Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
These are two poems that I have kept within arms length of me as I went through college, entered the workplace and found myself surrounded by people who all seemed to know each other and understand my job better than I did.
There were many lonely days, and in the dark hours I took solace here.
A Man Said To The Universe
A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
Throughout the last few years, I've been asked to give presentations on the future of the news media. I've worked, informally, with magazines, weeklies and daily news organizations with varying degrees of success.
It's been a confusing for me, particularly since I've been a part of the news media -- in one form or another -- since I graduated in 1994. Even when I wasn't a full-time reporter, I was always pitching and freelancing. I love the media. It's the greatest job in the world.
However, there is a growing fear amongst the digerati that the news media as we know it is about to face a very serious crisis. The reason: it's very traditional in its approach to news gathering. And even more resistant to how people consume news and information these days.
The industry as a whole is resistant to disruptive technologies. Actually, most business sectors are. That's why we call new technologies disruptive. This is not good.
The most obvious sign of this resistance can be seen simply by perusing myriad Web 2.0 technologies that allow people to share, mash-up, comment on and create everything that a news organization can. If the media was truly interacting in this new world, we would expect to see some of these technologies being developed, deployed or promoted by news agencies.
That isn't the case.
A quick Wiki-search on Social Networking Sites shows you how large the Read/Write Web has become without the help of major companies pushing this agenda. Tag clouds, wikis, RSS, AJAX, mashups, social bookmarking, and widget-run blogs -- all of these developed in some measure because there are open standards that allow for the democratic creation of media by all people. The barrier to entry is knowledge and access, two sizable barriers to be sure, but not insurmountable barriers.
Beyond a fundamental lack of understanding about the architectures of the Web, the history of the Internet and power of network, there is an even more stark realization that will hit most media companies.
The day of the banner is gone. It's over. It's kaput. The business, started I'm happy to say by my home-away-from-home Wired News (then HotWired), has evolved.
I know people have talked about this, but my fear is that it's only talk for most people. The reality -- and the immediacy -- of this change hasn't trickled up to the people who are making decisions.
Here's what we know as of today.
In 2003, KEYWORD advertising accounted for 40 percent of all advertising revenues online, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.
These advertising sellers are consolidating: Google AdSense, IndustryBrains, Yahoo Publisher Network, Microsoft adCenter. Time Warner just announced that it would likely dump its ISP service and instead focus on building its contextual ad network and its portal network.
Keywords lead to better click-through rates than banners, which can be quantified much more than banner views. The second most-cited reason that people use the Internet is for local searches, according to eMarketer.
The robust local markets, long expected to allow small- and mid-sized publishers to grow with the larger companies, has largely been gobbled up by 10 advertising companies, which are now selling local advertising across national networks. Which means the local ad market is really national,
The local ad market is still dominated by print sales; the local online ad market hasn't taken off, and in fact, has underperformed the last two years, according to eMarketer.
Yahoo, MSN, and Google reach more than 1 billion people; they are optimized for search; the work with open architectures; they are data companies that understand search.
Adblock and Adblock Plus, the Firefox plug-in, blocks HTML advertising and gives the user the ability to delete flash and video files, creating a "black list"; the application also comes with a series of built-in directories.
Firefox has, in a short amount of time, decimated Microsoft's browser reach, taking nearly 25 percent of its user base in 2 years:
IE: 54.7 percent
FF: 37.2 percent
Firefox users are more educated, make more money (51 percent make more than $75,000), skew younger (22 percent are 18-24), and they are more likely to visit book stores, resources and directories (which are home to direct sales and contextual advertising).
Now these are just numbers, and I'm sure it wouldn't take very long for someone to pull out a series of contradictory numbers that point towards a return to Adblocker-free days as IE ruled the roost. In fact, some sites have actively developed for IE -- and not Firefox -- particularly because of this phenomenon.
Which is fine. But5 it's only staving off the inevitable. The open standards, libertarian read-write mindset of the digerati will simply skip over a site that doesn't adhere to the same principles it does.
In other words, publishers don't get to dictate user interaction. Publishers get to find new ways to monetize what users are doing.
That means staying ahead of the curve.
Unfortunately for many in the publishing industries, that leaves only a few alternatives. It's impossible to think that they can catch up with the people on the bleeding edges, the people who are hacking together the next Read/Write social technology. There only real alternative is to either push aside a few old media folks at the table, making room for the modern media folks; or watch as the four major online services continue to package local markets, globally.
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
Don't ask. Just accept that you must know this for your life to have meaning at all. That's not even a joke.First watch, and then read this.
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
I'm putting together an informal group of folks who like to bowl. As my MIN kids will tell you, I think it's important to get together outside of school to socialize and have fun.
It's by no means a requirement -- dude, it's bowling -- but if you're interested, shoot me a note or post a reply here. I'll add you to the list. I think we'll try to get together once or twice a month.
I will send out a note -- and if you're free, join us...if not, no worries. Significant others are always welcome.
B
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
It's that time again. It's MIN Movie Night - and I will accept no excuses for not attending. You have time enough to switch off work. You have time to put this on your schedule. You have time to make a plan.
Let me know if you're interested. By the way, you ARE interested.
We'll meet in ST 110 on Friday, Feb 22 at 7 pm. I will have pizza and pop. We will have a double feature. Right now, people seem to lean towards Tron and The Wizard - but voting is still open. Here are the movies that people have suggested. Please chime in:
Hackers
War Games
The Wizard
Tron
Even if you aren't a MIN major, you're more than welcome to come. I mean, come on, check out the movie list. Don't be a dink.
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
There's no simple, easy way for me to teach you how to write. I can help you understand grammar. I can help you understand structures. I can help you learn the tools of the craft, which will help you communicate your ideas better.
But I can't help you find your voice. That's for you to find. And it's not easy. It's elusive. It's the part of you that exists without the doubt and fear that creeps through our lives. The part that gnaws at you when you sit down to create something - whether it be a piece of writing, a study guide for a test - and tells you that you aren't good enough.
Finding that purity of you is hard. When you do find it, though, you become mighty.
The bad news, which I put below the jump, is that finding your voice in your writing takes years. It takes practice. It's takes the ability - and desire - to fail miserably, and in public.
The proceess of writing is solitary. Being a writer is not. It requires you to expose your work - and yourself - to the public. Where you are judged. That is the essence of writing. The duality of writing.
I bring this up for two reason:
- I'm working on an improvisational piece of fiction, with a woman I've never met. I met Sonia through MySpace (she used to blog, now she is working on a some other projects) and we decided that we would collaborate on a story, each of us writing small sections. If you're interested, let me know, and I can add you to the Google Doc so you can follow along. And;
- I challenge you -- for those of you who want to be writers -- to come up with your own writing plan. What will you share?
Also, this is Chicago week. Blues and Poetry Slams. If you're interested - and you should all be interested in blues and jazz - let me know and I'll give you the weekend's planned activities.
Now, go write.
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
It was...very difficult. The kids did a good job. So good, in fact, that two of them got paid internships at The Enquirer to produce Story Time News on a weekly basis.
You can check out EMB's Michael Billman and MIN's Emily Ward here.
Originally published at Appalachian Geek. You can comment here or there.
Smart Mobs
. In it, he described the emerging mobile culture in Japan, which according to his assertion, was driven in large measure by teenage girls.
Last month, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study that reported similar findings here in America.
What's interesting is that while technology has long been considered the realm of boys, girls are beginning to dominate the social media sphere. What's strange for me is that my habits -- as they did a few years back -- seem to mirror the typical teen girl's habits.
Just a snapshot of how I've integrated social technologies into teaching. My classes are administered through my website, MySpace and Facebook. My students text me questions. Email is the tool of last resort. Phone calls almost never happen. On days I have to miss class, I use podcasts and vidcasts to replace in-class work. On occasion, I advise in Second Life.
In other words, what happens in flesh space is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, if you only interact with me in class, it's likely you aren't getting the full educational experience. (Not that I want you all texting and calling me.)
Enough of that, though. Let's get on with the findings.
You can view the entire 44-page report here.
- 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation
- 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys
- 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys.
- Online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online
- Nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them
89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time."
The Pew folks do have a new classification. We used to refer to people who were at the hub of a large communication network as Super Nodes. Apparently, they are now called super-communicators. From the report's summary:
There is a subset of teens who are super-communicators -- teens who have a host of technology options for dealing with family and friends, including traditional landline phones, cell phones, texting, social network sites, instant messaging, and email. They represent about 28% of the entire teen population and they are more likely to be older girls.
If you got this far, I'd love to hear how you use social media technology.
