links

journalism / links / Monday / things to read — Comments Off on Things to read
20
Apr 15

Things to read

The Monday post with a ton of interesting media and journalism links. Since we have so many, let is jump right to it.

‘No-hands’ ad sales challenge legacy media:

Ever since legacy publishers and broadcasters got serious about selling interactive advertising, they have struggled with how to do it.

Should veteran ad representatives be cross-trained to sell portfolios of traditional and digital advertising? This came to be known as the two-leg sales call.

Should specially trained digital ad specialists accompany legacy reps on four-leg sales calls?

Should digital marketing strategists accompany digital ad specialists and legacy reps on six-leg sales calls?

Now, some of the biggest names in digital publishing are going in a decidedly different direction than flooding the zone with sales power: They are moving to zero-leg sales calls that eliminate human beings altogether.

Under this plan that media access to networking data becomes even more important.

Here’s more on that now, The most concerning element of Facebook’s potential new power:

Much has been made of Facebook’s potential new partnership with the Times, Buzzfeed, and a handful of other news organizations, who may soon start posting stories directly on Facebook instead of having Facebook readers reach their content through a link. This move has the potential to make a lot of money for cash-strapped news organizations and produce another anchor into the news world for the cash-flush social network.

It also has the potential to rob news organizations of their soul. Felix Salmon believes this could kill the news brand (it could). Others, like Mathew Ingram, argue that it could give Facebook too much control over which news organizations thrive and which will die when the social media company decides to tweak its algorithm (it does). But the problem is much broader than that.

What this discussion has missed is perhaps the most crucial element of Facebook’s new power: the right to choose between the free expression of ideas or to instead impose censorship when it deems content unworthy. That should worry the public, because when given that power in the past, Facebook has ruled with an iron fist.

Interesting video and social media reads:

HBO gets prickly at Periscope over Game of Thrones live streams
Is Periscope a new frontier for TV piracy?
Snapchat Is No Longer Selling Its Original Ad Unit, Brand Stories
Fusion to Turn Its Snapchat Channel Into a Network With Five New Shows
Dashcam video shows Arizona officer intentionally running over suspect

That last one isn’t about social media, but look at how CNN is integrating tweets into the story. That’s a nice step in a good direction. It augments copy, demonstrates different perspectives and isn’t just reporting about stuff a “reporter” found on Twitter.

The evolving nature of things … Hey, Google! Check Out This Column on Headlines:

THE headline was perfect: “China’s Tensions with the Dalai Lama Spill Into the Afterlife.” Engaging, informative and clever, it sat atop a story about reincarnation and the succession plan for the Tibetan Buddhist leader, accompanied by a photo of the golden-robed monk.

Then there was this headline, which also did its job, but made my head spin: “Apple Unveils iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite at Developer Conference.” Cluttered and notably lacking in grace, it was designed to be found by those searching the Internet for specific terms.

If New York Times headlines are supposed to be lyrical — or even just elegantly spare — the Apple one would seem to flunk the test. But these days, the test has changed, and so have many aspects of headline writing at The Times.

A few forward-looking think pieces:

The Boston Globe’s David Skok on pushing digital change
You Don’t Need A Digital Strategy, You Need A Digitally Transformed Company
How to Get Your Game On in the Newsroom

Sad and inevitable news from Delta State over in Mississippi:

College Board votes to cut Delta State journalism program
State press association denounces Delta State for eliminating journalism major, shuttering newspaper print product

The story goes that the president is cutting back for budget purposes. The other version of the story goes that he didn’t like some of the coverage the award-winning Delta Statement produced. Here’s the news editor of the Statement, Connor Bell: Long live print newspapers. Also, here’s the editor-in-chief, Elizabeth Zengaro: The power of the press.

The week before all they did was win three first place awards, second place in general excellence, and a dozen more honors in other categories at the 2014-15 Mississippi Press Association competition. And now they’re covering the forced shutdown of their publication. Various people fought the good fight, but, in the end, you’re reduced to watching a program shut down, students transferring, a campus go under-covered and simply quoting Don Quixote.

Finally, two great references to bookmark:

Verification Handbook, v2
2015 Pulitzer Prize winners

journalism / links / Monday / photo / Samford / things to read — Comments Off on Things to read
13
Apr 15

Things to read

Copeland Cookie Day in my Storytelling class:

cookies

There’s a great vintage photo at the bottom of the post. First, here are a bunch of great links for you to check out, some of them neatly arranged by category.

Social media platform pieces:

Snapchat is building a research team to do deep learning on images, videos
How college students use Snapchat
Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015
What USA Today learned covering the Final Four on Periscope and Snapchat
The most concerning element of Facebook’s potential new power

Next is the section for those here for journalism matters. But first, this, from our editor-in-chief:

I had her in a freshman class and you could tell, even then, how sharp and squared away she was. In the years since, she’s just begun to realize her great potential. It has been great fun to watch. (And, to her mother, I offer my joking apology and sincere congratulations.)

Some great pieces of a journalism nature:

Tips to make you a better storyteller
Washington Post Exec. Editor on journalism’s transition from print to digital
USA Today’s David Callaway on gaming the news
How smartphone video changes coverage of police abuse
Editor column: A reminder of journalism’s power to do the right thing
News media’s sloppy week: Column
Free Tools To Exploit Free Data
2014 IRE Award winners

And a few sign-of-the-time links:

LinkedIn, Lynda.com and the Skills You’ll Need for Your Next Job
In-Store Mobile Shopping: 61% Compare Prices, 52% Use Shopping Lists, 49% Take Product Photos

You might have seen her on ESPN, or if you’ve been in any of my classes or just like a great story, but the women’s college basketball player that captured our imagination last year has died. The local CBS affiliate produced a beautiful obit, which, really, was about how she lived: Lauren Hill (1995-2015). A beautiful young woman, a young life, well-lived, but far too briefly.

If you’re looking for something charming, Moxie is a therapy dog with a GoPro.

I’m just going to leave this headline right here and let it do the rest: Reduced sentence for 3-year-old girl’s rapist sparks outrage.

Changes coming to state policies on industrial recruitment … Old incentives brought big wins, but also big losses to Alabama.

We’d like to thank the state of New York for creating an environment that prompted Remington to move south … Huntsville led state in 2014 job creation

A strange twist to the tale of that $800,000 painting ‘Antiques Roadshow’ discovered in Birmingham:

The story behind a Mountain Brook businessman’s prized Frederic Remington painting that has been appraised for $600,000 to $800,000 just got even more intriguing.

The director of the Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, N.Y, said Tuesday that she has discovered the nearly 120-year-old painting of Mountain Brook real-estate executive Ty Dodge’s great-grandfather was obtained by Dodge’s family in a 1938 exchange that left the museum with two forged Remington pieces in return.

You have to pay close attention to that story to follow it — or I did, at least — but it is a great story for those that like museums, family heirlooms, art or misidentified forgeries.

And finally, go Dogs:

basketball

journalism / links / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off on Time to pack
7
Apr 15

Time to pack

It occurred to me today that I now travel enough that I don’t bother so much with the packing. Oh it has to be done, and sure, you need to make sure you bring enough socks and the right shoes, but it doesn’t require a lot of planning, or even concentration.

So it is that, on the night before a five day trip, I’ll probably get around to putting things in a bag around midnight.

Also, I’ve improved on the art of over-packing, so there’s that. Running shoes do take up a fair amount of space in a roller bag, though. And maybe I’ll actually use them. I haven’t done much of anything lately. No energy whatsoever, so there’s been no exercise. Probably because I haven’t done anything. Whatever it is, I’m sure it is a vicious cycle. Or maybe it is just a spell.

Things to read … because you can’t read without spelling.

*RImshot.*

Alabama and the Cycling Frontier:

We were in Alabama to speak at the first statewide bicycle summit, and to meet with a few communities interested in bicycle tourism. We were excited (after all, the South is the frontier for bike advocacy), but we truly had no idea what to expect from our week-long visit. Would it be a living stereotype? Would there be more to eat than fried chicken? Was it a joke to think that anyone might ride a bicycle there?

And if you follow along there’s a nice little travelog of these cycling advocate’s visits in stops around the state.

Overlooking yet another person’s need to think in stereotype, I rather like the idea of being on a frontier.

Talking to Female Cyclists 101:

Let’s face it, women that ride bikes are attractive. If you need a word for it, try using callipygian. Look it up. Not only does cycling build great muscle definition and lean characteristics, it also takes a “special” kind of person to be willing to push their limits, set goals, ride a bike for hours, and enjoy this sensation of training. I know it is tempting to ride up to that woman on the bike path and express your appreciation of her fit, form, and bike, but before you do, think before you speak. Complimenting a woman on her bike and her fitness may be one of the biggest compliments that can ever be given, but just like everything else you say to women, it is all in the way it is said and the context. Beware, she may be able to beat you up that climb, or have better power to weight ratio. If you make her mad, you may never see ride with her again.

It doesn’t take much to beat me up a hill. And I’m probably not talking to anyone while it is happening either.

‘Godmother of VR’ sees journalism as the future of virtual reality:

Like shoulder pads or frosted hair, virtual reality is often viewed as an relic of the 1980s, but not by former Newsweek reporter Nonny de la Peña.

The Los Angeles-based “Godmother of VR” is at the forefront of an endeavour to use the technology to usher in a form of immersive journalism in which viewers are placed within news stories and experience them viscerally.

Next week, De la Peña will unveil the latest in a series of graphic 3D reconstructions: the story of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old African American fatally shot by neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012.

We’ve been talking about this for a few years, futurist friends of mine who let me daydream with them, and in a few more years we’re going to see how right and wrong we were. It should lead to fantastic storytelling, either way.

A business plan canvas tool made for reporters, entrepreneurs and teachers:

Van Achter recently open-sourced a prototyping canvas that was used by each of the 30 projects he has mentored at Lab Davanac. He calls it the “Lean Journalism Canvas” and it’s based off business modeling tools that outline partners, resources, value propositions, and revenue streams. For each journalism project, Van Achter has students plan out things like hypothesis, team’s legitimacy, storytelling strategy, audience makeup, how they’ll track impact, and how will they generate revenue.

This prototyping tool helps surface many of the questions a media venture or simple reporting project should consider. This tool helps journalists and media entrepreneurs young and old think beyond the elevator pitch. It also makes a great journalism school teaching tool.

It’ll take more than a few players behaving badly to slow down that juggernaut: Despite Image Issues, NFL Grew Sponsorship Revenue.

South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder of Walter Scott:

A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away.

The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The Times has the video, but if you don’t want to watch the video, the piece will also walk you through the few chaotic seconds that end in tragedy. This story is wholly different without that bystander’s phone video, which makes a strong argument for body cameras.

That is a lot of powder: Colombian navy seizes more than 5 tons of cocaine on ship.

Hard to not find the foreboding anymore, isn’t it? Report: Russians Hacked White House:

The Russian government is responsible for a known cyberhack on the White House, according to a new report by CNN. In a segment with reporter Evan Perez, CNN said the hackers were able to access President Barack Obama’s schedule and call information.

This cyberattack on presidential privacy is related to a 2014 hack of the State Department, unnamed sources told CNN. One official said the hackers “owned” the State Department system during the hack, though the implications of this description are unknown.

I wonder if all of those old typewriters are in a warehouse somewhere. Maybe someone will want to dig those out of mothballs one day for some project or another. Hard to hack a mimeograph, too.

journalism / links / Monday / things to read / Twitter — Comments Off on Things to read
6
Apr 15

Things to read

Since it is Monday, and since this is the new gimmick for the day, you can find a ton of links in this post. But first, one of the best stories I read all last week: Anthony Ray Hinton free after nearly 30 years on Alabama Death Row:

After nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row, Hinton this morning walked out of prison a free man and into the arms of his sisters and friends.

He was freed when prosecutors dismissed the charges for his re-trial in the 1985 deaths of two fast-food manager after new testing on Hinton’s gun couldn’t prove the crime scene bullets were fired from the weapons.

“The sun does shine,” Hinton said as he was released.

“I want you to know there is a God. He sits high but he looks low. He will destroy but yet he will defend and he defended me,” Hinton said.

He said he wanted to say to the victims families that it was a “miscarriage ” of justice for them too.

Bad prosecution and bad evidence made for a bad conviction. I was in elementary school, but I remember the story of those murders. Something about how the shooter put the victims in the walk-in cooler before killing them really stuck with me.

Hinton, now out of prison, said he was going to find a buffet. That seems like a reasonable enough short-term plan for a guy who has been on death row for decades.

This is a terrific collection of presidential first pitches. I pretty much love everything about that series of photographs. How could you not?

Since this is, in part, the point of the day’s post …

A batch of journalism links:

DHS journalists recognized for spurring school board to action on MPR
A coast-to-coast newspaper shuffle is taking shape
Seymour Hersh on My Lai and the state of investigative journalism

And now a section on the Rolling Stone journalism review:

That last one might be hard to prove in legal proceedings, but it doesn’t mitigate the problems Rolling Stone has just now.

A batch of digital media links:

Meerkat and Periscope are fun apps but beware the sting in the tail
Here’s proof people are cutting the cord on cable TV
Twitter Publicly Launches Curator, Real-Time Search And Filtering Tool
Snapchat cuts off third-party apps, releases its first transparency report
‘News doesn’t belong on paper anymore’
Let’s talk about user-generated data
Augmented, Virtual Reality To Hit $150B, Disrupting Mobile By 2020
10 trusty digital tools journalists should try right now
In a bid for modern coverage, student paper tries a new Medium
The app Fradio allows you to create your own radio station

That last one is about a custom music show, but wait until the tech builds out to a Talk format.

And two quick advertising links:

The Economist’s Tom Standage on digital strategy and the limits of a model based on advertising

Digital Advertisers Focus on Holistic Customer Experience

And, if you’ve read this far, here’s the oral history of Max Headroom. Sadly, none of my students know who that is.

journalism / links / memories / Monday / things to read / video — Comments Off on Things to read
30
Mar 15

Things to read

The Monday update is pretty close to becoming a “Things to read” tradition. It comes about because I need something here, Mondays are usually fairly busy and, often, I have links waiting to be put somewhere. All of this is in play today, and so here we are.

Some of the historians on campus are running a blog about interesting moments in Samford history. This is a great anecdote, March Madness: Dead Cats and Burning Bulldogs:

In addition to the attempted arson of the Sherman Oak, the Birmingham News reported a few Howard girls being woken up in the middle of the night because they heard men chanting “Down with Howard, Up with Southern!” When they looked outside, there were three crosses on fire in front of the burning tree–an ominous warning and a symbol of Aryan superiority during the Civil Rights era.

By gameday, tensions had reached their boiling point. With less than four minutes left in the first half of the game, Howard was beating Southern 33-24. Chriss Doss later recalled the chaos that unfolded when a Southern player named Glen Clem took a cheap shot at Howard player Rudy Davidson.

Two private schools. The 1950s. Who knew?

This is really cool, Loachapoka High robotics team to compete in World Games:

The robotics team has been around for a few years, according to Thompson. Robert Harlan has been the head coach for two years.

Eight of the program’s 25 students will make the trip, Thompson said.

The school’s robotics program begins in third grade and goes all the way up to 12th grade, according to Thompson.

I did not know this was such a thing. I wonder, now, if this is the big threat to the brick-and-mortar car dealerships that we saw for music stores, video stores and all of the other things disrupted by the web: Online car dealership expands delivery service to Birmingham.

It takes a village … Boy’s ‘military haircut’ spurs suspension threat, outcry:

A young boy’s high and tight haircut meant to honor his soldier-stepbrother earned him the threat of suspension from an elementary school named for a Medal of Honor recipient, and the fallout from the incident has led a Tennessee school district to increase security measures.

There are educators and then there are “educators.”

Some journalism links:

HBO-Vice Deal Should Scare the S*** Out of TV News
The evolution of NPR’s picture stories
Math for journalists: Help with numbers
How news sites handle content around sensitive stories
30+ free tools for data visualization and analysis
Online Video Exploding Globally

Here’s an interesting essay on Periscope, the new livestreaming platform that Twitter recently purchased and rolled out for use. It is quickly — possibly, perhaps, who knows? — taking over the universe. Or is that still Meerkat? Maybe both. Perhaps neither. This essay is about the activity, not the branded platform. And there’s a great passage in this piece:

(T)his isn’t about money, this is about the bleeding edge. And that’s what’s so exciting about Meerkat and Periscope, it’s all brand new.

Like I watched a sunrise in New Zealand. A cove in Australia. Someone making coffee in Amsterdam and a snowy spring in Siberia. Call me a voyeur, we’re all voyeurs, and right now regular people are letting you into their lives, just for the fun of it, and it’s strangely riveting.

They do it for the love. No one wants to be alone anymore. They want hearts and comments and interaction. They’ll perform if you show up and comment.

And who are these people?

Nobodies. Those with time. Who are not reading the newspaper, who listen to the tribal drum and want to participate.

Huh? Huh?

Finally, it seems hard to believe, but it has been 10 years since Mitch Hedberg died. I saw him for the first time before anyone really knew who he was. I don’t even think he’d been on Letterman yet. I took a date to the Comedy Club and he was the attraction and the show was good. He just got better and better over the years, until his far-too-soon death. Here’s one of the many videos of his comedy you can find online.

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