Journalists not first to start over

Sometimes, I can forget that the buyout-laid-off world of journalism is not unique. If I'm lucky I stumble across inspiration people, web sites, stories..

The Five Big Mistakes That Changed My Life and How I Moved Past Them - SmartNow.com

Marriage and Pets.com fail in same week; she details 5 mistakes and moves on to smartnow.com Answers every comment.

While you are there see Jenny's Java video: 72-year-old who can't read does coffeeshop, finds tip thief.

Anything is possible. Anything can be overcome

Am I the beeping microwave?

The annoying microwave beep alerts you that the instant food is ready. It keeps bleeping until you stop it.

And now, thanks to an entry in Invoke that asks are you signal or noise, I'm going to hear the beep every time I share something online.

Is my thought signaling something important or am I only contributing noise?

Or do you need a new microwave?


See, it is your choice to buy the microwave with the annoying beep. You could have bought a different model. You don't have to follow me, be my friend, or read my blog.

Of course, it might be easier if I could stop struggling with why I share, where I share and what I share. One identity? Or many? One blog or many? Speak up or hush?

Did this comment stop me because I am like the girl mike "glemak" dunn's son knows:"she really didn't have anything to say, she was just looking for something to type"?

And am I doing that because I feel obligated to be a good community member, as instructed in this Friendfeed thread.

Or am I just listening to Jeff Pulver and countless others who suggest we need to discover - and share - our voices?

Pulver says this nicer, but I remember it this way:

If you don't speak up, people think you are a useless bore.

Should I listen to Pulver?

Share your experiences. Say what is on YOUR mind, not what you think the others want to hear. Getting the confidence to share YOUR experiences and YOUR opinions is hard. But once you master this technique, you will be a different person and will be treated differently by everyone around you.

Or should you go shopping?

Twitter delivering news is a only a start

Steve Outing is right when he talks about Twitter as a news source on friends' activities.

In his July 18th post, he says:

"My local newspaper didn’t tell me that my friend Yann crashed on his mountain bike and ended up in the hospital this week. Twitter did, since he posted a note to his Twitter followers about the accident.

I think this points out a problem and an opportunity for newspapers. Problem: they don’t offer people the micro-local and personal news and information that makes a difference in people’s lives. Opportunity: they need to offer the micro-local and personal news and information that makes a difference in people’s lives."

But even as I agree with the opportunity, there are two obstacles, as I said in a comment:

"Now if I could only figure out a way for alarms to signal when Tweets, Facebook statuses, LinkedIn notices, FriendFeed postings, Plurks, Google alerts, etc need immediate attention

And would you believe I still know people who won’t go online, much less share such information."

It is true that I tend to go overboard, which is the only way to explain why I couldn't remember my real Digg login this morning - I know I have dugg more than 2 online things since 2007.

Surely, there are more folks who are mixing up relationships - I want to know immediately when some are hospitalized, others I can wait until the next time I log in. How do I sort those items automatically?

Even more frightening is that for as much as some of us may use computers to communicate there are those who still use paper and pen or the phone.

It will/would take huge amounts of training to set people up with their individual feeds. Then, to show them how to find friends? Yikes. I am lucky that the 1930s marital scale shared by Susan Beebe on FriendFeed didn't include a line about being patient when showing your spouse how to find folks to follow on Twitter or I would have fared even worse in the quest for perfection.

Complicate that with the other social media programs, much less news feeds, and we are in trouble.

I'm not saying it is impossible - just that from experience I know that having something isn't enough. You have to offer training.

I know many feel they need a tour guide to Flint's online newspaper.

Worry time? Husband wants my online info

Did you hear that sinister laugh? That was my husband shortly after I said I didn't have many friends.

See, this is the guy who had two Facebook friends for the longest time and knows that I have a few hundred more there. He's kidded me about the iPhone glow that sometimes lights our house He's heard me typing to update my status at Twitter, leave a comment at FriendFeed or chat on GoogleTalk and AIM.

What I can't remember is if that friend conversation was before or after he asked for a list of all my online homes - with passwords. He says he wants the list so that when I die he can let folks know why I'm not posting anything.

He assures me there is no need for him to compile a similar list as I already have access to his online world - email accounts.

I knew I was different. The Pew Internet & American Life Project's typology quiz confirmed it by telling me I'm like only 8 percent of Americans in my use of technology. And even in that class, I'm untypical.

I'm an Omnivore, Pew says. That means I use a lot of online tools to do a lot of things. I blog, I make web pages and sites, I remix, I send text messages, I post my status, and belong to way too many social networking groups. (I said too many, not Pew.)

But I have been online for a long time - starting back in the days of gopher. I can date myself by naming my former Internet service providers, starting with a university-provided account and including names such as Prodigy and Compuserve.

i knew I was different at home. My husband and I use our computers differently.

He is more apt to be offline, using Quicken, Word, or Access. Online, he's tracking possible investments,reading the news at ABC.com or mlive.com or dealing with the health insurance PDFs and forms.

I'm more likely to communicating - Twitter, texting, or even old-fashioned email - and researching or exploring via friends' recommendations through Social Median or Toulu or FriendFeed.

Even in the non-normal group of information users, I'm unusual.I fit the norm of only one characteristic of an Omnivore, according to the Pew quiz - I am among the 64 percent who are white.

What I'm not - and most Omnivores are:

• Male (70%).
  
• Young. The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30, versus one in five in the general population.
  
• A student. (42% versus the 13% average) of Omnivores are students.

Take the quiz and find out what type of Internet user you are.

And, by the way, if you get a note from my husband in the next few days saying I'm dead consider asking for an investigation. My health isn't that bad and death isn't expected.

How long are you a journalist?

That's a big question for me. How long do you remain a journalist after you accept a buyout from a media company?

How long can you "do nothing" or nothing in the news business until you need to drop out of Wired Journalists, Society of Professional Journalists and ....

Am I a journalist as long as the pay from the buyout? You know, two weeks pay for every year etc.,

Are you grandfathered in if you have worked more then 30 years as a journalist? Can I pretend I retired even if I am not collecting a pension and are not old enough anyways. Or did you need to officially retire?

Can you keep calling yourself a journalist if you are working on an article you hope to sell? (And do web sites buy multimedia projects?)

What if you start teaching? Full time? Part time?

Do you have to collect a paycheck? Or can you volunteer?

If I am blogging, does that count?

And if I am not a journalist, what do I put down on forms? Formerly a journalist?

Originally published on Wired Journalists, where they haven't kicked me out yet.

Sometimes, words won't do

Pew study backs need for Flint's low-cost dial-up Genesee Free-net

The failure of the Genesee Free-Net, based in Flint, Michigan, was predicted from its beginning in the early 1990s. But the non-profit community computer network, which recently expanded its dial-up Internet service to all of Michigan, knows what a Pew Internet Project study found - the low cost access is still needed.

Although the press release from Pew and most of the Internet buzz focused on the growth of broadband connections, some attention was paid to the 15 percent of Americans who have dial-up at home.

In fact, the study found that nothing - yes, nothing - would persuade 19% of dial-up users to switch to broadband.

The Pew Internet press release shared these findings about the 10% of Americans (or 15% of home internet users) with dial-up at home:

• 35% of dial-up users say that the price of broadband service would have to fall.
  
  
• 10% of dial-up users – and 15% of dial-up users in rural America – say that broadband service would have to become available where they are.
  
  
• Overall, 62% of dial-up users say they are not interested in switching from dial-up to broadband.

That has to be good news for the non-profit Genesee Free-Net, which is one of the few sources for dial-up service.

The Pew Internet Project also found that two groups found in big numbers in the Flint area are not flocking to broadband. The study found:

• Among adults who live in households whose annual incomes are less than $20,000 annually, home broadband adoption stood at 25% in early 2008, compared with 28% in 2007.
  
  
• Among African Americans, home broadband adoption stood at 43% in May 2008 compared with 40% in early 2007.
  

The study also shows the Michigan group's price is still a bargain.

Dial-up users report a montly bill of $19.70 for service, an increase of 9% over the $18 figure reported in December 2005, according to Pew.

The Genesee Free-Net offers accounts starting at $60 per year, with everything over $25 tax deductible. Even organizations can get low cost access to the Internet.

As one of the folks who helped to start and invested in the organization, I'm happy to see the Genesee Free-Net continue even if the goal of offering free access at all times wasn't possible. (Feel free to give someone a gift account - or send the $$$ and designate for free accounts.)

Here's hoping the effort to expand statewide succeeds. Know someone in Michigan who needs dial-up access? Check the access numbers to see if you can dial-in. You can even consider adding a dial-up account as a backup account.

Are bought-out, laid-off journalists unemployed?

Quick question as new employment figures posted: Do the bought-out or laid-off get counted?

The more I study employment and unemployment figures, the more confused I get.

If you are getting ongoing payments, does the government consider you employed? What if you took that "salary" as a lunp sum?

Are you counted as unemployed if you don't register with the state or use its job hunting tools and search on your own?

Can I count my job as affected by NAFTA if the copyediting is done in India?

Can i take the summer off and then look? am I counted as unemployed?

How do I work past retirement age if too many seek too few jobs?

How many multimedia consultants does the world need today?

Just asking .


.

Forget death watch. Send help

As the tally of those formerly known as newsroom employees grows, I want to know where are they all going and who is helping?

Forget Death Watch Forget the Papercuts showing me where the layoffs are.

No, don't forget, but get me help please.

Show me the checklist of what to do after I get the.notice, then next, then next, then next.

Where is the transition guide from API, Poyntner or SPJ?

Where is the foundation-funded program tapping the resources getting away?

Where are the university journalism programs offering retraining for their graduates? Or showcasing the new places to use the skills learned on the way to a journalism degree?

Where are the retraining programs like the ones offered the autoworkers and othersin manufacturing who lost their jobs?

Do we apply for unemployment? How can we save our houses when the market is so low? Can we get financial aid now for the college student based on our new incomes and not last year's paycheck?

There is no need for editors if books are not selling. The novel won't pay today's bills.

Or perhaps what we need is a look at who really is leaving the newsrooms.

And tell me why new journalism programs are turning up, why new graduates enter the workplace already saturated with folks with 1 to 40 years experience?

Why am I told how wise it would be to work past retirement age of 66 when the jobs disappear?

Blame mass production for media illness?

There is one photograph marking my grandparents wediing. It was taken at a studio, days after the actual event.

A friend has the output of the disposable cameras that sat on each table at her wedding reception. More documentation comes from the album from the professional photograher, the official videeo, the donated video and snapshots from friends and family.

My grandmother left us photographs. Two books showcase her life before 1957. Another show us the 1960s - that vacation aith a plane ride from Detroit to Las Vegas takes up a page.

Today some fill a whole book documenting each vacation.

At funeral homes, we share stories in rooms decorated with boards full of photographs while videos let us hear the dearly departed and see highlights of the life ended.

Do we need a printed newspaper to document our lives and our deaths anymore?

Do I need to pay more to tell those who already were there?

Indeed, do I need that copy of the newspaper with one photo of a presidential candidate in my town when I have so many more photos that I took?

It was an email then text messages that alerted me of the upcoming visit - the admission tickets were gone by the time a story was printed in the newspaper.

We upload our photos and want prints back in an hour.

We pick out the best, write a few words and get a printed book back in 10 days for $29.95 plus shipping and handling

Is it now cheap enough, fast enough that anyone can tell and share the stories of our lives?

Just asking. Just mulling.
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Buck up, be a man, Billy

So who apologizes first?

I suppose it will have to be the one whose hitting the stone wall over and over.

Surely this wasn't the plan - let one bad decision spill out this far?

Still, it is the breaking of the pledge to be direct that stops me, unsure how many would see the attempt to reconnect. Or perhaps the fear of your silence.

This is not the first time you dropping me on a Facebook has come up in a interview for a project. Still it stuns and makes me wonder why that detail is mentioned.

Blame drugs. Blame need. Blame me.

I said the wrong thing in an attempt to be funny, to lighten the mood.

I miss sparring with you. I miss your insights. I miss your promise that Facebook was fun, not a part of our professional relationship.

I hear my grandfather suggesting that I buck up and face the consequences of a smart mouth. I hear Michael reminding me that a life of "no regrets" is impossible.

And I resist the temptation to click on your face when it comes up in the "People You Might Know" on my front page.

Maybe journalists are the problem

So, should you work for a company if you don't like their product?

It has long bothered me that many journalists don't subscribe to their own newspaper.

It bothered me more to discover that some don't even read their own newspaper.

Don't even get me started on those who don't read any news source.

But after reading this explanation of Newspapers - and why I've tired of reading them I have to ask why do you work for a newspaper then?

Are you trying to change it from within? Why?

Or is the lack of a connection to a community by a staff member reflected in what's produced in a newspaper? Is it this lack that has contributed to the problem of boring print products?

And do we lack connections to communities of geography because we move more then our parents do? Or we spent childhoods in organized sports and organizations -- adult-ordered worlds of perfection -- instead of imperfect street games in urban courtyards and backyards?

Read through the post's comments to find an interesting question from Ryan Sholin: What newspaper did you grow up reading?

Is he right? Does that help us judge what is a "good" newspaper? I know back in the early '70s it took my mom and I a long time to stop holding our new newspapers up to our hometown papers. See, we thought every community had newspapers like the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.

When you train a woman ... when you try something different

I'm traveling outside my normal Internet path today, exploring some web sites at the request of an organization. Awe-inspiring work by journalists clearly not worried about buyouts helps balance the blackness echoing through much of what makes it to my stream of reading.

Deep in a package about water, this quote stops me:

"At Kenya Water for Health Organization we believe that when you train one woman you train many more people than when you train one man," says Joshua Otieno, head officer for the solar project.

I know. I should be caring more about the crisis of water.

Instead, I'm struck by how often the world turns to women to take small steps of change to affect larger problems.

In this article, it's training women to clean water safely.

In the Guideposts that slipped into my mailbox yesterday, three men who crochet turned that hobby into a moneymaker for women in Uganda through Krochet Kids International.

And then there's Beads for Life, where women turn recycled paper into beads.

I'm clinging to the hope that there are many more Lisa Wilsons (Placeblogger) and that the McCormick Foundation's New Media Women are bringing some ideas that will ensure untold stories of communities near and far surface.

Books help me jump into my memory stash

Sometimes, there's nothing better then reading a book - especially a book that helps you remember better days or lets you escape into music or a world of make-believe.

A book about Bob-Lo, an island in the Detroit River, does all three. I spent many summers on a boat like the one pictured here. It was the start - and end - of so many perfect days as a child.

Plus, I re-discovered I had a Good Reads account and stumbled through some more of the books I've read recently.

I started my fun reading with Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors (Music of the Great Lakes) by Ivan Walton and Joe Grimm. The book was published in 2002 and one of several that I bought from Wayne State University this summer.

The 262-page book is a collection of stories and songs of the men who sailed the schooners on the Great Lakes in the nineteenth century.

Summer Dreams: The Story of Bob-Lo by Patrick Livingston was in the same book order from Wayne State University.

This book was newer - published in 2008. It was fun to read about the history of Bob-Lo and see the photos and maps.

I love knowing the back story of places, so it was an adventure to read about the struggles, dreams and plans for a place that was only a fun place for me. The author delivers what is promised: Tracing the story of Bob-lo

"from its discovery by French explorers to its use by missionaries, British military men, escaped slaves, farmers, and finally the wealthy class, who developed the island as a summer resort."

The book cover describes the island as

"the ultimate summer playground for families from Detroit and Windsor for nearly one hundred years. In its heyday, the island housed an amusement park with one of the world s largest dance halls, an elegant restaurant, and a hand-carved carousel. It also employed two large Frank Kirby designed ferry steamers complete with dancing and other entertainment to transport patrons to and from the island, which was not accessible by car."

The island is located twenty miles south of Detroit where the Detroit River meets Lake Erie. But we always went to Bob-lo Island by boat and it seemed so far away.

The book brought back memories of going to Bob-Lo as a child, back to a time when rides like the Flying Scooters, the Roundup and the Wild Mouse could scare me.

It's the same park where I thought a giant slide was almost as much of a thrill as checking out the blockhouse. Imagine an amusement park bragging about those types of thrills today.

I had such wonderful memories of good times when I was young that I couldn't wait to take my daughter once she was old enough. First, I had to persuade my husband as the annual excursions to the amusement park were not part of his childhood.

By the time, we made it there the amusement part of island was on its last legs. Surely, the fact that Bart Simpson and not the Captain or even the Bob-Lo Bear posed with my daughter was a sign that the leisure time thrills were changing. I don't think many were surprised when the park that began operation in 1898 closed in September 1993.

The book was also a chance to see what Bob-Lo looked like in the days when my mother and father courted there.

The photo is of skaters from 1949, not my parents. But then my parents didn't take many photos back then. I had hoped to share the book with my dad, to hear his memories of skating, of moonlight cruises and picnics. But by the time the book arrived, it became too hard for him to talk about anything.

In my imagination, Bob-Lo was his chance to escape the projects and be a big man on campus. The island was cool in temperature and in activities for a teenager who could scrape together the ticket that included admission to the boat trip and island. The book confirmed that picture and some of the stories I remember hearing long ago.

I remember the freedom of being able to go from floor to floor of the boat. It was so much fun to be old enough to dance on the wooden floor, to race to the bottom floor and see and hear the giant engines.

The book cover describes the island as "the ultimate summer playground for families from Detroit and Windsor for nearly one hundred years. In its heyday, the island housed an amusement park with one of the world s largest dance halls, an elegant restaurant, and a hand-carved carousel. It also employed two large Frank Kirby designed ferry steamers complete with dancing and other entertainment to transport patrons to and from the island, which was not accessible by car."

The author traces the story of Bob-lo from its discovery by French explorers to its use by missionaries, British military men, escaped slaves, farmers, and finally the wealthy class, who developed the island as a summer resort.

The book is worth a read for anyone who was in love with the island. There are a few fans - the online Bob-Lo Gallery has a nearly 600 photos - and that's just one of many web sites.

Think list: Finding Niches of Information

Yesterday's filing deadline for local elections anchors the abstract for now.

Candidates had until 4 p.m. Tuesday to file for local offices. The local newspaper published an article about some of the county offices in the print edition and later online.

There also was one article about my local township board in print, but it didn't talk about the races I knew were possible because people had come to our door seeking petitions.

I checked online at 9 p.m. - nothing at the websites of the newspaper, 2 local TVstations, county or township.

Granted, this isn't a must-know NOW item but it personalizes for me the concept of news sites becoming circles of niches.

Of course, I should stop thinking sites and find something like FriendFeed or the Facebook News Feed.

The problem is what I ran into with Social Media when i tried to create a stream on news about the reorganization of Girl Scouts that is taking place. You can't draw resources together if none are created in a timely manner. (Or if people are deceptive and use the words Girl Scouts on their porn sites.)

Back to the filing deadline - I've got to believe that there were a few folks up at the Township Hall noting every filing. What if each had a way to post the list in a way I could find it when I wanted it?

Sure, some of them might blog about it. Eventually, the county and local goverment will post a list. But what if I could draw out the information now.

The term in some journalism circles would be crowdsourcing.

I think it could be the N = 1 idea outlined in The New Age of Innovation by C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan. John Soat sums up the N=1 idea by saying it is the ability of a business to interact with customers on an individual basis by co-creating value with them.

Krishnan explains it by saying it is co-creators of new knowledge.

I'm thinking that my new "newspaper" is going to be this collection of niches delivered to my mobile device on demand.

First draft ...

Wise folks skating to mobile

Just whipped through the May 12 Information Week magazine and it's hockey season - go Red Wings go - so I'm thinking news organizations ought to be skating toward mobile.

Information Week's Richard Martin wrote about the dangers of IT folks ignoring mobile device management, citing research from IDC that predicts growth - 63 million units by 2010 compared to 7.3 million in 2005.

And though the article is aimed at getting IT folks to think about how to manage the devices, it made me think that media companies - or journalists who want jobs - should focus on how to serve content over mobile devices.

Plus Eric Zeman in Our Take says "mobile sites will increase clicks." That article told about the increase in traffic for web sites with mobile sites: "An average of 13% over home PC traffic alone."

Zeman cites a Nielsen study that found a high of "22% for weather and entertainment" and quotes Jeff Herrmann as saying that mobile can help grow the pie.

I know I'm more likely these days to scan the web via the phone then the computer - and I'm old :-)

So it's time to follow Wayne Gretzky, who said “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Forget print.

Forget web pages.

Skip to mobile.

Right?

And figure out what that means.

Librarians can earn master's degree on their own time - News

Librarians can earn master's degree on their own time - News



I see quite a few exjournalists turning to libraries.

Or entering law school.

Then, there are all the musicians in newsrooms.

What is the connection?

Leaving doesn't stop caring

The Fast Company magazine sat on the counter at least three days. As I struggled to figure out why today is so rough, I read this:

"When your currency is ideas, people become emotionally attached" - Gina Bianchini

The May 2008 cover of Fast Company delivers a vocabulary that defines what I could not.


Now, to find some Mozart. The newest addition is listen to Mozart for 10 minutes only with the right ear.

Today's positive spins: I have the time to try.

I have another doctor who listens, who works with others even as I wish for the days of a general practioner. One doctor for everything. What a concept, eh?

The gray shadows returned to the right eye

See - another reason to be glad I gave up demands of deadlines.

Second chances are always nice

We don't get many chances for do-overs in life. Or opportunities to step outside the life we know as usual.

That's why I'm not passing up this opportunity to win free registration to a Biz School for Bloggers that I think could be very interesting.

Lisa Sabin-Wilson has found that life has piled up too many obligations for her to use her already paid for registration so she decided to give it up. Since it was the too many obligations that made me pass up the last chance to win free registration I'm hoping for luck. :-)

The weekend in Chicago would be an excellent start to my life after buyout from The Flint Journal. It should help me focus more on what's next.

The weekend has been called an "Internet MBA in 48 hours" or "Biz School for Bloggers."

I see it as a beginning of an intensive period of thinking, a way to help me pull back from the routine of producing. I also see it as a way to push me out of the comfortable world of newspapers and mass media and back into the worlds of community and writing.

I know that opportunities are knocking and lots of folks have ideas of how I should "pay back" what I've learned or move on to the next challenge at a newspaper, a web site, a classroom or non-profit organization.

I'm listening to those who suggest I kickback and do nothing.

I know I have the luxury of not having to do anything at all.

But can a recovering workaholic really go from 100 mph to 0 mph overnight? Isn't everything we've done until now supposed to lead to something else?

Winning would be a God Wink, helping to show me ways to move out of the safe world.

I want to hear how folks put together their business plans, and actually meet some of the folks I have been following through Twitter and blogs, learn about social media from folks actually doing it. I want to know what new media outside newspapers and journalism means. And as someone who hasn't had her own business in more than 30 years I want to see how individuals make successful businesses.

I want the roadmap so I know how to survive the detours and blaze my own path. I don't want to start from scratch.

In return, Lisa wants a lifetime of adoration. What's not to like about someone who collects quotes, writes Books for Dummies, and switched careers from nursing to the web, and found happiness in her second marriage.

(which reminds me add editing the Dummies book to the resume that refuses to get done)

Heartbreaking photos of a laid-off newsroom

Like I needed another reminder of what an emptying newsroom looks like?

I'm sure I would not have stumbled across the work of San Jose Mercury News designer Martin Gee without Robb Montgomery posting these photos documenting the impact of a layoff. (He posted them in his own blog, but I stumbled across them over in the Editor's Blog, where the comments get interesting too.

Of course, I picked up especially on the part of depressed journalists.

Which reminds me - have you seen the map created by Erica Smith in her PaperCuts blog. Her Google map mashup includes information about each layoff/buyout/etc. You can see the 2,185 layoffs of 2007 or the 1,171 for 2008 map. I've been meaning to mention it for weeks now,thanks to Charles Apple, who has a blog over on Montgomery's Visual Editors site, interviewed her in February.

Mmmm. So what are all those laid off, bought out journalists doing? That's one of the new things I'm collecting