Music, Stories, Art and Interaction
March 31, 2004
CBC Radio has a cool weekly online magazine called CBC Radio 3, blending streaming music with stellar photography and short, punchy writing about Canadian artists. Clever tabs at the top right corner allow you to page through the site, making CBC Radio 3’s experience much like flipping through a glossy magazine while listening to tunes. “Call it what you want,” the editors say on the site. “Internet radio, a magazine, a program or a site. It’s still music, stories, art and interaction.”
Politicians post editorial board interviews
March 31, 2004
News sites weighing whether to post transcripts or video of editorial board interviews with politicians should keep in mind that the politicians are now often posting the transcripts on their own sites. The State Department, for example, just recently posted this interview with Colin Powell by the Washington Post Editorial Board. All the more reason for news sites to post the transcripts, audio or video themselves.
Reporter uses GPS for tollway story
March 30, 2004
Matt Waite, a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times, used his GPS [Global Positioning System] device to to map out a brand new tollway and gauge what the average speed would be on the tollway.
“Using mapping software, I can plot my position live on a map. I can then record points as I go through them, or get near them,” he tells AJR in a piece about what high-tech gadgets reporters use. “The device records position, speed, heading and altitude at the time the point was recorded. So, if I’m driving down the interstate and am recording points every second, it will tell me how fast I was going at each point.”
What reporting gadgets do you use?
Got purpose? Get cash
March 30, 2004
Journalistic reporting and other writings about public policy and related issues are being sought as entries for The Power of Purpose Awards: A Worldwide Essay Competition, by the John Templeton Foundation.
This international writing contest is intended to stimulate a worldwide interest in the benefits of purpose and is being conducted entirely on the internet at www.powerofpurpose.org. Professional writers and other members of the journalism community around the world are encouraged to enter. Articles, opinion pieces, columns, etc., whether published or unpublished, may be entered as essays.
“Purpose may be defined as something more important than our simple survival, something not merely intellectual, but in our souls,” says the contest. “It is something outside of ourselves, greater than individual human beings or even groups of people. Purpose can change public policy, define our relationship with nature and the cosmos, and inspire the spark that makes ordinary people do extraordinary things.”
Political Diary breaks news
March 29, 2004
In recent weeks, Political Diary, the subscription-only daily e-mail newsletter from OpinionJournal.com, was the first to report the surprise retirement of Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and USA Network’s decision to make a TV movie biography of Rush Limbaugh. With other sites offering free political newsletters, Political Diary will likely need to keep publishing exclusive news to get folks to ante up the $3.95 per month.
Weblog-style features in newspapers
March 29, 2004
Weblog-style features are starting to creep into in newspapers. JT Juice is a weblog-style compilation of Journal Times staff members’ opinions on popular culture. It appears on the Entertainment page.
New Media Timeline
March 28, 2004
Poynter’s timeline looks at the history of new media journalism and the Internet, beginning in 1969 and continuing through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Google goes local
March 27, 2004
Google launched a beta (test version) of a new local search engine this week, which searches Google’s database of 4.3 billion Web pages and then cross-checks those results with Yellow Pages data to pinpoint the local resources you want to find. The result is a site that’s much more powerful than either Google or traditional Yellow Pages sites on their own. For example, say you want to find mosques in your town for a story. You can see where they are on a map, plus each of the results links to the mosque’s website, so you can quickly find not just phone numbers and addresses but information about the results.
50th anniversary of color TV
March 26, 2004
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary color TV. It would be difficult to imagine life without color television today. Here are some interesting statistics about television and the television industry from the Census Bureau….
E-ink book coming in April
March 26, 2004
Sony plans to begin selling the world’s first consumer electronic paper unit in Japan in April. LIBRIe will be about the size of a paperback book and cost $375. The screen’s 6-inch display has a resolution of 800 pixels by 600 pixels, but most importantly, it promises to offer a “truly paper-like reading experience with contrast that is the same as newsprint.” This sounds like a major step forward in what could be the end of the newsPAPER as we know it.
“The Electronic Paper Display is reflective and can be easily read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments while being able to be seen at virtually any angle - just like paper,” Sony says. “Its black and white ink-on-paper look, combined with a resolution in excess of most portable devices at approximately 170 pixels per inch (PPI), gives an appearance similar to that of the most widely read material on the planet - newspaper. Because the display uses power only when an image is changed, a user can read more than 10,000 pages before the four AAA Alkaline batteries need to be replaced. The unique technology also results in a compact and lightweight form factor allowing it to be ideal for highly portable applications.”