I just found out I got award a fellowship for the WeMedia Conference in Miami.
Not only will I be able to attend the conference but they're also paying for my flight and hotel. I guess they liked this project.
Only 300 people will be attending and here's a list of some of the participants:
Don Heider, Associate Dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
John Zogby, CEO, Zogby International
Cory Zanin, Executive VP, Public Radio International
Jennifer Sizemore, VP/Editor in Chief, MSNBC
Paul Hyland, Executive Producer, edweek.org, Editorial Projects in Education
Jennifer Carroll, VP New Media Content, Gannett Co.,Inc.
Jim Brady, Executive Editor, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive
Neil Budde, VP and Editor in Chief, Yahoo! News
Jim Kennedy, SVP, Strategy, The Associated Press
Kinsey Wilson, Executive Editor, USA Today
Granted they're not household names but their organization thought it would be worth three days in Miami and the $1050 registration fee for the conference.
It will be held at the University of Miami and maybe I'll get a chance to check out the area either before or after the conference.
Well this was the best news I had for a while especially after being denied the Knight News Challenge Grant. Oh well, at least the work for that help me get out of Pittsburgh during the winter for a few days.
This fellowship helped my motivation with this project so I'll probably be posting a bit more now.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Positive Feedback at D.C. Conference
Two days and 160 people at the "Journalism that Matters" Conference. Professors, journalist and bloggers from all over the US and a some from Brazil, South Africa and elsewhere.
While this is the first conference I attended I could tell this was going to be rather unconventional. There was almost a religious tone to it a cross between new age and a church revival. However soon I appreciated the atmosphere. From what I hear most conferences are bit stuffy with mostly listening to lectures with very little interaction.
This conference is what some might call an "unconference." Everyone had a chance to speak and network with others.
I never spoke to so many people and so frequently as I did those two days. And all about this project.
Happy to report many found this concept to be "really good." But one particular person seemed to find the concept particularly interesting. Tom Stites who held various editor positions at New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers and magazines.
At the time of talking with him I had no idea who he was. He was just one of the people in my coaching session. But afterward he approached me to say that he was not just being polite and he sincerely thought the idea was valuable.
Hopefully the merits of this project will be able to carry it through. Because one thing I did notice at the conference was that it was hard to make this idea sound appealing.
Well, we see how the Knight News Challenge folks likes the idea. I'm in the midst of writing a grant proposal.
Wish me luck.
While this is the first conference I attended I could tell this was going to be rather unconventional. There was almost a religious tone to it a cross between new age and a church revival. However soon I appreciated the atmosphere. From what I hear most conferences are bit stuffy with mostly listening to lectures with very little interaction.
This conference is what some might call an "unconference." Everyone had a chance to speak and network with others.
I never spoke to so many people and so frequently as I did those two days. And all about this project.
Happy to report many found this concept to be "really good." But one particular person seemed to find the concept particularly interesting. Tom Stites who held various editor positions at New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers and magazines.
At the time of talking with him I had no idea who he was. He was just one of the people in my coaching session. But afterward he approached me to say that he was not just being polite and he sincerely thought the idea was valuable.
Hopefully the merits of this project will be able to carry it through. Because one thing I did notice at the conference was that it was hard to make this idea sound appealing.
Well, we see how the Knight News Challenge folks likes the idea. I'm in the midst of writing a grant proposal.
Wish me luck.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Casting Small Webs
Backfence, the local citizen journalism site, just went down. (By the way how do you hyperlink to a defunct website?) In lieu of a hyperlink to nowhere, here's a link to an article for those unfamiliar with Backfence.
This was one of the more successful citizen journalism site in the US. And of course I have a theory to why it failed.
People climb Mt. Everest because they can. However journalism should serves a purpose. Backfence created local news website because they could and because they were greedy.
Greedy? How so, they were focusing on grassroots journalism not the largest common denominator? Or were they?
They casted a wide net in a local community and caught few people. They wanted to cover everything that happened and that is simply not interesting. Networks, according to A.L. Barabasi the leading physicist working on complex network theory, don't follow a merely random pattern, which is the bell curve.
Networks have large hubs that attract nodes for some reason following a power law distribution. (Do a web search on the book "Linked" by this guy trying to get a single appropriate link is too difficult.)
Backfence either ignored network theory in to their business or failed to apply the theory. In my humble opinion that's like ignoring the law of gravity when trying to build a plane.
Simply put the failure of Backfence was casting a web so large everything fell between the fabric. Small but tight webs placed in strategic locations adheres more closely to the way networks truly function.
I believe Local Education News would follow the natural laws of network. While this project may or may not succeed the structure that it follows will probably be the way news and information will be organized in the future. The rhizomatic structure described by Giles Deleuze also fits with modern network theory.
This was one of the more successful citizen journalism site in the US. And of course I have a theory to why it failed.
People climb Mt. Everest because they can. However journalism should serves a purpose. Backfence created local news website because they could and because they were greedy.
Greedy? How so, they were focusing on grassroots journalism not the largest common denominator? Or were they?
They casted a wide net in a local community and caught few people. They wanted to cover everything that happened and that is simply not interesting. Networks, according to A.L. Barabasi the leading physicist working on complex network theory, don't follow a merely random pattern, which is the bell curve.
Networks have large hubs that attract nodes for some reason following a power law distribution. (Do a web search on the book "Linked" by this guy trying to get a single appropriate link is too difficult.)
Backfence either ignored network theory in to their business or failed to apply the theory. In my humble opinion that's like ignoring the law of gravity when trying to build a plane.
Simply put the failure of Backfence was casting a web so large everything fell between the fabric. Small but tight webs placed in strategic locations adheres more closely to the way networks truly function.
I believe Local Education News would follow the natural laws of network. While this project may or may not succeed the structure that it follows will probably be the way news and information will be organized in the future. The rhizomatic structure described by Giles Deleuze also fits with modern network theory.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Communication Theory and Roller Derby
Does a well defined social group's internet communication support theories about networks?
I suppose I couldn't get more esoteric if I tried. But this is not some news magazine. Oh but wait... This is a news magazine.
Well actually this is just the blog for a news magazine.
These are thoughts behind news reporting. Just like hospital drama makes doctors and nurse seem, well, dramatic.
We don't see the TV show looking at a doctor reading for an hour straight. But surgery still is fascinating.
I can't think of a more well-defined social group than Pittsburgh women's roller derby teams.
So how does the group communicate? Who sends and receives the most emails. Who posts the most on what websites? Who calls who with what frequency? Anything that measures the dynamics of communications.
Mapping the communication structure of this small group and how it could possibly relate to the larger network roller derby league could be rich in data.
Seeing how this democratic organization works and communicates could provide insight in modeling how to structure efficient communication networks.
I suppose I couldn't get more esoteric if I tried. But this is not some news magazine. Oh but wait... This is a news magazine.
Well actually this is just the blog for a news magazine.
These are thoughts behind news reporting. Just like hospital drama makes doctors and nurse seem, well, dramatic.
We don't see the TV show looking at a doctor reading for an hour straight. But surgery still is fascinating.
I can't think of a more well-defined social group than Pittsburgh women's roller derby teams.
So how does the group communicate? Who sends and receives the most emails. Who posts the most on what websites? Who calls who with what frequency? Anything that measures the dynamics of communications.
Mapping the communication structure of this small group and how it could possibly relate to the larger network roller derby league could be rich in data.
Seeing how this democratic organization works and communicates could provide insight in modeling how to structure efficient communication networks.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Restaurant reviews and School reviews
We could learn a lot if everyone writes a 50-100 word review of their impressions with our schools.
Like a comment card at a restaurant just it maybe instructive for better service. It might also be a rant or a personal vendetta. But why would knowing what's on peoples mind hurt.
Obviously, someone would have to read and sort through them. Finding the pearls of wisdom might come from sorting pile a manure. But those pearls improve our schools tremendously.
Even if twenty people say the service is bad then maybe we should listen. The kicker here is the management of this team is the public. That right we own the schools and if people are getting crap service we need to do something about it.
We can't simply hope that our elected officials that run our schools will listen. We must tell them how to make it better.
If our service is bad maybe the schools are understaffed. So perhaps we need to spend more and we need to come up with a way raise more money.
After all what is at stake is not just a bad dining experience but the next generation of society.
Like a comment card at a restaurant just it maybe instructive for better service. It might also be a rant or a personal vendetta. But why would knowing what's on peoples mind hurt.
Obviously, someone would have to read and sort through them. Finding the pearls of wisdom might come from sorting pile a manure. But those pearls improve our schools tremendously.
Even if twenty people say the service is bad then maybe we should listen. The kicker here is the management of this team is the public. That right we own the schools and if people are getting crap service we need to do something about it.
We can't simply hope that our elected officials that run our schools will listen. We must tell them how to make it better.
If our service is bad maybe the schools are understaffed. So perhaps we need to spend more and we need to come up with a way raise more money.
After all what is at stake is not just a bad dining experience but the next generation of society.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Hosting Interactive Networked Journalism
Communication networks now allows everyone's voices to be heard. Chances are, however, that your voice isn't louder than ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
Collectively we maybe heard.
But how do we do this? It won't be easy but perhaps this could be an outline of sorts. I'll make it specific for education but this could apply to any public affairs journalism. Such as health care, environment, and of course politics.
A moderator or host of a website formally meets the PTO president of every school in the school district. Also the principal, the high school newspaper and any other interested parties
We engage them and ask them for input. We want their interaction. We as journalist need their interaction.
They need to tell us their concerns for the schools. They need to tell us about their experiences. They need to tell each other about their experiences.
We as journalist need to facilitate conversations based on the important issues that effect our lives. We foster communication.
Each school has a network leader who they can inform about a concern. The issue could then be examined as whether it stays in that particular network or whether that issue is for concern for the large school district network. Eventually this could work it way up to the state and federal public sphere.
The size of the network only has to be relevant to the size of the issue.
This is the underlying structure of the network and doesn't get in to the web design or technical logistics.
What it means is that we can ask elected officials and educators the hard questions and get real answers. If the people in power ignore our questions they are simply not doing their job.
Perhaps some might think that this gives the moderator a lot of power to set the agenda or give priority to personal issues. But that is no worse than it is currently. Furthermore this is an improvement because every bit of information can be posted and is open to examination.
The host play the role of a hub linking the nodes with relevant information that impacts their education or child or taxes. We are all involved whether we like it or not. We need to take advantage of our communication to realize our collective goal.
Collectively we maybe heard.
But how do we do this? It won't be easy but perhaps this could be an outline of sorts. I'll make it specific for education but this could apply to any public affairs journalism. Such as health care, environment, and of course politics.
A moderator or host of a website formally meets the PTO president of every school in the school district. Also the principal, the high school newspaper and any other interested parties
We engage them and ask them for input. We want their interaction. We as journalist need their interaction.
They need to tell us their concerns for the schools. They need to tell us about their experiences. They need to tell each other about their experiences.
We as journalist need to facilitate conversations based on the important issues that effect our lives. We foster communication.
Each school has a network leader who they can inform about a concern. The issue could then be examined as whether it stays in that particular network or whether that issue is for concern for the large school district network. Eventually this could work it way up to the state and federal public sphere.
The size of the network only has to be relevant to the size of the issue.
This is the underlying structure of the network and doesn't get in to the web design or technical logistics.
What it means is that we can ask elected officials and educators the hard questions and get real answers. If the people in power ignore our questions they are simply not doing their job.
Perhaps some might think that this gives the moderator a lot of power to set the agenda or give priority to personal issues. But that is no worse than it is currently. Furthermore this is an improvement because every bit of information can be posted and is open to examination.
The host play the role of a hub linking the nodes with relevant information that impacts their education or child or taxes. We are all involved whether we like it or not. We need to take advantage of our communication to realize our collective goal.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
School's Almost Over
I have just one more final in educational psychology then I can focus on my final project for my master's in journalism. I'm excited to have the time to devote to this project. Lately I've had a major break mental break through and the concept for this project is finally solidifying.
With help from some friends pointing me in the right direction I've have found lots of evidence that supported my intuition regarding Local Education News (LENs). This could seriously revolutionize the organization of news.
I've been neglecting this blog only but I've been working on this project nearly non-stop. This past semester I've not only take the ed. psych. class but also a "social foundations of education" class. Both sadly have made me realize why I didn't enjoy high school.
I hate to generalize teachers into one group or another. In fact many of my close friends are teachers and I have a lot of respect for them and their work. But most of the undergraduates that are studying to be teachers fail to earn my respect.
Many of the students who want to teach are reluctant to learn themselves. They didn't buy the textbook, they didn't like to read or study. They had limited experience of the world outside their limited existence. Most settled for teaching because it was "easy." Many were dogmatic in their thinking.
In my educational law class, all who are currently teachers or administrators talked during class. Ironic. The ed. psych class only lasted half of the alloted time. As if to say learning is not that important, just teach. All of these classes were a series of pep talks lavishing praise for the student who wanted to be teachers. Ahh, the noble profession.
While blasting teacher's is an easy target we should wonder what is it about the profession that other more intellectually inclined avoid it. In other words, what social conditions lead people who dislike education itself to teach?
Granted there are other problems than simply the poor qualities of teachers but it was truly eye opening to see the sad state of the teaching profession. I thought journalist were taught poorly.
I've also done a few classroom observations and plan to do many more. But that recently requires an $40 F.B.I. background check. Previously it was just a state police and a child abuse clearance. Oh the simple days. One day I guess I'll be able to write that off on my taxes. But first I need an income.
I wish some one else would run with this project and take the risks. I've got a daughter to raise and this risk is truly scary. I'd rather work a menial job and get paid sometimes. Sometime.
With help from some friends pointing me in the right direction I've have found lots of evidence that supported my intuition regarding Local Education News (LENs). This could seriously revolutionize the organization of news.
I've been neglecting this blog only but I've been working on this project nearly non-stop. This past semester I've not only take the ed. psych. class but also a "social foundations of education" class. Both sadly have made me realize why I didn't enjoy high school.
I hate to generalize teachers into one group or another. In fact many of my close friends are teachers and I have a lot of respect for them and their work. But most of the undergraduates that are studying to be teachers fail to earn my respect.
Many of the students who want to teach are reluctant to learn themselves. They didn't buy the textbook, they didn't like to read or study. They had limited experience of the world outside their limited existence. Most settled for teaching because it was "easy." Many were dogmatic in their thinking.
In my educational law class, all who are currently teachers or administrators talked during class. Ironic. The ed. psych class only lasted half of the alloted time. As if to say learning is not that important, just teach. All of these classes were a series of pep talks lavishing praise for the student who wanted to be teachers. Ahh, the noble profession.
While blasting teacher's is an easy target we should wonder what is it about the profession that other more intellectually inclined avoid it. In other words, what social conditions lead people who dislike education itself to teach?
Granted there are other problems than simply the poor qualities of teachers but it was truly eye opening to see the sad state of the teaching profession. I thought journalist were taught poorly.
I've also done a few classroom observations and plan to do many more. But that recently requires an $40 F.B.I. background check. Previously it was just a state police and a child abuse clearance. Oh the simple days. One day I guess I'll be able to write that off on my taxes. But first I need an income.
I wish some one else would run with this project and take the risks. I've got a daughter to raise and this risk is truly scary. I'd rather work a menial job and get paid sometimes. Sometime.
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