I will admit that I am one of those people that always has at least one of the following items on me at all times: phone, laptop, iPod, camera. I am also one that is constantly signed into Gmail, I check my Facebook daily, and I have added close to 100 songs to my iPod over the last few days. Having grown up as a camping/canoeing/hiking/roughin' it kid, I am ashamed and sad that I've moved away from that lifestyle.
This morning, I found some motivation to reconnect with my younger years. I read this article in Time.
While so many people will be out there buying and trying, I'm comfortable with the idea that this new techie device may not have as huge of an impact on new media as everyone originally thought. I'll wait until something really revolutionary comes around before being persuaded to forfeit yet another portion of my disconnected childhood.I'm not saying that all of this new stuff is bad, I just want my share of it in moderation.
Hopefully I don't fall back into the abyss like this guy. Note the links in this articles. I know as bloggers we are encouraged to add links, multimedia, photos, etc. but this might be too much. If anything they are just reinforcing exactly what the "unplugged" idea is fighting against. I also found it ironic that so many people tweeted about how going off the grid for 24-hours is such a great idea. Let's see them actually do it now.
4.06.2010
4.04.2010
Opening Night
This is a night I've been looking forward to since Oct. 11, 2009, the day the Red Sox were swept out of the post-season by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. If that series wasn't hard enough, Red Sox Nation had to watch the Yankees reclaim the throne as World Series Champions a few weeks later.
After a nice gentleman so kindly posted "Ellsbury sucks." to my Facebook wall the other day, my anticipation of Opening Night at Fenway grew exponentially. Hopefully the outcome of the game will be something to brag about.
To tie this with new media, the start of a new season means something for avid fans. My father has been blogging about the Detroit Tigers for at least five years now. After almost every game he will sit at the computer critiquing the players, the coaching, the commentators, the fans, the groundscrew, the...you get the point. For him, blogging has become an entirely new part of baseball. It allows him, and everyone else using the site, to discuss all aspects of the game. He has even made friends with other bloggers - last summer we met up with one of them and his wife at a game in Pittsburgh.
I'm not saying that this type of blogging has any real impact on the game or the future of the season, but using the example of my dad, blogging seems to have become a new social network. This time though, the only people involved are die hard fans of baseball who are looking to talk about nothing else.
Each major league team has their own blog site - search for them here. Some are still led by the original blogger who will post discussion topics that everyone else can respond to. Depending on what comes out of the fans, some of these discussions have been able to cultivate stories. Bloggers have asked questions about the game that beat writers have then addressed in their reports - like a glorified mailbag or letter to the editor.
I don't know as much about the game as my father, and I don't have time to write the, at times, exhaustively long posts like him. When I can, I do enjoy reading what others have to say. And for the most part, these blogs are serious enough that there aren't too many "Ellsbury sucks" spouts in the comments.
Go Sox!
After a nice gentleman so kindly posted "Ellsbury sucks." to my Facebook wall the other day, my anticipation of Opening Night at Fenway grew exponentially. Hopefully the outcome of the game will be something to brag about.
To tie this with new media, the start of a new season means something for avid fans. My father has been blogging about the Detroit Tigers for at least five years now. After almost every game he will sit at the computer critiquing the players, the coaching, the commentators, the fans, the groundscrew, the...you get the point. For him, blogging has become an entirely new part of baseball. It allows him, and everyone else using the site, to discuss all aspects of the game. He has even made friends with other bloggers - last summer we met up with one of them and his wife at a game in Pittsburgh.
I'm not saying that this type of blogging has any real impact on the game or the future of the season, but using the example of my dad, blogging seems to have become a new social network. This time though, the only people involved are die hard fans of baseball who are looking to talk about nothing else.
Each major league team has their own blog site - search for them here. Some are still led by the original blogger who will post discussion topics that everyone else can respond to. Depending on what comes out of the fans, some of these discussions have been able to cultivate stories. Bloggers have asked questions about the game that beat writers have then addressed in their reports - like a glorified mailbag or letter to the editor.
I don't know as much about the game as my father, and I don't have time to write the, at times, exhaustively long posts like him. When I can, I do enjoy reading what others have to say. And for the most part, these blogs are serious enough that there aren't too many "Ellsbury sucks" spouts in the comments.
Go Sox!
3.29.2010
Quotation of the Day
I receive a NY Times e-mail each morning listing the day's headlines. After the top three stories, there is a section featuring the "Quotation of the Day." Most of the time it is pretty interesting - at least enough for me to link to the story and read a little bit of it.
Today's quote was something I've never seen before: a Twitter post. The post wasn't anything that crazy, the story even less so. Apparently Twitter can "change the face of ballet." (I didn't finish the story, so I may have missed the bigger picture.) I guess it's cool that Twitter can be an outlet for this group, but I'm positive that Twitter is used by someone else who is doing more significant things with it than doing injury updates. Nothing against ballet, but the NY Times must be hurting for stories involving new media.
Today's quote was something I've never seen before: a Twitter post. The post wasn't anything that crazy, the story even less so. Apparently Twitter can "change the face of ballet." (I didn't finish the story, so I may have missed the bigger picture.) I guess it's cool that Twitter can be an outlet for this group, but I'm positive that Twitter is used by someone else who is doing more significant things with it than doing injury updates. Nothing against ballet, but the NY Times must be hurting for stories involving new media.
3.28.2010
How Can I Invest in Fat Cat Photography?
As we have been talking about financing blogs and their revenue streams, there are some things that I can't seem to wrap my head around.
Josh Marshall commented that when he started Talking Points Memo, he was struggling to feed himself and certainly did not have enough money to fund his site on his own. Kudos to him for creating something that was respected by so many that they would answer the call for help and give Marshall what he needed to launch. The work he has done is extremely important and has had a great impact on the future of journalism. At the end of it all, it was worth the risk.
Not that I'm putting TPM and "lolcats" on the same level of sophistication, but I don't understand what Eric Nakagawa was thinking when he invested in a site that features pictures of cats with grammatically incorrect captions and expected a response. He may not have been pinching pennies like Marshall, but I would never have thought that cats could bring in an ad worth $4,000. If it were me, I would have completely missed the opportunity to cash in on something that obviously has a great deal of appeal. Again, the investment paid off and the "I Can Has Cheezburger" has filled a large niche in cyberspace.
That said, if I were to create my own (serious) blog, the biggest obstacle, aside from getting the money, would be taking the risk and investing into something that may not be successful enough to bring any kind of return. I guess I'd try to play it safe with a job that promised a paycheck.
Josh Marshall commented that when he started Talking Points Memo, he was struggling to feed himself and certainly did not have enough money to fund his site on his own. Kudos to him for creating something that was respected by so many that they would answer the call for help and give Marshall what he needed to launch. The work he has done is extremely important and has had a great impact on the future of journalism. At the end of it all, it was worth the risk.
Not that I'm putting TPM and "lolcats" on the same level of sophistication, but I don't understand what Eric Nakagawa was thinking when he invested in a site that features pictures of cats with grammatically incorrect captions and expected a response. He may not have been pinching pennies like Marshall, but I would never have thought that cats could bring in an ad worth $4,000. If it were me, I would have completely missed the opportunity to cash in on something that obviously has a great deal of appeal. Again, the investment paid off and the "I Can Has Cheezburger" has filled a large niche in cyberspace.
That said, if I were to create my own (serious) blog, the biggest obstacle, aside from getting the money, would be taking the risk and investing into something that may not be successful enough to bring any kind of return. I guess I'd try to play it safe with a job that promised a paycheck.
3.23.2010
Resurgence of Obamania
(Screenshots do not do these huge headlines justice)
With President Obama signing the health care reform bill this morning, it's a no-brainer that news sites (mainstream and indy) would have it plastered all over their homepages. Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo have easily outdone everyone else. Drudge wasn't far behind, but his site featured a laughing Nancy Pelosi under an ad from the National Republican Congressional Committee calling for donations in support of her resignation.
3.02.2010
ST: International Journalism meets ST: Independent Media
During the Spring 2009 semester, I took International Journalism with Vadim Isakov. A few of the required readings in the class can tie in with what we have been discussing as far as international indy media.
*Unfortunately you need an Ithaca College username/password to access a couple of them.
First, PBS Frontline featured an interview with Vladimir Pozner, Russia's most influential political TV talk-show host. He discussed the impacts of government controlled media in Russia and explains why free speech is not a high priority for the young country. Watch the video (or read) here.
Second, an article published in the International Communication Gazette addresses the use of blogging during the 'tulip revolution' in Kyrgyzstan. "The authors found that the blog did indeed become a unique and rich source of information not available from other local sources or the world press. They suggest that samizdat blogs can serve to incite or sustain democratization in Third World countries, even those undergoing uneven economic development." (Excerpt from abstract.) The entire article can be found here.*
Finally, Columbia Journalism Review published "Musharraf's Monster: In Pakistan, independent TV is young, powerful, and biting the hand that fed it." Read it here.*
*Unfortunately you need an Ithaca College username/password to access a couple of them.
First, PBS Frontline featured an interview with Vladimir Pozner, Russia's most influential political TV talk-show host. He discussed the impacts of government controlled media in Russia and explains why free speech is not a high priority for the young country. Watch the video (or read) here.
Second, an article published in the International Communication Gazette addresses the use of blogging during the 'tulip revolution' in Kyrgyzstan. "The authors found that the blog did indeed become a unique and rich source of information not available from other local sources or the world press. They suggest that samizdat blogs can serve to incite or sustain democratization in Third World countries, even those undergoing uneven economic development." (Excerpt from abstract.) The entire article can be found here.*
Finally, Columbia Journalism Review published "Musharraf's Monster: In Pakistan, independent TV is young, powerful, and biting the hand that fed it." Read it here.*
2.17.2010
Reminds Me of the Jim Mora Rants
I never get sick of watching the Jim Mora rants on YouTube featuring the coach tearing apart reporters who, arguably, ask the wrong questions at the wrong time. The incident at UConn leaves me with the same, "What were they thinking?!?" reaction. It seemed to everyone, including myself, that the coach had "owned" the reporter. Calhoun: 1, Reporter: 0.
The story that came as a result of the coach's outburst is one thing, but in the world of journalism, the heated exchange (and its aftermath) meant something much more.
Blogger Ken Kreyeske's approach is an example of what can become of asking the questions that no one else want to. The answer spun the story away from Huskies' Basketball and placed a critical eye on a topic that would hit home for more than just the fans of UConn. People who don't pay the slightest bit of attention to NCAA athletics are now following a man who is getting paid a sum of money that seems a bit excessive given the status of everyone else on a payroll.Mainstream media outlets finally started following the story that mattered - but only after an independent blogger broke the silence.
When allegiances get in the way of telling the truth and publications move away from holding a "watchdog" status, consumers need to be able to look for other outlets that can provide them with additional information. This information has the power to change views on political, economic and social ideologies. Kreyeske and the many other contributors to indy media are extremely valuable to the changing media landscape. At the end of it all, my scoring has changed.
Indy media: 1, Mainstream media: 0.
The story that came as a result of the coach's outburst is one thing, but in the world of journalism, the heated exchange (and its aftermath) meant something much more.
Blogger Ken Kreyeske's approach is an example of what can become of asking the questions that no one else want to. The answer spun the story away from Huskies' Basketball and placed a critical eye on a topic that would hit home for more than just the fans of UConn. People who don't pay the slightest bit of attention to NCAA athletics are now following a man who is getting paid a sum of money that seems a bit excessive given the status of everyone else on a payroll.Mainstream media outlets finally started following the story that mattered - but only after an independent blogger broke the silence.
When allegiances get in the way of telling the truth and publications move away from holding a "watchdog" status, consumers need to be able to look for other outlets that can provide them with additional information. This information has the power to change views on political, economic and social ideologies. Kreyeske and the many other contributors to indy media are extremely valuable to the changing media landscape. At the end of it all, my scoring has changed.
Indy media: 1, Mainstream media: 0.
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