I read an article last week about a man who took an entire year off work to walk from California to New York to work through some "issues". In the mean time, he lost 100 pounds, became semi-famous and wrote a daily journal on a blog. You can check it out at www.thefatmanwalking.com.
My only question is wouldn't he get tired carrying his computer and all the components? I guess if you're determined it doesn't matter!
This entry is for the legal minds in class – Jill and Chris – but I thought it was interesting in light of our class conversations.
According to Advertising Age, an advertising agency in New York, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, dropped its suit against Lance Dutson, a blogger for Maine Web Report, for copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel and injurious falsehood.
Dutson started blogging about the work WKPA was doing for the Maine Office of Tourism in October of 2005, arguing the strategy the agency provided was misguided. WPKA had bid for broad search terms that also were the interest of some of Dutson’s clients. The blog took on a life of its own (where have we heard that before) and so WPKA decided to sue Dutson to protect their reputation and because their business had been hurt. As a note, I did a Google search for WKPA and they were listed number 17 behind all the blog listings for this issue.
It’s interesting to note the case was dropped the same day The Boston Globe published an editorial calling for the agency to drop the lawsuit and when a Maine state representative said he had asked the governor to suspend working with the agency.
I understand state agencies have a lot to consider when selecting agencies to complete their work – are they in the state and will it help total state revenue, will this be the best agency to complete the needed work, etc. But, I think the Maine Department of Tourism needs to more closely consider what kind of agency they want to work with. This issue and the way it was handled should be closely considered when the agency is up for review.
Just thought I'd add a quick post about the buzz in the Blogosphere surrounding the possible indictment of White House adviser Karl Rove.
A handful of liberal blogs, led by this story in truthout.org, began reporting over the weekend that Rove had been served the indictment papers by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.
So far, there has been absolutely no mention of this in the MSM. Of course, this provides the perfect test for whether the Blogosphere is ahead of MSM in reporting breaking news, whether it rushes out stories before verification, and whether the Blogosphere is capable of "keeping a story alive" and getting the MSM to follow suit with its own coverage. In other words, this could be the perfect case study of how the Blogosphere operates, and how accurate it is. Stay tuned!
Well, I actually didn't blog through birth, I just wanted to get your attention, but Rachel Mosteller, the author of this article did. I blogged through birth!
I found the article in one of my baby magazines and here Ms. Mosteller actually did blog through her first child's birth....why? She says it was to keep friends and family updated on her labor and delivery. I say it's because she's crazy! I'm still not even sure I want to be awake for it, but this woman took her laptop and had the presence of mind to form actual sentences!
For me, this is waaaay too much information. Why anyone would want to tell everyone they know (and lots of people they don't know) about every pevlic exam, injection and bodily function that occurs during childbirth is beyond me. That a magazine such as American Baby is touting this fascinating morsel of information it in its pages tells me that blogging has come quite a long way and apparently I'm IN a demographic that was TMI about this kind of thing. (although I can assure you I only read it for this class!)
If you want to visit this journalists blog-site, you can do so at the appropriately named SheNuts.com. I'm not making this stuff up, that's actually her web-address and she's known as the "Sarcastic Journalist" Here's the link, enjoy! The Sarcastic Journalist
One of my friends, on his personal blog, indicated that a "well-known company" may create a facebook-type website centered around sports. This would be freakin huge. Online communities linking Jayhawk fans and other college/pro teams are already in existence. Can you imagine what it would be like if the fan sites had someway to interact with the other fan sites. There would be some of the most vile, slanderous language ever conceived on the Internet. It would be great.
A project like this would have to do something more than just be a message board for your own team. It would really need to be an arena for putting fans of one team against fans of another.
For the NFL season, there's always a new message board for your team each week, depending on who your opponent is. Fans from both teams could then post on the same board. The idea could work for all sorts of sports but just thinking about the capacity of this website is making me wonder if this is a workable idea.
A big step toward online, on-demand movies & video.
Bittorrent has been one of the more recent -- post-Napster, that is -- file-sharing protocols on the Web. I've seen it used for distributing rock music boots and live shows. Apparently the technology is pretty good, but I've never drunk at that trough so I can't say first-hand. If you wanted, say, the entire show from a given night last fall when Cream had its four-night Albert Hall run, Bittorrent was the place to go.
Now Warner Bros. has decided it better get serious about selling movies and TV programs on the Web, and the studio's going the Bittorrent route, at least initially.
Check out details in wired.com.
The ol' Internet pirates of yore are all getting their privateers' licenses.
I caught an interesting story on AdRants yesterday about how men’s magazines are down in advertising because the advertisers are moving to more interactive media. According to MediaWeek Monitor, men’s magazines were down four percent in ad pages through June. The story from MediaWeek even had the word converge in it – saying younger men are finding their content and advertising online.
I wonder what group will be the next to converge?
Now Warner is into the video-on-demand game... or at least it's letting its TV-network affiliates do it. But not new programs yet. Credit to LA Times/Meg James.
My friend Stanley Stout passed away last week. It was a complete shock to all who knew him. As I pondered Stanley’s funeral and the work I needed to complete for this class, it reminded me of how far technology had progressed his work over the time I knew him.
I have known Stanley for several years. He was a nationally-renowned livestock auctioneer, traveling North America to sell cattle and other sorts of livestock. Now, it should be known that Stanley loved to tell jokes and play pranks on others. When I first met him, he faxed me jokes. When e-mail became easier to access, he quickly shifted to that technology and we all received his jokes in this manner. Ironically, this also meant we always knew the days when he was in his office to disperse these tales. It also meant we could easily access someone’s e-mail address whom we had lost contact. It was a great networking opportunity. Many also enjoyed seeing who Stanley had determined should receive certain e-mails.
Stanley also moved his desktop onto his Palm or whichever device he used to track contacts, schedules and telephone numbers. You could ask him how to contact someone and he had every bit of information needed. Amazing.
Although you could say Stanley “converged” over the years, one item remains – nothing could beat hearing him chant a sale live. And, his handshake was always better than a signed contract. You also could always count on the opportunity that when the sale was over there would be time to raise a cold beverage to toast friends. Stanley, my glass is raised to you.
All right, here's one for the legal eagles to circle over. From what I've heard lately, sounds like Craigslist is clean on this one, and the person who posted the ad is pretty much protected by logistics, if not law. All credit to Gawker.
James Hibberd has interesting details in Television Week on NBC Universal and USA Network getting down and digitally dirty... namely offering entire debut episodes of new series as video on demand before broadcast, and offering the opening scene of each week's series episode as VOD. The tectonic plates of broadcast/cable shift a few more inches... feel the rumble.
The April12th edition of TV Technology ran an interesting article on the 50th anniversary of the video tape machine. The technology is celebrating its' 50th anniversary. Ampex, in 1956, came out with the VRX-1000 for the price of $45,000 ($320,000 in 2006 dollars) This is a 2 inch video tape machine that weighs over 1000 pounds.
Now, you can purchase a complete digital record/playback machine for around $1,000 that provides video quality un-matched by any previous technology. A mini DV tape cost is around $3.00 - on sale at Costco (TDK). An hours worth of 2 inch tape once cost hundreds of dollars.
Now, as we are able to record and playback video on a 46 cent disc, I wonder if young people realize what we once went through to get a tv show recorded and on the air?
Ever wonder what everyone else is doing on the Internet? Perhaps you’ve pondered who is going where on a particular site. Well if that site happens to be NYTimes.com, it is now easy to figure out what the most popular areas of the site are. As part of a redesign, they added a “Most Popular” section where you can see what the most emailed articles are, which articles are most frequently linked to by bloggers, what the most searched for keywords are, and (curiously) the most popular movies among NYTimes.com readers.
It’s interesting to peruse the lists side-by-side. The most emailed list of articles contains stories about extra tight jeans, lambic ales and a Home & Garden article called “Home Alone Together” (at #1). The Most Blogged top ten seemed to be all of the scary stuff: Taliban, Iraq, Immigration, Mouassoui, Keeping a Democratic Web, Republican Tax Plans, Laser Weapons, Global Warming. The only article shared by both lists was “After Press Dinner, the Blogosphere Is Alive With the Sound of Colbert Chatter,” and “Colbert” was the second most searched for keyword when I called it up on Thursday.
Other enhancements to the site include more video (surprised?), more original reporting, more blogs, and more multimedia, among other things. Soon, you will be able to create a personalized page on the site with all of your favorite New York Times sections as well as other web sites and blogs all in one place. It's going to be called "My Times." To me it sounds like they might have taken a lesson or two from MySpace.com by adding this customization element (and including the increasingly popular word "my"). An eight-page pullout section in the Tuesday, May 2 issue of the paper paper claims that it’s “customization with an important difference: the guidance and expertise of New York Times reporters and editors who offer their informed editorial judgement in your areas of interest.” But, might I ask, isn’t that judgement what they use when deciding what articles to write in the first place?
“My Times” will also voyeuristically allow us to see what our favorite NY Times journalists have on their own personal pages.
In an effort to bring in more viewers to their NBC sitcom, "The Office," some of the cast members have their own blog. Some of the actors have a blog about their life on the set and thoughts on the different episodes.
'We sit at our desks and do our comments and write blogs,' says Jenna Fischer, who plays receptionist Pam Beesley. She almost always is seen sitting behind her computer, which makes it easier to keep up with her weekly blog about what goes on at the set for TVGuide.com and her own personal blog at www.myspace.com/pambeesley.
Other actors have blogs as their own characters.
Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight Schrute, writes his own character blog called Schrute's Space. And he's not alone. Just about all the actors are online at myspace.com as the show is being filmed.
So while the show is being filmed, all the characters are at their desks, playing on the internet, checking myspace and writing their own blogs... kind of like a real office (or classroom).
The last time I missed class, April 20, occurred because I was attending the National Agri-Marketing Association Conference National AgriMarketing Association. (Yes, they have conferences just for this purpose) The annual conference is designed to provide professional development and networking opportunities for those in agri-marketing.
JB asked me to do a recap in class regarding the conference, but it seems our time is getting short, hence, I’m going to blog about some of the speakers and their topics.
The opening general session speaker was James Canton PhD who is a former CNN commentator, Financial News, and author. Canton talked about how an “extreme future” includes more risk and more opportunity. He also explained there are some specific trends he sees that will shape the future. These include demographics, with whites declining and the workforce becoming older and more divers. Other factors are globalization, workforce, innovation (biofuels, biopharma and biomaterials), security (food bioterrorism), energy and climates (extreme weather, arctic melt). Canton also estimated that by 2015 there will be 10 million more U.S. jobs than workers. He stated a challenge we will face is dealing with a culturally diverse global and aging workforce.
Canton spent a lot of time talking about the effect of generations on the workforce and what we should expect in the future. He talked about a “cross-generational” impact of boomers to Generation X to Generation Y. Those that are able to combine innovation amongst these groups will have a major opportunity to leverage their skills.
What I found interesting about Canton’s discussion was the lack of technology mentions. Did he think that because he was speaking to a group of “agricultural” marketers we did not utilize innovative technology? I appreciate the information on working and managing a diverse workforce. I believe more of that diversification will be effected by technology and the way we utilize that technology. I also believe technology advancements will change the look of the office - more people will work from home offices and communicate via video or phone.
Just for fun, here’s proof that I was really working. This is a picture of those from our company that attended the event’s award show. We won 10 national awards that night.
Since I don’t often read the really long blogs (what does that possibly say about how blogs should be written?), I’m going to use another entry to discuss more speakers.
The Washington Post's Richard Cohen and just about everyone who attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner thinks Stephen Colbert's attack on Bush and the press corps was not funny. NPR's political junkie, Ken Rudin, said yesterday that Colbert bombed with the crowd -- but the rest of the world loved him -- much like Jon Stewart's performance at the Oscars.
Cohen begrudingly admits this fact, saying that Colbert has defenders "all over the blogosphere." He also seems a little hurt when he points out that Colbert "took a shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than stenographers recording what the Bush White House said."
He adds: "But he was, like much of the blogosphere itself, telling like-minded people what they already know and alienating all the others."
He's obviously missing the point. The reason noone in the Bush administration or the White House press corps liked Colbert's jokes is that they were the butt of them. And the reason that the rest of the public loved the performance is that we're the ones who are too often alienated by those in power and in the Beltway press.
Greg Mitchell writes on MediaCulture that "the same media that's trashing Stephen Colbert gave a pass to Bush's jokes about missing WMDs in Iraq two years earlier."
He writes, "Still, with the knocks on Colbert increasing, I have to ask: Where was the outrage when President Bush made fun of not finding those pesky WMDs at a very similar media dinner -- in the same ballroom -- two years ago? It represents a shameful episode for the American media, and presidency, yet is rarely mentioned today."
The problem is not that Colbert wasn't funny. The problem was that his jokes were right on target, and nobody in the room could take it.
One of the best defenses of Colbert came from Stewart himself. An E & P article recounts it:
"It was balls-alicious," Stewart said. "Apparently he was under the impression that they'd hired him to do what he does every night on television -- that is, make fun of conservatives, public officials, and the press in the guise of an O'Reillyesque talk show host....We've never been prouder of him, but HOLY ----."
We need more people like Colbert and the bloggers supporting him not just to hold Bush accountable but also to hold the press accountable when they fail us, as they have done recently by putting off publishing the domestic spying story and too easily accepting the administration's line on WMD's.
Lou Dobbs is just about the only CNN commentator who's not tanking in the ratings, and I do mean tanking. To the contrary, he's nipping at Britt Hume's FoxNews heels.
Today, Trevor Brown, former dean of the J-School at Indiana University, mentioned a point that historian/critic Christopher Lasch made some years ago (summarized by Terry Heaton): "argument precedes understanding and is central to democratic opinion formation."
The above goes against the grain of thinking of most of us in the convergence seminar, that you earn the privilege of editorializing by being a solid (detatched) reporter first. That's the primary argument that trad newspeople raise against the blogs: who are these people anyway, who haven't climbed five flights of stairs to cover school board meetings? It's the primary lament of some civic journalism people: where will citizens go to get the straight story?
That would be the reason this country had a partisan press in the first place, and why we seem to be drifting back to it, one way or another. Frankly, Dobbs -- disliked, or worse, as he is by several of us -- is at least getting through to somebody. Evidence is, newspapers and television news in general aren't.
Granted, we don't have to love LimbaughO'ReillyCoulterHannity to have our misgivings about Dobbs' particular takes on issues. But we'd better respect him.