Since I couldn’t get Second Life to work at work again I’ll post some proof that I did get something out of last class … more hyperlinking fun added to my website at work.
September 28, 2006
September 25, 2006
Are YOU a “Ned Lamont Liberal”?
In the political game of “you’re rubber and I’m glue” U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R) — sorry if this link isn’t working but at the time of this post there appears to be something wrong with Nancy’s site — has coined a new label … “Ned Lamont Liberal.”
This is how she tagged her opponent State Rep. Chris Murphy (D).
Just for fun, let’s play political Mad Libs. You supply a politician’s name and I’ll add liberal, conservative, unimaginative, incumbent, boring, lame, angry, crook, or something else to it …
September 24, 2006
Customized vs. VERY STUPID!
Okay, it’s obvious that we live in a customized society. To paraphrase the BK marketing folks, we want it our way and we want it our way NOW!
Well, now somebody with way too much time on his hands has developed the custom flavored drinking bottle that allows you to add flavor with the push of a button. I’ll be interested when he figures out how to make this work for alcohol … press the rum bottom and yum!
Here’s some other stuff you can get customized … for a price! (most of this is ripped from an asap story.)
ketchup (or catsup if you must): myheinz.com … you can put your family reunion on the label or you can put some dirty message about frankfurters (how juvenile)!
stamps: www.photostamps.com … just keep the photo g-rated because nobody is going to want to lick the back of it!
hey drunks: www.personalwine.com … if you’re self-absorbed enough to toast yourself with a red from a bottle that shares your name, well this is for you (you egotastical bastard)!
M&Ms: www.mymms.com allows you to put sayings on these candy-coated candies that WILL melt in your hand if you clutch them too tightly. Good luck swalling the $45 price for 32 ounces. (I didn’t really do the math, but that’s like $4.58 per M&M or something!)
Ben & Jerry are losers: www.ecreamery.com will let you customize your own ice cream. You can pick your own base flavor (and style) and pick your own mixes … including basil and dill weed if you must! Just know, if you think the M&Ms were expensive, this site might make you a fan of Stop&Shop vanilla.
September 21, 2006
At least we’re here for the death rattle! (Reaction 3)
As our society changes, so does our communication systems and platforms. As new methods are developed and technology allows for faster, cheaper and easier forms, we have seen changes in preferred methods. The Darwinian evolution of mass communication, both as news and entertainment, has forced changes in theater, radio, television and newspapers. Unfortunately, from the perspective of a newspaper company employee, newspapers have failed to foresee the evolution of the web and are now floundering to find their identity as they attempt to hold on. Newspapers, whether they continue to operate in their long-time print format, need to remove the word “paper” from their mindset and reinvent themselves as multi-media news organizations capable of offering more than the traditional view of news.
In “Democracy and Filtering,” Cass R. Sunstein makes the statement that specialized sites and blogs allow people to express opinions and share content at “trivial cost” (Sunstein, 2004, p. 57). While that is true in terms of financial capital required to establish an online news organization–registration and hosting is relatively inexpensive when compared with start-up figures for a traditional print-based news agency–the cost to established media groups is great. The costs can be measured on the balance sheets and when viewing the role of the press as the Fourth Estate in our democracy. Inexpensive startups like Craigslist have siphoned revenue from newspapers’ classifieds sections. Craigslist offers a free service to people looking to do everything from sell a sofa to finding parts for your car to meet for a quickie during lunch; all of which can be viewed and used with ease from the privacy and comfort of your personal computer. On the other hand, newspapers repeat their editorial “shovelware” philosophy of casting the same content-both with editorial and advertising-from their print product onto their website (Matheson, 2004, p. 444). This failure to offer user-friendly classified advertising that can be posted and removed 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, has driven newspaper customers away from traditional classified advertising to sites like Craigslist.
But the costs to newspapers, and our communities, are greater than drops in bottom-line revenue. It is traditional thinking that a well-informed public is the key to a strong democracy. Beyond the philosophical approach to government ideals, a well-informed public makes for better businesses, better artists and an overall better society. While newspapers continue to shed staffers through layoffs and attrition, their content suffers. Fewer staff members mean fewer stories. Fewer stories results in fewer perspectives being provided. This lessens the chances of people reading stories they might not have sought out on their own (Sunstein, 2004, p. 58). The limiting of consumption ultimately leads to more polarized viewpoints; just use talk radio as an example (Sustein, 2004, p. 59). The less people are exposed to views that conflict with their own, the more likely they are to hold tighter to the philosophies they believe. But, as Sustein mentions, “emerging technologies, including the Internet, are hardly an enemy.”
Media organizations–especially newspapers–need to embrace new technologies to serve readers’ interests and offer differing viewpoints in an effort to keep their readers and make their business model relevant again. Paul Bass, former editor of New Haven’s long-standing alternative weekly The New Haven Advocate, launched The New Haven Independent shortly after leaving the newspaper. The New Haven Independent does not require office space, newsprint, ink, a press or a distribution network. While Bass, a trained journalist, has yet to capture the advertising revenue on his site a traditional newspaper would require to operate, his low overhead allows him to continue to work with minimal financial support. Bass’ work fits the three themes Matheson mentions about weblogs (2004, p. 451).
(1) weblogs as a space for journalistic thinking for which institutional journalism provides little room;
(2) weblogs as a challenge to corporate journalism; and
(3) weblogs as a democratic, interactive space.
Bass left a corporate-owned publication to give birth to The Independent. He consistently uses his space to challenge coverage in corporate-owned media–both in print and broadcast. With some of his Advocate readers following him to his new platform, Bass receives strong feedback from readers who turn his publication into an “interactive space.” While Bass’ foray into online journalism is striking, it still has the “old media” feel (Matheson, 200, p. 460).
The site Lawrence.com is a step toward the model that may prove more successful for mainstream news(papers) … remember, drop the “paper” from the thinking. Lawrence.com was conceived as an online portal for Lawrence, Kansas and the growing art and music scene in the area. While the site does provide specialized content, its model is the beauty. Lawrence.com includes a database for restaurants that allows users to search by cuisine, location, hours, delivery and dozens of other options. The band database is searchable by music, next performance, style of music and includes audio clips and photographs. Both databases include the ability for users to offer feedback, comments and reviews. This functionality faces the questions raised in Nicholas W. Jankowski and Martine van Selm’s “Traditional News Media Online: An Examination of Addes Values.” The difference is that Lawrence.com does not look at these searchable databases, extended achieves, feedback and audio/video clips as “added value,” because they are the functionality that users demand and deserve.
By transitioning away from the traditional “shovelware” approach and adopting a hybrid of the philosophies outlined above, newspapers can continue to thrive in this digital age. The print edition holds value because it is portable and inexpensive for the user/reader to purchase while Blackberries and internet-enabled cell phones are not inexpensive enough to fully cover the market. By taking the fully functional approach Lawrence.com uses for entertainment and applying it to news (rather than a searchable band database, have a civic events calendar or sports schedules), newspapers can serve their audiences digitally without the constraints of their newshole. A large cache of searchable and customizable information ranging from school lunch menus to town hall meetings to a business directory can augment the traditional news reporting. Adding video and audio of meetings and events that users/readers cannot attend, or offering video introductions to new restaurants delivers the experience on multiple platforms. Now all we have to do is convince the bosses to do it.
Matheson, D. (2004). Weblogs and the epistemology of the news: some trends in online journalism. New Media & Society, 6(4). 443-468.
Sunstein, C. (2004). Democracy and filtering. Communications of the ACM, 47(12), 57-59.
Jankowski, N. & van Selm, M. (2001). Traditional news media online: an examination of added value (pp. 375-392). In K. Renckstorf, D. McQuail, & N. Jankowski, Television news research: Recent European approaches and findings. Berlin: Quintessense.
September 20, 2006
Anyone for a virtual lapdance?
No, I’m not being pervy, this is a link to a story by asap, the Associated Press’ youth-market wire service.
One of their staffers singed up for Second Life and decided to become a virtual stripper!
September 19, 2006
Stars in their eyes ..
The Courant’s Mark Peters had a great story in Sunday’s edition about Connecticut looking for a starring role in big-budget flicks. (Disclaimer: I’ve never met Mark Peters.)
While Peters did speak with officials at the oft-out-of-touch film arm of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, he didn’t talk to folks who are, and have been, struggling to make movies in Connecticut for years.
Here’s a few:
Tripeg Studios: This Hamden-based studio — yes, a full studio in Hamden! — works with the next group on our list. Tripeg does commercials, training videos and all sorts of post-production work.
Synthetic Cinema International: As previously mentioned in a posting, these folks make horror flicks. And while I’m not a horror flick guy, they’re still out there doing … long before helping filmmaking in Connecticut became en vogue.
Gorman Bechard: Gorman is a writer, filmmaker and Tab addict (yes, the cola). He’s made a number of films that fit the indie mold … they’re dark, strong on dialogue and aren’t made with tons of cash. You should, if you can see it, find a screening of his You Are Alone … it’s a great movie FILMED IN NEW HAVEN!
If you really want to see a site that properly promotes regional/local filmmaking, check out NewEnglandFilm.com. This is a site that is run by people in the business who know the business and support the business … not just people whose government jobs it is to bring movies to town.
Just something to keep in mind when the gov’t types hold an ovelry orchestrated press conference to congratulate themselves on something that’s been happening in the state for years.
Second Life vs. Dell Latitude D600
In this corner, the 60-meg+ install of Second Life. In this corner, the aged and scrappy Dell Latitude D600 laptop.
This fight (and its subsequent rematches) didn’t last too long. The Dell chockes, sputters and Second Life is declared the champion.
So, other than a few short steps in the orientation area, I haven’t made much progress with Second Life. I’m going to have IT take a look at this machine to see if there’s anything else I can do before buying a newbie.
I’ll keep you posted.
September 17, 2006
No work, good music
After last class when some of us talked about how little time off we have and how we wind up spending it doing very little, I decided to use this blog as a way to get some of my friends (and hopefully their friends) to get together on a more regular basis. Here’s the first try …
Now that some of us are getting up there in age it’s tough to find cool new music to listen to, but I wanted to invite people to a show on Saturday, Sept. 30 for The Hold Steady.
Mostly I’m just trying to bring a bunch of people together — most of whom (myself included) claim we’re too freakin’ busy to enjoy our down time. So, here’s a chance.
Now, this show is at a hall, meaning no booze. For those of you who just started using the F-word and for those of you who can’t imagine going a couple hours without a drink, please go to this site … they have lots of nice people for you to hang out with and it will help you fill your free time.
So, if you’re interested in going, let me know. Also, pass it on to a few other friends, co-wokers, other losers like myself who are desperate for something to do outside of work. There are plans for this to become a regular “thing.”
September 12, 2006
10 years and we’ve learned nothing!
Revenge … what’s it good for. Yes, I know that’s a different lyric, but we’re not talking about war here, we’re talking about revenge.
Most of us are familiar with the shooting death of Tupac Shakur on Sept. 13, 1996. His murder remains unsolved. There is speculation that Shkur’s death led to the killing of rival rapper Notorious B.I.G.
Now, nearly 10 years following those slayings comes word of another sorted tail of revenge.
It has been reported that officials in Australia have discovered stingray bodies on beaches, at least two with their tales cut off. Could this be revenge for the hit a stingray carried out on the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin earlier this month? (For those of you unaware, Irwin died when a stingray struck him in the chest, piercing his heart and killing him.)
