“She wanted marriage, she wanted children; and not that I didn’t want that, but I didn’t want that at that time because I had just gotten out of a marriage, I’d just had kids [Luke, Grace and Bella],” Armstrong, 37, reveals. “Yet we’re up against her biological clock — that pressure is what cracked it.” — New York Post.
MU J-School requires iPhone/iPod Touch. Sort of.
Freshmen admitted into the University of Missouri School of Journalism (and pre-jounalsim students) will be “required” to have an iPhone or ilPod Touch beginning this fall. But not really. If the device is “required” it can be included in a financial need estimate.
According to the story in the Columbia Missourian, iPods and iPhones are “learning devices” used to record lectures. But student still have the option of using their laptops to record lectures.
People have already started bitching about this. Favoring one brand of computer or device; scamming the financial needs program, etc.
When I saw @georgekopp ‘s tweet on this, I thought it was a good idea but for a reason not mentioned in the story.
News is going (has gone?) mobile. A journalism student can’t begin to understand –and report on– that world without a moblie device and –for the moment– the iPhone and iPod Touch are the of breed. I can’t believe the J-school didn’t make that point.
It would be like coming to photography school without a camera.
[A few hours later]
This is another one of those fantasy courses that are easy to come up with if you’ve never taught a class and have no expectation of doing so.
iPhone Reporting would come somewhere in the middle of j-school, rather than at beginning or end. Might work something like this:
Students are equipped with the new iPhone we’re all hoping will come out this summer. It does still images; audio and video (including editing apps). And that’s it. No laptops, digital cameras recorders… just the iPhone.
Each picks a story to cover for the entire semester. Or maybe they pick one from a hat. Either way.
Students are encouraged to use any and all platforms: YouTube, Twitter, flickr, Facebook, Twitpic, etc. The professor follows along online, offering feedback and suggestions during class time.
For all I know the MU J-School might already offer such a course. Perhaps it’s time for another visit with my old pal Mike McKean. Last time we spoke (almost 4 years ago?!) he had been tapped to head up the school’s new “convergence” program. Four Internet years is a lifetime.
PS: I now see he is in charge of the school’s Futures Lab. This implies there is more than one future. Very quantum.
“The Newspaper & Radio Bailout”
Reply
I’m a little fuzzy on whether the following description of the newspaper business model should be attributed to Warren Buffett or Eric Rhoads (Radio Ink) but the point is the same:
“Write the news, cut down millions or trees for paper, build massive printing plants to print it overnight, have a distribution model that pays people to fold and bag hundreds of papers and burn thousands of gallons of gas to go house-to-house throwing papers out of their car windows so people can walk out into the cold or rain in order to read news that is 12-24 hours old.”
Well, if you put it that way… And I particularly liked the line: “Do they really believe the Internet generation can be convinced to sign up for home delivery?”
Uh, I’m gonna say no.
You can change everything
In a recent post, Seth Godin reminds us we are not really stuck in a rut. We can, in fact, change everything and then lists a bunch of ways to do that. Some of my favorites: Move to Thiland; Become a vegan; Have all meetings in a room with no chairs, and everyone wears a bath robe over their clothes.
But as one who spends most of his days (and nights) working on websites, this one really spoke to me:
“Delete your website and start over with the simplest possible site”
Might be difficult to make this blog more simple. But some of our company websites could be a LOT leaner and cleaner. I’d love to flush ’em and start over as Seth suggests.
Tweetie
Since installing Tweetie, I keep it running on the left side of my desktop. The clever folks who designed Tweetie must have anticipated this is how folks would use it. I can see at a glance when someone tweets; mentions @smaysdotcom or sends me a direct message.
Earlier tonight, William Gibson tweeted about a new movie coming out this summer, describing it as “must see” and included a link to the trailer. Well, when my favorite author says he “must see” the movie, you can bet I’ll see it, too.
When I saw his tweet, I thought: “Cool. William Gibson is online, at this moment, doing basically the same thing I’m doing.”
Now, I can’t direct message Mr. Gibson because he doesn’t follow me and I’d like to think I would not intrude if he did. But, with what other form of communication might I have such a real-time experience with one of my heros? Not email. Probably not a blog post. I’m not sure I can describe the feeling. Not quite personal, but almost.
Little Snapper worth a thousand words
I take a lot screen shots. Every day. In the bad old PC days, it involved hitting the prnscrn key, pasting into Word or Photoshop, etc etc. When I moved to the Mac it got easier, with some short-cut keys. But I still had to do the Photoshop thing if I wanted to annotate or add arrows or such.
Yesterday Bradley pointed me to Little Snapper, a new (?) app for the Mac. I won't event try to list or describe the features in LittleSnapper, there are just too many. But if you're a designer, developer, researcher or writer, you'll want this on your utility belt.
At $39, this is probably not a tool that everyone needs. But if you use screen grabs as much as I do, it's a must.
Learfield Dish Drop
I was certain I had posted this video previously but can’t seem to find it. So, it won’t hurt to post it twice.
Pong Shots
President Obama shooting buckets
The president, a former high school player and avid basketball fan, prevailed in a brief, impromptu game of P-I-G with a few players from UConn’s women’s team.
Ghost Studios
When I got my first (and only) radio job in 1972, our FM station was mostly automated but the AM station was live from sign-on to sign-off. An "announcer" (or DJ if you prefer) was sitting at a control board, cuing up and "spinning" records, talking live into the microphone. It was the most fun I ever had and I'm grateful I didn't miss the opportunity.
This morning I'm wondering if there are still radio stations that operate this way. With 13,000+ stations, you'd think there would be at least one. Some hard-headed eccentric that just refuses to automate and cut staff.
If you know of such a station, leave us a comment.