Back in 2000, I suggested something like this was possible to a group of non-journalists. They were horrified that reading habits could be tracked and used to suggest stories.

Have we gotten to the point where people are comfortable with this?

Washington Post Launches Personalized News Aggregator Personal Post – 10,000 Words

Washington Post Launches Personalized News Aggregator Personal Post

Dilbert will be banned until morale improves

This is a great Marketplace/Freakonomics report on employee morale. Love the part about using the number of Dilbert comics posted on walls as a way to determine morale.

So why not ban Dilbert as a way to improve morale?

If you think that's stupid, then why is it any smarter for a company to tighten it's sick-day policy? (as illustrated in this radio story) It isn't. Because employees still found a way to use FMLA to get out of work.

The problem didn't go away.

The hidden side of keeping employee morale high | Marketplace from American Public Media

Freakonomics Radio takes a look at alternative indicators of office morale, and the unintended consequences when companies try to keep employees happy.

Deirdre Fleming takes a look at the state parks that are playgrounds for crosscountry skiers. Conditions vary and there are groomed trails. But I have a lot of fun in the ungroomed parks.

My favorite is Rangeley Lake State Park. It’s isolated and far enough north that it gets decent snow cover. There is no formal grooming of trails, but snowmobilers use the land to access the Lake. Which is a plus and minus. They pack down the snow for nordic skis but are a bit annoying.

We didn’t see many snowmobiles Sunday when Elaine and I visited.

The trip started in the snowmobile tracks on the main road into the park. Then we turned onto the Moose Country Corridor Trail that was well beaten by snowshoes.

That’s not recommended terrain for skis. But we’ve done this trail before on backcountry skis. It can be tricky. A couple tight turns and fallen branches required careful navigation. Plus I committed the cardinal sin of following trails. I followed the tracks in the snow instead of the trail markers. The previous party wandered off trail. I followed until the tracks stopped in the middle of nowhere.

I love skiing snowshoe trails. It’s a fast, almost effortless way to cut through the woods. It takes a little more skill than skiing groomed trails. It’s worth it to be in the middle of the woods in the deep winter. It’s a beautiful sort of isolation.

Short story is that we found the trail again and made our way back to the park roads. We enjoyed the sun and the mountain views while drinking hot chocolate.

We stuck to the snowmobile-groomed roads to get back to the car. Though most of the trip was uphill, it went smoothly. I was in the groove (not literally) and my body was happy to put forth the effort. The last 200 yards was downhill. A reward for making the effort. It was less thrilling than the Hudson Highway at Saddleback but still made me smile.

Why we do this

Winter is a challenge. The cold needs to be managed. Travel is harder if you’re not into motorized recreation. But the reward for doing something few people are willing to try is a sense of accomplishment and mastery of the elements that beat the adrenaline induced by speed. And it’s better for the soul.

Sarah Kliff rounds up the ICD-10 coding controversy in a way that really bugs me in The Washington Post blog. She cites parrot injuries to demonstrate why ICD-10 codes create so much controversy.

If you read my work at ICD10Watch.com, you will learn why it’s not my favorite tact.

But Kliff deserves credit for quoting me in her post.  Nice research.

Bob Garfield is skeptical about the profitability of hyperlocal news sites. He may be partially right. I don’t think you can apply the same business models that newspapers use to such sites. Successful media organizations will have smarter advertising models and curate/aggregate/consolidate hypertopical content niches. #hyperlocal #news #revenue

When Google launched “Search Plus Your World“ (SPYW) it took a big step toward becoming the company that everyone loves to hate. By integrating search results from the Google+ network into your regular search, plenty of people cried foul. And not just the ones working for Twitter and Facebook.

via “Focus on the User” inserts competing social network links into Google search results | Techerator.

Nice execution on a great idea. It should simplify self-publishing. I'm looking for a Terms of Service page though to make sure copyright issues and such are defined.

Hugh McGuire on the Future of Digital Publishing and PressBooks

My Media Hacks alum, Hugh McGuire stopped by to tell me about his interesting new company, PressBooks, a new tool to let authors and publishers create books via WordPress and some other magic. Hugh&#3…

Good tips on developing public speaking skills. I would add joining a local Toastmasters chapter as a way to get better at speaking.

Do You Stink at Public Speaking?

Stop with the excuses, and start off with these low-pressure steps to launching your speaking career, and increasing your brand-awareness.

This is how these things should work.

Dear Foursquare and LivingSocial: Thanks for the Ad! (Seriously, Thanks for the Ad.)

Daily-deal guys and location services are supposed to link up and produce shopping bliss. That hasn't happened, yet. But this is what it could look like …

Nice tips on giving better presentations. The key is learning to relax in front of people. It’s going to take practice.

Beat the Fear and Build Presentation Skills

Presentation skills aren’t something that you’re born with. They are something that you can learn. Even that elusive quality called charisma can be nurtured and developed.

I agree that public libraries make great remote offices. But libraries aren’t as quiet as I remember. People are using cellphones. They don’t whisper among themselves. Libraries are much quieter than coffee shops still.

I might also add libraries have bigger tables. These are great for spreading out your work.

Finding a power outlet is just as challenging in libraries as coffee shops.

One last point. I don’t feel guilty about spending half a day in the library. I’m not preventing anyone from using library services or taking up rare, valuable space.

10 Reasons Why Working at the Library is Better than the Coffee Shop

If you are a typical freelancer, your office may range from your home to your car to the local coffee …

Jesse Stanchak approaches content curation in a thoughtful way. It’s a must read for anyone looking to try aggregation or curation. I would like to add two things.

1. Like Jesse, I was mindful of mixing up my sources. Most of my curation came from RSS feeds. But I kept adding and deleting source feeds to keep ideas fresh.
2. Also, it was hard to keep the beginners in mind. How many times can you read the same advice on managing your online reputation? But every day someone new was out there who hadn’t read that advice. As a curator, I learned a lot. It was hard to help the beginners while keeping the pros engaged.

David Carr has some brilliant analysis of what’s coming in the world of media.

Basically, look for legacy devices (TVs) and media (network programming) to mashup with new technology to create new experiences.

Rules for the New Ways of Watching – David Carr

The inertia that has kept consumers from bolting from traditional content providers is beginning to erode.

Clay Shirky thoroughly takes down the logic of online newspaper paywalls. Please share with a journalist you love.

Are Newspapers Finally Figuring Out How To Reward Their Best Customers?

This may be the year where newspapers finally drop the idea of treating all news as a product, and all readers as customers.

One early sign of this shift was the 2010 launch of paywalls for the Lond…

What determines success for Charlie Rose and CBS will be whether they create stories that viewers want to see. Sounds obvious but journalists have a way of letting arrogance and pride from understanding what their audiences consider to be real news.

Will Charlie Rose Rise And Shine For CBS? : NPR

Charlie Rose is known for his cerebral, highbrow style, which raises the question: Why on Earth is CBS putting someone like him opposite the Today show and Good Morning America? Variety editor Andrew…

This is about PhoneDog.com vs. Noah Kravitz. That's the battle over the Twitter account Kravitz used while working for PhoneDog.com. When he left the company, he changed the name of the account and kept tweeting. This is seen as a landmark battle over who owns a twitter account but I say it raises questions about what are those followers worth.

The Value of Twitter Followers

There is a battle between a blogger and his former boss over who owns his Twitter account

Excellent list about serving a community. If I can offer an 11th point: Stop arguing about what is journalism. You community doesn't care. They want to learn.

Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list | Howard Owens

Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list. Posted on January 8, 2012 by Howard Owens. For no particular reason, I found myself looking at Google Analytics and decided to open …

This is going to be the way of the future. We will have a wireless account and be able to use multiple devices on it. Think of it like a Google account that you can access from different computers and phones.

One phone number will be connected to your car, camera, telephone, laptop and television.

This will lead to a slowing down of the Swiss Army Knife approach to cell phones and addition of features to gadgets. For example, real cameras that can connect directly to the Internet.

Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber

A Verizon executive says the company isn't content to have customers using just a single device on its network.

If ebooks continue to outsell the deadtree versions (which isn't exactly happening yet), what happens to bookshelves?

Has anyone checked with Ikea if sales have gone down?

E-Books Outsell Print For Majority Of Titles On USA Today Bestseller List

USA Today is reporting a post-holiday e-book “surge,” with 32 of the top 50 titles on its most recent list selling more copies in digital format than in print, including all top ten titles. I broke do…

http://bigthink.com/ideas/41976