11.29.2007

Web 1.0 - Vision; Web 2.0 - Contact

I wish I could remember the first time I ever experienced the Internet. Perhaps I had just finished an intense case of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and finally dialed up to do research for a paper for my 7th grade literature class. I really don't remember what I used the Internet for before my junior year of high school. That is so weird to me.

I have vague memories of looking up spark notes for books that I (didn't) read for class, but not much else. I guess that is why there is a distinction between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Before I came to college, I could really only use the Internet to get information. Today, I can contribute information. Anyone can read this blog right now, if they just know where to look. Anyone can see what music I am listening to right now if they click here. And now, when I get information, I don't just get a few paragraphs of black text on white background - I can get videos, audio, pictures, flash animation and
contact. I can interact with people.

I know AIM provided this phenomenon many years ago, but I never really used it. Probably because I didn't want to wait for my mom to get off the phone or for my friend's mom to get off the phone. Today, everyone is in virtual contact with each other.

This is what Web 2.0 is to me. It is contact. I am in contact with my friend in Switzerland (which reminds me, I need to mail that letter - gotta have a little snail-mail mixed in for good measure). I can contact my parents when I need money. Then I can sign on my bank account and watch the balance magically rise (I wish). I can watch a video of a concert that I wish I had been at last week and then send that video to all my friends. It may not be direct, but it is immediate and it is contact.

When I look at this with a broader lens, it is even more amazing. The whole world is able to be in contact very immediately. Of course, there are parts of the world that don't have these luxuries and there are other parts of the world have them censored, but the capability is there. I can only imagine the ways that this contact is helping solve problems in the world by making them known and providing a wealth of ideas for ways to solve them.

Web 2.0 may just be semantics, but there is a VERY obvious difference in the way the Internet functions now than it did 10 years ago. The Internet is constantly evolving and changing. Web 3.0 will probably give me the capability to physically touch someone across the world. Well, probably not, but that would be far out.

11.20.2007

Good luck in California, Staci!

California roadtrip - July 22, 2006




My first home in Belmont, California


John Lennon is dead



Co-founder of The Beatles and peace activist, John Lennon, was shot outside his Manhattan home Monday night. His killer, Mark David Chapman, waited outside Lennon's 72nd Street residence and shot him five times as he entered the building at 10:50 p.m. Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival in the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 p.m.

The multimedia I would use:
- Photos of the crime scene with descriptions of the homicide
- Video of interview with Yoko Ono
- Video of Mark David Chapman, either his response or just him being taken away
- Video of fan reactions
(I would probably lump all videos into one)
- Photo slideshow of Lennon during his life and career with cut lines that describe his social and political impact on the world
- This might not have been possible, but a slideshow of Chapman as well, outlining his depression and obsession with The Bealtes and Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
- Area where readers can submit stories of favorite Lennon moments or just simple reactions to the news of his death
- And finally, a media player where readers can select one of Lennon's songs to listen to while reading about the shooting


People to contact for information:
- Eyewitnesses as well as fans that gathered on the scene afterward
- Yoko Ono
- New York Police Department
- Mark David Chapman
- Dana Reeves
- Anne Leibovitz
- Paul, George and Ringo
- Fans from around the world
- David Geffen


11.16.2007

11.15.2007

Paste pitch

magazine is a monthly publication with the tagline, "signs of life in music, film and culture." Their focus is primarily on music, appealing to young adults "who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and song craft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music across a broad stylistic spectrum."

The magazine is very innovative and their Web site is very interactive. Each issue includes a sampler CD with about 20 songs by new and established artists, and their Web site includes podcasts and blogs as well as a limited-time "pay what you want" subscription offer.

If I were able to publish on Paste's Web site, I would do a story on the British band, Radiohead. With the absence of a record deal sparking the unusual release of their latest LP, In Rainbows, solely on their Web site, and with fans able to name their own price for the album, Radiohead has possibly broken new ground for music distribution. The lack of marketing and hype that record companies usually put into the release of an album shortened fans' anticipation.
Fans only had to wait 10 days from the news of the album's existence to its actual release.

My story would focus on an interview with Radiohead's front-man, Thom Yorke, where he talks about this unusual way to release a record and whether or not their intention was to shake the ground beneath the record industry's feet. And finally, we would discuss the beautiful music hidden behind the unusual method . . .

Sailing to the moon: Radiohead breaks down barriers with the release of In Rainbows

British band, Radiohead, has innovated rock music continually over the past 15 years; now they begin to innovate the way we purchase rock music. Thom Yorke sits down to tell us how that wasn't really his intention and whether or not Radiohead's music has come full-circle.

For the web presentation, I would include these multimedia:
- audio, or even video of the interview with Mr. Yorke
- a track list for In Rainbows, with each track linking to an audio clip of the music
- statistics of album sales for In Rainbows (a simple chart or graph)
- links to performances of songs from the album (From the Basement, Radiohead.tv, etc.)



- fans' stories of receiving the album (waiting up all night to get the email allowing the album's download, etc.)
- images of artwork to be included in the album's discbx
- a time line of Radiohead's career with images of each album cover and statistics on each album's sales performance

It's the 21st century, it's the 21st century . . .


11.13.2007

He stole HER records.

A video and a sequence of images outlining a current obsession.








Little boxes made of ticky-tacky

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Actually, its more like a kinda-like/couldn't-care-less relationship. I think I have deleted my account three or four times only to come crawling back when I really need to download pictures of friends. Also, Facebook didn't even exist when I was a freshman, so I know first-hand that the world still works fine without it.

I can't really speak about any other social networking site because I don't have accounts with/have never heard of them. I used to have an account with Myspace for a short while, but soon deleted it because:
A) it only functioned 11 percent of the time
B) men from Maryville hit on me via obscene and ignorant messages
and C) I had no idea why I needed one.

Suffice it to say, Facebook does all and more than I could ever want a networking site to do. Probably too much, actually. I am so tired of getting invites to inane applications and groups for Stephen Colbert. It seems like people are fabricating common interests at this point. I don't want to be a hypocrite, so I'll say this: I like silly things too, I just don't like scrolling for 5 minutes to find what I wrote on someone's wall.

Facebook's redeeming quality is the photo application. This really was something that was impossible before. Without a digital camera, I often felt like my personal collection of tangible memories was lacking, but that problem is no longer.

So, in my opinion, Facebook isn't lacking anything - it has too much. But honestly, I really just don't care. I miss the days when speakerphone was mind-blowing technology and could entertain my roommate and I for a whole evening. At least dancing will always happen.

11.09.2007

eating the world is easy

This poem was written in April 2006. It is the most cathartic piece I've ever written; the three-part process stretching across several days. The imagery was more real to me than what actually inspired it - germinating a new bodily sense. My new taste buds thirsted for salt water and leaves. And, of course, I discovered that eating the world is easy.


1.
i ate the earth in one bite.
its oceans and plains felt
the wet of my tongue.
dreadfully rural.
horn seeps,
world waits in dark suspension,
and starlight flicks white dashes beneath
the sound.
echo...
sound.

grass coats my throat still
making me want to die again.

2.
i ate the earth in one bite.
its oceans and plains felt
the wet of my tongue.
wonderfully domestic.
appliances hum,
dirt floats in alluring anticipation,
and sound is an afterthought behind
the wind.
familiar wind.

clouds are in my pocket still
making me want to die again.

3.
i ate the earth in one bite.
its oceans and plains felt
the wet of my tongue.
silently haunting.
fog bleeds,
water laps in pooled premonition,
and darkness rifles my misery before
its prowl.
midnight prowl.

bedrock cuts my feet still,
making me want to die again.



11.08.2007

Always on my mind

A very unoriginal (and creepy) music video made during class - I actually ripped myself off.

idea

i have an idea -
let's put the top down and drive to a place where
we've never been before and lay

in grass and leaves that aren't yet
dead, they still have colors -
red, yellow, orange, and brown.
autumn, please don't count your dead before
winter's darkness buries them.

until then, i have an idea -
let's grow our hair and shout our secrets from
the bottom of thick-trunked trees

whose bark is cold to the touch when
we climb into its carousel of
twisting arms and forgotten fingers that
we give names to and make remembered as the
southern wind bends them in its shivery chill.

i have an idea -
let's drink steamy coffee and tangle limbs when
you can't hear me whisper words


of love into your untrained ear
that never senses growing weeds where
travelers stop to catch a breath and wrap their hands
and brush their cheeks and cover up when
no one cares to build a fire.

hey, i have an idea -
let's gather jackets and vests and scarves
and pack our bags for a trip where

we don't know where we're going until
the train stops screeching in the central
station of some great city with soft-white windows,
like bearded men with newspaper sleeves,
who ride coattails through fluorescent streets.

i have an idea -
let's learn to dance before december arrives
so we can foxtrot through the wintertime.


11.06.2007

El Paso, Texas

Just four days before the crash on Highway 1. I will never forget this sunrise or the trash blowing around our feet.

Knoxville News Sentinel

During our class trip to the Knoxville News Sentinel, I realized a few things about the way a news web site works. For some reason I never thought about how the online and print versions are distinctly different, yet still work together so well. I ignorantly thought a news web site was run by one guy at a computer all day flipping already-written word documents onto a template and uploading them onto the web. I was excited to learn first-hand how much different work goes into producing an interesting and smooth news site.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the size of the building. I immediately realized it is no small task to write, print and transport thousands of newspapers all across East Tennessee. Once inside, I took particular notice to the newsroom full of cubicles with people writing and researching the day's stories. This was all contrasted when we entered the conference room where the directors and producers of the News Sentinel's web site talked to us about what they do each and every day. It seemed more intimate and close. And more importantly, it seemed more exciting.

Today's society needs everything now - we want instant gratification. Though I don't necessarily want to subscribe to that proclivity, unfortunately it is true for me much of the time. People are too busy for time these days, and web sites give me the freedom to access the information I want, when I want. If I don't want to wait for the 6 o'clock news, I don't have to. This is the beauty of the Internet.

The multimedia director spoke a good bit about staying ahead of the competition, but he wasn't talking about other newspapers or their web sites. He was talking about television stations and their web sites. It was interesting to hear about how they do everything they can to break a story before local television news. But the things that hit home the most were what the online producers talked about.

When they talked about how they work together to come up with ideas, shoot video and make the site run smoothly, I was actually able to see myself doing the things that they do everyday. It inspired me to learn as much as I can about the field of online journalism now, so when I enter a job or start a career I will already have a great skill set to build on.

The Knoxville News Sentinel seems to doing a good job keeping up with the trends. I love examining the home pages of web sites to see how much content is simply one click away. The News Sentinel has a great homepage with features, blogs, columns and additional content at the user's finger tips. The videos and photos add a great deal to its appeal as well. In comparison to other news sites, the News Sentinel can hold its own. And I feel they are a spectacular example of a smaller city's news site. They know their audience, and they know that many people these days - especially my age group - will not read the hard copy of the newspaper, so they give all that information and more using their online medium.

JEM 222: So Far...

This has been the first class I've taken where any lectures have been taught from another city. It was definitely different to have someone teaching me from their apartment in New York City via video chat, but for the most part, it worked just fine. Of course there were the first couple of days where I couldn't hear much of what Peggy said, and Staci had to scroll around on her Powerpoint slides because they were bigger than our screen, but most new things have kinks that need tweaking.

The one thing that I always appreciate in my different classes is when I feel like the professor actually knows me. And both of you have done a great job of that this semester. That is why I enjoyed being able to talk to Peggy on the phone and have the chance to ask her questions and get some advice. I really appreciate the time you took to really consider my questions and talk about my writing style. And thank you for going so far as to ask your co-workers for links and references for me. Our phone meeting really helped me start to figure out what I may be doing after I graduate this May.

As for the whole semester, I feel like I have gained confidence - partly because I already knew how to do several of the things we learned this semester, but also because I was assigned to do things that I wouldn't have done myself and I learned from it. The one thing I wished I could have learned more about in the class would be computer skills like Photoshop, Flash, HTML and other coding. During the semester I realized more and more just how useful those skills would come in working in the field of online journalism.

And I believe this is where my perception of online journalism has changed over the course of the semester. Like most of the students in the class, I don't really like the idea of being a reporter - having a beat and investigating the latest local house fire. But once I started learning that there is so much that goes into producing a news-related web site, I was excited at all the opportunities that a career in this field could offer me. Though I still have no idea what I will end up doing with my life, I'm not dreading working for a news organization anymore.


11.05.2007

Should media Digg their stories?

Apparently, web sites like Digg and del.icio.us are pretty popular. I had actually never been to them, nor did I even know what they were until we learned about them in class last month. The basic idea of the sites is to have users contribute content, whether they are simply linking stories from other sites or creating stories of their own, and these links are rated based on views, votes or "digging."

Upon a visit to Digg, I noticed a wide variety of stories and videos from wedgie-proof underwear to illegal gorilla slaughtering - not exactly the most cohesive content. But, I guess that's not really the point. The point is to have a site where people can see what other people are reading and watching. And, inevitably, media sites have used these sites as ways to gain extra traffic.

The article about the Orlando Sentinel using these sites illustrates the idea with the example of using Facebook to gain extra traffic to a story about a drinking water shortage during a football game. This seems like a completely different phenomenon to me. Facebook is a social networking web site. People don't use Facebook to see what news stories or videos are the most popular at the moment, they use Facebook to see what their friends are doing and to communicate with people they know, for the most part. It is an off-shoot of its popularity that has given some media the idea to post content to gain traffic, but it is not its main purpose.

However, sites like Digg exist primarily to give readers an idea of what is popular on the web. And if that popularity is going to remain solely up to users, then media shouldn't be able to link their own stories to these sites. But, because I enjoy media fragmentation and would rather go to specific web sites for specific information, it doesn't really matter to me what happens to Digg or del.icio.us. I guess that should be left up to the readers to decide.

11.01.2007

paste magazine: web site evaluation

has been the only magazine that I consistently read for the past couple of years. In my mind, it separates itself from its competitors simply through its tagline, “signs of life in music, film and culture.” I chose to evaluate their web site because I knew that they had a very interactive and innovative web site and because I wanted to know more about it.

Paste Magazine released its first issue in July 2002 when it was a quarterly. It soon became bi-monthly and since August 2006, it has been released monthly. I usually purchase each issue separately in a drug store or the UT candy shop, but I recently became a subscriber because of their web site’s new “pay what you want” subscription deal (more on that later). Paste Magazine is primarily a music publication, appealing to young adults “who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and song craft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music across a broad stylistic spectrum.” But they do not limit themselves to music, as they added film to their tagline in December 2004 with American director Wes Anderson gracing that issue’s cover. Paste also produces full sections on books, games and culture in each issue.

Paste has many obvious competitors. Music publications have been dominators in the magazine industry for many years, with Rolling Stone, Q and Blender, among others, seeming to saturate the market. But with time, the music market only becomes more fragmented and publications will continue to appear that cater to specific, and sometimes extreme musical appetites. Also, in the very recent past, music magazines have been forced to compete with paperless publications. Online media monsters like Pitchfork Media and smaller online competitors like Stereogum, and Tiny Mix Tapes have entered the market with a huge impact. If you purchase a CD today, the sticker on the front is more likely to boast a good review from Pitchfork Media than Rolling Stone. These web sites have been known to make or break an artist in the very beginning stages of their career.

In order to have any kind of impact as a music publication with today’s “one click away” mentality, you must give your audience what they want as immediately as possible, and you must be unique in your method and mission. Paste Magazine has differentiated themselves from their competitors by looking for something a little different in their content. They search for “signs of life” in today’s music and entertainment. They search for music and films that seek change above CD or ticket sales, warmth above wealth, and fervor above fame. Paste does a superior job of profiling these artists and bringing them down from their stage-in-the-sky height to ground level - where audiences across the world can read about them without neglect. Paste also searches for meaning in the media that is outside this world. They often brush issues of religion, God and morality.

But perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Paste Magazine is the inclusion of a complete mix CD with each issue. In the center of each magazine, there is a CD with songs from new artists that you most likely haven’t heard much about, including the artist on the cover of the respective issue. Not only can Paste readers skim articles about the favorite and future favorite artists, they can actually hear the artist voice and melody. No other magazine does this quite like Paste does.

Paste Magazine’s web site is very interactive. It looks a bit like a news web site, but prettier and all about music. The home page shows the cover of the most recent issue with the ability to let you read most of the content from the issue online, for free. There is also sections for reader’s polls, contests, the “Paste Station” – an online radio station, and the new “name your price” subscription deal. Possibly following the lead of British musical innovators, Radiohead, Paste will, for a limited time, allow readers to pay as little as a dollar an issue for an entire year. I immediately signed up, saving myself around $70 and 11 trips to Walgreens over the next year.

The web site also utilizes video, photo slideshows and audio. The Paste blogs area lets users read the ramblings of Paste writers and contributors as well as see the latest videos and photos of their favorite artists. The site offers such a great amount of content as to rival the magazine itself with things like the Paste Culture Club podcast link. The most recent episode is an interview with the star of the new Sean Penn movie, Into the Wild. The site also displays banner ads – mostly for upcoming albums by artists that have been featured in previous issues.

There are not too many things that I think Paste could be doing differently. A couple of things that I wish they would include on the web site is a complete list of all the songs on that month’s sampler CD with links to a stream of each tune. Also, though the Culture Club podcast is great, I wish the site offered audio clips from the interviews that produced the articles and profiles that fill each issue. For the most recent issue, I would love to be able to hear Ryan Adams talking about incorporating himself into his backing band, The Cardinals, rather than just reading about it. Also, one thing I love about Pitchfork Media are their lists. At the end of the year, Pitchfork creates lists of the best and worst albums, songs, and videos from the year. Although Paste has created lists in the past, like the “100 Best Living Songwriters,” but I wish they’d do it more. With the overwhelming majority of the site’s content, I am very satisfied.