Nice tool could help forgetful journalists

Note-taking web service

Those looking for another way to take notes might want to check a new service aimed at journalists: LedeLog  It's especially good for those of us who forget to save - this application does it automatically every 10 seconds.

It's equally good for those of us with a lot of drafts.. You can tag the notes/articles/blog entries and then search by tag or full content. A list of the most recent notes hangs on the right hand of the screen.

I like the option of sending your saved text to an email address, handy for those newsrooms set up to receive stories that way.

Use your Google account, or an OpenID, to sign in and rest assured that your data is your data. (OK, there is one warning that something critical might require sharing of data. From the site:

"nobody will view it unless a critical bug requires doing so"

Oh, one more thing. It's free for now but a note over on Google Apps Marketplace says pricing coming in three months. That's where you''ll also learn "professional journalists" have been using it since January 2009. No names and the quotes around professional journalists are mine. You know why.

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Tip of the hat to Louis Gray for alerting us through Lede.Log: GoogleApps hosted Media Workflow Launches He even tested the app by writing that blog post about it on it.  Follow some of the conversation and reaction on Buzz and on Gray's post.

Imagined conversations not always right; real talk can lead to hack

Some of my high school days have caught up with me. So has some carelessness that had me posting a favorite movie.

Through the wonders of Facebook connections, I talk regularly with some I went to high school. Many of us enjoy competing on FarmVille, something to bring us together after a 30-year lull.

Still, I was surprised when I learned that a friend regretted how we parted and wanted to explain why. Too bad we didn't talk about this years ago as we could've said each other a lot of grief. We still would've ended our relationship - for one, I wasn't allowed to have those in high school.

But, he has helped me remember things I had forgotten about and helped me discover how I still do some things I did then.

The conversation soothes, but it also makes me want to seek out others to ask why. Perhaps, just like with this one, I am wrong about the reason why we no longer communicate, much less are friends. Simple misunderstandings? Perhaps.

Sudden silence stings

It's hard for me to understand how for many days, even years, you share insights, able to talk about anything, everything, and the then suddenly silence. Unfortunately, if you share friends that silence becomes loud in the real world, or, as I'm learning on the Facebook, people do notice when suddenly posts and sharing stops.

I've also learned that it doesn't take years to make a connection that hurts when it breaks. Even when your head knows how ridiculous it sounds to be hurt about broken promises, I am. I want to believe the other person is the party who did wrong, not me.I'd even like to believe those who tell me he's the loser, losing out on the opportunity to know me. But I'm the one who misses the questions, the contact, the debates, even the struggles.

Still, that friendship led to good things - new friends, a reminder of how this one movie influenced me, and what some of my forgotten dreams were. I learned some amazing things about myself through his questions and statements.

Watch what you say

Perhaps the worse thing I learned is how easy it is to become lax on the Internet - bad passwords, staying logged in, and being trusting of software programs, web sites, and networks. It is easy to say things here and there and forget that someone with search skills and desire can figure out to hurt you by hurting those around you.

A recent thread on Facebook asked what your first concert was. As people started sharing, someone reminded folks of a web service that uses that question and answer if you forget your password. Oops.

I think it was a favorite movie that allowed someone to slip into some of my accounts recently to send off some incredible, unbelievable messages and postings. Still trying to determine if the person knows me well enough to know that movie or if it was spotting it on a web site.

Either way, let me assure the hills are no longer alive with the sound of music when I'm answering security questions.

Mixing it up: Newspapers, Twitter and talking back

Odd that the same day I realize why it is hard for me to work my way through the newspapers still delivered to my house is the day I find a likeable, newspaper-like presentation of my Twitter feed.

Honestly, I did start the day determined to make my way through some of the newspapers that are piling up, demanding to be read or at least tossed. I made it through two front pages before I had a question and went to the Internet.

Next thing you know I've slipped into Google Reader, skimming, reading and, slap of the forehead, commenting. I had quickly marked 36 posts as worth sharing, or, thinking about. Most now carry a comment or a question.

Sample Google Reader items with my notes

•  How to Know You're Hungry (and Avoid Eating when You're Not) (See Peeps photo) I want this photo! I want my Peeps.
• 
• Computers Just Keep Getting Cheaper and Better and We Should Eagerly Await the Days Ahead -CARPE DIEM  Mark's explanations help  the problem when items increase gradually over time.
• How Social Media Makes Live Events More Vibrant than Ever Contrast this with "too many nonprofits" post. Is it we have too many BIG nps and not enough niche ones? Is the cost of events a good use of $$ that could be spent elsewhere.

Paper is limiting

It was while I was racing through Google Reader that it dawned on me why I find it frustrating to read the newspaper - commenting is tough and clipping articles for commenting later takes a system, takes effort.

That idea of the appeal of contributing to an article was reinforced as I skimmed a new Pew report on the news habits of Americans.  I am stopped by the idea of the growing percent of people - now 37% - who see news as place to participate, who make news a social experience.

"People use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news."

They contribute to creation of news, comment or disseminate via postings on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. In fact, the report also says that more then 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails

OK, back to Twitter.

I've been drifting from Twitter lately, almost overwhelmed by the speed at which things flow past. But then, something draws me to the site and one Tweet leads to another leads to another leads to another. I'm talking with people as fast as the fingers will fly.

Today I was trying to figure out what someone from London meant when he used the word cow twice on Facebook. His explanations were not helping. I knew a few Twitters might be able to help. (I was wrong.)

Next thing you know an hour or two has slipped by and I have had a grand time on Twitter.

Fat fingers

But Faceback was calling, the obligations of pages, groups, and games. Oh, friends and family, too.

Slippery fingers, however, mean I keep clicking on Facebook ads accidentally. But this time what turned up was a "newspaper" created from the tweets of people I follow on my mcwflint Twitter account. How could I resist playing?


(Above is my mcwflint account. That's a mix of journalism, social media people, a few geeks, and ... ? Below is one from mcwgs Twitter account - it is the account where I follow mostly people involved in Girl Scouts.)

Perhaps it is my past involvement with newspapers but I like this presentation of the Twitter stream.The pulled-in content from shared links made it easy to consume a lot of content quickly.

It is pulled together from SmallRivers, a "privately held startup incorporated in Switzerland (Lausanne) and located on the Swiss Institute of Technology EPFL campus." Find it at http://paper.li

The shortcoming is that I can only get the "print edition" once a day. But it is something to ponder. (But I'm not doing so well on working my way through the newspapers.)