• The Twitter Explosion  | American Journalism Review
  American Journalism Review covers some new-fangled Intertube phenomenon called "Twitter." Next month, I think they're covering GeoCities.
  (tags: twitter journalism socialmedia newspapers)
• Watch Internet TV – Live Streaming Video From Livestream.com
  Once it was Mogulus – Now it's Livestream. A web 2.0 company with a name that actually fits what it does.
  (tags: video streaming internet live mogulus livestream)
• Journalism classes that aren’t regularly available but should be
  "That’s never more true than now, because, well, most all professors at j-schools are from an era that digitization is fast making irrelevant (There are many exceptions, two at Temple being here and here). The rules are broken and more than ever, journalism schools are repugnantly, distastefully, woefully far from leading students to careers, aside from the Temple name and, yes, the contacts they make."
  (tags: journalism education multimedia future ideas)
• Xtranormal | Text-to-Movie
  Write a "script" and watch it turn into an animated movie before your eyes.
  (tags: funfriday)
• Veer: Ideas: Kern in Space
  "On earth you kern with the best of them. But how well do your skills hold up in a fraction of earth's gravity? Check the gauges, fire the boosters, and do your best to give 80-point type a 3-point landing. And remember… in space, no one can hear you kern."
  (tags: funfriday)

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Hope everyone has a safe one.

As of May 22, 2009, there have been 4,962 confirmed U.S. military casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. (source) Stop for a few moments this weekend to remember them and their families.

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• 50 Banned Books That Everyone Should Read
  Just because it's interesting info for a Friday. via @Chronotope on Twitter
  (tags: toread books library banned literature)
• Office of the President Lee C. Bollinger: 2009 Commencement Address
  "What's more, the very same technology – the Internet – that is making global communication so pervasive – is simultaneously undermining the financial model of the traditional press, as we've known it. Ironically, and unfortunately, at the very moment when we want and need more serious study of and reporting on global issues, we are getting less and less of it." – maybe if we spent less on Bill O'Reilly (or Keith Olbermann) it would pay for a few of those foreign journos. via @jay_rosen on Twitter
  (tags: journalismfuture)
• Bill Positions API | MAPLight.org
  MAPLight.org performs original research on supporting and opposing interests for legislative bills. Combined with other databases (e.g., OpenSecrets.org from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), FollowTheMoney.org from the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP), Thomas via GovTrack.us, OpenCongress API) MAPLight.org’s Bill Positions API provides a powerful tool that illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes. It can also be mashed up with other databases that contain information about bills (e.g., GOP.gov Anywhere API) or politically-active organizations (e.g., Project Vote Smart) in unforeseen ways.
  (tags: data government)
• SF News Media Examiner: Online news needs to develop investigative journalism rapidly
  "Three important figures from across the US landscape of journalism ceded that there's likely no feasible business model that will save newspapers, but what is important is that the investigative spirit from the newsroom remains as online news develops." I'm glad we have "important figures" to tell us what many already suspect.
  (tags: newspapers businessmodel blah-blah)
• The journalism bubble « BuzzMachine
  "When I decided to go into the news business, we took a vow of poverty, or at least acknowledged that we’d never be rich. I chose not to go to law school and instead transferred to j-school and did so in the full awareness that I’d never be well-paid." – Jeff Jarvis. Why do I bristle when NY media pundits lecture the rest of the journo world about their economic prospects?

  Wrong. I ended up being very well-paid because I worked in news in the last gasp of its century-longer monopoly bubble, which ironically came to a climax at the same time as the short-lived tech bubble.

  (tags: journalism newspapers economy businessmodel)
• Why journalists deserve low pay | csmonitor.com
  "Actually, journalists deserve low pay. Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren't creating much value these days." – Unlike, say, bankers?
  (tags: journalism economics business)

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Image via Wikipedia

This weekend, I saw the latest “Star Trek” movie. (slow-loading flash site – you have been warned)

It’s a good sci-fi movie, and a worthwhile “prequel” to the “Star Trek” franchise (I’m not a “Trekkie,” so keep that in mind). Today, I tried to find an image that sort of encapsulated what I thought about the state of the news industry’s hand-wringing about the Internet, and I couldn’t find the image. So I’ll just have to put the analogy into words:

Internet = Nero’s Romulan Mining Vessel.

Newspapers = USS Kelvin.

If you haven’t seen the movie, there’s your invitation to check it out.

I do not think the vast Internet has the same malicious intent that Nero had in the film, but the sheer mass and futuristic outlook of the Internet seems to dwarf whatever tiny countermeasures newspaper industry executives make against it. Maybe that will change.

Where’s Capt. Kirk when we need him?

I have no great deep thoughts here, but I just wanted to throw that out for discussion.

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Summer is here and the living is easy– unless you’re a journalism student. For you, the summer means extra time to catch up in your ever-changing industry. You have no time to waste. Here are a few ways you can effectively use your summer to enhance your news site and/or journalism skills.

1. Start a blog | Individual project | Level: beginners

When employers Google your name, what will they find? The more often you blog, the higher up your name will rank on the search results. But blogging is about more than SEO. Blogging will strengthen your mind, your thoughts. A blog is a place for you to develop ideas you have about improving your news site or publication. If you build a community on your blog by linking out to others, then your ideas can be criticized and improved upon by commentors and other bloggers who respond to your posts.

If you don’t want to blog about the journalism industry, blog about your passion. If you have a second major in economics or a minor in women’s studies or you love horseback riding, blog about that. The more you blog, the more you will develop your voice as a writer.

Get started:

• How to start a blog
•  Choosing a blogging platform

Read the rest of this entry →

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• ReThinkNews
  MSU hosts new journalism summit. I hope they find it.
  (tags: newspapers journalismfuture michiganstate)
• Students Skeptical Kindle DX Can Replace Paper Chase | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
  "Indiana University business student Chandler Berty told Wired.com he would consider a Kindle DX if e-books cost less than used physical textbooks. He added, however, that college students already carry laptops, which are superior to the Kindle, rendering the reader unnecessary." – yeah, that cost issue. Who's expecting textbook cos. to lower cost?
  (tags: education kindle ebooks)
• Journalism Associations Forced to Re-examine Role as Membership Declines
  A common thread. More cooperation is necessary.
  (tags: journalism organizations)
• How Kindle Removes Barriers to Newspaper Reading
  Will Sullivan writes about the promise of Kindle. My take: Until Amazon lowers the price and changes their proprietary policies (lose your amazon account, lose your access to books YOU PAID FOR!) it's not going to be anyone's savior.
  (tags: newspapers businessmodel kindle amazon)
• N.C. Diploma Dilemma | An APPLES Service Learning Journalism Project at UNC-Chapel Hill
  Interactive site from Journalism dept. at UNC-Chapel Hill.
  (tags: education interactive studentjournalism)

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