Author Archives: Steve Mays

Blogosphere as “giant wire service”

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Clyde Bentley, a Missouri School of Journalism professor whoresearches user-generated news, speaking at the Future of Journalism conference at Harvard, June 20-21:

The debate over bloggers’ influence “is over,” he said. “Blogging is a numbers game. It’s there and we’ll just have to deal with it.” Noting that 120,000 new blogs a day dwarf the country’s 1,427 dailies, he said editors should treat the blogosphere like a giant wire service. Bentley said that while consumer demand for content decreases, their demand for content navigation increases. “There will always be a place for the journalist who can craft a story better than anyone else, but there will be a bigger place for the journalist who can help media consumers find the information they want.” — Poynter: Centerpieces

Sports fan blogs

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Interesting story on NPR this morning about a sports blog called The LoHud Yankees Blog. The blog seems to be a collaborative effort by Journal News beat writer Peter Abraham and a shit-load of fans. According to the NPR piece, a post can get as many as a thousand comments and readers will post to the blog form the stands, in the middle of a game.

I have a theory about blogs like this one. If the Yankees organization tried to create  such a successful blog, they couldn’t. Wouldn’t matter how much money they threw at it. There is some organic quality to really successful blogs like this one that is damned hard for big institutions to foster.

Smart companies will find and encourage and support efforts like this one. Is there a risk that someone will post something unflattering about the Yankees? Of course. But get a clue… they’ll do that anyway.

Most of the pro leagues have some sort of dumb-ass policy regarding live-blogging of games by reporters so I’m a little curious how the Journal News is pulling this off. If Mr. Abraham or someone from the paper stumbles across this post, I’d love to know the answer. Could it be the Yankees are smart enough to know a really good thing when they see it?

AppleCare passes first test

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Apple hardware and software are not perfect. A piece of gear can be defective or stop working… software is, after all, software. I’ve had very good experiences since getting my first Mac just over two years ago.

But a couple of things gacked up recently. A problem with my Airport (wireless router) and my new Mac Mini. Unrelated. And even His Macness, George, couldn’t put things right. So he called Apple support.

I purchased an extended service plan called AppleCare which is a bit pricey but often recommended for switchers.

We wound up calling Apple three times yesterday, speaking to three different people about the two problems. Each time there was zero wait. And each time we wound up speaking with someone that was very knowledgeable. None of those long waits while they try to read the support screens. These folks obviously knew their shit.

And they were all very friendly, but efficient. No time wasted.

But the big “ooh!” moment for me was when the lady helping with the Airport problem resolved the issue and then asked us to wait 5 minutes (until the MacBook went to sleep) to be certain everything was really working correctly.

She didn’t want us to have to call back…get a different agent…and go through the whole routine again.

I’m sure others have had different experiences with Apple and I might have a bad one down the road. But I was reminded of all the hellacious support calls I’ve endured over the years and this was a nice contrast.

Wildlife: Copperhead

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There are lots of positives to living on a few acres of wooded land. It’s quiet and peaceful. No traffic. The sort of environment where you find deer, rabbits, turtles, wild turkeys and… snakes. (shudder) I am not fond of snakes.

This was found at the bottom of a pile of brush that the lads are clearing out today. I wasn’t there when Mark picked this copperhead up and declined his offer to “milk” the venom.

Following this little show-and-tell, the snake was dispatched with a spade. Yes, I know there’s never just one snake.

Why I don’t do trees

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tree-trimmerLast December’s ice storm destroyed a lot of tree. Parts of our property have looked like an artillery range for the last six months. Today a crew of hard-working lads are cutting down the fatally wounded. The price tag seemed a little high at first glance, but after seeing the guys 30 feet up with a chain saw roaring in one hand, it seems about right. I’m proud to say that I gave NO thought to attempting this project on my own.

This story is embargoed. Right.

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“Here’s the deal with Twitter as it applies to fast-breaking news: All it takes is one person with knowledge of a big-deal news event (in this case, anyone in the NBC building who learned about Russert’s death) to instantly blast it out via Twitter to blow apart any notion you may have of holding back the tide for a few minutes.”

— Steve Outing, E-Media Tidbits

“Scared to let our people blog”

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Kevin O’Keefe points to an excellent post by Liz Strauss, an expert in corporate online communications. Whether they say the words or not, many companies are afraid to let their employees blog. Liz wonders “is the blog the problem?”

“Look to the people. Isn’t the issue one of trust and control? The employer is concerned about what employees might write on the blog. We let employees talk to customers daily — answering email, answering phone call, answering questions at exhibits, and answering letters at the office. We trust what they write on behalf of our company. We once worried in the same way about the telephone and email.

It comes down to hiring and training employees who make good decisions. If we trust our ability to choose the right employees and to let them know the values that we hold for our company and our customers, the question of whether we should let them blog falls away as an issue. A blog is a powerful, customer-facing tool. Like a computer, it’s as strong as the people we choose to use it.”

Kevin was told recently of one senior lawyer who was told by the firm that they would not be permitted to blog. ‘The firm does not allow its lawyers to blog.’

The lawyer responded with a question. ‘Why am I working at a place that does not trust me to talk about what I do – about a niche in the law I am passionate about?’

Stephen King’s Webcam

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Officecam062508No matter which direction I point my office webcam, or the time of day or season, it surprises (and delights) me with tiny, empty moments in time. I got all creepy last time I posted on this so I won’t do that this time.

This is what my webcam sees, hour after hour. This particular image brings to mind a hospital room in the wee hours. The patient can’t sleep and listens to the awful sounds of a hospital floor. Now and then a nurse or orderly passes by. But mostly it’s the empty corridor. (shudder)

Man, I gotta aim that thing out the window.

Jay Rosen: “The Rise of Semi-pro Journalism

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“The professional news tribe is in the midst of a great drama. It has over the last few years begun to realize that it cannot live any more on the ground it settled so successfully as the industrial purveyors of one-to-many, consensus-is-ours news. The land they were living on–also called their business model–no long supports their best work. So they have come to a reluctant point of realization: that to live on, to keep the professional press going, the news tribe will have to migrate across the digital divide and re-settle itself on a new ground, or as we sometimes call it, a new platform.”

Professor Rosen has hit upon a pretty good metaphor. You can read his full piece here.

If I were a young person interested in doing journalism, I’d find a wagon train with a good wagon master (like Ward Bond) and a good scout and get on board.