Journerdism | Will Sullivan's Stompin' ground for journalists and nerds.

EveryBlock Source Code Released

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:26:13 -0700

"Over the past two years, EveryBlock has been funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation. The purpose of the grant was twofold: to launch this experiment in "micro-local" news, and to release the source code. Today, as our grant period comes to an end, we're fulfilling that second purpose. You can read more about the open-sourcing and download the code at our source code page. (Keep in mind it'll probably make sense only if you're a web developer/programmer.) We hope this extensive code base helps spark lots of great work."

BeatBlogging.Org’s funding runs out Sept. 1

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:08:29 -0700

"I regret to inform you that BeatBlogging.Org’s funding will be running out in about two months.... BeatBlogging.Org will not, however, be disappearing. There is still work to be done and innovation to be chronicled. BeatBlogging.Org is too strong of a brand to let die. Unless a journalism non-profit or university steps up to bring BeatBlogging.Org in house, this project will most likely be going volunteer only. If it is the latter, I’ll obviously have a new day job, and if that is the case, I’ll need assistance in carrying out BeatBlogging.Org’s mission. I’m asking for all of you to help me brainstorm what to do next with BeatBlogging.Org and the best way to move forward. Collectively we can figure out how to not only have BeatBlogging.Org survive but also thrive."

So What Do You Do, Rob Curley, President/Executive Editor, Greenspun Interactive?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:57:56 -0700

"So you automate all of that stuff, and then the stuff that really matters that's easy to do that gets big traffic, like crime stories and updates on local government and things like that -- stuff that you literally need a human to do, but you know if you cover it, it will get read -- we have humans do that. We now geo-code every story on our site, every piece of content. We either add an exact latitude and longitude to it or, if we don't have that, then we try to at least get it down to the zip code. Soon, if you give your zip code you can have all of those stories now on one page. You can have all of the home foreclosures and homes that have been sold on that page; you can have all the crimes. We can show you all the rotary club meetings, all the high school shows that are in your zip code, the movie listings that are closest to you... We've build the page so that it works very much like iGoogle does, so you can move all the boxes around in any order that you want." (Via Romenesko)

Lifestreaming: Why not a storystreaming platform?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:40:55 -0700

"Thinking of each story as an individual “life” helps identify the opportunity for developers to create or modify a platform that can meet the needs of news organization, a platform for “storystreaming.” 1. Story-centric: Current lifestream solutions, at least those I’m familiar with, document a person’s life, but every story includes multiple characters, events and plot. A storystream platform needs to document a the events of a story, not a person. 2. Realtime curation: A good news story probably shouldn’t include the many distracting, unrelated actions in that person’s lifestream. ... 3. Integration: Any piece of information can become a story. If a news site already produces a blotter, each item should have the ability to become a story and a storystream. It isn’t enough to be able to provide a widget that can be embedded into a current publishing platform via a content management system.”

YouTube Launches Reporters' Center to Foster Citizen Journalism

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:15:01 -0700

"The Reporters' Center launched Monday with about 35 instructional videos from professional journalists on how to handle a range of reporting challenges, including: understanding privacy issues (and staying out of jail), shooting video with your cell phone, fact-checking assertions, conducting a good interview and covering a humanitarian crisis safely. YouTube wants to use the Reporters' Center to develop collaboration between citizen reporters and large news organizations -- to "more effectively report on news and have that content amplified on a bigger platform," said Steve Grove, the site's head of politics and news. "

Light touch: a design firm grapples with Microsoft Surface

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:13:30 -0700

"Yet, about a year ago, Microsoft promised something new, with the launch of its multi-touch computing table, Surface. No keyboard, no mouse—just a table with a screen. Developers quickly realized that designing for Surface is more than an exercise in coding—serious consideration has to be given to constructing a coherent user interface for a device that completely forgoes the standard mode of input that has been in use for almost half a century. From an interface perspective, touch- and multi-touch-based implementations like the Microsoft Surface are still very much in their infancy. While there are many things the device does well, there are still a number of curious design quirks that make developing an entirely touch-dependant UI challenging. With an increasing number of developers worldwide gaining access to Surface in recent months, a much clearer picture is forming of what the future may hold for Surface and similar technologies."

Keeping News of David Rohde’s Kidnapping Off Wikipedia

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:52:42 -0700

"Times executives believed that publicity would raise Mr. Rohde’s value to his captors as a bargaining chip and reduce his chance of survival. Persuading another publication or a broadcaster not to report the kidnapping usually meant just a phone call from one editor to another, said Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times. But Wikipedia, which operates under the philosophy that anyone can be an editor, and that all information should be public, is a vastly different world. A dozen times, user-editors posted word of the kidnapping on Wikipedia’s page on Mr. Rohde, only to have it erased. Several times the page was frozen, preventing further editing — a convoluted game of cat-and-mouse that clearly angered the people who were trying to spread the information of the kidnapping."

How To Save The Newspapers, Vol. XII: Outlaw Linking

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:43:13 -0700

"Of all the misguided schemes put forth lately to save newspapers (micropayments! blame Google!), the one put forth by Judge Richard Posner has to be the most jaw-dropping. He suggests that linking to copyrighted material should be outlawed. No, Posner does not work for the Associated Press (which also has some strange ideas on linking). He is (normally) considered to be one of the great legal minds of our time. Posner is a United States Court of Appeals judge in Chicago and legal scholar who was once considered a potential Supreme Court nominee. He is someone who should know better."

What counts more than design in attracting an online news audience?

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:41:35 -0700

"It’s not about how sexy-looking your site is. It’s not about having the absolute latest display technology. It’s about how you engage readers with conversations and with ways of interacting with news staffers and with each other. It’s about projecting personality — showing that behind the stories, the columns, the blogs, there are real people living in your town, sharing your concerns and your joys."

The reality for journalists to face, squarely, now

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:22:40 -0700

"We in the traditional media … must concentrate our efforts on defining and developing that which really adds value. That means understanding what really can be exclusive and what really is insightful. It means truly exploiting real expertise. It means, to my earlier point, using all the multimedia tools available and all the smart multimedia journalists to provide a package so much stronger than any one individual strand. It means working with the mobile phone and digital camera and social media-enabled public and not against them. Working against them would be crazy."

Nielsen: Teens Spend Much Less Time On The Web Than Older People | paidContent

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:20:40 -0700

"—People between the ages of 12 and 17 spend 11 hours, 32 minutes a month online—way below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes. —Teens spend 35 percent less time watching videos on the web than those aged 25 to 34. —Teens are watching six percent more TV than they did five years ago, with cable pulling them away from broadcast"

The Fundamental Training Need

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:51:22 -0700

"The real problem is the way that we as journalists manage information, because that determines so much else: the kinds of stories we’re able to envision and construct, the amount of context we’re able to bring to bear in a short amount of time and our ability to connect the dots. In general, and this is my scientific conclusion, we suck at managing information. That’s nothing new, you might say, and you’d be right. But what has changed is that a lot of the people and institutions we cover are now getting smarter about this stuff, and are using better tools to help them manage information. From tracking crime to measuring customer loyalty, the sophisticated use of information is a crucial factor in many modern activities. Us? We’re still knocking rocks around hoping to generate a spark."

YouTube Doubles Upload Size Limit

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:50:16 -0700

"YouTube has doubled the size of standard uploads for regular-Joe account holders to 2 GB from 1 GB. The company told us this afternoon the move was in order to accommodate users’ HD uploads. But despite the size increase, non-partner videos are still limited to 10 minutes in length."

3D Porn Is Coming At You, All Puns Intended (NSFW)

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:32:43 -0700

Pornographers continue to fuel digital innovations!

Gmail Increases Maximum Attachment Size to 25 MB

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:30:43 -0700

"Now you can send bigger attachments in Gmail, as Google increased the maximum attachment size from 20 MB to 25 MB."