Living and Working on Blogosphere

 

 

Some bloggers maintain more than one blog - one for professional and the other(s) for personal postings - at a time, because they don't like any mix of professional and personal issues, but many bloggers don't have time to.
In a recent post, Steve Outing notes that Jemima Kiss, a UK based expert on new-media and journalism, has came up with a new idea of separating her posts into professional and personal in an attempt save her blog's readers from wading through different matters.
Jemima has broken down her blog into two columns, one labeled "Journalism" and the other labeled "Life".
Worth giving it a try, because is a very nice idea. Good job, Jemima!

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   1 comments   |     |  7:06 PM

Good Will Toward Men

 

When the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve, people all over the world cheer and wish each other a very Happy New Year. For some, this event is no more than a change of a calendar. But for many others, the New Year symbolizes the beginning of a better tomorrow...
May these ancient words be fulfilled this year and every year: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).
All the best in the new year to come to you. Best wishes to all my colleagues, friends and readers for a happy and healthy New Year.
Happy New Year in many languages!

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  11:03 PM

Top 100 Daily Newspapers 2005

 

US Media Monitoring service BurrellesLuce has put out a press release ranking and featuring the circulation of the top 100 daily newspapers in the United States.
Excerpt:

1. USA Today 2,281,831
2. The Wall Street Journal  2,070,498
3. The New York Times 1,121,623
4. Los Angeles Times 907,997
5. Washington Post 740,947
6. The Daily News NY 708,773
7. New York Post 643,086
8. Chicago Tribune 565,679
9. Houston Chronicle 527,744
10. Dallas Morning News 477,493

Related Link:
2004 list

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  5:48 PM

Time Flying By, Not In Seconds but ClicksThinking Digitally

 

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation

Mason Cooley

And now the media think tank(Media Center) at the University of Minnesota is setting up a framework for discussion on innovation in progress, including the creation of a group who are working and thinking on "tomorrow's Fourth Medium" and ongoing (r)evolution in digital storytelling.
They think the transitional time when a new medium is primarily used to replicate the established medium is playing out.

This is dawn of the connected epoch in human civilization. We are living, you and I, in the first seconds of a society reshaped by empowered individuals connected by digital network, of lives shaped by unprecedented volumes of information and shifting notions of knowledge and trust. Institutions like media and governments are bending under weight of change, of social and economic disruptions to the way people acquire and apply knowledge. New institutions and conventions are taking shape.

, says Andrew Nachison, Director of Media Center.
Thanks to Susan, here we have a summary of Media Think presentation:

• Beyond Media
• Find, Participate, Play
• The Age Citizen Journalism
• Being Smart About Infographics
• Flash Journalism
• Multimedia Photojournalists
• Good Days and Bad
• It's the Structure, Stupid
• Immersive Graphics
• No More "Been-There-Done-That"
• Digital Story Early Adopters
• Multimedia Narration
• The Art of Progress
• Beyond Media
• Intro to Persuasive Games
• Documenting Nature
• Blog Obsession
• The Art of Progress
• Thinking Outside Screen
• Literature and Collaboration
• Swimming the Web
• Phlogging
• Turning Points in Online Experience
• Designing Experiences

The site has been developed totally in Flash, so you need the viewer to see it
Wish Andrew and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota Digital Think all success.

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  2:49 PM

Wikipedia, A Reliable Source?

 

Should journalists rely on Wikipedia as primary or supplementary source? The ongoing debate on the credibility of Wikipedia warms up again.
Some recent references to Wikipedia in the Tampa Tribune has stimulated an interesting discussion on Sticks of Fire blog.

Is Wikipedia an acceptable source?

, asks Sticks of Fire.
Whilst reading through the Guardian Newsblog, I noticed a post by Jane Perrone entitled St Nicholas's letter to the Wikipedians. You'll find some useful links to the ongoing controversy over Wikipedia's credibility there.

Related posts:
WIKIPEDIA Zooms Ahead

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  12:04 PM

One Blog Created 'Every Second'

 

The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, says a new report of the Technorati's State of the Blogosphere.

Excerpt:

• As of October 2005, Technorati is now tracking 19.6 million weblogs
• The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months
• The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, with no signs of letup in growth
• About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day
• About a new weblog is created each second
• 2% - 8% of new weblogs per day are fake or spam weblogs
• Between 700,000 and 1.3 million posts are made each day
• About 33,000 posts are created per hour, or 9.2 posts per second
• An additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are from spam or fake blogs, on average

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  12:04 PM

Writing Better Headlines

 

Kenn Finkel, a long-time desk editor and supervisor at different newspapers, will host a headline-writing workshop for print media staff at NewsU of The Poynter Institute For Media Studies.
Last night, I received an announcement in the mail from News University saying NewsU is offering copy editors the opportunity to review your headline-writing techniques and to renew your commitment to excellent journalism....
Participants will learn to:

• Write engaging headlines that draw readers into a story
• Identify the elements of good and bad headlines
• Identify some of the worst (yet most common) transgressions in headlines and eliminate them
• Use key words in the story to write stronger headlines
• Recognize when and how to use word play
• Pinpoint strong verbs for headlines

You'll also get coaching and individualized feedback on your work by instructor Kenn Finkel, and you'll have the opportunity to share online with other course participants.
I wish I could take part, but due to my busy schedule that would be impossible. I recommend that anyone with a direct interest in this should sign up for Kenn's course(esp those involved in print journalism).
Former Miami Herald copy desk guru, Kenn Finkel, is regarded as one of the newspaper industry's top teachers of reporting, writing and editing. I have some of his handouts and go through them on occasion. He'd be a perfect guy to produce a writing style book for journalists.
Before becoming a consultant, Kenn had worked for 33 years as a journalist at the Miami Herald, the New York Times, Newsday, Dallas Times Herald and Miami News, serving as a reporter, copy editor, assistant city editor, features editor, sports editor, graphics director and associate managing editor.

Jack Smith  |  *Feedback  |   0 comments   |     |  1:06 PM