Are Podcasts Dead?
April 7, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
In case you didn’t know, I’ll be in Las Vegas Sunday-Wednesday for the NAB conference (National Association of Broadcasters). The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism is sponsoring my trip so that I can present Contributr to the masses. (Let’s hope Contributr is ready, more on that tomorrow!)
As I was looking through the available sessions trying to schedule myself into some I noticed a recurring theme, podcasting. Now I hate to rain on anybody’s parade but aren’t podcasts dead? Haven’t they been deemed not conversational enough?
I mean sure, we all are subscribed to a few in iTunes, but how often do you actually listen to one? Let alone actively look for more? I know I don’t. I’ve moved on, I’ve moved on to try to create and examine the semantic web. And podcasts just don’t fit into that strategy very well. They may not be static in location but they are certainly static in content. One you publish an episode to a podcast it just sits there… and people listen to it… but what else? What’s the extra step? … Well I just can’t seem to find it.
So you might imagine my disappointment when I am going through the NAB sessions schedule and see multiple sessions on podcasting each day, and only 2 or 3 sessions on ‘blogging’ total for the entire conference.
Is this where journalism is? Is this what the journalism folks think is hot? Haven’t they found Twitter, haven’t they found Facebook, haven’t they found that conversations are the latest and greatest things to hit the web?
Apparently not, and in my conversations with Jen Reeves it seems that the ‘industry’ is doomed to be 5-years behind as she puts it. Here I am creating wikis, blogging daily, coming up with user generated content solutions, enhancing new-media workflows, and creating conversations around my own life and here is the Journalism Industry just now trying to figure out podcasting.
There’s disconnect somewhere. That disconnect is what is holding back journalism and the news media in general, they’re not in touch with what consumers are using technology for.
As all of my recent blog posts do, I’ll link this one to my current job-search. There are quite a few journalism web content editor and producer jobs out there. Frankly, they’re almost a dime a dozen, news organizations realize they need to staff “the web” so staff “the web” they do. But where is the innovation? Where is the commitment?
Part of the struggle I have faced in my job search is that there’s plenty of work to be had out there, but very few newsrooms and very few news people “get it”. It takes more than just repurposing content from your printed newspaper or broadcast TV show onto the web anymore, that’s just not enough. People want to have conversations, they want to change, edit, manipulate, share, and copy your precious content. Are you willing to see what your public can do for you?
That’s the future of journalism. Don’t just talk to the public, let the public talk to you. If you “get it” email, call, IM, or @jdcoffman me. I’m listening, are you?
Convergence of the Future
March 19, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
News makers keep talking about backpack journalists and having reporters be good at everything. Now we all know that’s just not possible, but it hasn’t stopped the visionaries from proclaiming convergence journalism the future of news.
Convergence of the media is already happening of course, and convergence is the future. No longer is a television station just a television station. Or a radio station, just a radio station. I’ve been interviewing with news organizations trying to find a full-time gig after graduation and I recently met with a newspaper editor from a small-market.
He said something to the effect that “I’m not just running a newspaper, I’m also a TV station, Radio station, podcaster, blogger, information resource, and that’s on top of the seven printed products my newsroom produces”. This is what convergence is, its one media taking on and challenging the other media forms.
Back in the early days of my Journalism School experience they taught about how the Internet wasn’t the end-all of media, much to the contrary each individual media had its own benefits. Well, yes that’s true in part, each form of media (broadcast, print, online, social, etc) does have distinct advantages and disadvantages, but that’s the great thing about the Internet, it allows each of those media to succeed and distribute their product in an open-market of consumers and viewers.
The Internet brings all of those competing old-media technologies and pardon the cliche, it creates synergies between them. No longer is a newspaper just a newspaper, but instead its a radio station, tv station, web site, and a community in and of itself.
This is the Real future of convergence journalism, a combined news product that reaches all people equally and in multiple formats. We’re already doing this in many cases but news makers haven’t taken it far enough yet.
Convergence journalism to me is all about taking advantage of the things that make a particular medium what it is. Television is immensely visual for instance, but a 30 minute newscast can’t begin to touch the detail a 1,500 word article in a major newspaper can. The power of the Internet changes all that.
The power of the Internet creates an open marketplace of ideas from which news consumers can ingest and even create their own news and information resources. One of the goals for my Contributr project is just that, make the communication between the public and a news organization easy for both parties so that both are more likely to interact and create even better news for the communities (and the world) that they serve.
If you’re interested in hearing more of my ideas on the future of journalism and the things that can be right now, subscribe to my RSS feed right here and always get the latest blog posts.
As always, comments are always open on this blog (although the first time you post I may have to approve it to make sure you’re not a spam robot) so join the conversation!
Removing the Newspaper Moniker
March 18, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
A more recent than not change in the newspaper world is the lack us the word “newspaper” to describe the business. This is as much public fluff and PR as it is anything else.
It’s all great and good to move forward and evolve a little, but its another thing altogether to wake up and not be a “newspaper” anymore. Quite contrary, there’s a lot to be said about semantics and the way people perceive words, but I fear that these newspapers aren’t doing anything more than fooling themselves.
There’s a lot more to being an “information source” or “data center” than meets the ear. To truly evolve into a product that people want to interact with (yes I said interact, just reading text and viewing images and video isn’t enough anymore) newspapers need more than just a new motto or mission statement.
Sure changing those things I’m sure is a shock to some people in these newsrooms but what they’re not saying as much about it the dramatic change in culture that is required of a shift from one focus (a printed product with an online product as a second class citizen) to another.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s going to take more than these semantic changes to “save” the newspaper industry. It takes more than just information to hold an audience. It takes conversations, transparency, and interaction to have ANY effect on people.
There needs to be a massive shift in culture and personnel before newspapers can truly change into information centers and local resources in the online world. This can be achieved in many ways, but its going to take more than just removing the newspaper moniker from the vocabulary of the newsroom.
Journalists and Blogging
March 17, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
“Blogging is only as good as you make it”
This statement couldn’t me more true, today when I find a truly engaging and interesting news story you know what format it’s in? a BLOG. A blog with personal insight and knowledge.
The reporters of the world all have knowledge of what they’re covering but they don’t share that knowledge with the readers in a print or broadcast form, with blogs they should be able to tell us the ‘truth’ of the matters related to the story, not just what their sources say is the truth. Share the knowledge!
This isn’t to say that filters and editing is bad, just that transparency is a very positive thing, especially since the web has democratized and freed information storage and retrieval.
“It isn’t the journalism of your cranky old city editor or your sainted j-school prof. Neither of those old farts would approve of blogging in any form, even though blogging is now part of the legitimate media mix.”
I quote this only because I have first hand knowledge of the way journalism is now being taught. And granted my experiences may not reflect that of the other students who aren’t as knowledgeable about the world surrounding the Internet, but nonetheless…
I know of several journalism professors who embrace blogs (and blog themselves), and many of the current classes at the Missouri School of Journalism require students to blog on a weekly basis, however what is often required is a reflection post on the work they did this week.
This could be taken as great practice for the young journalist, or a way to show how important it is to control what you say and how you say it. There are plenty of ‘cranky old city editors’ around in the real world, and in the Jschool world, and those are the people I think we really need to be careful about. They are the ones who wouldn’t trust a blog, wouldn’t trust a person’s opinions, and think grammar is the end-all be-all of “good news”.
That just isn’t the case anymore. Period.
Blogging is where journalists need to be writing and peddling their wares. The traditional newspaper is old news, and so is the traditional newspaper web site.
Content doesn’t have to free, but it does have to open and accessible.
Upcoming Flickr Video May Be A Big Win
March 16, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the information that Flickr may be releasing a video product in the coming weeks. As a long-time Flickr user and supporter I thought I’d take a moment to chime in.
Here’s the deal, Flickr is REALLY good at images, I’ve tried lots of image hosts and none can touch Flickr, it’s just too darn intuitive. Sure I appreciate new and innovative features that other sites will on occasion release, but as complete packages go, Flickr is it.
It used to be known that Apple made really good personal computers, I mean so good that people became Apple users instead of Computer users. Then, the world started spinning backwards and Apple released the original iPod. The iPod changed everything. This is just one example of how a company who does one thing very well, can in fact do other things very well.
So my stance on the potential for Flickr video is that they may be able to do what others haven’t, create a video hosting solution that is classy, beautiful, and just work. I trust my thousands of images to Flickr , and I can see myself trusting video to them as well.
I might also add that I’m a Flickr Premium user, and you should be too. For a measly $25 a year you can store and unlimited number of images and share those images with an unlimited amount of people. It’s a great way to keep all your images safe, and easily printable for those of you who like to keep paper copies of pictures.
Here’s some of the many blog posts that are talking about Flickr Video today:
links for 2008-03-16
March 16, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
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I just joined this NING social network for journalists in the 21st Century.
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Beautiful, Beautiful fonts
Jonathan’s Twitter Updates for 2008-02-15
February 15, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
- I plan to be at RTNDA/NAB in Vegas, where should I stay? #
- Reviewing some blue prints #
- Paying bills, hope I have enough to cover most of them! #
- I’m def. getting my money’s worth from Netflix, I’m on the $14 3 at-a-time plan and rented 15 movies in the last 30 days #
- Here’s today’s pop-quiz: If electronics no longer come with USB cords, why did I just find 17 of them laying around my office? #
- Who wants a custom Facebook app for their blog? DM me and I might be able to hook you up with a basic one for free. #
links for 2008-02-15
February 15, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
How I Want To Use Twitter
February 8, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
I’ve been on Twitter for a while now, and my usage just keeps climbing, I really feel like a part of the community and want to share not only my knowledge with Twitter, but others as well. Twitter works for me in several ways, it provides a way for me to share my thoughts and ideas, a way to communicate and share with others, and a way to keep abreast on information no matter the topic.
I make generous use of the ‘Track’ command on Twitter for my cell phone. Although I sometimes get carried away and Track too many, or too hot a topic. During the Macworld 2008 Keynote a few short weeks ago, I tracked ‘MacWorld’ and ‘Steve jobs’ so yes, I’m partially responsible for the crash of Twitter during the keynote.
The information that I gained from hearing what others has to say about the product launches and the Reality Distortion Field was very interesting and useful. Getting that kind of insight into public opinion and thinking should prove extremely useful for the modern marketer.
Granted, I got over 1,100 text messages that morning alone, basically 1 every second, as fast as my iPhone could process them and print them on screen.
It’s times like that when Twitter really shines, it truly is an aggregator of infinite knowledge. I now have almost 200 followers on Twitter and I’m very proud for getting to that point, but the thing is this, I’m not doing enough to engage the minds of those who follow me. That’s the problem I’m currently working through, how do I motivate them to interact and ask and answer questions.
Some people like Chris Brogan and Jim Long have been on Twitter much longer than I have, but they have that special mix of followers (listeners) and true audience (interacters).
I’ll cut this particular post off at this point, but I think that I continue to use Twitter, that’s my goal, to interact more without loosing more time to using the web/txt interfaces, I need more interaction and networking within Twitter that I can integrate into my existing workflows.
Jonathan’s Twitter Updates for 2008-02-04
February 4, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
- @superbowlads screaming animals and pepsi ad the best. #
- Back from my SuperBowl watch party, ads were just OK, some very funny ones and some duds #
- @conniereece I’ve never seen an episode, but I’ve never heard a bad thing about it, I just have my own shows #
- Twitter Jabber has been very hit and miss for me the last week or so, how’s it been for you? #
- Exporting the Contributr presentation into as many formats as possible, no Tech issues tomorrow! #
- After organizing all my documents I’m now backing up to the Web, 2 external HDs, and a DVD. Sound pretty solid? #
- Good morning Twitter, it feels like a good day to win a contest! (Who’s my cheerleaders?) #
- @chrisbrogan, mitigate those prospects and ensure that if something bad does happen that you’re prepared to be flexible enough to realiz … #
- Off to work Twitterland, then need to do my printing for the big Contributr presentation tonight #
- ouch! Took a splash of coffee to the eye, new pothole on my route in to the office. #
- @bethshanna I do get it at the Mu bookstore $100 off of the edu price even. My PowerBook g4 can barely handle it though, takes forever. #
- @bethshanna I live about a half mile away from MacXperts. Let me know when you get an AIR and I’ll come in to see. #
- @danieljohnsonjr do you consider yourself a target? LOL. #
- @mikedoe oh she’s crazy alright, maybe not like a fox though. #
- @rosshill the Other content is vitally important, just a blog, personal or private isnt enough. The blog is an extension of the author. #
- @acomputerpro wow! Now that tells us something. #
- @GeoffLiving that was one of my favorites. Clever, unique, effective. #
- @macprice that sounds VERY appealing right now, I haven’t found one locally yet #
- @bethshanna in Meadowbrook West off of Gillespie Bridge #
- @ev I’m SO jealous, tell us how small it is! #
- @jpinsd hmm, that changes my whole perspective on you
# - @gruber hell of a day huh? #
- @scootdown that is very interesting, I would expect more gawkers as well #
- @Contributr good luck this afternoon, the development team knows you’re worth it! #
- 35 minutes until my big presentation, it’ll go fine though. The rest of the dev. team should be here any minute #
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OtherProfiles
