October 15, 2010 in fun
This is a couple of weeks old, but XKCD has done a second version of his map of the online world:
Be sure to hold your mouse over the image to get another piece of geek humor. (and click the link to see the full 740×850 version.
October 15, 2010 in industry news
October 14, 2010 in Educational opportunities, Training
Rachele Kanigel of San Francisco State University is promoting travel opportunities for students this summer. Students will work on multimedia projects during the summer term. Details are below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry →
October 13, 2010 in fun
For the word geeks in our midst, presented without comment:
October 13, 2010 in College Media News, College Publisher, Media Companies - College Related
Unless there is major news forthcoming, this will be the last I will post about the recent sale of College Media Network by Viacom/MTVu (see below for links to our previous coverage). However, the issue that was raised in the comments to my interview with Rusty Lewis is worthy of front page treatment.
As background, the College Publisher content management system is used by a number of private school student media outlets (we used it when I worked at North Greenville College/University). Some of these private universities have more stringent standards regarding what they consider acceptable advertising content on their sites.
This has been something that College Publisher has been sensitive to, filtering ads to specific student media outlets that might have a problem with particularly racy content, for example. In my time at NGU, I was tasked with asking CMN to remove a couple of ads from our student newspaper site, and they had no qualms in doing so.
So, reader Yada123 asked in the comments:
I’m concerned about the “guides” Access Network keeps referring to in its press releases and your podcast interview with CP5 staff. Blackbook, one of Access Network’s guides, has some racy content about sleazy clubs such as Voyeur, and the stories and links blend content with boosterism, including for Voyeur. Will these racy guides be forced upon college newspapers? Will college newspapers’ existing advertising screens be maintained now that CP5 is with Access Network?
I asked Rusty Lewis of College Media Network to respond to the comment, which he did, and I’m reprinting his response in full here for wider dissemination.
Our contracts are not going to change. The advertising policy that governs those agreements will be honored and continue with The Access Network’s representation of the national ad units across CMN.
The guides we have discussed are going to be a separate product that the newspapers will power. We don’t have definite product details that will outline the functionalities of the tools yet, but [should the newspapers contract this service] the newspapers will have full control over what to feature in the city guides.
If there is an appetite to feature content from Black Book, it will be made available. As a software solution, the City Guide Publisher will be a tool for the newspapers to feature listings of businesses and restaurants in the area with reviews. The tool could be re-purposed for housing guides or any type of guides that are relevant to the college audience. What you see in the blackbook guides speaks to their audience. We don’t assume to know better than you on what your audience is looking for – that is why we are putting the tools in your hands.
October 12, 2010 in College Media News, College Publisher, Interviews, Media Companies - College Related
Friday, Oct. 8, I interviewed Access Network CEO Ari Horowitz about the sale of College Media Network to a private investment firm (previous coverage here and here). During the interview, Horowitz discussed what the Access Network does currently, how CMN fits into their business strategy, and some of the technical and advertising challenges the network will be working on in the future.
The interview was conducted via Skype, and the edited version is about 13 minutes long.
For those who can’t see the Flash player, here’s a link to download the mp3.
October 8, 2010 in Redesigns
The Daily Northwestern at Northwestern University in Illinois has redesigned their site. They are a College Publisher network client.
Here’s a screenshot of the new design:
I do not have a more recent screenshot of the old design, but here is a screenshot from 2007:
Note the (now endangered species) left nav bar in the old design.
October 7, 2010 in Redesigns, Websites
The University of Idaho’s Blot has redesigned for this year.
Madison McCord writes:
Blot, the magazine at the University of Idaho has moved away from a Joomla template to a completely hand-coded site. With this switch, the staff has more flexibility with multimedia integration and design. The highlight of the site though, is a fully interactive edition of the publication that brings together beautiful print design and web-only multimedia elements.
Here’s a screenshot of the new design (no screenshot was available of the previous design):
October 4, 2010 in College Media News, College Publisher, Interviews, Media Companies - College Related
As mentioned Friday, MTVu/MTV Networks sold College Media Network to a private investment firm last week.
Saturday afternoon, I interviewed CMN’s Rusty Lewis about the sale, and other related topics (like the College Publisher CMS). Below is the mp3 of the interview. It’s about 11 minutes long, and was conducted via Skype.
Here’s a link to the mp3 if the Flash player isn’t showing up.
I hope to find out more about the private investment firm and other details if I can arrange an interview with Access Network CEO Ari Horowitz soon.
Also, as of today, College Publisher sites (and collegepublisher.com) are still branded with MTVu/MTV Networks logos in the footer.
October 1, 2010 in College Media News, College Publisher
UPDATE (Monday, 10-4-10): I spoke with Rusty Lewis from CMN this weekend, and will have audio of the interview up later today.
College Media Network, which provides an online content management system (College Publisher) to around 600 college news media outlets around the nation, has been sold by MTVu/MTV Networks.
In a blog post, CMN’s Rusty Lewis announced the sale:
College Media Network is trading hands from MTV Networks to The Access Network Company. While our ownership is changing, our staff is not. You can still count on the same names and faces you’ve relied on for more than five years. Our commitment and service to you remains unwavering.
However, the ownership situation is not quite so clear from the partner publication letter (PDF) sent out by MTVu’s Carlo DiMarco:
Starting today, Access Network Company, the leading online city guide content management software platform for premium brands, publishers, and local merchants, and the owner of BlackBook Media, will take over operations of College Media Network, which has been acquired by a private investment firm from mtvU.
I have e-mailed CMN to find out more information about the private investment firm, and hope to find out more about this deal in the coming days.
Here’s the official Access Network press release via PRNewsWire. Here’s the partner publication letter from Access Network CEO Ari Horowitz.
(via Vince Filak on CMA Listserv)
