Tip-toeing back into Inside Out: Recognizing what delights

Waking up early and slowly today let me uncover some thoughts, some smiles and some tears before throwing off the covers.

Like most days, I reached first for my iPhone to check on the time, to check for messages, to check what's new via Facebook.

Unlike most days, I skipped over to the Safari application and visited a few blogs. Although each blog delivered delights and insights, I also recognized the pleasure of reading the blogs in their native environments. It is the design, the completeness - blog post with comments - and the focus that delivers the punch of pleasure sometimes hidden when you read through a feed.

Or maybe it is the slowness, the appreciation of the steps taken to get to a specific spot on the Internet and the ability to move from post to post and indulge in a feast on one topic or one writer.

Blog inspiration

There were three that feed an addiction and have inspired my blogging - FarmVille Freaks, FarmVille Fanatic, and FarmVilleFeed. There was one - Free From Editors - that made me cry and delivered a reminder that my blogging is changing. There was one - Louis Gray - that reminded me some people talk about authentic conversations while others have them.

Happy and growing

I still smile when I remember how happy the bloggers were when Zynga, the FarmVille creator, recognized them by distributing giftable items to them.

It has been inspiring to watch them learn to credit the blog that had the information first and to give Zynga the credit for images.

Equally interesting is watching the designs grow. One frequently ends posts with questions that inspire comments or use multiple-choice questions to garner interest in options. The categories change as do how the information is presented.

I knew that!

I can't type in a web address without thinking about Free From Editors, a blog by a former colleague who will never forgive newspapers for giving away content for free on the Internet.

That led to an a-ha moment as I read Jim's post on a Bay City Times reporter who has moved on to a new venture. Reading the post made me recognize the urgency of this blog, my blog, to report on Michigan media changes is fading fast. I had stumbled across Jeff Kart's change via a LinkedIn update, asked a few questions but never posted here about the Mr. Great Lakes site or his new job as online director of Michigan League of Conservation Voters.(since May 2010).

Multiple streaming

Reading Free From Editors also reminded me how I am once again scattering my shares/likes/finds across the Internet and how Facebook is helping me connect with more things. The reminder came in his post on Connor Doran, the son of another former colleague.

I'd shared the video on Facebook on Sunday, meant to write about here and well, you know how that went. I do have a post pending, just waiting for an answer to a question. Stay tuned.

Walking the talk

I'm running into the phrase "authentic conversations" on a regular basis. The disappointment comes with those who limit being authentic to words, not action. I am rarely disappointed with Louis Gray, who models an admirable openness, delivers good information and always pushes items onto my to-do list.

Today's reading added three actionable items and a watch reminder:

• Checking out Brizzly, promoted in Brizzly rolls out picnics for private real-time group chats (although you'll never convince me anything online is private)
• Look at Tungle.me, explained in Tungle is an irreplaceable web scheduling app 
• Spend more time with Amplify,  after rereading Amplify goes mobile with clipping service for curating.
• Keep an eye on Google Me because of posts like Edge Theory Conversations: Google Me rumored to challenge Facebook.(although I still prefer writing over audio and long for transcripts from EdgeTheory and Cinch)

As I said, I'm rarely disappointed by the return on investment when I spend time at LouisGray.com His post on The art of being pragmatic in a world of fanboys is just part of a series he offers on where he is coming from and what he is doing online. I admire him for not only thinking about it, but sharing his insights.

Quick sidetrack: Jesse Stay's blog post on Who Are the Mormons? yesterday reminded me of Gray's openess. It also made me think about why Gray and Stay are at the top of my bloggers to read list.

(Note: I corrected the spelling of Mormons)

Pardon the dust

Let's pretend I chose to take this break from most Internet things.

Let's pretend that multiple sclerosis is not a God that decide when relapses and remitting occurs.

Let's pretend I choose what is affected and when by this disease and that at most each person can have 1 function - and only 1 - affected.

Perhaps when those who know the truth stop laughing I will return to blogging, tweeting, facebooking, farming, and all things virtual. I hope for a return.

Meanwhile, we can ask for forgiveness of the dust created via virtual construction of what is next. Yeah, that is what I am doing - planning.

Getting started is the tough part

I start a gazillion blog posts - in my head. I think I will remember the thoughts. I think I will squeeze in time on the computer to craft a post from the thoughts.

Sometimes, I start the post here, get sidetracked by needing to check on a fact or find the right word or spelling and forget to get back here to finish and then publish a post. In fact, once more I have more posts started then posted. Fortunately, the Blogger software lets me do that.

Yes, blogging is no different then the rest of my life. I start so much more then I finish.

Sometimes, I stop by choice. I am more comfortable now casting aside books that don't deserve to be finished by me.

Take The Blind Side, for instance. I stopped reading it because the story kept getting lost in the details of football. Had I noticed the rest of the title: "Evolution of a Game" I might have never started reading this story of a boy who grew up without a bed and helped change the game of football. It was the boy's story I wanted, not the explanation of football evolution. That's the story the movie focused on. I finished the movie.

Casting aside books is fairly new for me as I had been trying to give the author the benefit of doubt. I pushed past my uncomfortable level, hoping, no believing, the words would become more valuable as I got deeper into the book.

Remember, this is the woman who drove librarians in Livonia nuts begging to be allowed to check out more then 5 books at a time, asking repeatedly to be allowed access to the adult section. My first oral reports were to those librarians who asked questions to make sure I was reading the books, not using them as props.

Oh, how I remember the feeling of accomplishment as I worked my way through the fiction shelves: All the authors whose last name began with an A, with a B, with a C, and so on and so on and so on.

Now, though, I realize that was just one of the first unfinished projects as a job in a bookstore (dream job, of course) and other priorities took over.

Now, though, the potatoes are done so I need to answer the call of the boil. I'm calling this post done as well.

Surprised, perplexed, exhausted from/at/in Journalism That Matters

I am amazed at the optimism and positive outlooks at a Journalism That Matters event taking place now in Detroit Michigan. With a subtitle of Create or Die, with the dying of traditional journalism, the amount of change in media, with media in Michigan this could have been a somber affair.

An opening exercise invited all who had worked in a newsroom to change places with someone else in a circle of participants. Nearly everyone moved elsewhere. But only two moved when the question was who works in a newsroom.

Tonight, I ran through a slideshow of photos from the event. Notice how many are smiling.

Participants set agenda

This is a conference where those who are present create the agenda. Someone has an issue, an idea, a proposal to examine and announces the idea to the group. Anyone can stand up and suggest, sometimes ideas are combined. All ideas are posted to a board, get a time, get a room. Then participants choose where they want to go, if they want to go.

Unlike other Journalism That Matters conferences, the hope was that some projects would be a direct result of the talking, sharing and exchanging that happened at the event with a tagline of Innovate, Incubate, Initiate.

You can see the topics proposed and notes from the sessions online as well as photos and video of some parts.

The plan

What I planned to do at this meeting was buzz from session to session to gather a sense of what happens and to create an ongoing report of the outcomes after people left Detroit, returned home and moved on. I did some conference work, picking up supplies, making some wall hangings, and inviting some people. I helped people make collages of who they are for a wall of faces. I planned to gather words each day to pull together as a poem to recap the end of the day for all.

Social gaming for journalism

But a series of conversations on the opening day led me to host a session on  Social Media Gaming to foster understanding of Journalism and Civic Engagement That session went past the initial time, rolled through lunch, through the afternoon and onto a plan for all day Saturday.

There was a revolving, evolving set of people who flew in and out of the conversations as we talked about different types of games, how could we encourage people to understand why journalism mattered, the  of state of gaming journalism, racial and gender issues in gaming and much more.

But, by the end of the first 90 minute session a small group of us knew we wanted to create a game that was fun, that could be viral, that could help others understand the complexity of finding the story as a journalist, that might lead to more people caring what happened in their community.

Long way since Space Invaders

I would not consider myself a gamer, although I admit I've played a variety of games online, on consules, on mobile devices, even my phone. I've played when the games required text commands like "get ball" made a character move across the screen and in more complex games.

Lately, I've been watching and reasearching FarmVille as a powerful example of how to make money online, create a game that lets you succeed with little time spent and offers some life lessons I wish more would encourage: Being nice to neighbors, working together for the success of all and celebrating success.

Still, I think the traditional gaming industry appeals mostly to males and those under 30, if not younger.

Breaking out

One fascinating part of the session for me was who was in the group. Only two or three (it depended on the time) were active gamers, by which I mean played multiple games, knew the types of available games and could speak off the cuff deeply about the gaming industry.

The group was predominantly female - many games are male dominated in developing, characters and players.

I continued to faciitate the process for the next five hours, pulling ideas of games that worked, that didn't from those who play games regularly and those who didn't. There was pulling of what is journalism from those who once were journalists and those who never were or intended to be.

We explored possible characters, possible approaches to storytelling, platforms and so much more. We left with the idea to continue the next day with blueskying, picking one scenario to flesh out and doing preliminary building so that we could present some sort of a game to a panel of coaches on Sunday.

Right people, right place

There are four principles of Open Space, the technique of this gathering:

1. Whoever comes is the right people
2. Whenever it starts is the right time
3. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
4. When it's over, it's over

What happened early Saturday was remarkable. By the time, I entered the session where that day's agenda would be formed I knew I was too exhausted from the first day to continue as facilitator. I also knew that I didn't want to focus my energy for the next few months developing this game. Yet, there was no time to hunt for any of the participants to let them know of my change in plans.

Unexpectedly and with great appreciaiton, one of the first people to bounce up with an idea to lead a session was one of the women who floated in and out of the first day's conversations/planning/sessions. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Some others dropped out, others droped in. I stayed for some of the planning and then moved on.

New energy builds on the start

Today ended with the project -- Create a game to interest the public in the continued creation of an evolving journalism -- being picked as one of four (out of nine) to get coaching on the last day of the conference.

The game may never make it to the real world but the process of learning what hooks gamers, gaming journalism, what those inside and outside of journalism define as journalism was exciting. All who worked on the gaming plan agreed that any of us could use parts of what we discovered/learned/developed to use.

I am about to end the day, smiling in amazement at what happens when you are willing to give up the shoulds.

I wrote about this conference as part of a post on citizen journalist iniatives in Michigan

Oregonian reporter fired for writing for Glamour without OK

A 12-year career with The Oregonian ended with a firing because a reporter wrote a story for a national magazine without clearing the job with her newspaper editors first.

Details about the firing, including a comment from the editor, are posted in Williamette Week.

The story, published in Glamour under the headline " 'I Found Out My Mother Was A Killer': the Rebecca Babcock Story," is about a 26-year-old woman learning her birth mother, Diane Downs, was convicted of shooting her own children in 1983.

Downs was pregnant with Rebecca during the trial, the result of a "brief fling with a newspaper reporter" according to published reports. (The Oregonian published several reports, including this one, on "one of the most notorious murder cases in Oregon history.")

20/20 also featured Babcock's story. and "Why did Diane Downs Plot to Kill Her Kids?". You also can watch an interview with a reporter about how the story developed. The story of Diane Downs was the subject of Ann Rule's book "Small Sacrifices," and that was turned into a TV movie.

Most news organizations either restrict employees from contributing or publishing in other sources or require advance permission and first refusal rights.

Jef Mallett: Control what you can

How much in life can we control? As a woman who lives in a temperamental body - oh, thank you MS - I know that sometimes the answer is nothing.

But Jef Mallet, who I first met through The Flint Journal, suggests how we can control the start of the day in a blog post under the headline of Reveille. He sneaks in a review of John Hiatt's Muddy Waters.

I also like reading how Jef invites those of us on Facebook to head over to his latest blog post. Here's the intro for today's post:

"Most of life just happens the way it wants, even for those of us who like to think we're allergic to passivity. Truth is, you can only control a few little pieces. They might as well be key pieces. First three minutes of the day seems pretty key to me."

Most times you'd get his lead:

"People who don't like waking up on Monday mornings apparently don't wake up the way I did this morning: To John Hiatt's "Crossing Muddy Waters," from his 2000 album of the same name."

It's a perfectly good way to start a blog post. But I like how he takes the time to craft a summary of his latest post. Here's what he said over on Facebook when I left praise for his intro:

"I like how that spreads the word and drives traffic, but mostly I like how it forces me to do an instant evaluation of what I've written. Great training."

Me? I like waking up to read the blog posts of long-time and short-time friends despite being allergic to mornings. Finding a role model or learning something new can perk me up almost as much as a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

Refresher 'course' uses humor to improve grammar

Me and her? Double negatives? Run-on sentences? The College Humor site takes us through some grammar lessons. But such a tragic ending, I'm afraid.

Fear not: Internet helps shrink world into villages again

Great reminder from Jason Kottke who has been sharing online since March 1998, about How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet.

Click on that link and you'll see what Kottke pulled out as a stark reminder that it is us on the Internet.

Then head to the original piece by Douglas Adams, which first appeared in The Sunday Times on Aug. 29, 1990.

One of my favorite lines?

"Anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it."

It's part of three sentences of what in the world is normal and what is against the natural order of things. Unfortunately, most of us won't believe those sentences until we've made it past the age of 40 or so.

But I also like the reminder:

"Another problem with the net is that it’s still ‘technology’, and ‘technology’, as the computer scientist Bran Ferren memorably defined it, is ‘stuff that doesn’t work yet.’ "

But what I like best is this reminder of who we are and why we reach out via email, Facebook, FarmVille, Twitter, and so much more:

"We are natural villagers. For most of mankind’s history we have lived in very small communities in which we knew everybody and everybody knew us. But gradually there grew to be far too many of us, and our communities became too large and disparate for us to be able to feel a part of them, and our technologies were unequal to the task of drawing us together. But that is changing.

"Interactivity. Many-to-many communications. Pervasive networking. These are cumbersome new terms for elements in our lives so fundamental that, before we lost them, we didn’t even know to have names for them."

Won't you be my friend? Or follower? Or neighbor?

Do your Facebook friends follow the crowd on quizzes, games and more?

I'm so grateful none of my friends on Facebook suck. Do yours?

After checking out the 8 websites you don't need to do because someone else has already done them, I stumbled across "How to Suck at Facebook" So, of course, I shared it on Facebook, which led to more people sharing and laughing. Some even volunteered to share with me some of their friends who do suck.

Concentrate on brand to avoid 8 website mistakes

Why re-invent what others do?

The Oatmeal, which the creator calls an entertainment site, gives you 8 Websites You Need to Stop Building, which I'm boiling down to say the world does not need a web site that:

1. Tells what my friends are up to
2. Shares things
3. Clones successful websites
4. Requires registration (use what's out there - Facebook Connect, Google, etc.)
5. Opens with mandatory Flash introductions
6. Proves you are a social media wizard

But if you just accept my version you will miss the opportunity to see Matthew Inman's 8 reasons illustrated in comic strip form. It's a quick read so check it out.

For inspiration on what and why Inman creates what he does read his post on Why I quit.

Then, get back to thinking about what you want to do for you, your organization or business. How can you ensure the death of an online site won't eliminate your community?

Setting privacy settings on Facebook requires many clicks

Find the complete graphic on

The New York Times online site.

Wow. Send out a thank you to the New York Times which uncovered the privacy settings for Facebook: 50 settings with 170 options.

An article, The price of Facebook Privacy? Start clicking, and a graphic maps out what you can do with Facebook's general privacy settings, ads and application settings.  

(Find general privacy settings under Account, Privacy Settings - See illustration above - and Facebook ads  under Account, Account Settings - See illustration below. And for more fun, check out Application Settings.)

 Plus the NYT shares information like the growth spurt of the Facebook privacy policy:

• 1,004 words in 2005; 5,830 words in 2010
• Longer then the United Staes Constitution without the amendments.

Facebook also has a guide to privacy, which is where you can find its policy, and details about the most recent update. Facebook suggests the world will be a better place if you allow "Everyone" to see everything. The New York Times had no recommendation.

I tend to recommend Friends or Only Me settings for most people, cautioning that once you put something on the Internet consider that someone somewhere will know at some point in time.

When you hear 'journalist' what do you see? Database collects 75,000 images

Your age might be a predictor of the image that the word journalist pops up in your mind. But if you've got the time,  the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture database can show you about 75,000 different entries.

There are video, photos, and hundreds of articles that feature journalists in a variety of roles.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts is the Sob Sisters parts that shows the conflict of female journalists: "How to incorporate the masculine traits of journalism essential for success – being aggressive, self-reliant, curious, tough, ambitious, cynical, cocky, unsympathetic – while still being the woman society would like her to be – compassionate, caring, loving, maternal, sympathetic."

The opening essay highlights some of the conflicts, including:

"... does anyone really want to be Hildy Johnson chasing after one more story or Lois Lane crying her eyes out because the person she loves is out saving the world and doesn’t have time for domestic tranquility or Mary Richards, widowed and penniless, trying at the age of 60 to make one more comeback in television news, or Murphy Brown raising a child and battling breast cancer while still holding on to her number one position in TV news ..."

Here's what Joe Joe Saltzman, professor of journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. says we'll find among the 75,000 entries on journalists, public relations practitioners and media in the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture database:

• Television (27,000 items); 
• Films (19,500 movies, movies made for TV and miniseries); 
• Fiction (12,300 novels, 1,550 short stories, 500 plays and 200 poems); 
• Radio (2,900 items);
• Cartoons, Comic Books & Comic ... See MoreStrips (5,900 items); 
• Non-Fiction (Documentaries, News, Sports, 3,150 items); 
• Humor (710 items); 
• Commercials (350 items); 
• Games (140 items); 
• Music (Songs-Compositions, 95 items); 
• Internet-Websites (90 items), 
• Art (40 items).

The IJPC Database includes:

• print journalists (from large urban newspapers to small country weeklies, including editors, reporters, photojournalists, correspondents, columnists, publishers, newsboys), 
• broadcast journalists (from networks to local stations including reporters, anchors, correspondents, producers, writers, technical personnel, news directors, station owners, network executives and management), 
• public relations practitioners (from press agents to publicists), and 
• the news media (anonymous reporters who show up in countless films and television movies ranging from press conferences to packs of reporters shouting questions or chasing after the main character to individual reporters asking questions). 

Here are some tips he shared over on Facebook:

• If you want to see all the entries, don’t fill in any of the query categories and simply hit submit
•  If you’re interested in a particular film or novel or any other popular culture title, fill in the TITLE query
• If you’re searching for a particular journalist (a columnist, a critic, an editor), a specific actor or a specific group (African-American or Female or Gay for example) simply fill out the COMMENTS query.
• If you’re only interested in movies or novels or poems or humor, simply click on the TYPE or types you are interested in and only those entries will show up.
• If you want to see if your favorite author is included, go to the AUTHOR column and type in LAST NAME followed by a comma, and then first name.
• If you’re interested in a specific country, type that country’s name in the REFERENCE query.
• Each column can be set up in ascending or descending order by simply clicking on it.
• If you want to read more about any individual title, click on the title itself.
• If you want to borrow some title from the IJPC Collection of more than 12,000 DVDs, then check the FORMAT column to see if it’s available.

All the tips on how to use the database are included in the IJPC Database Introduction.
 
Go. Enjoy.

Imagine if life were like Facebook

Toss a drink! Deliver a poke! Write on a wall!

A group took those things we say and do on Facebook and turned them into a video. Go ahead, click Facebook In Real Life on Facebook or on the Crossroads web site You need a laugh today.

Next up: When Facebook is your life -- now, that's a real laugh.
 By the way, Crossroads, which produce the video, says it is for those who have given up on church, but not God.

Unfinished business stays that way

I'm playing butterfly today. You know, those times when you flit from project to project, place to place, and unfortunately, blog post to blog post.

I'm picking up nuggets of thoughts from here and there. I start pulling it together and suddenly I see a brighter and sweeter flower. How can I resist? I just looked and I.see I once again have more draft posts then published posts :(  for the year.

Maybe I should go work on those Facebook pages that are demanding attention.

Or maybe I'll go study that butterfly quilt once more and nap.

The nap is needed because either we need to sleeping pills for dogs or a way to train them to sleep from midnight to 8 a.m.

Share on Saturday: Why 4 easy steps ensure popularity on Facebook

I could have published this post early Thursday morning. Instead, I'm listening and waiting for this blog post to hit Facebook on Saturday.

That simple step might be key to spreading the word on Facebook. Think weekend, numbers and sex. Or post about Facebook.

Hat tip to the News Leadership Blog through the Knight Digital Media Center for its summary in 3 tips for getting your stories shared on Facebook

But head to Dan Zarrella's blog for a post on "Data shows on Facebook sex sells."

Learn why it pays to post on weekends if you're looking for something to spread. Here's a hint: How many employers now ban Facebook and other web sites?

Be stunned to learn that digits in headlines help in popularity.

Then find out why including Facebook, why or world  make a post more likely to get shared on Facebook.

(By the way, these blog posts are now flowing onto my Facebook page. The page  was created in 2007. I dusted it off as I ramp up to more Facebook work. It's much easier and safer to experiment with FBML and other things there instead of on the clients' site.


Some pages grow faster then others - Soyla's Mexican Cuisine is up to 60 fans/likers while the main Facebook page for Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan is around 1,800 fans/likers). Meanwhile, I'm working on revising the Facebook 101 classes - again! -- and adding a Facebook for Small Businesses 101 class. That's one setting where Dan's research will come in handy.)

Simple explanation very inviting

Isn't the simplicity of this web page stunning. Even at the end of a long day - yeah, not the best time to evaluate anything - I'm just blown away by the simplicity of instructions.

I grabbed a snapshot because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Note: If you want to know about the service and its preview head over to LouisGray.com for Regator Revamp Adds Blog Tremds. Monitoring, More.

Seriously, you thought you could hide forever

I am sure my mother had eyes in the back of her head. I am sure the sun will rise tomorrow. I am equally sure that if I say or do something on a computer or device connected to a network I give up the right to privacy.

Perhaps it comes from growing up in a community where many eyes watched and reported the moves of members. Or maybe I learned that private actions are limited while digging through reports, listening to speeches and asking questions to create articles for newspapers, the web and books.

Or maybe I've lived through enough private networks becoming public, seen enough innovations wipe out previous practices and endured company ownership changes that render lifetime guarantees useless.

Teach privacy impossible

So Facebook wants to take over the world.So Facebook will learn more about me if I share my likes within  and off site. We already knew our reputations are dead.

Rather then worrying about teaching people how to keep their behaviors, thoughts and actions quiet why don't we teach them the basic truth that if you share it online someone will find it.  Yesterday it was Google. Today it is Facebook. Let's see who is next.

That's a long way of saying I don't see why someone  would be gleeful that they've managed to fool Facebook by listing concepts and values as interests and activities, a move that ensures useful ads are not served. I don't get playing hide and seek on Facebook.

One last time

I actually like those programs that tell me who I'm following across social networks, that serve up suggestions of what or who I might like.

I agree with Chris O'Brien in the San Jose Mercury News that the benefits of a Facebook monster is that I don't have to keep reinventing my profiles.

Says O'Brien in Sorry, Google, but Facebook is the Web's most important company now:

"The problem with the social Web until now is that each time you joined a new site, you had to create a new identity and refind your friends and drag them along with you. That's a pain, and each time you really had to think about how much time you wanted to invest. You had to build dozens of social networks, try to manage them and remember to check them."

But the changes mean, O'Brien explained, that "now, your Facebook network will just travel with you seamlessly across the Web ... This will make social networking far simpler and more effective for the vast majority of users."

It does means Facebook has a ton of information about me. I'm OK with that. So does my credit card company, Comcast and a ton of others. Unfortunately, a Freedom of Information Act request won't let me know what all they know.

Just go, will you?

I'm OK with Tyler Romeo "not to be a copycat or anything but I'm leaving Facebook." He's going to leave a lot of things through the years.

Nothing in the conversation that followed when Louis Gray shared it on Google Buzz persuaded me to follow Romeo's example.

I still believe don't say it or do it if you don't want to see it on the front page of your "local newspaper." It's just that these days my "local newspaper" has morphed into a global online network.

More citizen journalist initiatives starting at Michigan newspapers

Looks like Michigan's Oakland Press will get help in expanding its citizen journalism pool.

Plus more Michigan communities will start relying on neighbors to help cover the news.

The Journal Register, which owns the Oakland Press, Macomb Daily, Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant in Michigan and 13 other daily newspapers in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, partnered with SeeClickFix

A shared item on Facebook let me to this article in the Dearborn Press and Guide:
Newspaper group starts citizen journalist initiative.

"The partnership provides SeeClickFix portal pages on JRC Web sites that will allow users to observe, report and follow issues in their communities. Web site users will be able to create watch areas and track items ranging from poor road conditions to blighted buildings."

Think of it as a community neighborhood watch group for news.

The Oakland Press launched a citizen journalism academy in late 2008, even gained circulation when other Michigan newspapers cut back. But the move brought plenty of attention to the Oakland Press.

The company believes this partnership will benefit the communities by:

• Encouraging the audience to use the SeeClickFix platform to alert fellow residents of impact issues.
• Empowering residents to work with the company’s journalists to address community needs.
• Highlighting those who participate and make a difference through news reports.

How's that for a press release reprinted in a newspaper as if it were a story.

The press release at the company site says:

The company expects to expand its network to its other properties, including the other weekly newspapers in Michigan. Those include the Advisor and Source in Shelby Township, Voice Newspapers, Southgate News-Herald, Heritage Newspapers and Morning Star Network, according to the company website.

Meanwhile, the Rapidian on the west side of Michigan is going strong.

Create or die

We are also about a month away from a Journalism That Matters unconference in Detroit.

The idea behind the event is "How can we reshape journalism so that it engages and serves all people & communities?"

A Facebook announcement said:

"A focused, three-day gathering of results-driven journalists, entrepreneurs, programmers, technologists, bloggers, videographers, funders, venture capitalists, artists and educators to discover, assess, shape and create new enterprises and new approaches to participatory media and civic journalism. We'll meeting in St. Andrew's Hall, a National Register-listed former church, with
state-of-the-art TV production facilities next door, and dormitory suite or hotel accommodations.

Learn about Detroit's changing economy as a metaphor for the journalism change and opportunity. Arrive Thurs., June 3, at mid-day, begin with an afternoon orientation, buffet dinner and evening program. Share/work Friday and Saturday using circle-round and break-out 'unconference' collaboration; wrap up and commit to next steps on Sunday morning."

Some expectations:

• New and unexpected cross-sector collaborations
• Broadening a community of practice among people who care about journalism innovation
• Nurture and develop journalism entrepreneurship especially for underserved communities and people of color
• Learn from stories of successful projects
• Discover and engage financial/funding sources to seed new projects

Developing the program has started, but much of it depends on who shows up.

I'm registered to go, expecting to work behind the scenes capturing and then sharing some of what is discovered at the event. A few obstacles for me to overcome, but I think some exciting conversations will happen.

You can play hide and seek on Facebook

A recent rash of invites to see who has visited my Facebook profile and now a post on how to "stay invisible on Facebook" leaves me confused.

Personally, I want people to visit my profile. I want them to see what I said and I want to read what they write, share, or comment about. I'd love to know how many people just drift by my wall without leaving a shadow.

I never quite got why creating a collage of mug shots of visitors was an application that appealed to so many of my Facebook friends.

Robb Montgomery calls it staying invisible on Facebook.

He sees it as desirable as his lack of traditional interests listed in his profile ensures he keeps his data. After all, how many advertisers are seeking those intersted in "Truth, Grace, Redemption ...."

It means none of the Facebook ads are likely to garner a click from him.

Personally, I'll share some interests and even look at some ads as a way to ensure Facebook stays in business.

I once only shopped at businesses who advertised with my employer. I only used coupons delivered through my employer. It was one small step to assure advertisers that their ads and coupons worked.

I don't want to - and won't - pay a fee to Facebook.

Robb says:

"The choice to have your data sold and traded by people who are not paying you for it is up to you. If you want to lower your Facebook “book value” - your advertising revenue profile - then simply take a look at your profile details from a marketer’s viewpoint and remove specific types of information that identify your branding preferences."

I practice good privacy efforts. It's OK for a business to make money from me.  They always have.

Moving on: Cleveland.com exec moving (to) Sideways

Advance
Internet

Adventure is calling an Advance Internet executive who enjoys creating new experiences online. She'll move from the news business to the book business. Or is it she's moving back to a familiar place.

Eliza Wing, president and CEO of Cleveland.com, is the new president and COO of Sideways, a software company based in Cleveland that wants to convert books into multimedia experiences to take advantage of the iPad and other mobile devices.

New look at books

Launch of Sideways, founded by the founder of books.com, is 27 days away, according to a company web site.  Wing gave cleveland.com  more details, saying the new company would formally launch at the BookExpo America conference in New York City on May 25.

It must be hard for Wing to leave Cleveland.com, a site that she helped form after moving from The Cleveland Plain Dealer's editorial department. She was named editor-in-chief for Plain Dealer New Media in 1996 to work on the development of a news and information site for Cleveland and named president and CEO in 1997.

Sweet reunion

But, in some ways, it must be a comfortable move. Wing was editorial director for book.com, the first Internet book store, from June 1995 until February 1996.

No successor was named, according to a cleveland.com article where she also said:

"I think cleveland.com is at a place in its history when its ready to take the next step and I'm excited for the company. We're exceeding our revenue goals and our audience is continuing to grow. There's just so much more to do. That was part of what made the decision so hard."

In the past

Wing worked at Rolling Stone and New York Woman before following her then-husband to Cleveland for his new job at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's when the mother of two started in the editorial department of the Ohio newspaper. That soon led to what became cleveland.com, the online affliate of the Plain Dealer.

Learn more about Eliza Wing, including the first time she lived in Ohio, how she started in the news business, and the fine art of "juggling the workplace as a hockey mom" in a 2005 profile on Clevelandwomen.com.

Online and active

We've met through the years at Newhouse events, new media conventions and, of course, online.  She tweets. has a Google profile and she blogs (just not lately.) She graduated from the University of Michigan, but let's not hold that against her.

Regret the error, not repeat the error

Poor Matt Millen. He can't win.

Rob Otto over on mlive.com ensures that Millen's mistake - a comment about who likes fried bologna sandwiches - isn't limited to ESPN watchers. He found a YouTube video with a label that deserves another round of apologies. He shares it in a Ottoman Empire post under the headline "Matt Millen discovers whole new way to embarrass himself at the NFL draft."

Otto should share the embarrassment with his choice of videos.

One of my first bosses at The Flint Journal pounded into me the importance of not repeating an error when publishing a correction. He's also the one who shared the web address with me, knowing I'd smile and start thinking about blue skies and perfection.

Like: Facebook’s ambition to sweep the web

The new "like" feature that jumps off Facebook and onto other sites on the web should pull even more organizations and small businesses and off the web and into Facebook.

Although this week's announcement focuses on companies like Pandora getting the shared like button, I think the move will increase the need for the smaller businesses and organizations making sure they are a part of the Facebook network.

Creating a page/mini-site within Facebook will be the easiest way. Still, for many organizations even this will be a challenge as the requirements for Facebook success goes beyond words and visuals. Regular updates and frequent interactions are keys to success.

A Facebook site is not something to just hand off to a third-party for design and implementation. It takes integration within the organization. It means making interaction part of the company's daily infrastructure. It means making openess more then "my door is always open" from the top executives.

Lots of talk on the web, but technical evangelist Robert Scoble pulls together a good summary of the news, what it means, links, and video in a s post on Facebook’s ambition. The man who Facebook dropped for 24 hours once explores the scariness of the new effort and shares a conversation with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg:

"Today I told Zuckerberg that he now has the modern-day railroad in his grasp and challenged him to both win our trust and not abuse the major power he’s going to aggregate."

Scoble suggests that the Facebook moves completed "a major piece of commerce infrastructure that would affect our lives for decades" and compared it to the completion of the railroad tracks across the United States.

"It opened the west. Made new careers possible. Let fresh food from California get to Chicago before it spoiled and all that. But it created an organization that had a LOT of power that wasn’t always used well."

It's up to businesses, organizations and people, whether they are friends, members, fans or likers, to become the check on Facebook. You won't get that by staying away or by jumping in only to answer random quizzes and play games.

Updated April 26, 2010 to fix typo in Scoble quote so that it now reads new careers, not few careers.

Right word won't roll off tongue or keyboard for non-conformists, new products

What do you call experimenting journalists without newsrooms?

What do you call a product that will bring together diverse information and publish it many forms?

How much baggage does a new word carry when it is created from old words?

If you were fast, you read that I called Dan Paecho an ex-journalist in a post on his newest venture of presenting the news, a venture called FeedBrewer.

I called him that based on a conversation months ago when I was struggling with how many months out of the newsroom makes you an ex-journalist. The conversation was prompted partially by Wired Journalists decision to limit its network to only journalists.

Over on Twitter, we "discussed" how seeing the ex-journalist in the headline got Dan to "realize I'm not ready to ditch the "journo" description" even though he had for a short time at least.

Indeed, his Twitter bio once again just says journalist, with no sign of the former journalist label that was there. So I changed the headline to read journalist before Dan said that was unnecessary.

Dan says:

"Ex just sounds so final. I prefer "former" (although I since removed that too). I'm all mixed up."

Perhaps "journovator?"

Indeed, Dan is mixed up, mixed up in trying to innovate within a traditional field. He's not alone - check out a Twitter list he maintains and you'll see the names of people who have spent time in and out of newsrooms experimenting with different ways to find the news, define the news and present the news.

I can't tell you when a person needs to give up the journalist title.

And no one could call Dan a traditional journalist. His new venture, FeedsBrewer, will take him further out of the newsroom. Says Dan:

"We need a new term for people who help journalism happen all around them, vs. the traditional definition (only doing it yourself)."journo" description. Perhaps "journovator?""

Although there are people with interests in journalism and innovations, I'm not ready to bless journovator. Can you say it with a straight face?

Dan's Tweeted reply was:

"I dunno, I think "journovator" sounds like it was made for t-shirts -- which is the litmus test for good names."

I think there are terms for people who help journalism happen - publishers, editors, advertisers, news sources, etc. None of those fit  what Dan or his journovators are doing. But I don't have a better idea.

Brewing information

I also don't have a better name for his new venture even after talking about it on Twitter. I started with:

"What we should talk about is @feedbrewer The name generates an image of cooking up RSS feeds"

The Feedbrewer logo (which I've mangled above with words) should inspire thoughts of brewing coffee. Twitter talk also suggested comparing the venture to the act of brewing beer or coffee.

From Dan comes this:

"Think brew as in beer or coffee, not witches' brew. Who knows, perhaps we will make homebrew for a launch party :-)"

I'm sure they've done research and Dan says:

"Personally, I think FeedBrewer rocks as a name. It brews feeds into delicious eye candy. One day, maybe beverages, too."

But when I hear FeedBrewer, I think of RSS feeds pulled into one device for reading. Or perhaps I'm thinking of Feedburner.

I understand I'm in the minority just by knowing of RSS feeds and Feedburner. I know no one put me in charge of language today. But this language thing boggles my mind.

Perhaps InfoStew better reflects this new product, new venture. I can serve stew with its mixture of vegetables and meat in a bowl, over rice, or a mound of potatoes. The product delivers information in a write once, read many ways and places. (Wasnt't write once, read multiple places the dream of the website language html?)

Guess I need to wait for the product to understand what is being said on Feedbrewer's web site and Facebook page.

Crusading for print?

Or perhaps I'm just ornery right now. Another cross platform conversation - started on Twitter, moved onto Facebook, then switched to email - on my crusade for print journalism - ended with an equal amount of frustration.

I never thought of myself as crusading for print, more for journalism, more for the sharing of information in interesting ways, or the telling of stories in multiple mediums.

Look at my past. Even while working for a newspaper company, I pushed for delivering news and information via phone, fax and online. My non-work time went to creating a community computer network that remains alive (barely) 16 years later, to putting Girl Scout information on an email list, on gopher and then the newly World Wide Web.

Crusading for a title

Look at my now. I'm pulling and pushing for information on Facebook, on Twitter, on FriendFeed for Girl Scouts, small businesses, and class reunions.

My eyes now light up as I talk about social gaming and figuring out the puzzles presented by FarmVille for those who call me guru, boss and expert.

I get excited (still) about new product launches, ideas for ensuring a community's stories are shared, and the restructuring of organizations that didn't realize soon enough that most women work now, often for businesses that release work schedules on Friday for the next week.

Now, if only I could find the right word to describe who I am. Retiree ain't cutting it with me.

Let's start over, please

It was a rough morning. Too much too wrong. Too dark inside when I can see that the sun is trying hard to peak through the crowd. It tumbled into a rougher afternoon.

Funny. I just wrote peaking through the crowd when I meant clouds. Or did my fingers know what my brain sometimes forgets.

The first status, posted on Facebok on April 13, 4:30 p.m. said:

Days like today help me understand how stereotypes begin. I don't like that. But I'm not real happy with many males today either!

Go ahead. Imagine the type of behavior that would encourage me to understand why males gain a reputation for being uncommunicative, or bossy or easily amused by unfunny experiences. Or how many times they speak in sports language, expecting the non-athletic to understand the secret language created on courts, courses and fields. I can probably top what you thought with what took place.

Still, that's not the thinking I want to encourage or the people I want to hang with so I decided to change the only thing that I can: My attitude. That led to this Facebook status at 5:44 p.m.:

OK. Let's start over. Good morning world.  

Who said my day had to start in the a.m. or when sun popped up.

The status prompted responses such as:

"Good morning. have you had your V-8 yet? A good way to start your morning.
Hey, sunshine. Good day to you!"

 and, despite what I just said, my favorite one of all:

"OK, so like in golf. We should get, say, 6 mulligans a year."

I can get by with  do-overs a year. Can you?

Success breeds CEO role for journalist

Outside the box thinking has led to out of the newsroom work for Dan Pacheco for a number of years. Today, I learned he's using the success of his Printcasting project to jumpstart a new business - FeedBrewer.

The new business, like the old project, is a way of delivering content in an efficient way. It also recognizes that publishing once on a web page is not wise for news organizations, businesses or any non-profit.

From the About Us page:

"FeedBrewer is a one-stop shop for quickly creating beautifully-designed content that is instantly published to multiple platforms -- including tablets (such as the iPad), mobile devices, and even printable PDF magazines. Simply provide the RSS feed from any blog or content management system, choose a design scheme, and we'll do the rest. You can also add content manually by posting text and uploading photos."

Dan is the new CEO for the new company. Here's his explanation for Printcasting:

"About two years ago, we wrote up an idea for how to leverage standardized Web content to create locally-targeted publications with less time, money and software than ever before. The technology and content would be digital, but the output would be optimized for physical distribution as printable PDF magazines. That concept became Printcasting and it earned us a Knight News Challenge grant."

And, hey, he's done a great job answering how Feedbrewer differs:

"Sounds a lot like Printcasting, doesn't it? It should, because we're simply expanding the concept of print publishing to portable publishing. In our new thinking, printable content is subsumed under the mobile meme. That may sound like a stretch to some, but it makes sense if you think of print as the original mobile / portable format."

Read the rest of his post for details.

I have signed up to be a beta-tester for this project too. I found working with Dan when Printcasting was in its early stages to be rewarding personally and professionally. I especially like how receptive he was to suggestions and how well the project communicated with potential fans and customers.

Dan is an impressive guy with experience as an online producer at The Washington Post, a multimedia producer at Knight Ridder Tribune Interactive, a product manager at AOL, and most recently senior manager of digital products for The Bakersfield California.

All of that, plus his experience with the Knight Foundation grant and Printcasting, should help ensure success of the project.

Now about the name, Feedbrewer ... I have to think about that one.

Note: This post was updated to remove ex- from journalist for Dan about 4:30 EST April 20,2010. His Twitter bio says he is one. No insult intended. I misunderstood a long ago discussion about when a journalist stops being one.


I've mentioned Printcasting before:

• Dreamers can help publishers keep offering luxury of 'unplugged content' March 22, 2009
  
• Is any sabbatical ever long enough? Can we overstudy this journalism thing? June 25, 2009
  
• Who can "reboot the news" or create a supply store that will survive financially? April 22, 2009

Getting with it: One Twitter replaces community in One Book, One Community

I really like this idea of Twittering folks reading the same book. I was active in at least four rounds of One Book, One Community in the Flint, Michigan, area. Nothing like discussing a book with total strangers over dinner, on the bus or at the gym.

I picked up some friends and insight after reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham (written by a Flint person), An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by former President Jimmy Carter and The Color of Water by James McBride and Memories of Summer by Ruth White.

I hope to do both with this new effort: One Book, One Twitter.

From a Flint Public Library release:

"The purpose of One Book • One Community is to encourage a sense of community through the shared experience of reading a book that serves as a stimulus for discussing community issues. "

Not that we need a reason to talk on Twitter :) But it could be interesting to see what's up.

So head over to Wired.com and help choose the book for our summer reading and Twitter chatting for summer. Just posting this idea on my Facebook page helped me get to know someone better, a plus in my book.

From Wired:

"Want to spend the summer following John Joseph Yossarian trying to survive World War II, or with Holden Caulfield on his misadventures through New York City? Maybe you’d rather endure the bombing ... "

read the rest online and vote there too.

Over on Twitter, follow @crowdsourcing and #1b1t for upates. Find me @mcwflint And don't forget to vote for a book. Here are some under consideration, with a link to entries in wikipedia.org

• 1984
• Brave New World
• Slaughterhouse Five
• American Gods
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Catch-22
• The God of Small Things
• 100 Years of Solitude
• Song of Solomon

Only three I haven't read - American Gods, The God of Small Things and 100 Years of Solitude. I voted for 100 years, but I'll read what the rest do. I'll even twitter. What about you?

Image from free twitter bird icon set

On recess and still making me laugh

Some people can't resist making a story better. Count my fellow blogger and encourager Jim of L-Town among them. He's off chasing fun in his barely used RV and shared this in a recent post:

Front page headline in the Canton Repository: "No jail for man who urinated on Walmart steaks." He does have to pay $688 for the steaks and do 100 hours of community service. Here's the link.`

See, even when he's free from "Free from Editors" he's still has an eye for the interesting.

By the way, while fumbling around on the Internet I found some of James L. Smith' Offbeat posts. Ignore my name, it is a quirk identifying who posted the item online rather then wrote it. Enjoy the source that used to provide a weekly laugh.

Looking for ex-employees of Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, Advance .... you get the idea

Inside/outside
newsrooms

I'm interested in blogging about where people are after the layoffs, buyouts, etc. from The Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, heck, even the Advance Publications.

I'll do hello to the new folks who got/get the jobs too.

Drop me a line on Facebook, or email through the address below or call. Or tell all by leaving a comment. Thanks.

Brief message leads to obituary, reminder of impact 1 person, 1 journalist can have

I hate catching up with people's lives through obituaries, especially people who are younger then me. I love stumbling across reminders of how important local journalism is.

A friend's note and an Internet search let me know what happened to a colleague who started at The Flint Journal the same day I did. Sadly, I learned:

Mercury News writer Holly Hayes dies of cancer - San Jose Mercury News "

She was 53, diagnosed with a rare cancer in June. The obituary in the San Jose Mercury News, the newspaper she was working for shared just a glimpse of her heart and love for community. A blogger shared the reminder of the impact one person and local journalism can have.

5 on the 5th

Holly was one of the  Sept. 5, 1978 Five  at The Flint Journal. Holly and I were hired in what some called the "real" newsroom and the three other women were hired as lower-tier weekly reporters. Two of us stayed until we were bought out in 2008, changing jobs frequently throughout the years. One returned for freelancing for a short time.

One of her first journalism jobs was at the Flint newspaper, where she covered the United Auto Workers union, among other assignments. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1978.

I had caught up with her once when she was a features editor at The Fresno Bee, as that is near where my mother was living. In 1990, she moved on to the Mercury News as an assistant features editor.

Still writing

Linda Goldston wrote the obituary that highlights how Holly kept working and writing even after being diagnosed. That didn't surprise me.

Neither did learning that she was still into gardening. We lived in the same neighborhood for a few years and often talked about gardening and art as well as journalism.

I also remember how disappointed, and yet supportive, she was when I decided a trial separation was going to be permanent. She had planned on moving into the house I had, with its neat little backyard and tiny garden. But despite her disappointment, she helped me realize I was making the right move.


Read the obituary and the guest book  for more about her and her generous heart and ways. I like that the newspaper has a tradition of flying its flag at half mast during the days between death and a memorial service.

Be like her

A California blogger also wrote about how Holly, through her columns, had become an inspiration and a friend:

"I would daydream about leaving my high tech marketing job, flipping off the man, and living a life immersed in soil, food, sunlight and writing. I daydreamed about contacting Holly Hayes and asking if I could be her protege. Could I follow her around and learn how to be like her? "

I wonder if Holly knew what an impact she made:

"She was a big piece of my perfect moment puzzle. My peace. My sitting there, coffee in hand, reading about her gardening advice and adventures. She inspired me, made me feel like I could be an even better version of myself. She allowed me to daydream about a life with my hands covered in rich, sweet-smelling soil, digging for worms in my compost, with my son, a life where I provided the perfect, organic eggplants for my family to eat."

There's more in the blog post and comments. But I like remembering this from the blogger:

"This, I realized, is the importance of local journalism. Holly felt accessible to me. She felt like a friend. We lived in the same area, we worked the same soil.

That's the impact a journalist who has friends outside the newsroom, who participates in the community and who loves what they are do can have.

What a wonderful triute.

Could jellybeans help me meet new goal?

Help! How many Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans with Real Fruit Juice and enriched with Vitamins A, C and  E equal 1 fruit serving?

That was a recent status update for me on Facebok, where I got answers ranging from three beans to three bags.Or this:

"I would think the correct answer would be .... As many as makes you feel like a fruit. The beans for sure deliver a bigger amount of sugar than a real apple or orange. But the jelly beans are easier to pop into the mount. Therefore reducing the amount of water and soap used to prepare the fruit and cleanup afterword.

Long story short. I have not had a Jelly bean since last year."

or

"I've had so many jelly beans this season that I"m sure I got a serving or two in."

Seriously, I am trying very hard to eat at least 1 serving of fruit per day. I'm almost into three weeks into this so it should be a habit soon. Right?

I was delighted to find these goodies in the Easter basket at my house: Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans made with real fruit juice. Plus look I get extra Vitamin A, C and E.

The Easter Bunny was smart and brought me the originals, not sour, so I'm eating a few Grape, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange flavored beans.

Healthy is goal

I have always tried to eat healthy but sometimes convenience wins over nutrition. Then, a few years ago I discovered - OK, my doctor and I discovered with the help of prick tests and elimination diets - I am allergic to some food.  Some things I loved almost always triggered a migraine. Other foods made life miserable other ways.

Unfortunately, the list includes about 20 things. I've even stumped two professional nutritionists who tried to work with me on a balanced diet. If you've seen me, you know I'm not starving. But go ahead and try to avoid nitrates, pears, pickles .... I"ll stop boring you.

Cancer changes diet

When my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and moved back home, we worked at hard at eliminating as many unpure foods as possible. That meant becoming a regular at Whole Foods and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. We read labels to avoid hormones and preservatives. We tried new recipes. Some very interesting meals turned up.

My daughter even learned to make bread from her grandmother and tortillas from her then boyfriend's grandmother. Unfortunately, she's living 1,000 miles away so we've lost that option here.

Researching our family's history as part of my daughter's care means I've learned that celiac disease runs in the family. From the Mayo Clinic:

"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients."

New allergies

Also, unfortunately, I've learned that sometimes when you recover from allergies new ones show up. I'm almost done with a no-dairy diet, where I've learned I eat and cook with a lot of cheese.

Or maybe old ones come back. I've learned I was picky as a baby and finally learned to live with goat's milk. I suspect some of that was because I was my parents first.

My youngest brother's first bottles were filled with a powder we mixed with water to create milk. The doctor assumed after five kids my mom knew what to serve an infant, my mother was too busy to remember formula, or at least, whole milk.

So what was in your Easter basket?

Sharing of plea for safe makeup uncovers good practice of conversation

Considering the number of women who cover their faces with powders, lipsticks, lotions, etc., I was surprised when I first read Dear Cover Girl: We Want Non-Toxic Products in a blog called Crazy Sexy Life. You mean lipstick still has lead and other cosmetics use cancer-causing toxins? Who knew?
And though I know the majority of people who follow me, friend me, fan me, read me are male, I shared it via Google Reader, which also feeds my Google Buzz, with this comment:

"Wish I could find a way to make people care about this. Beauty is skin hurt."

Richard Walker, musician, programmer, editor, skeptic at self employed, left me a few ideas of how I could do that beyond sharing the post with a new audience.

Then he did a simple thing that I admire: He "copy-upped the comments to the post."

That led to a new conversation (the beauty of Buzz) on splitting conversations and included this from Richard Walker:

"You can put a positive spin on it by imagining I wouldn't have seen the post but for your comment, and your encouragement got the comment to the right place. Splitting, or filtering? Who can really say!"

I like that "copy-upped," especially for those non-techie or non-early-adopters bloggers who don't use BackType, or Google searches or whatever the latest/greatest/best pull-it-together conversation aggregation tool is.

I also would like it if you would check out the shampoo, conditioners, lipsticks and other potions you're putting on your body.

Cosmetics are overlooked in our struggle to live healthy. Stacy Malkan shares more detail on her guest post, more on her site, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and in her book, Not Just a Pretty Face, the Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

By the way, Crazy Sexy Life is by Kris Carr, who had cancer in her 20s. Her blog and books helped/helps me a lot with my daughter's breast cancer battle. But let's be honest. I'm still reading it. I'm still being challenged to do what I can to make sure no mother, wife, daughter, father, husband, son finds cancer shoving its way in.

Nice tool could help forgetful journalists

Note-taking web service

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

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

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

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

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

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

----

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