Webby Awards

If you want to do good work on the Internet, you need to see good work on the Internet.

Every year The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences hands out its Webby Awards to honor excellence on the Internet. The range of winners is wide as the variety of web pages. Check them out!

Blogging gone wild

While blogs offer writers a viable avenue to let others know what they think and feel, they also have their darker side.

In an essay in Sunday's New York Times magazine, writer Emily Gould talks about how blogging can open a window to one's personal life that can be hard to shut. Although her personal blog earned her a shot at writing for the popular Gawker site, she later found that blogging about her own life -- and writing gossip about the lives of others -- soon made her the target.

Everyone seemingly wants to be heard, but sometimes the response can be unkind. In a simpler age, people would have to actually take the time to write letters to the editor or talk to someone over the phone. However, in today's Internet world, hurtful comments can be delivered quickly and anonymously.

I don't know much about Gould, but she appears to be a lightning rod for online blogs and comments. When I searched for her photo, I found that this story itself put her further in the crosshairs -- although her detractors say she has earned it.

Either way, it's sad.

Online Travel Blog

As someone who has never left the North American continent, I have a always been a sucker for travel stories. Not those stuffy ones that use only the highest priced accommodations, but quirky travel stories geared toward the average person.

In the past, this has meant newspaper travel sections or travel magazines. Of course, if I were looking for specific information, I could always find it online. Recently, however, I have become a fan of the travel blog.

The New York Time's Frugal Traveler, Matt Grose, recently began his "Grand Tour," a 12-week journey around Europe in which he is bound to spend less than 100 Euros a day. Last year, he took a similar journey across the United States.

All in all, it's like getting daily postcards from a friend discussing where they've gone and what they've done. The blog is updated with new entries and videos every Thursday and short updates and frugal tips throughout the week. Interestingly, Grose's photos are geotagged, which means his camera automatically stamps the latitude and longitude of where they were taken so they can be incorporated into a map. In his previous U.S. journey, the Frugal Traveler employed GPS tracking.

Think of it like the Travel Channel except with more interaction, almost like you're along for the trip. Readers see each stop along the way and are able to leave comments on it. In one of his first updates, Grose revealed what he packed -- including his reporting supplies (pictured). He admits to being unsure about what to bring along and this started a long reader discussion.

From the looks of it, the blog has a large number of loyal readers. In a multi-stage trip like this, people will keep coming back and perhaps visit the other Times' stories, too.

Remaking Nelsonville

Over the years, the economic health of Nelsonville, Ohio, has depended upon a few main industries. Coal mining, brick making, a power plant, Rocky Boots (now Rocky Outdoor Gear) -- each has played its part in supporting the town. In recent years, with no big industry to carry it, Nelsonville -- and its downtown -- has struggled. Over the past few years, a few local artists and merchants have tried to remake the town as an arts community. Although they have had some success, the present state of the economy has hindered their efforts to create a thriving public square.

Link to slideshow

Great series of Video Blogs

Poynter's Al Tompkins has some great Video Blogs on YouTube. I particularly like this one in which he tells how he makes them and what equipment he uses. In particular, I thought the teleprompter program was an interesting innovation.

The fully integrated newsroom

As more and more media are working toward convergence, the BBC is in the process of merging all of their media operations together. While other news providers have certainly moved in this direction, this is the convergence of a massive media operation. Although I am no expert on the BBC or Britain, I would imagine it would be comparable to the New York Times and NBC News doing the same in the United States. Check this out from an article in the UK's Press Gazette.

The first stage of the BBC’s newsroom integration project was completed on Monday as journalists from the corporation’s rolling television news service began working in a common newsroom with their colleagues from radio and television news bulletins.

BBC head of newsroom Peter Horrocks described this week’s changes as the first phase of the BBC’s effort to integrate its news operation across media.

“The number of roles has been reduced significantly because we’ve had to make these big savings,” he said.

“We’ve introduced some multimedia roles, but as people develop multimedia skills and once we’ve got all the platforms sitting alongside each other they can work together most effectively.”

The Simpsons takes a shot at newspapers

You know things are bad when cartoons are making fun of print journalism. And it comes from Nelson, no less!

Stop the Presses - for good

The Capital Times of Madison, Wis., recently announced that they will be eliminating their print version and moving exclusively to online publishing at madison.com. Its publisher said the decision was made because the print product had become irrelevant.

That may be overstating it a bit, as it's less of a statement about what content is delivered and more about how it was delivered. As more people went to Internet editions, the print circulation declined. At some point, however, the move was probably inevitable. Although many newspapers have made many changes, the Cap Times was the first to go all the way.

The Madison publication will not give up all printed content altogether, however. It will still put out an entertainment guide and a news weekly. This is an example of how news publishers are trying new business models.

it will be interesting to see how this approach pays off - or doesn't. Unfortunately, 20 staff members -- one of whom is one the most amazing photographers I've ever met -- lost their jobs to either layoffs or buyouts. If more and more newspapers go this route, the job market will be tighter than it already is.

Online Campaigning

At last week's Journalism Day at Ohio University, one of the panels featured the former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Rosemary Palmer, and her campaign manager, Anthony Fossaseca.

While the online world certainly has affected journalism in many ways, it also has the potential to change campaigning. It allowed Palmer's primary campaign against incumbent Dennis Kucinich to gain some attention.

By producing short and lively videos, her campaign was able to get its message out on YouTube. Even Scott Milburn, a former press secretary for many prominent Republican politicians, applauded their efforts.

Here are links to some of her commercials:
Super Bowl Ad #1
Introducing the HopeMobile

(Milburn really riled me up every time he referred to the DEMOCRATIC Party as the DEMOCRAT party. Apparently the former makes them sound democratic, and you can't have that if you want the REPUBLIC Party to be successful. Although your party convinced the gullible to say "death tax" instead of "estate tax," you have a long way to go on this silly new bit of re-framing, Scotty.)

Giving up too easy?

Yes, the media environment is changing.

Yes, many advertisers are moving online.

Yes, newspapers are making staff cuts.

However, is print really dead? These days the people giving the most eulogies seem to be the print reporters themselves.

They seem to being throwing in the towel without a fight. Sure, print media will certainly be different and have to find a better business model, but it bothers me that most of what I hear from print reporters is a begrudging acceptance of a dismal fate.

At Ohio University's Journalism Day on April 30, Randy Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch talked about the many ways his newspaper is practicing journalism online. However, like most reporters, he seemed almost apologetic to the audience that he was from "old" media. It seems most print reporters are willing to go down without a fight these days.

On a recent Simpsons episode, I watched a newspaper reporter cower with shame as Bart Simpson taunted him with something like "your medium is dying!" (I wish I could rediscover the link to that clip!)

However, I think there is a place for print. I enjoyed listening to Ludlow's fellow panelist, a former print reporter now partner in Maroon Ventures, talk about how he wants to help find ways for newspapers adapt their product for the online world.

Although you wouldn't know it from the constant proclamations of doom from financial analysts who follow the media, newspapers still have higher profit margins than most businesses. Of course, this may be shrinking further in the future, but perhaps it is simply unrealistic to expect any company to make increasingly higher profits every quarter.

In the meantime, newspapers are sealing their fates by cutting staff and taking money from their product. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

People will go online to find news that they need. But sometimes news needs to find you. No offense to our online Post edition, but I think most people read the Post because they see it on the way in or out of class. I'd venture to say fewer students take the extra step to go to the web site. I'd say the same thing for community newspapers or the alternative press.

I'm not saying things will ever be what they once were for newspapers. However, reporters should stop writing their obituaries so soon. There is a place for print; publishers just have to work hard to find the right niche.

Chef Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher is a chef at Salaam Restaurant in Athens, OH. She also writes a great blog about food that has received national attention called Tigers and Strawberries.