I really enjoyed this article by Rick Maese and supplementary video by AJ Chavar of the Washington Post about University of Maryland "super fan" Joel Ryerson.
Ryerson, 51, has been attending Maryland football practices and games for 30 years. He is one of the few non-team members to have been allowed into practices and his loyalty extends beyond football. I have spotted him at numerous (now that I think about it, probably all) home volleyball matches. I always thought he was a relative of one of the players.
The article itself is well-written and has a lot of quotes from those who know Ryerson, including his mother. Some of the quotes are from interviews in the video, but not all of them (just let we talked about in class.)
The video is well done too. I thought Chavar used interesting angles in his interviews and filmed a lot of great sequences for his b-roll. I take it that Ryerson is a very low-key person and perhaps he did not want to be on film, but would have liked it if there was a brief interview with him in the video. After all, he is quoted in the article (albeit sparingly.)
What makes this a well-done multimedia example is that the video, while having some overlap with the article, stands on its own and gives the story extra depth.
10.15.2012
Misplaced Priorities?
As we all know, we grew up in the "ADD Generation." The world, and in particular the world of the online media, is so chock-full of sensory stimulants that it's hard to blame us for struggling to pay attention to one thing for more than a couple of seconds.
That said, there are a certain instances that demand our undivided attention. Case in point: the Vice Presidential debate (or if your'e a sports fan, the MLB Playoffs). If you're anything like me, anytime a major event airs on television, you like to boot up your computer and keep tabs on the pulse of the Twittersphere. That's the beauty of social media. How else are you going to fire off a pithy, 140 character remark about Romney firing Big Bird or Biden using old man-speech like "malarkey" mere seconds after it comes across the air?
Well, something interesting happened during Thursday's Vice Presidential debate. Twitter was abuzz alright, but not only with zingers about Paul Ryan's Eddie Munster hairdo. Oh no, Twitterites were burning up their keyboards to chime in on a topic much more important than tax loopholes or 47 percenters.
Politics, schmolitics. Who cares about any of that stuff when a video of a bus driver uppercutting a female passenger Mortal Kombat-style hits the web? A soon as WorldStarHipHop -- the video-hosting site that released the grainy, cellphone clip -- posted the video, Twitter virtually exploded. #VPdebate, #PaulRyan, and #Biden plummeted down the list of trending topics. All manner of mainstream media -- talk radio, news websites, cable news shows -- have since picked the video up and aired it ad nauseum.
Please don't get me wrong, this is by no means an indictment on our society. Who doesn't like a good viral video? (I love them, although I typically prefer when they don't end with a woman taking a vicious uppercut to the chin). I just find the timing of the overwhelming interest in this video fascinating.
Pundits and the media love to say things like, "We live in the most politically polarized time in history, blah, blah, blah." I'm not in a position to say whether or not that's true. But I can say the fact that this brutally violent video overshadowed a debate whose outcome could help determine the second most powerful man in the country proves that we live in one of the most attention deficient societies in history.
Certainly social networks like Twitter are valuable tools for communication and for keeping up with current information. However, the downside of ever-updating "feeds" is just that, they're constantly updating. This makes it even more difficult for an ADD society like ours to focus on the important things (debates) and weed out the superfluous (viral videos).
(In the interest if full disclosure, I didn't watch a second of the debate live. Game Four of the Yankees/Orioles series was on, and there was no chance I was missing that. More disclosure: I was following the debate on Twitter during the game, and I definitely checked out the bus driver video during a commercial between innings. Not my proudest moment.)
10.11.2012
Try feedly
Another option for a great reader, should you choose to veer from Google Reader, is feedly.com. The interface is more modern, and once you set it up you can organize different visual preferences.
10.05.2012
10.04.2012
5 Better Ways to Network Online (and Build Your Audience)
This article from Mashable.com offers some great tips for networking and building your online audience, and I've added some of my own twists for journalists.
1. Find the authors of the content you read. Follow the people you want to be like. Engage with them through their social media by thoughtfully commenting on their posts and adding to the conversation. Help them to notice you, and their followers will start to pay attention to you. Your favorite writer's audience can become yours too.
2. Write. Build up content. No one will want to stay on your website if you look like you're brand new. If someone goes to your page, make sure they will feel engaged and have a lot to read. Before you promote your work too much online, make sure you have enough of it to show so you look credible.
3. Leverage twitter keyword searches. Search for topics related to your area of journalism. Engage in conversations and allow people to get to know you.
4. Join relevant LinkedIn groups. Type in a topic you're interested in, and you can find dozens of related groups. You can start or add to conversations on the group pages. This is a great professional networking environment.
5. Meet the people who are looking at you. On LinkedIn, you can set it so you can see who has recently looked at your profile. Build professional relationships with these people because they are clearly interested in you.
We can go far by networking with successful people online.
1. Find the authors of the content you read. Follow the people you want to be like. Engage with them through their social media by thoughtfully commenting on their posts and adding to the conversation. Help them to notice you, and their followers will start to pay attention to you. Your favorite writer's audience can become yours too.
2. Write. Build up content. No one will want to stay on your website if you look like you're brand new. If someone goes to your page, make sure they will feel engaged and have a lot to read. Before you promote your work too much online, make sure you have enough of it to show so you look credible.
3. Leverage twitter keyword searches. Search for topics related to your area of journalism. Engage in conversations and allow people to get to know you.
4. Join relevant LinkedIn groups. Type in a topic you're interested in, and you can find dozens of related groups. You can start or add to conversations on the group pages. This is a great professional networking environment.
5. Meet the people who are looking at you. On LinkedIn, you can set it so you can see who has recently looked at your profile. Build professional relationships with these people because they are clearly interested in you.
We can go far by networking with successful people online.
How Many Clicks Is Too Many?
This Slate article addresses the practice of some news organizations of making users click to several separate pages to continue reading articles.
Some websites mandate that articles be split into separate pages once pass a certain number of words; at Slate, for instance, the limit is 1,000.
Because of the opportunity to maximise clicks, these organizations are hanging on to this model, much to the chagrin of users, myself included.
The piece highlights a problem that is experienced by readers, not just of sites that feature long form articles; sometimes even shorter pieces are split up, which can be bring real annoyance.
Getting readers to continue reading to the end a story has always been an issue, even for traditional newspapers with jump pages.
On the Internet, with people's attention spans diminishing almost daily, this model should not have survived this long.
News organizations would do well to think past their advertising revenue, and really consider the strength of their content, and if it's good enough to hold readers attention through multiple clicks.
As journalists, if the organizations we work for do employ this practice, then as we write we should be thinking, is this work powerful enough to get readers to click through six pages to the end?
As news consumers, what is the maximum number of clicks are you willing to make to get to the end of an article?
Some websites mandate that articles be split into separate pages once pass a certain number of words; at Slate, for instance, the limit is 1,000.
Because of the opportunity to maximise clicks, these organizations are hanging on to this model, much to the chagrin of users, myself included.
The piece highlights a problem that is experienced by readers, not just of sites that feature long form articles; sometimes even shorter pieces are split up, which can be bring real annoyance.
Getting readers to continue reading to the end a story has always been an issue, even for traditional newspapers with jump pages.
On the Internet, with people's attention spans diminishing almost daily, this model should not have survived this long.
News organizations would do well to think past their advertising revenue, and really consider the strength of their content, and if it's good enough to hold readers attention through multiple clicks.
As journalists, if the organizations we work for do employ this practice, then as we write we should be thinking, is this work powerful enough to get readers to click through six pages to the end?
As news consumers, what is the maximum number of clicks are you willing to make to get to the end of an article?
10.02.2012
Going (even more) mobile
As reported on Mediabistro.com blog Fishbowl NY, a new study from the Pew Research Center and The Economist Group shows that "64 percent of tablet owners and 62 percent of mobile phone owners use them at least once per week to catch up on the news."
But perhaps the most important piece of news from the study when it comes to the future of journalism is this one, listed in the Pew report: "People notice ads on mobile devices and may be even more likely to click on them than they are to click on other digital ads."
If this is true, it can mean that advertisers will be willing to pay more than they have been for strictly online advertisements. If advertisers re-invest in the news media as primary placement for their ads, then we may see a revival of the old media advertising model that made newspapers so profitable for so long. How much can hard data supporting user-ad interaction encourage advertisers to give the big bucks to back to news advertising--albeit on a different platform?
Pinterest and Journalism
Class assignment today:
After we have discussed Pinterest, I want you to search Pinterest and media watchdog sites for journalistic uses of the tool.
Find one board that is being used effectively, in your opinion, and write about it and link to it on our class blog (in the comments, below). What site is using it? How active it is? Does it tie back to stories/projects on the site? Are the pins all of site content (photos from a story, for instance), or are they pins from the community? Other comments are welcome.
9.30.2012
The Trouble With Aggregating...
What
happens when an Iranian news agency presents a story as its own... when it's
actually from The Onion? Check
it out here. They even changed the dateline to Tehran. Here is the Onion
parody titled "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama."
The Onion managed to keep a screen
grab from FARS.png before the article was pulled.
9.28.2012
Journalists creating news on Twitter
Not only is Twitter used as a reporting or news gathering tool for journalists, it can have a role in creating news as well.
Due to the public nature of Twitter, journalist's tweets and interactions with other users are open for everyone to see. Sometimes controversial tweets or debates can flare up and therefore become the story themselves.
When I signed onto Twitter this morning, I saw that Sara Ganim had posted a link to a Philly.com story about a subject whom she did not trust. Within 15 minutes, she retweeted the subject in the article criticizing her and calling her names.
Before Twitter, it would have been unlikely the subject, Greg Bucceroni, would have gone through the process to contact her. And if he did, the public would not have known about it. But now, with a click of a button, any of the 26,000 plus followers Ganim has saw the tweet, making it a story in itself.
ESPN's sports business analyst Darren Rovell has no problem engaging in debates with his twitter followers. Often times, Rovell would engage in hour long back-and-forth on Twitter with other journalists he disagrees with.
Back in January, Rovell sent out a tweet lamenting how there was a "complete lack of interest" in tennis in the United States. Sports Illustrated Richard Deitsch took issue with the tweet and replied to Rovell, who did not shy from the confrontation.
The website, Awful Announcing, has a nice recap of the debate and notes Rovell is no stranger to the Twitter feud scene.
We've been told as journalists we should not inject ourselves into the story, but what about creating the story? With Twitter, anyone has immediate contact to you and there are times I believe the retweets or tweets warrant the public knowing.
I don't think Sara Ganim woke up thinking she would be called a "lying b****" but she was, and not only did her tweets create a story, she now is the story.
-Kelyn Soong
Due to the public nature of Twitter, journalist's tweets and interactions with other users are open for everyone to see. Sometimes controversial tweets or debates can flare up and therefore become the story themselves.
When I signed onto Twitter this morning, I saw that Sara Ganim had posted a link to a Philly.com story about a subject whom she did not trust. Within 15 minutes, she retweeted the subject in the article criticizing her and calling her names.
Before Twitter, it would have been unlikely the subject, Greg Bucceroni, would have gone through the process to contact her. And if he did, the public would not have known about it. But now, with a click of a button, any of the 26,000 plus followers Ganim has saw the tweet, making it a story in itself.
ESPN's sports business analyst Darren Rovell has no problem engaging in debates with his twitter followers. Often times, Rovell would engage in hour long back-and-forth on Twitter with other journalists he disagrees with.
Back in January, Rovell sent out a tweet lamenting how there was a "complete lack of interest" in tennis in the United States. Sports Illustrated Richard Deitsch took issue with the tweet and replied to Rovell, who did not shy from the confrontation.
The website, Awful Announcing, has a nice recap of the debate and notes Rovell is no stranger to the Twitter feud scene.
We've been told as journalists we should not inject ourselves into the story, but what about creating the story? With Twitter, anyone has immediate contact to you and there are times I believe the retweets or tweets warrant the public knowing.
I don't think Sara Ganim woke up thinking she would be called a "lying b****" but she was, and not only did her tweets create a story, she now is the story.
-Kelyn Soong
9.27.2012
Storify Me!
Class, all of you worked today on an aggregation/curation assignment using Storify.
The point is to create a brief "story" out of the social media that you aggregate on your page. Your text additions should help to put what you find into context. Bonus points for using some of your own multimedia (photos/video/audio) on the page.
Please make sure you listen to/watch all the audio and video you've dragged into your template, so that it makes sense within the broader point you're trying to make.
Please also be sure to add at least one box of summary text, especially to introduce long video stories.
After you've saved and published your aggregation piece, please grab the link at the top, and in the comments box below this post, write your linked title for the class to see before the start of class on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
Thanks! Have a great weekend! (And don't forget your third blog analysis post is also due at the start of class Tuesday.)
9.25.2012
News And The Evolution Of the Social Web
It is Tech Tuesday on The Kojo Nnamdi show on NPR. The show is from noon to 2 pm, but I am not sure if this particular segment is on in the first hour or the second. Check it out later today on the radio or on the web.
Topless Photos of The Duchess of Cambridge! Is this ethical?
The National Press Photographers Association's code of ethics echoes many of the sentiments of the SPJ code and the Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles. I read the NPPA code to learn if it specifically addresses invasion of privacy. There is nothing that specific, but number four in the code states: "Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration
to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy.
Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an
overriding and justifiable need to see."
Prince William's mother died years ago in a car accident during pursuit by paparazzi. While he is not generally considered a "victim," it is important to note that past events are being repeated. Paparazzi followed Prince William and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on vacation. A photographer used a long lens to capture topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing outside of her private villa. These photos were then published in tabloid magazines in Europe.
The NPPA Code includes another list of what visual journalist SHOULD do, including the following:
Prince William's mother died years ago in a car accident during pursuit by paparazzi. While he is not generally considered a "victim," it is important to note that past events are being repeated. Paparazzi followed Prince William and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on vacation. A photographer used a long lens to capture topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing outside of her private villa. These photos were then published in tabloid magazines in Europe.
The NPPA Code includes another list of what visual journalist SHOULD do, including the following:
- Strive to be unobtrusive and humble in dealing with subjects.
- Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.
- Strive by example and influence to maintain the spirit and high standards expressed in this code. When confronted with situations in which the proper action is not clear, seek the counsel of those who exhibit the highest standards of the profession. Visual journalists should continuously study their craft and the ethics that guide it
9.18.2012
Aggregation Ethics
We talked in class about ways to aggregate content from other sites without prompting criticisms of impropriety. Linking to original stories, and properly quoting and attributing material are all key. (See Jack Shafer's take on the Jim Romenesko/Poynter flap.)
In the comments area below, please link to a blog that aggregates content, and say in a quick summary if you think it does it well or poorly. Please be diplomatic; the world can see your comments.
9.13.2012
Caption in need of help?
AP photographer Carolyn Kaster shot a campaign photo of Vice President Joe Biden Sept. 9, apparently showing him getting very friendly with a female biker at a diner in Seaman, Ohio.
But was he? Here’s an account of the encounter from a Washington Post blogger.
Should the AP caption have said more about what preceded this photo — and where the woman was actually sitting?
Please link to your blog resume pages here
Class, today I'll be doing a final look/edit at your published resumes on your Wordpress sites, which are due at the start of class. (See syllabus for details.)
Please write your name, in the comments area below this post, and link it to your Wordpress resume page, so I can easily find it.
Thanks much!
9.11.2012
Online media gives athletes a chance to shrug off "dumb jock" image
Professional athletes, due to the nature of their business, are generally known for their bodies and not necessarily their minds.
Over the years, the media and popular culture have developed the stereotype of the "dumb jock." Granted, many athletes really are dumb and even some of those who aren't feed into this stereotype by giving monotone responses and one-word answers during interviews.
However, there are some athletes who aren't dumb, in fact some are actually pretty darn smart. And luckily for us (the fans) and them (the jocks), we live in an era where online media can give these athletes an outlet to disprove the stereotype.
In a recent example (with a local Maryland connection!) of an athlete using internet communication and journalism outlets to his advantage, Chris Kluwe, a punter for the Minnesota, took to the web in defense of gay marriage.
The story begins with Raven's linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who has publicly spoken out in support of Maryland's upcoming ballot initiative to legalize gay marriage. Ayanbadejo's comments raised the ire of Maryland state delegate Emmett Burns, Jr. Burns wrote Raven's owner Steve Bisciotti a letter asking him to put a muzzle on his player and keep him from commenting on the divisive issue.
Kluwe took umbrage with Burns' attempts to restrict Ayanbadejo's constitutional right to free speech (as well as Burns' conservative political ideology) and penned a response to Burns' letter.
Kluwe published the response on Deadspin.com, a sports news/gossip site which Kluwe has written pieces for in the past. The web post went viral and has garnered close to 2 million page views in less than a week.
Over the years, the media and popular culture have developed the stereotype of the "dumb jock." Granted, many athletes really are dumb and even some of those who aren't feed into this stereotype by giving monotone responses and one-word answers during interviews.
However, there are some athletes who aren't dumb, in fact some are actually pretty darn smart. And luckily for us (the fans) and them (the jocks), we live in an era where online media can give these athletes an outlet to disprove the stereotype.
In a recent example (with a local Maryland connection!) of an athlete using internet communication and journalism outlets to his advantage, Chris Kluwe, a punter for the Minnesota, took to the web in defense of gay marriage.
The story begins with Raven's linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who has publicly spoken out in support of Maryland's upcoming ballot initiative to legalize gay marriage. Ayanbadejo's comments raised the ire of Maryland state delegate Emmett Burns, Jr. Burns wrote Raven's owner Steve Bisciotti a letter asking him to put a muzzle on his player and keep him from commenting on the divisive issue.
Kluwe took umbrage with Burns' attempts to restrict Ayanbadejo's constitutional right to free speech (as well as Burns' conservative political ideology) and penned a response to Burns' letter.
Kluwe published the response on Deadspin.com, a sports news/gossip site which Kluwe has written pieces for in the past. The web post went viral and has garnered close to 2 million page views in less than a week.
9.10.2012
Where everybody knows your username
Last week's piece from GigaOm discusses how Reddit captures a community in ways that most traditional newspaper websites have so far failed to do, despite attempts.
The article's author, Matthew Ingram argues that in order to grow and maintain an audience, digital first media outlets must establish a community similar to that of Reddit. Ingram says,"As they try to move online, or become reader-supported the way the New York Times is, more newspapers and other media outlets are going to have to get serious about building community — and that means more than just trying to get a bunch of Twitter followers who will retweet a headline. Reddit is a great example of a real community, and Advance has clearly seen the power of what that kind of community can do given the right circumstances. But can it take those lessons and apply them elsewhere? It and other newspapers are going to have to figure out how if they want to survive online."
It's likely that he's right. Community fosters loyalty, and with an increase in competition in the age of online journalism, loyalty may be the only way to survive long-term.
The article's author, Matthew Ingram argues that in order to grow and maintain an audience, digital first media outlets must establish a community similar to that of Reddit. Ingram says,"As they try to move online, or become reader-supported the way the New York Times is, more newspapers and other media outlets are going to have to get serious about building community — and that means more than just trying to get a bunch of Twitter followers who will retweet a headline. Reddit is a great example of a real community, and Advance has clearly seen the power of what that kind of community can do given the right circumstances. But can it take those lessons and apply them elsewhere? It and other newspapers are going to have to figure out how if they want to survive online."
It's likely that he's right. Community fosters loyalty, and with an increase in competition in the age of online journalism, loyalty may be the only way to survive long-term.
9.06.2012
All eyes, (and tweets) on Michelle Obama
I'll admit that I was one of the millions who flocked to twitter during Michelle Obama's speech on Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention. I may have tweeted one thing the entire time but constantly updated my feed every 10 seconds and looked through the #DNC2012, #michelleobama and #firstlady.
The fact that the number of tweets during Michelle Obama's speech peaked at 28,003 tweets per minute meant that a lot of people were watching the speech on TV and on a second screen, (smart phone, tablet, laptop) like I was.
It's an understatement to say that Michelle Obama inspired people to get involved in these months leading up to the election in November, and twitter provided the forum for people connected to the web or using the app on their phones to express their excitement and praise for the first lady that night.
The FLOTUS's speech about her husband and her family was extremely effective in attracting tech-savvy users and journalists to twitter to share thoughts and post key quotes. Although Ann Romney spoke last week during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, her speech peaked at only about 6,000 tweets per minute.
Clearly the speeches targeted different groups, with one reporter on CNN stating it well when he said Ann Romney's speech was directed towards older mothers while Michelle Obama's speech was more in tune with the daughters of those mothers. Those daughters (and sons) were the ones who bombarded twitter Tuesday night, as well as last night during Bill Clinton's nomination speech.
Here is a Huffington Post article with photos and examples of tweets from Michelle Obama's "grand slam" of a speech (to borrow a phrase from Wolf Blitzer...)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/michelle-obama-dnc-speech-reactions-2012-twitter-women_n_1856298.html
The tweets on this article are definitely worth reading.
The fact that the number of tweets during Michelle Obama's speech peaked at 28,003 tweets per minute meant that a lot of people were watching the speech on TV and on a second screen, (smart phone, tablet, laptop) like I was.
It's an understatement to say that Michelle Obama inspired people to get involved in these months leading up to the election in November, and twitter provided the forum for people connected to the web or using the app on their phones to express their excitement and praise for the first lady that night.
The FLOTUS's speech about her husband and her family was extremely effective in attracting tech-savvy users and journalists to twitter to share thoughts and post key quotes. Although Ann Romney spoke last week during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, her speech peaked at only about 6,000 tweets per minute.
Clearly the speeches targeted different groups, with one reporter on CNN stating it well when he said Ann Romney's speech was directed towards older mothers while Michelle Obama's speech was more in tune with the daughters of those mothers. Those daughters (and sons) were the ones who bombarded twitter Tuesday night, as well as last night during Bill Clinton's nomination speech.
Here is a Huffington Post article with photos and examples of tweets from Michelle Obama's "grand slam" of a speech (to borrow a phrase from Wolf Blitzer...)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/michelle-obama-dnc-speech-reactions-2012-twitter-women_n_1856298.html
The tweets on this article are definitely worth reading.
9.03.2012
Welcome fall class!
Welcome to our class blog, which we'll use to share ideas about topics related to publishing in a digital environment. Hopefully our classroom discussions will spawn virtual ones.
This blog is separate and distinct from the ones you'll each be creating for your personal portfolios and resumes on WordPress--and where you'll analyze just one news site throughout the semester.
On this blog, I'll expect each of you to start at least two discussion threads on new-media topics -- and to comment freely on your colleagues' posts.
Feel free to link to other sites, to help buttress your ideas, and to illustrate your posts with screen grabs of news sites you're discussing.
Don't, however, embed copyrighted photos on this site.
This blog is separate and distinct from the ones you'll each be creating for your personal portfolios and resumes on WordPress--and where you'll analyze just one news site throughout the semester.
On this blog, I'll expect each of you to start at least two discussion threads on new-media topics -- and to comment freely on your colleagues' posts.
Feel free to link to other sites, to help buttress your ideas, and to illustrate your posts with screen grabs of news sites you're discussing.
Don't, however, embed copyrighted photos on this site.
1.02.2012
Bloomberg Analytics
Excellent analysis from Varun on the readership stats for Bloomberg.com. Varun checked out information collected on quantcast.com and alexa.com.
12.21.2011
Will SOPA hurt the Internet?
As of today, the United States legislature is currently working on putting together the Stop Online Privacy Act, a new bill intended to prevent companies from losing business by pirating downloads and software.
The bipartisan bill will make unauthorized streaming of content a felony, will bar ISP's from giving access to the sites, and bar search engines from linking to the sites. It is up to the Department of Justice, in addition to copyright holders, to deem sites blockable.
Supporters for the bill argue that the laws are a natural extension of copyright laws into the 21st century, and that the bill is necessary to prevent companies from losing too much intellectual property.
The bill's opponents say that the government will have too much say as to whether a site can remain operable, and that the security changes will undermine the basic structure of the internet.
Where do you stand on SOPA?
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sopa-hearings-cast-debate-as-old-media-vs-new-media/2011/12/16/gIQAmCD3yO_story.html
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/109533-how-sopa-could-actually-break-the-internet
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/12/21/sopa-haters-are-already-finding-easy-ways-to-circumvent-its-censorship/
The bipartisan bill will make unauthorized streaming of content a felony, will bar ISP's from giving access to the sites, and bar search engines from linking to the sites. It is up to the Department of Justice, in addition to copyright holders, to deem sites blockable.
Supporters for the bill argue that the laws are a natural extension of copyright laws into the 21st century, and that the bill is necessary to prevent companies from losing too much intellectual property.
The bill's opponents say that the government will have too much say as to whether a site can remain operable, and that the security changes will undermine the basic structure of the internet.
Where do you stand on SOPA?
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sopa-hearings-cast-debate-as-old-media-vs-new-media/2011/12/16/gIQAmCD3yO_story.html
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/109533-how-sopa-could-actually-break-the-internet
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/12/21/sopa-haters-are-already-finding-easy-ways-to-circumvent-its-censorship/
12.20.2011
Frictionless Sharing
During a recent conversation I had with Time Inc.'s social media editor, Allie Townsend, she mentioned a lot of online publications are turning their attention to frictionless sharing.
If any of you use Spotify (If you don't, I highly recommend it.), you've already experienced it firsthand. In a nutshell, whenever you listen to music using Spotify it shares the information with your Facebook profile. By encouraging users to log into their Facebook profiles while using the music streaming app, Spotify found a great way to market itself on peoples' news feeds.
More recently, many of you have probably noticed the Washington Post Social Reader cropping up on your Facebook news feeds. This too uses frictionless sharing, as everything you read will show up on your profile.
No longer do you have to actively share information because more and more applications are doing it for you. Unfortunately, you also can't control who you share with at this stage in the game.
My question to everyone is how do you think this will change the news industry, if at all?
At the very least, I feel news organizations have found a brand new way market themselves. But this could also prove a great way to disseminate news content without having to manually upload a story link to Facebook every time. The possibilities seem endless.
Also, here's a link that explains frictionless sharing and its pros and cons better than I ever could:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_trends_of_2011_frictionless_sharing.php
If any of you use Spotify (If you don't, I highly recommend it.), you've already experienced it firsthand. In a nutshell, whenever you listen to music using Spotify it shares the information with your Facebook profile. By encouraging users to log into their Facebook profiles while using the music streaming app, Spotify found a great way to market itself on peoples' news feeds.
More recently, many of you have probably noticed the Washington Post Social Reader cropping up on your Facebook news feeds. This too uses frictionless sharing, as everything you read will show up on your profile.
No longer do you have to actively share information because more and more applications are doing it for you. Unfortunately, you also can't control who you share with at this stage in the game.
My question to everyone is how do you think this will change the news industry, if at all?
At the very least, I feel news organizations have found a brand new way market themselves. But this could also prove a great way to disseminate news content without having to manually upload a story link to Facebook every time. The possibilities seem endless.
Also, here's a link that explains frictionless sharing and its pros and cons better than I ever could:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_trends_of_2011_frictionless_sharing.php
12.15.2011
2011's Top Searches for Google and Yahoo
Now that 2011 nears an end, websites are steadily posting those top stories of the year. Here's what ABCNews.com says were Google's and Yahoo's "fastest rising searches" for 2011.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/google-top-searches-2011-rebecca-black-herman-cain/story?id=15156587
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/google-top-searches-2011-rebecca-black-herman-cain/story?id=15156587
12.14.2011
Journalists on Twitter
Many editors and professors encourage (strongly) for their journalists to be active on Twitter. However, at the same time, criticize the under-reported and inaccurate information that is often posted on the social media site, not necessarily by journalists. My question is this, in order to further define the distinction between active citizenship and journalism, would journalists be better served just staying off of Twitter?
12.12.2011
So it's not really out with the old, then
This post on Chris Daly's blog reminded me of the brewing feud between the FONers and the FOMers that we discussed today in class. Daly is a journalism professor at Boston University.
12.11.2011
Twitter's New Design
Speaking of twitter, the New York Times recently released this article about some design changes the social network is making to attract more users and advertisers.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/twitter-tries-to-simplify-its-service/?scp=1&sq=twitter%20tries%20to%20simplify&st=cse
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/twitter-tries-to-simplify-its-service/?scp=1&sq=twitter%20tries%20to%20simplify&st=cse
12.09.2011
ESPN Twitter policy
Back in September the Houston Texans starting running back, Arian Foster, tweeted a photo of his injured hamstring. This was not a violaiton of the NFL's twitter policy and therefore no League action was taken. However, the ability of athletes to break their own news poses serious conseuences for the future of journalism. Some fear that one day players, leagues, teams, or colleges will no longer need a middleman to cover them. Will athletes' ability to release their own information seriously cripple journalists' ability to make a living? Does Foster's twitpic of his hamstring portend a bleak future for journalism?
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