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Archive for 2009|Yearly archive page

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DO leave for tomorrow what you can do today

In media, Uncategorized on December 29, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Don’t Leave for Tomorrow What You Can Do Today might be a proverb one of the Founding Fathers used to say, but is it still relevant for us today? In the 21st century, when one can take up a million daily tasks online, prioritization has become vital. And maybe you do have to leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

Raised in a culture of multitasking professionals, I want to do a thousand things in one day. I started writing this post, for instance, while I was doing research on 20th-century muckrakers and right after I had updated my LinkedIn profile. The thing is I never planned to write a blog post today or update my professional account—these opportunities emerged on the spur of the moment and seemed like great ideas. So, I decided not to postpone my work for tomorrow, right? Wrong.

The truth is I have become more distracted than ever when I am giving in to the temptation of being hyper efficient. Each time I stop in the middle of something to fit in another tiny project, my initial concentration vanishes. It is all one click away, I think, so I should just go ahead and do it while it is on my mind. But by the time I realize it, the day has passed and my my original work suffers.

Freelance writer Bree Nordenson, among many others, has discussed the harmful effects of multitasking. Distractions, she noted, significantly reduce our ability to focus on a single project and learn effectively. “Despite our best efforts,” Nordenson wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review, “when we try to do more than one thing at once, we are less efficient and more prone to error.”

Today, you can produce a lot. The challenge occurs when you have to strategically  postpone projects for tomorrow.

Photo credit: Wisconsin Historical Images

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Times Skimmer: A satisfying news experience

In journalism, media on December 26, 2009 at 2:30 pm

If you haven’t yet landed on Times Skimmer, please check it out now. This browser is probably the closest version of how I envision online news delivered to me. Here are the main reasons behind my excitement with this new tool:

1. Horizontally laid-out
Skimmer’s content is horizontally laid-out, which means that it follows the way your eye works. You don’t have to scroll down to find out more; you can make the decision instantly.

2. Headlines AND leads
The platform shows not only headlines but also the first sentence of each story. This gives users more context and helps them decide whether they want to keep reading.

3. White space
You’ve got to love all the white space. The Skimmer is clean and simple—it gives one room to carefully explore the featured articles, take it easy and move on. No rush. Nothing can be more overwhelming than content cluttered on the same page with millions of links and images competing for your attention.

4. Ad-free
Encountering only one Blackberry display ad felt like eating a piece of pound cake. My reading wasn’t interrupted by “creative” ads and I really focused on the stories I was initially interested in.

5. Community-friendly
If registered for TimesPeople, one can recommend articles to other members, and share the reading experiences with friends. Although this feature needs an upgrade, it is a great first step to get the community feel that news sites need.

6. Mobile usage
Presented by Blackberry, the application is clearly ideal for smart phones. And if you haven’t heard yet, 2010 will be the year of mobile.

7. Customizable
Lastly, the browser is customizable and users can change the look of the Skimmer, choosing from seven different templates. On the right hand side, one can easily select a news section, blog title or a topic. In addition, the Skimmer offers keyboard shortcuts to make the reading experience even more fluid.

So, what do you think?

Sure you can join social media as a baby

In facebook, new media technologies, social media on December 17, 2009 at 5:07 pm

You probably have at least one friend who has been uploading photos of her baby on Facebook. Pictures appear of the toddler’s first steps; videos show the toddler’s first words. As the child grows, you might get introduced to her new outfits and kindergarten friends. Unknowingly, the baby has been on social media since her birth.

That’s the topic my college friends were heatedly discussing over lunch the other day. They insisted that every person should be allowed to make a conscious decision about whether or not she wants to participate in the social media culture. Interestingly enough, that is not what parents think.

“All I wanted was to avoid being one of those annoying parents who post photos of their kids on their own page,” wrote parent Joel Stein who created a separate Facebook account for his 3-month-old son this summer. Facebook, however, disabled the page since members under 13 years old cannot join the social utility. Naturally, Stein was angry that he had lost all the posted information and had to restore it for families and friends.

Similarly, many parents have expressed an interest in creating a social network for their toddlers. Totspot, for instance, is a Web site for parents and families to share photos, videos and milestones of their babies. Like Facebook, Totspot has a news feed and nurtures a community. “Just like Mom and Dad,” the site reads, “junior gets a profile on TotSpot, complete with status updates, real time updates in an activity stream, and a beautiful assortment of themes.”

But it is not just like mom and dad. Mom and dad can make conscious decision about what their status should be, who they want to be connected to or what pictures they like or dislike. By creating a separate junior profile for them to use, they are extending their own presence online.

Don’t get me wrong—I highly appreciate the value of community photo-sharing sites, and avidly use Picasa, Twitter and YouTube. When it comes to kids, however, don’t we have to take a step back and think about the repercussions of our actions?

Photo credit: amberlynnlane

Fire-walling online newspapers

In journalism, media, online content on December 3, 2009 at 3:16 pm

This week the BBC reported that Google enabled newspapers to restrict their content, which was previously shown by the search engine. After the fifth click, under the revised First Click Free programme, readers will be directed to subscription or payment pages. The move was in response to increasing criticisms that Google made profit off of the newspapers’ content.

Interestingly enough, this news complemented a presentation the Daily Hampshire Gazette delivered to my multimedia journalism class on Tuesday. Since 2004, the local newspaper covering the Hampshire county has put most of its stories behind a firewall.

“We were criticized when we first did it,” said the publisher Jim Foudy. The Gazette received emails asking why readers should pay for its content, when even the New York Times was available for free online. Well, because reputable small-scale newspapers can afford to take this risk—their content is unique enough and won’t face the type of competition the Times does.

“What we do best is local news in the Hampshire country,” said Foudy. The Gazette is not trying to be the Boston Globe, he added. It is a small community publication that wants to deliver local news.

At first, when all newspapers shifted their content online for free, the Gazette followed suit. But it soon changed its strategy, realizing that the money expected to pour in from online advertising, never did. The local businesses didn’t agree to pay the same amount for online banners as they paid for print.

This dynamic surprised me. Didn’t advertisers want to measure their return on investment on the Web? In the past, as Foudy observed, newspapers used to measure readership by letters to the editor and calls. Now, they could measure traffic and demographics.

Yet businesses shy away from this new advertising channel. Maybe because they are local and traditional vendors; maybe because they don’t have an online presence. For some reason, the Gazette’s advertisers felt more secure about their banners staying in print. “Attitudes haven’t caught up with reality,” Foudy said.

Sooner rather than later, this reality will change. Until then, newspapers will be fire-walling their online content.

Photo Credit: Giuseppe Bognanni

New media for social change

In media, new media technologies, Zapatistas on December 2, 2009 at 6:55 pm

There has been a lot of talk about how new media technologies can bring social change. The Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico, is an example of the way a local movement can transcend national borders and connect thousands of supporters worldwide through enhanced communication channels. My video below demonstrates this dynamics:

The international support network that the Zapatistas built didn’t remain only in the virtual world. It transcended the cyberspace and turned into a series of very specific physical actions–U.S. and Canadian nongovernmental organizations reached out to the Mexican NGOs; Italian governmental figures signed letters demanding a peaceful resolution between the Zapatistas and the Mexican state; American supporters organized aid caravans and collected donations and materials for the impoverished communities in Chiapas.

Though there is a lot of space for improvement and progress, the first steps have been made. The international community can raise awareness with the click of a mouse. As Zapatista’s spokesperson Subcommandante Marcos said, “The fact that this type of news has sneaked out through a channel that is uncontrollable, efficient and fast is a very tough blow. The problem that anguishes Gurria is that he has to fight an image he cannot control from Mexico, because the information is simultaneously everywhere.”

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