More Global Communities

As journalists become more free in their spaces of work, we see more global community sites popping up like this one, called This is Diversity. It’s a global community of journalists that can submit any piece of news, as long as your adhere to their terms and conditions (which are basically, don’t copy and paste from other news sources.)

From their website: ThisIsDiversity (TiD) is a place for people of all backgrounds to gather and be heard. We make it easy to access diverse perspectives on the latest news and events. We believe that everyone has a story – TiD encourages visitors to contribute news, opinion and analysis.

I like this page because it is set up simply, but has added a concept of debate to the news. When an article is posted, any member has the opportunity to start a debate on that topic. Unfortunately, when I tried to read debates on topics already written, every topic came up with ZERO comments, meaning no one has debated any of these topics? Even when I clicked on “Top Debates,” those debates had no comments. This seems like a great idea – since so many websites are using comments (facebook, twitter, etc), it would be a great tool for this site. Maybe no one is using it? The articles are getting a good amount of views, but I could only find one article on the site that had 1 comment!

Another cool thing about this site is that when you create an account and page, TiD tracks your views. For every 1,000 views your account site gets (reads your articles) you get $10. Once you get to $100, you get paid!

Another downside to this site, is that every time I clicked on one of their news tabs, the entire site lost its framing and went crazy, making it unreadable.

I definitely wouldn’t consider this a serious news site, but its an interesting take on debating issues that are going on here and abroad. I think this site may be trying to do too much before all the kinks are worked out, even though it has been around for two years. Basically, I’m a little confused about the non-workings of this website, though I think it is based on a good idea of citizen journalism – needs better execution.

One last thing on TiD. The contributor pages and each article shows a picture of the person who wrote it, kind of like a facebook profile picture. I think it is really interesting how different sites are taking aspects of social media sites like facebook and using the familiarity of them for their own sites.

Change your thinking.

This week I decided to search for more of a news type site rather than just tools us journalists can use. I stumbled across WorldChanging. Its a magazine site with stories about changing the world into a greener place.  I like the site because it is set up as a news site, but definitely has an editorial voice on what stories will be published here.

I really like the set up and aesthetics of this site. It is really easy to navigate and you are able to read about some interesting stuff.

WorldChanging was started as a nonprofit media organization in Seatle, WA as a way to get a lot of minds together thinking about solutions to some of our world’s problems. There are only 7 people on staff, but they have writers from all over the world that submit stories on a regular basis.  According to their about us: We have brought awareness to issues like refugee aid, renewable energy and innovative solutions for improving building, transportation, communication and quality of life.

I really like that the site has tabs that lets you travel to specific areas of interest in sustainability. The tabs are stuff (what we use and buy), shelter (how to make greener places to live), cities (read a great story about car-free cities!), community (arts and interest pieces from around the world) , business, politics, and finally planet.

Although this is definitely not an objective website, the ability to publish what you want on the internet is a great way to get your ideas out. The trend towards a more sustainable lifestyle will only get more popular and it’s important for people to be able to get quality information about it.

This site is set up so the ads are present, but not overwhelming or distracting. I think it’s interesting that this is a magazine for a non-profit and is using the internet to promote their message but is set up like a news driven site. It is not flashy and I didn’t find any video, but this site truly uses its content to drive its success. Throughout each story, there are hyperlinks to previous related stories from other WorldChanging’s writers.

“Worldchanging’s solutions-based journalism has played an important role in revealing formerly obscure innovations and groundbreaking ideas, thereby pushing forward the sustainability movement and changing the way we think about the planet’s most pressing problems. “

I think we could all get a lot more done if we continuously thought in a solutions mindset, rather than a problems mindset. The progress of sustaining journalism could learn a lot from WorldChanging’s attitude.

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Save the Allen & Jemison Building in downtown Tuscaloosa!

Crimespotter to the rescue

For this week’s techscan, I wanted to pick something that journalists would be able to use when writing stories. Again on 10,000 Words (everyone should go to this site!) I found extensive articles and blogs on making maps for your website. I really love 10,000 Words because it directs you to sites that teach you ways to improve your own (news)websites.

The map that I found really useful for journalists was created by Statmen Design and is an interactive site called San Francisco CrimeSpotter . The site works like any Google map but allows you to narrow down your search of crimes in the city to day, hour, type of crime, commute/nightlife. They have covered just about every category you would want to search. The creators of the site do say, however, that the site is not affiliated with the San Francisco Police Department.  With this being said, I still think it would be great for journalists to use if they were looking for a story.

For example, last Friday,  there were four thefts, three narcotics incidents, a robbery and a simple assault all occurring in a small radius of the city. Were any of these events related? Or caused by the same person? This area of town might a) not be a place to hang out in or b) a place to find a great story. It could also indicate a lower SES section or locations that lend themselves to more crimes. I think this site would be great for every major city to have, not only for journalists, but for people looking to move to that city.

The problems I have with this website are first, that it is not affiliated with the Police Department. Where and how is this site updated without help from the PD? This makes me question the credibility of the creators of the site. Also, once the site is running for a while, having multiple layers added. One map could show economic demographics, bus stops or bars that may encourage crime, and finally archive these events over a couple years. This way you could track the patterns of crime. Is this a new trend or has it been occurring the last twenty years. What is the reason for this trend.

I really like that this site, while probably very complex to create, is very simple for anyone to navigate. I really think it’s importance is raising questions for journalists with a nose for a good story to analyze and seek out. Also, news sites would be wise to use this tool for their own city. Anything that can inform their reading public that is interactive and easy to use will be helpful.

10,000 Words has tons of interactive maps – check them out under the “Maps” tag on the  left.

Ctrl. Alt. Delete.

It’s been that kind of day.  The search for my first critique-able website started at 10,000 words, courtesy of Dr. Lowrey. www.10000words.net/ if you want to check it out. It has links to everything from articles about online and citizen journalism, to how to make your blogs better, to links to an unthinkable amount of sites that include what we have been talking about with  multimedia and technology. It is through 10,000 words that I found Spreed. A combination of what I’m guessing is Speed + Reading = Spreeding (the act that happens on this website).

Check it out here: http://spreednews.com/Home.aspx

Although I thought internet news reading could not get any quicker, faster, instantaneous or whichever word you would like to put here, the inventors of Spreed have kicked it up a notch. While we all are used to scanning the headlines on CNN.com or Yahoo! News to find what we want to read, Spreed’s site gives you the chance to customize what sites you would like to read (kind of like Google Reader), gives you the top headlines from those sites, and then – get this – tells you how long it will take you to read the article.  Or so I thought.

Here’s how it works. Click on the article you think you want to “spreed.” I’m not in a real news type of mood, so I click on People.com’s feed and choose the story entitled “Stars Reveal Sex and the City Wedding Details.” Clearly breaking news. Spreed tells me I will be able to read this article in 27 seconds. You open the link to the story and you see a Youtube-like video type player, click play and words – not a video, and definitely not an article – start running through on the screen.  Below the viewer is a moveable bar to speed up or slow down the pace at which the viewer flashes the words of the articles at you. I tried reading this at the 27 second mark set by Spreed. Impossible. I slowed it down to about a minute, and I could still barely keep up. It may be hard to explain, but you have to try it.

Thankfully, after you are finished straining your eyes at a black and white strobe light-esque slide show, you have the option to actually go to the site the article was found, and read it like a normal person would. What a novel idea.

I’m surprised 10,000 words actually linked Spreed on their site. I can’t imagine they would be promoting this type of website speed reading service. It is basically taking your GoogleReader and hitting fast forward. I know we live in a world of the instantaneous news, but this is taking it a little bit too far. If the attention spans of readers are this short, I don’t think I want to publish anything of substance. The time and effort of any journalistic work will be reduced, literally, to 27 seconds.

I don’t think tools like GoogleReader and Rss feeds are bad, you are still (hopefully) going to the sites and reading the article. This helps with page hits, links to other sites, etc. Spreed is basically spoonfeeding you a story one word at a time, very quickly. I can’t see Spreed catching on anytime soon unless it gets some unwarranted attention from social networking sites. Final verdict: This type of new technology will only hurt journalism and online news.

A Spreed version of this rant (critique) will be available  in a 175 second format shortly.

Journalists click here.

This isn’t my post for the week but I stumbled upon this list – 10 Ugly Truths about Modern Journalism. Take a look.

http://www.10000words.net/2009/09/10-ugly-truths-about-modern-journalism.html