Now what? Potential helicopter mom worries about fillling empty nest

My daughter wants to come back to Flint.

And once again, my copy of Dr. Spock's baby book seems to be missing the chapter that could prevent me from becoming the next helicopter parent. (You know, the parent who hovers over her child to ensure all is right with her world. You can do that to a 24-year-old, right?)

Broken promises in the workplace had started her thinking about next moves. Her boyfriend's work week was slashed from full time to 32 hours. Her company opened stores in other communities, but no work was done on what was to be her store. Weekly crisis mean no time for her to do different things.

At first, the questions revolved around the delicate balance of seeking new jobs as a newcomer in a small town without losing your present jobs.

Then, the focus switched to a new job in a state with work. Texas? Nevada? Massachusetts?

I thought the rumblings of returning to Michigan were the after effects of her recent nine-hour road trip here. Good times with family and friends filled the brief visit.

Scheduling the rest of her vacation time led her to realize she would not be here for the family reunion, Thanksgiving or Christmas. She would miss more memory-making times.

It is another memory sparked by a Facebook status update of two girls returning home from camp that helps me understand what's really happening. My daughter may live somewhere else, but Flint, Michigan, is still home.

I remember the first postcards from summer camp, the ones that plead to be picked up now, that beg to be rescued from a miserable life, that assure us her counselors are the meanest people in the whole world.

Then, I knew the proper response was to wait for the homesickness to pass. By the end of camp, this sad experience would become the best days of her life.

Now, I'm not sure if I should keep encouraging her to find a job first or invite her to crash here while searching for a job within commuting distance.

Do I listen to Spock once again, knowing I won't "spoil the child" by picking her up when she cries (silently this time) or listen to the elders who suggest strength develops when children learn to soothe themselves?

I replay a comment from yesterday's family reunion:

"It's hard for someone who doesn't come from a family like yours to understand the loneliness of being far away."

The observation slips in as we note who is at the reunion and who is not. Record numbers are set when a couple with five kids make their first appearance. But another record is set because for the first time two of my mother-in-law's grandchildren are missing because they live out-of-state. Both have called their parents, requesting reunion updates and sad that they will not be at the township hall.

In my family, I go months without seeing anyone from my family, weeks without calls, days without Facebook updates or emails. My husband calls his mother almost daily, commutes frequently with his oldest brother, and sees all of his siblings at least once a week.

Perhaps it is because since 1975 my family has been scattered across states and until 2007, all of his family lived within 20 minutes of each other.

Is it that difference in families or a fear of helicopters that allows 474 miles to separate my daughter and I?

Is it time to change my line from get a job first to what are you waiting for - an engraved invitation?

Is it past time to make room in my home to match the room in my heart?

After all, my daughter wants to come home.

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.
.

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

Is it time for Rent a Journalist, a travelling backpack journalist?

Laugh at the idea of renting a journalist, but then remember this: Layoffs, buyouts, the flu, a riot, a generation that wants satisfaction now.

Most people think of backpack journalists being someone equipped with enough tools and skills to report a a story in multiple mediums.

Perhaps we should expand the definition to include those willing and able to come to your station/newspaper/web site to fill in for the ill or vacationing, supplement thinned staffs when a crisis, disaster or a big "xxx turns 100" special assignments hit your community.

This is not your typical free-lance job with its defined, one time assignment.

This would be the place to hire temps who move in to supplement what needs to be done now because it is now.

Who?

Perhaps retirees or stay-at-home parents who want occassional work.

Perhaps those who like travel, disasters, the challenge of something new everyday.

A company like this might appeal to the generation of "I want it now" that we have raised. It would appeal to the journalist who would prefer to direct his or her career story by story.

Maybe it is expanded to include Rent an Expert, the former journalist who could train your new cops or courts reporter; the designer who could show your team how to efficiently use the software.

Perhaps a way to capture the expertise leaving our newsrooms.

Perhaps a way to re gain the type of knowledge newspapermen once spread from newsroom to newsroom when those type of Johnny Appleseeds were allowed into non-sanitized newsrooms.

Invisible people are everywhere

Being invisible is becoming a daily habit.

The first jarring notice came as I sat with a group of professionals, waiting for a lecture to start.

My inability to name the company I worked for quickly pushed the invisible cloak on me for two women.

The comment later of "I didn't realize you were retired" only underscored the values placed on the workplace.

The invisible cloak came out a few days later. But fortunately it hid me only from some people.

The people at the table could see me and offered advice for the first few months of a major lifestyle change of leaving an employer after 29 years. Perhaps it was because 6 of 8 had done the same.

The invisible cloak was produced by the caterer, who remembered me only when I identified my former employer. Then, the pre-ordered, non-allergic lunch appeared.

I know - get over it. Some folks only know you when you can help them.

How many interesting people do we ignore because we put them into our boxes?

Ironically, I can remember telling folks I wanted the invisible cloak mentioned in the Harry Potter books as I was sure it would allow me to escape the building where I worked without a half-dozen stops on the way in or on the way out.


.

Reporting techniques: Story behind the story becomes the story

The Detroit News tells the story of how it tracked the person behind a signature on a floating piece of paper at the former Detroit train station.

You can read the words, but the blend of photographs and voice is much more interesting.

Many who put together presentations on the web use only the voices of the folks they intereview. I like how the writer frames the story, using the voices of those interviewed to highlight when necessary.

The show also was a good way to pull in photographs from the Detroit News archives.

Michigan Central Depot once was a star. Not now, as another grand piece of history is on the list to be demolished.

'War" ruins friend of a friend

Have you seen the feature on Linked In and Facebook where you get a list of people you might know?

Whitney Hess does a good summary of sites that do this - even includes snapshots of the services like FriendFeed for folks.

For the most part, I've enjoyed seeing who I might know because of who I know.

The hard part is when you see the same face popping up and you know a connection online isn't possible for all the wrong reasons.

Hey, I'm an adult. I shouldn't care but sometimes I do agree with Geoff Dick, senior lecturer in information systems at the University of NSW, who said "Removing someone from your friend list is almost a declaration of war."

Reporter Daniel Emerson quoted Dick March 27 when writing about a British judge who made it official: Being "Facebook friends" with someone doesn't necessarily make you their friend.

Emerson wrote:

"The magistrate was presiding over a harassment case in which a woman accused her former boyfriend of hounding her by sending her a "friend request" on the popular social networking site on January 21."

The ex-boyfriend, Michael Hurst, 34, was cleared of the charge after the magistrate accepted his argument that the contact was highly innocuous because being "Facebook friends" could not be defined as "friendship in the traditional sense".

"[Popular British radio DJ Chris Moyles] has 1 million Facebook friends. Do you think he knows them all intimately?" Mr Hurst said."

Nope.

And keep the friend of a friend links coming ... it's a great way to meet new people.

Race to the end: Computer or me?

Do I count hours? Do I count days? Or just pray?

Right now I am praying that the computer at work will last through Friday, which should be my last work day forever at The Flint Journal.

OK, I already know I am going in on April 30. But the plan is vacation from April 5 until April 30. May 1 begins my new life - whatever that is based on the buyout terms.

Honestly, I don't know what I am doing post buyout.

First, I need the computer at work to last through Friday.

I have my doubts. It crashed 3 times today!

My email has reformatted itself. I received 2 emails 26 times!

The DVD recorder has stopped recording.

I already turned in the laptop. I gave up my Mac as it was needed (Why with a smaller staff?). That's OK I get exercise as I am forced to wander from computer to computer when I need some programs.

Now I am not sure if the hunk of junk on my desk will last so I can finish one last online project.

Which brings up the other challenge: Am I counting hours, days or the finished project to determine when I am done. Or maybe the computer decides my last moment. When it is done so am I!

Last day at Flint Journal set in stone

It's a date drawn in concrete. My last day at the place I've worked at for 29 years, 6.5 months is April 4.

The date has changed a lot since I agreed to the newspaper's buyout offer last fall.

It has changed as I've trained my replacements.

It has changed as I've worked with so many people to create a web site that puts a bigger emphasis on the content as it develops and not tied to a print product.

It has changed as I watched people with key roles in creating the content also take the buyout or move into new roles ont he shrinking staff.

This date is in writing. This is it.

This is it even if the six people who now form a new Internet team - a team! - disappear from the face of the earth between now and then.

This is it even if the corporate office relents and loosens the hold on the web site design, databases or blogs.

This is it even if the to-do list isn't completed.

So what's next?

Huge question with no answer yet. Or maybe that is the answer: Nothing.

What I know is that I need time spent on nothing.

What I have earned is a buyout offer that buys me time for nothing.

What I will do is visit my dad who has cancer (again), my mother who denies her diagnosis of early stages of Alzheimer's, my husband, my daughter, my craft space, my kitchen and my back yard.

I worked on the redesign for nearly a year, watching the launch day pass by countless times.

Blogging about LaKisha Jones' rise on American Idol showed the possibility of replacing shoveled newspaper articles online with serving fresh news and information about the Flint area.

Live coverage of the Buick Open, the painful launch of a tool to report on high school sports, and the better launch of reporters producing audio opened more possibilities.

And then there was the advertising side where retail sales representatives got easy-to-sell online packages, all sales representatives got an incentive to sell and print artists started producing online ads for the first time.

Then, photos for the first time in print and online in many classifications, new platforms for real estate, jobs, and cars.

Of course, the regular stuff too.

So I am tired.

I waver about the next step. Sometimes I want as far away from the world of producing information as possible. No more deadlines. No more formal structures of who can speak to who when.

Yet, I can't stop thinking of the possibilities ... knowing we don't need more choice, we need more TV Guides (see See Spark Media's 12 principles of New Media)

I start thinking about what sparked my involvement with the Genesee Free-Net and Girl Scouts, the idea of powerful connections and growing community and strong women.

But the partially finished quilts and fabric projects, the uncut material, the beads, the clay start shouting that it is their turn. There's something addicting Or about learning something new with each piece.

Buyout journalists, remember this ..

Don Fry over at Poynter Online offers some tips for those wondering what to do after the buyout at a newspaper.

So he tells us what we can do:

"You can read, write, think, talk, sort out what's important, remain ethical without crippling yourself, train people, inspire beginners and detect liars."

He tells us what business we were in:

"You were in the business of explaining things, the most valuable thing in the world. People who can help ordinary citizens understand their world are rare, and you're one of them."

But he can't answer this one:

"What do you really want to do? "

The answer to that moved Don from writing coach to sculptor.

In St. Louis, it led some to their own media.

It's led some journalists into public relations; some into teaching. So many possiblities.

Fry suggests finding some tough friends to push you on the answer. Or consider using some of the buyout money as a "development grant" and figure it out for yourself.

Don's post is similar to the take by the Recovering Journalist Mark Potts in his Sept. 25, 2007 post: Life After Journalism

There's a piece I've hung onto called "Helping Journalists Make the Jump."

But it all comes down to

"What do you really want to do? "

Or what do you want to be when you grow up this time?

Don't listen, just review?

Ouch! An apology is out there. But I wonder how many times people review without listening first

It seems more possible every time I read the same phrase in a review at multiple locations.

In this day of the Internet, why would you risk doing that?

Forget soup! Get me some fries in my newspaper!

Ready to use food again to look at what's wrong in today's news world?

The nerdy guy from Kansas (now in Washington DC) fondly remembers a restaurant "back "home" that always sneaks a bit of broccoli on the plate with your order of steak and fries.

Rob Curley suggests newspapers think like that chef, willing to put a good-size portion of potatoes, a hunk of red meat and small bunches of broccoli on the same plate:

... "it seems to me that the problem with a lot of newspaper editors is they’d much rather feed you broccoli for every meal, without the steak and potatoes.

And when they do try to serve up something a little more palatable, it sure tastes a lot like broccoli. It’s like they’re trying to impress the other chefs instead of trying to please the folks in the restaurant who actually pay their salaries."

Curley reminds us this fits right in with his familiar theme that news organizations need to "produce both “Big-J” and “little-j” journalism."

Think election guides and high school proms; restaurant inspections and wedding announcements; how government spends your money and Little League scores.

For me, this past year it would be overseeing Google maps of demolished houses and blogging LaKisha Jones travels on American Idol or creating a place for 24/7 online updates and adding photos to open houses.

Curley says there's room for both types of journalism.

Another journalist isn't sure how you get people doing the little-j work forever.

Will Bunch asks in his Nieman Report "Will journalists ‘cover local news for life, with no chance of parole?’".

Bunch, who also has been reading a lot and out at conferences, has heard the battle cry that suggests leaving the big stories to a few products while the rest specialize in he here,

"With the Internet in play, a small group of players — The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC — will dominate the big stories on the world stage and in our nation’s capital.

"For the rest of us, journalism will die if it does not become more local, or even something called “hyperlocal.”

Bunch says he can see why that might happen, but most journalists don't want to cover the small-town meetings forever.

"On an emotional level, I’m going on 49 years old, and I have a lot of friends around my age who have survived the surge in newsroom layoffs and are still working in an ink-stained newsroom somewhere.

"Not one of us wanted to be covering local news at our age (or, for that matter, at any age.) But we’ve been there, done that.

"To be brutally honest: For an ambitious journalist, the only way to get through a four-hour suburban school board meeting—even at age 22—is to keep repeating the mantra “this, too, shall pass.” In other words, treat this day’s assignment as just a boring but necessary pit stop on the road to Moscow or Beirut.

But I disagree. I think there are some who are happy to spend years covering the Kiwanis, Lions and Main Street business openings and closings.

I think we can have different goals, ambitions as journalists - and we can have different goals at different times.

Some of us are willing to work long hours - paid and unpaid - to dig deep into something we think is wrong.

Some of us only want to work 9-5 and go home without bringing work home. Some of us only want to work part time

Plus consider how we may want to change the pace of our careers to match what else is happening in our lives. Can we dial down the Type A personality when family calls and be allowed to ratchet it back up when the kids are off to first grade without harming our long-term chances of success.

The challenge for news organizations is recognizing and then matching the skills and interests of staff with the needs of the newspapers.

Supervisors may interpret interest in covering a community that way as a lack of ambition. They want every staff member able to write every type of journalism, regardless of desire or talent.

It's a challenge to manage. It's a challenge to figure out how to pay fairly.

Listen to Bunch:

"I’d say that for the local journalism movement to succeed within the existing newsroom, there’s going to need to be a very different system of the dreams of Beltway punditry or a glamorous foreign beat.

"In fact, the rewards of the more pointed kind of journalism that blogging allows—the ability to develop a voice and a personality and to connect daily with readers—are considerable.

"Another route: convince the Pulitzer Prize committee to double the categories for local journalism."

So, how do I convince Bunch not everyone needs a blog or Pulitzer Prize to know they succeeded.

How do you persuade leaders of news organizations that the flexibility to manage staff members of varying skill levels and ambitions is the same flexibility needed to allow community members the freedom to comment on every story and blog post, to add items to the community calendar without censorship and to publish their unedited announcements.

It's the flexibility needed to get the Big J and little j journalism back in the news organization.

Online soup could use more women, right?

How do we make our own online, stone soup? What's up with all these mom sites? And are woman at the multimedia, web table?

Steve Yelvington got me rolling with the soup imagery. He started by pointing us to a review by Neil Thurman of City University, London, on how British news media are using the tools of interactivity. And moved onto the idea that many newspapers, media sites, web sites want contributions thrown into the pot - without losing control.

That made me think of the Stone Soup fable, where nothing turns into something. Think of an online community site filled with user-generated content created the way the hungry men enticed village folks to make a new soup by starting with a pot, water and a stone and them enticing others to toss in a carrot, onion, potato, etc. The men end up with a tasty soup through a collaborative effort.

That's not what is happening on many sites. Too often, there's a head chef and he knows how the soup will turn out

The folks in charge want to hold onto the right to approve what you want to add to the mix (no, we already have a politician writing so you can't) They remind you to peel the veggies (use full names, write your head like this, put your item here).

The site shows us the pot, then gives the list of acceptable ingredients rather then risking a surprise, something unique for each community.

Is it really a user-generated site if the users only get to fill in the "holes" allotted to them?

Over in Jason Falls' Social Media Explorer, he looks at similar concept in a review of preview of a newspaper's new design. He focuses on the idea that just because you give someone social media tools, it doesn't mean you are a social media site.

The next big hurdle is how many sites do we need?

If I am already -----ing, do I need your ----ing tool? (Blog Friends, My Blog Log, Google Shared items, ... LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress ... Diggs, delicious, stumbledupon...)

I know of at least eight places to get a list of Flint Michigan restaurants. Seven of the eight ask me to rate the restaurants.

I can go to at least five places now aggregating content from Flint. I'm not even counting specialty stops, such as GeneseeFun.

That takes me to the growing number of mom sites.

Does every town need one of those too? We have them in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and on and on and on.

Seriously, isn't most of the content generic? What I might need is an online neighbor telling me which pharmacist will add cherry flavoring to my kids meds. But the National Institutes of Health government site is where I will get my advice on the latest flu.

Which brings me to the role of women in developing, creating, growing the network of online community and its information. Are they out there? Are they in the pipeline?

When I think of folks out there trying new things, I can think of Rob Curley, or Zac Echola, or Adrian Holovaty, or Ryan Sholin, or Shawn Smith or ... notice a pattern there?

It does look like a fair number of women are over at the "we're all in this together" Wired Journalists site - and we have some great role models in colleges and heading up grant programs (Think Nora Paul or Jan Schaffer or Vikki Porter.)

But I am still outnumbered at too many digital media, computer-assisted journalism events.

So why aren't women already in the newsrooms learning how to be multimedia journalists?

If it is money, there's a possible solution for a few women. I recently learned that 3 projects are going to get grants (up to $10,000 each) Head to the site for a ton of research showing fewer women staying in journalism, fewer women leading news operations, and fewer women expecting to stay or lead.

What I did not find is a number to back my theory that fewer women then men are in the pipeline learning digital journalism, multimedia techniques, web stuff.

My gut reaction is little has changed since one of the first computer-assisted reporting conferences at Indiana University was attended by mostly men.

Even last fall, only 3 of 40 or so folks at a "multimedia tricks for news" workshop were female.

Yet, women and men are online in equal numbers, according to this NTIA study.

Are they watching, not creating? What can we do to fix it?

Maybe it is not limited to our newsrooms.

Twelve years of teaching workshops to Girl Scout adults and I am still finding women who use their husband's email account. Twelve years, and many know nothing about security and privacy issues because their husband does that computer stuff.

I think we get better soups with more women at the table.

Passion required to get things done

The idea of being passionate is jumping out at me. Right now, it is an publisher's note in the January edition of Oxygen.

Oxygen, a fitness magazine aimed at women, is not on my normal reading list except that it is normal for me to pick up what I might not normally read when I am at a doctor's office. A cover headline on "eating clean in ANY restaurant" caught my eye. But the "Power of PASSION" stopped me first.

Robert Kennedy asks "what are you passionate about?" before sharing a multitude of his passions.

He also notes how many today don't have any passions before reminding us "nothing great" is accomplished without passion.

Now, I know why working 60 to-70 hours in a week often didn't feel like work. The passion of building an information rich site fueled me.

Passion explains why I can spend hours sharing what I learned.

Passion is why I continue to experiment with Friendfeeds, Twitter, and Wired Journalists even as I prepare to end my 30-plus year career. (who hires 54-year-old web journalists'? Heck, who hires journalists these days - firms just buy them out or lay them off.)

I wish I knew how to inspire that passion in others who seem frozen into patterns of desperation and making do.

A recent Twitter status on coping with those frozen by circumstances/lack of ambition/lack of caring got this: @mcwflint: be the big thaw. 09:33 PM February 12, 2008

Easier said then done and perhaps it is because I believe we are responsible for the moments we live.

Perhaps passion comes easy to me since I have outlasted the dooming predictions of others on multiple fronts. (one boss said I just like proving things can be done)

Kennedy suggests feeding passion three ways:
-Be positive

-Pat yourself on the back

-Live it, love it

Kennedy puts changing your job if it feels like work under being positive. I think it can go under each.

Danny Sanchez explores creating passionate newsrooms or at least ideas on how to get people excited about new technology. His tips include find something the reporter is excited about and match a tool to that; train and have patience.

I think that worked with Ron Fonger who had lists of demolished houses and then put them on Google maps. It worked with Marjory Raymer who saw a way to let everyone know who contributed to a the Flint mayor's campaign. It worked with Steve Jessmore who learned to add sound, voices to his Sense of Community portraits.

Sanchez, who was at the Web Apps Miami conference, later posted on creating passionate owners as being the success to business.

He listened to Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library TV, explain how to build community:

“I fly all over the country just to drink wine with people.”

“You’ve got to have the DNA of your community.”

“There needs to be a face to your company. You have to take care of those people until your bleeding out of your f***ing g****mn face.”

“You need to love your community more than you love yourself.”

“You’ve got to have someone in the trenches. Someone people can touch.”

Then Danny suggested that didn't sound like the average ombudsman and asks how much is your "community manager" out in the community, being a part of a community, being passionate about being a part of that community.

(Remember how I said passion is popping up everywhere. My husband's January 2008 Project Management magazine also had an article on the importance of project managers projecting passion.

Alfonso Bucero says:
- Believe in what you do
- Show a sense of urgency
- Be willing to take on additional responsibilities
- Strive for excellence

See. Passion is everywhere. Find yours. Please)

Dismantling the audiotext system

It's only a matter of days before I'll pull the plug on The Flint Journal's audotext system. Seriously, we have still been delivering information by phone.

But despite the number of calls to hear the lottery numbers, the weather, the horoscopes, updates on soap operates, it is time to pull the plug.

I know I was the last one to care, and I gave up at least 15 months ago when it became clear no one was interested in selling sponsorships with the hot, sexy Internet grabbing all the attention.

I've let it limp along - 22 phone lines feeding into a computer that takes an information feed and delivers it upon the request of four digits. (Hey, I wanted to eliminate some phone lines, but we were waiting to do that when we moved the system to the "new" computer room.)

Yes, I know that some of the lottery numbers were popular only among those playing numbers.

Yes, I know that all of the information is available somewhere online. (Do you know there are still some who don't use computers? I'd be happy to direct all the calls that will come in to you, if you'd like.)

It just seems ironic to me that when the population has more portable phones then ever, we are pulling out of the service.

And we are one of the last newspapers to do that. In fact, we may be one of the last businesses to do that. We looked for a place to send folks to - just a few years back every phone directory in the area had a similar service. Today, none of the four in our area. (I did find one 800 service over on Tellme.com 1-800-555-TELLME)

I remember when we once had numerous vendors striving for attention, for our business. We'd meet and share ideas for using these phone-computer systems for contests, polls, and delivery of all sorts of information.

ZDNet calls it A voice response application that allows users to enter and retrieve information over the telephone. See IVR.

There are a few vendors and systems out there ... just no one seems to be aggressively trying to deliver the information via a newspaper or media company.

Buzzmachine: Work collaboratively

 I'm convinced the only way we as a society are going to survive this series of journalists layoffs/buyouts/goodbyes -- Did you see More than 1,000 jobs eliminated in 2 months -- is to get more people interested in creating content, reflecting the communities we live in. It takes hard work and money.

I know lots of people had this dream of folks contributing to a rich community computer network back when free-nets were growing.

Jeff Jarvism in a post on Buzzmachine, shares ideas on getting the public involved with creating journalism, with covering a community.

Here's a summary,  

* Ask public to sort large amounts of data/documents put online 

* Ask the public to help gather data points around a story. 

* Get the public to help file FOIAs and create a FOIA repository 

(Plays nicely off the Empower readers, viewers with FOI advice a column in January Quill from Society of Professional Journalists (Sorry. You need to be a subscriber to read that, but here are some resources to help with FOI )

* Let public help assign reporters

* Establish communities of experts to help on stories, their reporting and checking and even their assignment.  

* Give citizens  camera and recorders and ask citizens to capture meetings, lectures, events.

* Get the advertising side involved in supporting curated, quality blog networks

Head to the original   for examples.

He closes with

To get started, I'd hire a collaboration editor charged with getting such projects going all around the newsroom.

And has this bit of advice:

But I'd make sure that job gets phased out as journalists collaborate on their own self-interested initiative.

And I suggest you make sure you carefully assign that job ... you need an enthusiastic champion right from the start. Actually, the more champions, the better

Twitter away

Sometimes, experience is the best teacher so let me share some insights from another on Twitter and give you some links to Twitter media links.

Here's what Rick Mahn, who spent a year with Twitter says:

"As I've followed more and more people on Twitter, and have more people follow me, I've grown in my ability to absorb the data stream.

I've become accustomed to having bits of information stream past all day. I find it interesting when someone chooses to vent frustrations.

I'm invigorated by the short conversations on topics I rarely think about.

I get excited to be able to answer someone's question.

I'm happy when I hear good things happen to these people who are familiar to me.

I'm proud of the way the community itself pulls together and makes things happen.

Imagine, all this is captured and shared in 140 characters or less."

I can't imagine why any journalist is missing becoming a part Twitter

Want to see which news organizations are twittering? Check this list and this list of media outlets.

Don't forget the Flint Journal's breaking news Twitter.

Taming technology, training me

Before voice mail and caller ID, before cellphones even, a friend showed me a liberating lesson by letting the phone ring. I thought of that when someone suggested I try silence when stumbling over the difficult task of saying "no.".

Back to the phones. At first, I was puzzled. Didn't he hear the ringing phone? Is he avoiding someone? It didn't take many incidents before I had to ask why he didn't answer the calls.

His answer: I am busy right now talking to you.

Whoa. To someone accustomed to racing to the rings, that was eye-opening. The technology does not tame me. I can choose, much in the way people once collected the mail and held onto a letter to read in a quiet time.

We can choose the importance of the call when it happens, weighing what we are doing at the time.

It is the same with SMS, AIM, and even email. Instant responses may be expected. They don't have to be given - then.

I still slip sometimes if I am near the ringing phone. My eyes will dart to the panel of numbers announcing the caller.

That gesture, though, is rude to the person who is already talking to me - in person.

I wish others learned that lesson of politeness prior to getting a cellphone. Then, fewer people would chat while being waited on or sitting in a crowded waiting room. That is an easy, a familiar rant.

I am trying to use that lesson to answer questions that have no answers or don't deserve answers or where the only right answer is no.

I want to master the technique of greeting an unbelevable request with silence. Not the "give me a second to round up my thoughts" silence.

I want the silence that says "are you serious?"

I want the silence that makes you realize you popped the wrong request to the wrong person.

I want the silence that will remind me that says it is OK to say no and to be polite to myself.

We make choices. Companies even. Just because I have made foolish choices in the past, I do not have to repeat them. Just because I have invested heavilly in a project, a plan, I do not need to ensure its success forever.

It is a matter of survival.

Can you think?

I admit that I have wished for a book on you so I can quickly learn what makes you tick and what ticks you off. But I never expected checklists for every part of my life. That's why I prefer facilitators over trainers and coaches over editors.

Yet, many people want a blueprint outlining what to do when. The why is not important. The possibility of unlimited choices is frightening.

Is it that some people grew up with flash cards and everything needs to be broken into small pieces with only one correct answer?

Or do they think they can always ask the teacher what will be on the test?

The national Girl Scouts are in the midst of a major shift in programming. That has to result in a focus change for those folks once known as trainers. I have only a few details on the process of converting those involved volunteers into facilitators.

I like the language change. Training implies checklists, one way of doing things, controlled situations. Facilitating implies giving you tools and skills that may guide you through situations. But the responsibility for carrying out the plans, the program, the dreams remains with you.

It is similar to why a person "lucky" enough to be called an editor needs to spend more time coaching then editor. It takes more time to coach - a lesson I learned at Poynter Institute and from Don Fry and Peter Roy Clark. But a coaching style helps a writer learn what to do in multiple situations.

Editing or fixing as story is a one-time improvement. But coaching a writer by asking questions, by having conversations, by exploring a few possibilities can reap long-term benefits for the editor, writer and reader.

When I share knowledge,, I am hoping they are thinking.

A journalist or blogger who participates in a discussion on why a news organization asks organizations to post a summary of a news article or blog item and link back to the original should now offer the same courtesy to another news organization or blogger, right?
How do you teach someone to apply concepts without spelling out what to do constantly. Hoe do you teach one to make their own checklist?
.

Twitter - and your words - to the rescue

I love it when I read something that sums up what I'm thinking before I have acquired the language to describe the thought. Happened to me twice this week - once with a Twitter status -- deep vs echo blogging - and once with a thoughtful post on why you pick up a community when you follow an individual. Then, of course, we could talk about those posts that describe the trend I've picked up only on a subconscious level until ....

Hugh MacLeod helped out in his Twitter on "deep or echobloggers" He uses the phrase to describe the differences between bloggers. Some contribute something original, or at least thoughtful to the blogging world. Others merely repeat what's already out there.

Yeah. That's a way of describing bloggers.

Look at those bloggers who share the links of the day/week/month with no commentary. Contrast that with a blogger who explains why the links are worth pursuing.

I'm struggling with blogging - yeah, see how often I write :) Part of it is I don't want to be an echo-blogger. We seem to have enough of those judging by my RSS reader that gets stuffed with duplicated posts

It takes time to be a deep blogger though. It takes time to pull together patterns, thoughts not fully explained by others. It takes time to stay on top of what's happening, of spotting trends.

Heck, I've sent more than 300 draft thoughts over here. But I let myself be paralyzed by the thought that it might already have been said. Or is it the chain that journalists don't share opinions?

It's similar to an argument I first had with Twitter. Why would anyone care what I'm doing?

Fortunately, what I've learned they may not care what I'm doing* but I care about the conversation that leads to knowledge when you follow the right Twitters.

I've also learned that it is not enough to follow, you need to contribute.

And you need to follow enough people to contribute to the conversation. (thanks to Richard Azia, who has a whole Twitter category in his blog.)

By the way, that blogging about Twittering is a whole 'nother trend,according to another Twitter'er - (Mathew Ingram) - who noted the "Twitter seems to be one of those things that people write about almost as much as they actually use."

Yeah, I've noticed that. It's almost as common as complaining about how often Twitter goes off the grid.


* About the not caring - well, some do and even that surprises me.

People who follow me because I followed them often share comforting words when the MS Monster threatens to suffocate me.

Sometimes, it is those folks I have never met who are alert enough to my patterns to recognize when MS might be sneaking out. They alert me to Twitters that do not resemble the English language. Or stop me when the Pity Party goes on too long.

Thank you.

Cuban asking wrong questions

In the Internet world, I'm late. But I still find Mark Cuban's posts questioning the ethics of someone who interviewed him worth a closer look.

Cuban questions the ethics of the interviewer writing about the interview in his blog AFTER writing the piece for a national magazine. Cuban should've been surprised only if the interviewer/blogger hadn't blogged.

When a journalist comes calling, the person always has a choice: Answer the questions or not.

It doesn't matter where the work of the journalist will go - a national magazine, a community newspaper, a television station or a blog. A person has the right to say no.

It is clear that Cuban knew the man blogged, knew the blog, and yet he continued the interview. It is also clear that Cuban gets blogging since he's behind the Blog Maverick.

About 100 comments were posted on the original post last time I looked.

I agree with commenter Adam Elman who reminds us that today's journalists often use one experience to post in several places. Trying to control the flow of information - even thinking you can control that flow is unreasonable in today's world of multiple methods of communication.

Plus the blog post even mentions - and links back to - the site/article, so the company footing the travel and writing expenses got a link and PR. (A good thing, right?)

You can tell the company that paid must have known Will Leitch blogs - they link to his Deadspin blog in the introduction of the (The most likeable blowhard in sports).

I disagree with those who want to say blogging about the experience is OK if it was for a personal site, but not a blog that makes money. Money should not be the decidng factor.

Did the writer agree to only write about the interview in the magazine? I can't imagine the question coming up or a writer agreeing. (I haven't seen anything that contradicts this - have you?)

Now that I've looked at the article (The most likeable blowhard in sports), looked at the blog post (Why no rich techie should ever buy a sports team) I think the writer was OK.

And next time, Mr. "I have trust issues and prefer interviews by email" Cuban is uncomfortable because he knows the type of blog the writer does he should just say no right then.

He agrees that should be his position in a follow up post:

Its my fault. I was stupid to think that the guy who runs Deadspin could stop being the guy who runs Deadspin. I should have asked for GQ to send someone else. Better yet, I should have stuck to my rules and only do interviews via email.

Bad idea, those email interviews. but that's for another day.

Meanwhile, Cuban needs to read The Scorpion and the Frog before heading out to the flowing river of promotion next time.

New site up, time for rest of my life

Wow. How time flies. Just added up how many hours I've worked this week - 35 and it's only Wednesday. But a version of a new web page launched for the newspaper after a mere five months.

Now, others can tweak the concept. I know the next newspapers who will need to adapt to it will improve it. I still hope to bring some features that were planned back. (What was that joke about the results of committees? mmmmm)

(As I told my husband, today the only thing you can say right now is it is the best thing since sliced bread. Tomorrow - after I sleep at least eight hours - we can be truthful again. I'll share some of my thoughts and I'd like to hear yours.)

And I can start blogging again. I noticed I have 15 times as many drafts as posts. Ouch.

Forget caller ID, tell me nature of call

My Twitter struck a 'me, too' nerve today. Seems I am not the only one interested in the nature of the call more then who is calling.

Now since Twitter limits your space, I merely explained that a color siginal about the news to be conveyed would help. Blue flashing would be a warning, red for danger and green for a 'good' call.

I was reacting to my brother's call. First, he asked me to play soccer, knowing I never had and certainly can't right now. But then the real reason for the call slips out: My dad is back in the hospital. Of course, it was the family tradition: Don't tell anyone until the procedure is done.

We all knew something was up. Although my father is a man of few words, we had heard even fewer lately. Yes, a tumor was back, a surgeon sliced it out, and now we wait. Was that enough? Will chemo help? Is anything else wanted? Or needed? Or capable of sending hope?

We wait, trying hard to be supportive, sending prayers, hugs and wishes. And while the battle continues, somehow I must find a way to walk through my own pain and continue as if nothing so earth-shattering is affecting me.

I try to finish the final details of a launch, figure out ways to make sure the team of six know enough to build their own way and still carry the day-to-day tasks of the job, of getting Medicare, MedI-Cal and Social Security on the same numbers for my mom and stepdad, and doing what I commited to do before my life unraveled.

I have either found the world's best diet or words for a great country song with the latest chapters of my life.

I know I would like to stop answering the phone now - as if that would stop the avalanche of unwelcomed opportunities.



.

Cancer, senior discount spur new 'Bucket List'

As I race through the last days of a web site redesign that will end 29 years at the same publication, I am creating "Bucket Lists." There is the rush to explain the thinking behind what's there, the determination to get everything in place and, finally, a focus on my next steps.

Seeing "The Bucket List," with an unasked-for senior discount, and my dad's latest operation helped clarify which list to work on.

Scattered in journals, old Daytimers, and loose papers are lists of goals over the years.

Lately, I have been rushing through a checkoff of things that MUST be in the showpiece I will oversee. Quick, get that poll in, those comment features in. Find ALL the folks already blogging. Get pages about the things that make Flint, Michigan, Flint done. Figure out how to highlight video, squeeze in the latest social media tool.

I had a plan for what happens next - breathing space. My material and threads, my paint and brushes, my wire and beads beckon. UFOs wait - that's unfinished objects for the non-quilters or crafters who stumbled here. My husband cannot believe he has thrown out two months of JoAnn and Michael sales pieces. Folks joke that I have caused the local branches of these and other raw material outlets to consider bankruptcy.

My side of the family hasn't had its Christmas gathering yet.

Yet, the plan to focus on family and friends, on me began to slip as I heard of others' dreams. Suddenly, I am swept up in searching for potential funders, possible grantmakers for projects as diverse as digital media and black-and-white photographs of a town saying goodbye.

Suddenly, I am fascinated by the possibility of writing about things I love.
I jump to get details on possible consulting jobs helping other newspapers change attitudes, at offering corporations diversity awareness sessions, and developing alternative sources for news.

But then, a cashier gives me a senior discount 18 months early. Ouch. I also realize it has been at years since I was inside a movie theater when I used to go at least once a week.

Plans of family time, of friend time, of me time come back into focus.

Perhaps, though, it was my brother's call that made me realize the list that needs the most work

My father had another tumor removed from his throat, which explains his reluctance to talk. Perhaps, chemo will work again.

Me? When I am done with this gig, I won't. It is time for family, for friends, for me

Goal: Journalist, citizen, human

The Journalist and the Buddha blogger asks why journalism can't talk about its own morality in a recent post. Although the writer shares guides that lead him through a discussion on objectivity, depression in the newsrooms and more, I found my a-ha moment here:

"My New Year’s resolution is to work as a journalist, to act as a citizen, and to live as a human without a blindfold."

Although the blogger dismisses that by saying

"I'll try to simply use my God-given head and heart and eyes,"

I found those simples words to be powerful.

For many years, it seems that journalists have sought to build walls around parts of their lives, or even eliminate segments from their lives. Reporters and editors have been forbidden to actively participate in politics, with one newspaper in 2002 extending the restrictions to spouses. (See On the Media: Professional Journalists, Personal Activists.)

Involvement of journalists in their local churches, community groups or clubs was frowned upon just in case those groups might become a news source.

Today, the debate looks at should a journalist blog?

John Robinson, among others, have suggested they want to know that a potential reporter is blogging - it shows interest in the field, raw ability and more. Yet not all agree that journalists should blog as evident at the discussion in October at the Online News Association.

I like that we are moving to acknowledging that journalists are humans too. I think we will discover that just as being a parent can make you a better editor or writer - watching someone learn what the world is can awaken your senses - so we will find that a person who struggles to be a better journalist, a better citizen and "live as a human" will be the person we want helping us make sense of the world we live in today.

2008: Deliver from the heart

Reading the million Twitters and zillion blog posts of what to do in 2008 helped me realize that just like Todd, there are signs showing me what I need to do next.

Unlike Todd, I didn't ride a motorcycle past a telling sign in front of a church just after asking myself what to do.

Instead, I realize that 2008 is an extension of a journey I started those 10 hours in July spent on a floor and moved further along during the 23 days my foot spent above my head.

That painful day of helplessness led to a phone always within reach as I never wanted to be that stranded again.

As I started using my cellphone more and more I realized how inadequate it was. I'm so grateful that I broke down and bought an Iphone.

I'm grateful Apple realized how flawed the first one was and replaced it before I spent all those days in bed, unable to hold much comfortably as I kept my foot elevated.

The Iphone opened so many doors - an easier way to read the blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and so many other programs. It brought new people into my life, brought back some people and helped me relate to others in new ways.

A Twitter confession that Facebook, Twitter and the Internet could take a big chunk of every day brought advice to watch what I say from Knoxville.

Reviewing Facebook statuses helped me realize how out-of-kilter my priorities had gotten as I became envious of those attending concerts and finding time for family.

I am still amazed as I look back at the last months at how timely some Facebook/Twitter/Internet messages were.

The simple belief that I would be OK, the questions lobbied that uncovered patterns, emotions and skills that I missed, the willingness to share knowledge and play Scrabble late in the night and the openness of those who have gone through buyouts before sharing how they survived.

Chris Brogran says he's talking about blogging tips here:

If you can, contribute new thoughts, different takes, and mash-up ideas to the mix.

Take something you’ve read or heard or seen from two different perspectives and mash them into a new thought.

Share something from your life. Share what matters most to you, mixed with how it might be helpful and of interest to others. Put out crazy ideas. Put out heart-felt ideas.

Deliver from your heart and soul, and it will show through.

But I'm taking it as advice for what to do next as I finish up 29 years at the same newspaper and its online operation.

Those new patterns, paths and pieces, a complicated support system, has helped me realize what I have left to give, what I can do, and even what I should do with these todays.

People in glass houses, be nice, and...

I am perplexed. I just read a post filled with suggestions on how to improve the online dialogue.

It is right on target. Now, if only the author followed her own advice.

Do I say that in a comment?

Or is that message better for back channel talk - say an email or IM?

Or should I assume the author knows how she or her site falls short?

Perhaps I am turning into a grumpy old man. I know perfection is impossible. I realize one individual can't control all of a corporate site

Perhaps I am wrong to hold back on critiquing practices just because I know the site I am associated most often sucks at very same thing

What do you think?