May 2012
12 posts
Link: Walt Disney vs. the news industry
Walt Disney’s management philosophy contrasts sharply with contemporary management practices in the news industry, especially within “legacy” media companies. Might I suggest that difference in long-standing management tradition helps explain the sharp contrast between the recent financial performance of the Walt Disney Company and the newspaper industry? Disney today...
Link: Generation X Doesn't Want to Hear It
But Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music. (At least, when music mattered most to it.) Generation X is used to being fucked over. It lost its meager savings in the dot-com bust. Then came George Bush, and 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Generation X...
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Link: Merged Bay Area Citizen, Center for...
Now that the merger between CIR and The Bay Citizen has been finalized, our combined organization has almost instantly become home to one of the largest news-technology teams in the country.
via baycitizen.org
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Link: Thoughts on Madison Startup Weekend
The odds of a startup succeeding are low. But, the odds of any one idea out of more than 60 pitches inspiring the right team to come together and execute are actually much lower. I can’t even begin to quantify the likelihood that the team goes on to pitch the following weekend in front of an investor who is also an avid disc golfer. We’ve done the startup equivalent of anti-gravity. The odds...
Link: Rabbit holes: Why being smart hurts your...
The names change but the story remains the same. Designers find themselves studying fancy, new CSS3 effects when they should have been wire framing their checkout page. Hapless students find that they are on the Wikipedia page for Esperanto instead of writing notes on Norse mythology. Like Alice led into Wonderland by the White Rabbit, geeks too easily fall into “the rabbit hole”.
via...
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Link: Basic web skills every journalist must have
How to write an SEO-friendly headline.
How to include a link in a story.
How to upload a story into a content management system (CMS).
How to shoot a proper photograph.
How to send an attachment in/download an attachment from an email.
How to operate a video camera.
How to hold a microphone properly.
How to use an audio recorder.
How to post a tweet.
How to search the web...
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Pretty cool use of Fusion Tables to provide geo...
I am blown away by the geo capabilities of google fusion tables. Thats what does the heavy lifting behind openkansas.org
— Jake Lowen (@jakelowen) April 6, 2012
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Crowdsourcing a Q/A checklist for interactive news...
Back in April, following a round of municipal elections here in Wisco, I reached out the NICAR email list to get an idea of what a Q/A checklist for news projects might look like.
The responses ranged from programming and server 101 to user experience and design.
Here is the list in random order and paraphrased in some spots. Got some more? Add them in the comments.
Everyone involved with the...
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Link: 12 Tangents Later, [Anthony DeBarros...
> Last week, I deployed my first live Django app. Time from start to finish: three years. For anyone learning to do anything in this life, this is inspiration, real and well worth the read.
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Decisons, decisions, decisions...
To learn some code
On the importance of learning to code, Mark explains that leveling-up HTML skills will greatly increase the efficiency in the news industry.
Or not to learn some code
It is obvious to me how being a skilled reader, a skilled writer, and at least high school level math are fundamental to performing the job of a politician. Or at any job, for that matter. But understanding...
This is the wrong answer from ESPN on the question...
Walt Disney Co.’s sports network ESPN would consider including its WatchESPN application on Apple Inc.’s television device as long as users authenticate they are pay-TV customers, network executive Sean Bratches said.
via bloomberg.com
This may be a new concept, but I’d rather pay ESPN to subscribe to its programming as opposed to the cable company… Cut out the middle...
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Three Fusion Tables walkthroughs to play with
Three excellent Fusion Tables walkthroughs/how-to’s made their way to the NICAR email list in the last month, and if you’re interested in getting started with the mapping/data table service, you can’t go wrong with these.
Peter Aldhous, the San Francisco Bureau Chief for New Scientist magazine, offers this walkthrough on using Fusion Tables to created a map illustrating the intensity of violent...
