MediaShift: Web 2.0 and the Salvation of Journalism

As a form of new media, blogs have become a major point of interest for professional journalists. This analysis comes out of a desire to both chronicle and participate in the digital media revolution. One of the journalists on the cutting edge of this move toward digital journalism is Mark Glaser of PBS. Glaser's blog, MediaShift, is one of the web's premier sources for information about the potential of blogs and Web 2.0 to reinvigorate and transform the stagnant media world. MediaShift is hosted by PBS, long recognized as an excellent source for news and commentary with shows like NewsHour, Washington Week and NOW.

Glaser's writing style is engaging, humorous and informative at the same time. The topics range from crowdsourcing, online and community journalism, digital video recorders, podcasting, and Wiki software, among other related matters. The site is updated frequently, and includes a Feevy-esque blog roll for further reading.

Because the focus of our class is the emerging field of digital journalism, and specifically Web 2.0 as it relates to online media, MediaShift is an excellent candidate for our Feevy.

Talkin' Talking Points Memo

Talking Points Memo, a blog operated by Joshua Micah Marshall, provides a steady stream of news items, editorials, and links which allow the reader an opportunity to follow the daily action on the national political scene. What sets this blog apart is the presence of Marshall, and other contributors, whose additions let the reader get deeper into stories. The entire blog is very efficient; the links Marshall and others provide are quality without being too many. Most items are directly quoted from journalists and are supported by Marshall's own writing which provides background information without wasting a word.

What Talking Points Memo is doing is a perfect example of bloggers contributing to national news coverage without diminishing the role of traditional journalists. More often than not his news links are to the Post and Times, and it seems, whenever possible, he'll refer his readers to the two national papers of record. He gathers news, sifts through for relevant stories and articles, and passes along the important text, a citation for where to find it, and his own contextualizing of it all. In doing so, he operates symbiotically with traditional news outlets, enhancing their ability to reach the widest possible audience while they provide him with the bulk of his content.

What's really amazing about this blog is the amount of information you get just from reading it once or twice a day. Marshall keeps tabs on a wide range of mostly domestic issues, active scandals, developing concerns, and profiles news makers, while offering his own thoughts on all of the above. Probably the only thing you could say about Marshall's site is you can't read news on his site without knowing how he feels about it. Though, at a site which is self-described as "commentary on political events from a politically left perspective," you have an idea that you can expect the contributors to be up front on how they feel. And, while its good to read a news story without getting someone's opinion on its contents beforehand, it's Marshall and company that makes the work blog so well and the good vastly outweighs the bad.

71 Million and Counting...!

Blogtastic, blogs, blogging, blogger, blah, blah, blah! Prior to my enrollment in Professor Robertson’s J1 class, I had never even considered reading blogs muchless blogging myself. To be completely honest there is a strong possibility that I did not even know what blogs were. However, during the last eight months ‘blog’ in every sense of the word has become part of my daily routine. Thanks in large part to David Silver, my enthusiastic (to say the least) Digital Journalism professor, I constantly find myself either writing, reading, or even checking USFblogtastic for comments and updates.

In March 2007, Technorati, a blog search engine, reported that there were over 70 million webblogs. As Technorati’s webpage popped up on my screen, a box in the corner that read “71 million blogs…some of them have to be good” (Matt), instantly caught my attention— as an avid blogger, I could not agree more! There seems to be a blog for (what it seems like) just about Everything. Politics, religion, fashion, food, music, education, celebrities, business, art, sports—and I promise you that does not even begin to scratch the surface (every category I listed can essentially be broken down into a copious amount of subcategories)!

However, on my quest for an ‘interesting’ blog to share with my classmates and ultimately add to our feevy, I found myself less than impressed with most of what I found. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions or being unfair to the blog society. Since technically I was searching for a blog relevant for a Digital Journalism class, the blog subjects were not exactly…exhilarating. Perhaps if the search had been for blogs about Dave Matthews Band or shopping, I would have found myself absorbed into the blog sphere much more quickly.

Refusing to let the inordinate amount of mind-numbing, repetitive blogs get the best of me—I set out on a blog-adventure, determined to find one worthy of our time. It had to be interesting, it had to be relevant. Basically, it had to be legit. Upon entering college, our lives became inundated with the Internet—e-mails, instant messaging, USFCA.edu, Google searches (personal guilty pleasure!), and (although, no one likes to admit it) the infamous Facebook. Former Facebook Inc. Senior Engineer Karel M. Baloun even wrote a book about the “Facebook Generation” and societies need to understand it. Baloun’s book, Inside Facebook, reported that “85% of students at U.S. universities have made Facebook and essential part of their social lives.”

Create your personal identity: how old you are, where you are from, the kind of music/books/movies that you like, relationship status, and excessive amounts of pictures. Facebook.com seemed so innocent at first. It was merely a place for social networking, a place to keep in touch with friends who are far away or even catch up with long lost friends from the past. However, recent changes in the network have opened up a can of worms! (Sorry, sometimes clichés are just really dead on—but I guess that’s the point.)

To make a long story short, Facebook just seemed so relevant, considering we are the “facebook generation” that Baloun is talking about. Justin Smith, of Social Intelligence ( A social networking watch list and analysis), is the independent author/creator of the blog: Inside Facebook- Tracking Facebook news, commentary, and analysis. It approaches issues including companies who search profiles to screen employees as well as schools attempting to force student athletes to cancel their accounts. As the 7th most popular site on the web (Facebook.com) and a service that directly affects our community (USF ie. College students), I think that dissecting a blog trying to get to the bottom of Facebook.com and social networking could be very useful for our class!

Feevy Worthy

With his bachelor’s degree from Princeton, his master’s from Harvard, his doctorate from Yale, as co-author of Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web, and as an inaugural recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies’ Digital Innovation Fellowship, maybe, just maybe, blogging professor Dan Cohen (pictured right with his favorite students) knows what he is talking about. Cohen’s blog, brilliantly titled Dan Cohen, features a plethora of useful information on blogs and digital journalism.

Cohen, who is a professor in the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University in Virginia, and who is the Director of Research Projects at the Center for History and New Media, has been posting on this blog for over a year. Throughout this time Cohen has created a user guide, “Creating a Blog from Scratch” that features eight parts that allows for even the most hopeless bloggers to get up and posting (Part 1 example). Cohen also spends time introducing new websites and podcasts like Zotero and Digital Campus. Digital Campus is a biweekly discussion of how digital media and technology are affecting learning and teaching at universities. Zotero (Cohen was a part of the start up team), a new website that was launched in October, will “enable vastly simplified citation management, note taking, and advanced scholarly research right within the Firefox browser,” said Cohen in a blog post.

With his credentials, the way his blog perfectly coincides with Digital Journalism here at USF, and the useful tips, Cohen’s blog is a great point of reference for those who are digitally savvy and for those who are just beginning to learn…definitely feevy worthy.

Kiwi for Dessert

Blogs for digital journalism students, I’ve realized after rummaging through countless blogs trying to find one that is not only helpful to me as a student, but interesting enough for me to keep reading, are like dessert after a good meal. The meal, of course is reading credible sources like Time Magazine or National Geographic and newspapers, actually writing, and perhaps even listening to our professor once in a while. I hear they know some stuff.

The blog I found most interesting is called “My year of getting published” about a writer who is proactively trying to get published. The “Kiwi writer” (she's obviously from New Zealand) wants to become a travel writer, which I myself would love to do one day. She interviews other travel writers, her latest, Rudy Maxa from National Geographic Traveler. "Write, write, write and then write some more," Maxa explained. "Read travel magazines you want to write for so you can learn what kinds of articles they want. Read writers you like. Then look at how they structured their stories. Figure out what they had to do to get the stories and quotes."

This blog also has many resources for people who are trying to learn to write better, as we are in this class, and those who want to get published and quit their day jobs. Her blog offers other blogs for writers as well. There is a weekly five top blog posts for writers. “Writers block, unblocking the blank screen” is bound to offer some potential advice to just about anyone.

Another feature in this blog is information on different journalism conferences. She offers writing tips, travel writing contests so we can get involved if we want, photojournalism tips, and all the different writing blogs she visits daily. I found this interesting because of titles like "the six figure writer," "the write path," "writer in the making," and "mad young thing" (seriously, the greatest title ever).

Now, the reason this blog is deserving of our very exclusive feevy is because this "kiwi writer" talks about something we all go through, especially in a journalism class. She is going through a process. Just as Ira Glass explained in his video, creativity and success happens over time. We have to make mistakes, try, get out there, try, and most of all, write. I like that "The Kiwi" is learning and trying and we can do this with her. She is also interviewing some pretty interesting people with valid advice to give, and we can all learn from them.

Now, get your dessert forks ready, because this blog is bound to be an irresistible icing on the cake.

ira glass on storytelling

ira glass on having good taste, overcoming the gap between your own good taste and your own not so good output, and doing lots and lots of work. five minutes and nineteen seconds of smart advice. [crossposted from usf journalism blog]