Random links (hand-coded!)

Jul 28th, 2008

by Bryan.

A few things I’ve read over the past week that’ve caught my fancy:

Danny Sanchez points out that Google’s Knol (press release blog post) puts it firmly in the content creation category as a challenge to media companies.
The NYT’s Bits blog writes about Verve Wireless, a company that is helping to make local newspapers’ mobile web sites more attractive in How to Save Local Newspapers: Cellphones.
Len Witt points out the Pew Research Center’s report on what we all know already: The Changing Newsroom: Gains and Losses in Today’s Papers.
Ryan Sholin is turning his attention to the business model, which everyone knows is the elephant in the room.
As long as he’s looking at the business model, we all might want to consider the broader perspective of the role of “maximizing corporate profits” in cutting newsrooms to boost that bottom line (which still hovers well above the profit margins of most major U.S. industries). Daniel of Crooked Timber unpacks the terminology (via Boing Boing).
Earlier in the week, Sholin reminded us of the fact that it’s really possible to be a journalist without a job at a mainstream news organization. Even though we still see most of our graduates land jobs at small and medium-sized dailies, I’m wondering if the opportunities outside the traditional newspaper newsroom won’t be better for most of them, depending on how hidebound the management is at the local daily. Of course, this is another one of those mindset issues. It’s a bit like telling a teacher that it’s possible to be a teacher without teaching in a local public school district.
And just for fun, Mark Hamilton points to the CBC’s new beta site for great Canadian documentaries. Check it out.
UPDATE: Promoted from the comments - Blogging 101 - a little help, by John Hassell (thanks to Will for the heads up).