:00

Bog G. is good. Her nails the trends and links up disparate stories to point out what is really happening. Here I think he is on target as he links up the "meaning" of YouTube, "I post, therefore I am.' or Constituo, ergo sum" and why Google was willing to pay so much for it. Advertising is fleeing television as the eyeballs blink open on niches and avoid commercials like the plague. For the "digital natives" video is video. There is no television video and Internet video. If you don't believe me or Bob Garfield, watch some 12 year olds watch TV/computer. Jeff Jarvis calls thei "exploding TV" and Garfield goes further, with "Monkeyvision...the demand side of the equation -- monkey see, monkey use -- foreshadowing the future of media, already in progress." But where is the revenue stream? And what does a distributed network that promotes "massness" mean?

tags technorati : media blogs, journalism, MBA

Advertising Age - YouTube Grows Up -- But What Does It Mean?

The Tribune - Virtual Greality - Chris Cobler

2006-11-21T16:33:00.000-06:00

The Tribune - Virtual Greality - Chris Cobler

A new NYTimes media blog

2006-11-21T11:03:00.000-06:00

The lede looks like a media review blog. I like the way it aggregates external blogs that talk about the subject at hand.

About The Lede In the news business, the opening sentences of a story are referred to as its "lede" -- spelled that way, journalism lore has it, to avoid confusion with the lead typesetting that once dominated newspaper printing presses. Although a tightly focused narrative typically follows the lede, every sentence in a news story has the potential to spiral off in new directions, and each paragraph leaves behind unexplored angles. That's where The Lede's mission begins.

I am in the process of writing a bit about "portfolio management" and blogs thanks to a discussion I had with Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association.

tags technorati : media blogs, journalism, MBA

2006-11-21T10:20:00.000-06:00

They read -- but onlineCollege students are still reading their college newspapers but now they spend more time reading it online.

Saying "No" to boxed software

2006-11-17T22:07:00.001-06:00

Web 2.0 is the darling of the moment. CNet has a new site that is meant to track all the new apps coming out. If you haven't gotten used to Widgets, check them out and more at this handy blog.

Tags: web2.0