August 2007
45 posts
Welcome to the new Boing Boing! →
Wow. Boing Boing redesigns, adds comments back and gets a bunch of new ads. The old design had personality; this one is kind of meh.
Daily routine
Grad school week 1 report I get up early in the morning and turn off the analog alarm clock. I had to get this one because the displays from the digital ones were all too bright. I go to the kitchen and start to boil water and put some coffee in the French press. I’ll step out onto the deck and look at the trees in the early morning sunlight. By 8:15 I’m out the door to catch the 8:19...
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Common Sense Journalism: Journalism Jobs →
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“itso — noun, pl. itsos : typographical error involving the use of it’s for...”
– Daring Fireball: Itso
I’m wishing the weekend was already over
Orientation Wrap-up The orientation week has definitely been front-loaded: I haven’t done much of anything for the past two days. I have my books and I’ve gone to several workshops so far — I’m just waiting for Monday, when things will start getting interesting. I’ve been getting to know my fellow students this week. A couple nights ago some of us went out for beers, sat and talked about...
Paper fires reporter for “self-plagiarism” →
Help Us Pick America’s Most Annoying Liberal Arts... →
Heh. Now there’s a ranking system I could get behind.
slacktivist: Chasing eyeballs →
Waiting, praying and preparing
Orientation Day 2 I waited in line for 30 minutes to get my student ID card today. It makes me feel like I am finally, utterly a student here. It’s taking me a little getting used; this is my campus now. Since I’m coming here as a grad student I feel like IU isn’t quite mine, so I’ve spent several hours each day wandering the campus and trying to convince myself that I belong here. There...
Orange Crate Art: How to e-mail a professor →
Sources, anyone? →
Love the snark: Yes, Mr. Ferris. I’m sure civil rights advocates’ greatest concern is the length of time that rights are suspended. Not that they’re suspended in the first place. Not that the government is using churches to push its agenda. Not that churches are complying with this request (not that this story in any way supports that contention). Yep, it’s the length of time that rights are...
You need swagger to succeed on the Web →
My expectations have been exceeded, and classes...
Orientation Day 1 So far, I am totally blown away. When I decided to come to Indiana, I was somewhat conflicted. It hadn’t been my first choice going in, and though I know that I absolutely wanted to be there I’ve still had a little pit of uncertainty gnawing at my stomach for the past few weeks. Not something that I’ve really paid much attention to, but it’s been there. This morning,...
Redesign & moving
If you came by here in the last 24 hours, you might have noticed that things looked a little … odd. Hopefully that’s all done now. I’ve redesigned the tumblr template to restore sanity to the layout, with the content front and center at the top of the page and all the secondary information stuck down at the bottom, and I’ve tweaked all kinds of layout issues. This is one my first major...
“So, while blogging engines like Wordpress and Moveable Type are a great option...”
– cubicle 17…office modularity run amok.
Mr. Magazine loves Good →
Reason Number Two: I love the info-graphic. They are by far one of the best in the industry. And by best I do not just mean design wise. Talk about delivering more information in less time and less space. Well researched and well executed. I think Good is good, too.
That’s one very impressive cover →
Some thoughtful work going on at Time Inc, where the Managing Editors of Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Essence all went with the company’s Managing Ed to New Orleans in early May. As Time mag’s Richard Stengel explains, they went there to talk, to listen and to report on what’s been going on there since Katrina.(Via magCulture.com/blog.)
“Want to know the easiest way to learn a lot of... →
iMove and GarageBand are perfect for making short videos or podcasts, and they come with every brand new Mac.
Google: “The reporter and publisher are considered... →
That’s somewhat reassuring, I guess.
Privacy and transparency all at once →
Why not tab comment boards two ways: one for all posts, anonymous and signed, and a second limited to those who sign with their real names? I still think Slashdot’s system is the best.
Google plans to mix unedited comments in with news... →
“Participants in the story” who object to the story (anyone who gets negative coverage, in other words) now can use Google as a weapon to attack news media. As always, Google News will direct readers to the professionally-written articles and news sources our algorithms have determined are relevant for a topic. From bloggers to mainstream journalists, the journalists who help create the news we...
Low blow with Giuliani’s daughter →
The Kicker on Giuliani’s daughter’s Facebook:Now, there’s a certain expectation of public exposure if you post a profile to a social networking site and fail to “lock” it, meaning that you’re leaving it open for viewing to anyone who chances across it — but for Slate to run a silly little item about it, and expose a 17 year-old to public ridicule like this is more than unnecessary. Some might even...
Public is the new private →
Atrios wonders if it’s a good idea to publicize the contents of a minor’s Facebook profile, even if she is the daughter of Rudy Giuliani and even if that profile indicates she supports Barack Obama.
Online newspaper commenters need real identities →
Howard Owens goes through his history with online comments, what worked and what didn’t, and explains why at his current gig “real life” identities are required: In Steve’s article, he presents some pretty compelling evidence about how computer-network culture changed from real identity to hidden identity, but to me that’s just a case for why newspaper sites can and should evole toward requiring...
New CBC rules bar employees from blogging without... →
What better is there to support press freedom than keeping employees off the Internet?
Once again time for the “Internet comments are... →
Two points: While the Indianapolis Star has comments for its main content, this piece is a reprint from USA Today and thus is comment-less. There’s another option out there: user-moderated comments. Fex: Slashdot and DailyKos. Of course, in order to have effective user moderation, a paper needs a community of involved commenters — a sort of chicken and egg problem
Excellent flash infographic on the Minneapolis... →
An good example of online storytelling’s power. The only downside? No designer is credited. (Via Teaching Jouralism Online.)
Current TV // VC2 Survival Guide →
Slick online training guide for shooting video. (Via Ryan Sholin.)
Professional bloggers could get journalist shield →
But only if your blog gets you “financial gain” or “livelihood.”
Online communities right and wrong →
Pat Thornton goes through some lessons to be learned from two early ventures into “hyperlocal” buzzword land. But as newspapers started to decline, so did local coverage. Now papers are filled with highly commoditized wire stories. The kind of content that will never make you money or give you a loyal following. Compare the stories at LoudounExtra.com to either of Gannett’s sites. The Post put...
“The problem is the content you’re giving them,... →
(Via Paul Bradshaw.)
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What do you do when your premise is wrong? →
GetReligion’s Molly Ziegler profiles a new faith/journalism website:
Rather than looking critically at the parameters set out by the project and readjusting to reflect the reality of different religions, the group simply excludes the religion that doesn’t fit. I’m not saying I’m not sympathetic, but it’s just interesting to contemplate how this works in story assignment and development....
Newspapers and the 24-hour Internet →
Older, but still good. AJR examines four papers’ online operations:“We’re jumping into stories in progress, and we get things wrong, the natural errors that come from the fog of news,” Clark says. “We talk about knowing when to ‘vague it up’ and wait for the facts to settle. People on the Web recognize that they’re seeing a flow and not the newspaper end product. They expect to come back and...
Online PDF magazine repository →
PDF-mags.com describes itself as: your infobase for PDF magazines made all over the world. Whatever that means. The magazines look cool, though. (Via FreelanceSwitch.)
“Find yourself a nice comfortable niche and sell... →