It's a tradition: Change and griping

"What Happened to the Girl Scouts" is the headline on a magazine article that comes up in an Internet search. I'm amazed that mass media has picked up on the changes, an undercurrent of dissatisfaction in Girl Scouts.

Will it be about the merging of councils, the changing of programs, or lambasting the values? Is it pegged to the 51st National Council meeting in Indianapolis Oct. 29-Nov.2?

It is a look at values - the downplaying of international relationships. It is a look at changes - a handbook revised just 11 months after being published.

Nice - an article written in 1955 - has words that connect with today's Girl Scouts.

What pops out for me in the May 1955 Atlantic article is this:

"Every six or seven years the Girl Scouts completely revise their manual. In between - ordinarily the book remains the same during additional printings except for minor typographical corrections."

So change is a tradition.

"Yet less than a year after the first printing, more than sixty changes were ordered. Some expressions were toned down, strong sympathies diluted, and a few plain facts erased."

So revision is a tradition.

Author Ben H. Bagdikian, "one of the first to be alarmed by the policy of retreat disclosed in the article which follows" carefully looks for evidence that Girl Scouts, the organization, has changed its thinking, its values. He cites examples like this:

"The old Handbook said, "Scouts and Guides all over the world are known for their willingness to help other people." In 1953 the "all over the world" was dropped."

So debating the inclusion or exclusion of a phrase in documents is a tradition.

Today's hot topic on the Internet e-mail lists is that "they" are against "unhealthy traditionalists."

The phrase - an obstacle to changing a program - is found in a table cell in a "Strategic priority" document shared with a Yahoo group on Feb 16, 2008:

"There is an unhealthy devotion to traditions on standards, uniforms and
awards."

Another shares that she saw the phrase as "an unhealthy attachment to tradition" in a PowerPoint she was forced to watch. Later, someone sends out a PowerPoint from an annual meeting where it was held.

Now, a group has ordered shirts that say Unhealthy Traditionalist: Eat 2 Thin Mints and call me in the morning."

I'd prefer to push for the positive: Healthy Traditionalist: Eat 2 Thin Mints and call me in the morning (Can you be healthy eating thin mints?) because I think traditions are healthy.

But then I think debate is healthy and so is change.

"Have the Girl Scouts themselves changed? Have they altered their basic ideas about international friendship and the United Nations?

Nothing of the sort. The Girl Scouts of America was and is a fine organization which still encourages idealism, good citizenship, and international friendship. What happened in 1954 was that the Girl Scouts in the forty-second year of their existence decided it was no longer safe to say so too plainly."

Another section in the article also makes me smile:

"The (1954) pamphlet correcting the new 1953 Handbook was filled with instructions like: -

"Page 86. Change the sentence beginning with Line 2 to read: 'Service is your way of making a contribution to your community." A few months before, it had read: "Service is your way of making this a better world in which to live."

In 2008, we are back to "Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place."

Traditionalists, after all.

What's best? Mashed, baked or hash brown potatoes

Pulling someone's dream into yours or yours into theirs is like dealing with spuds.

I just can't decide which way is best.

Should you strive for mashed potatoes, peeling the skin to see what is inside, cooking each individual piece to the right degree, then throwing them under the mixer with just a bit of milk and butter.

Can you live with lumps? Or do you keep beating until everything, everyone is on the same page.

Or do you leave the skin on, knowing the richness it can provide, and throwing each into the oven to slowly become done. There, a place where you can still identify the individual pieces to be selected and eaten individually

Or is the skin not the issue? Leave it on or leave it off, but dice each potatoe before tossing together in the well-seasoned pan to create a dish that speaks loudly of individuals but draws it's strength from the mixture.

What happens when you take on the chef's role near the end of the project? Past the time of dreaming together and nearer the time of it must be done.

I wonder why i was I supposed to know there were pictures in your head. Or that easels shed pages filled with sketches that explained concepts some believe were magically implanted in my brain.

Did I maneuver the group plan to fit my dream because I was the one willing to use the tools? Did I let the all positive affirmations drown out the collection of no's and maybes.

Yet, now I have enough time in to see the pattern of how some can complete, compete, and/or critique only when the work is almost done. Some need an almost finished structure before they see the possibilities which, of course, means redoing

Quotes of resistance being a part of the story strengthen the one told by my body as the leg starts to wobble and the mind escaped into mush.

I hear again folks telling me chaos is expected, to be prepared for surprises.

Right now I am thinking of skipping the potatoes.

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Finding results not always easy

My journalism background helped me reply to a post on GSUSA's newly launched discussion board.

Girl Scouts elect and send delegates to a National Council meeting every three years. In 2005, many came early to participate in Open Space. There's another Open Space to kick off the meeting this year. Some are asking why repeat it if there's no evidence of results from the 2005 conversations.

That evidence had started being discussed in another thread. Plus there's a video final report that I think shows someone was listening.

And I think in all parts of our lives the only assurance we have that issues we bring up won't be ignored is if we take the responsibility for making sure they are not.

Here's the rest of my reply:

I wasn't there in 2005. But as a "recovering journalist," I know I often was/am frustrated when trying to follow up on the success or failure of a project because:

• No one kept track of what happened after the big campaign, or the community discussions.
  
• Or I couldn't find out who was keeping score
  
• Or that person couldn't share the results
  
• Or the outcomes weren't measurable. For instance, how do you measure influencing a person's thought process?

Do we know if something said at the 2005 Open Space triggered an idea or action months later? Did seeing what happened at Open Space lead to the concepts of Open Space being used to solve another problem?

I ended by saying I hope we hear from folks about the 2005 and 2008 conversations here so we can all share what we know.

Yet, I don't expect many responses because I don't think people connect what was said in 2005 with actions in 2008. I'll base that on years of watching too committees coming up with plans to breathe life into downtowns.
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Did I stumble by asking?

If you think someone is smart, do you ask if they social bookmark?

Or is that intrusion?

Is it better to search through digg, delicious, stumble it etc. on your own?

I don't mine sharing (should I be deleting the ones I am no longer want? Or never go back?)

Quick, I need help.

Even Girl Scouts have stories to tell

My buyout-funded sabbatical is turning into an amazing adventure of story-telling, crowdsourcing and surprises.

Helping to start the discussion board for the Online News Association's convention in September was so simple compared to launching a discussion board for the upcoming convention of the Girl Scouts.


The Girl Scout board is part of an effort called StoryWeaving and it should surprise no one that someone soon posted a question asking what StoryWeaving is anyways.

Here's my answer from there:

"I've asked the woman who is leading the StoryWeaving idea at this convention to also answer but I wanted to share my thoughts as a long-time Girl Scout and "retired" journalist who volunteered to help via the convention web site in late July.

When I first heard the term "StoryWeaving", I thought people would collect stories from Girl Scouts of all ages and then share them at convention, in new trainings, web pages, wikis, etc.

I expected to tell - and hear - stories about times when I saw the guiding principles of Girl Scouts in action ... those times I remember because they keep me in Girl Scouting when I'm neck-deep in the parts of the movement I don't like.

Since then, I've learned that type of story-telling, story-sharing and story-swapping will happen but it is just a part of StoryWeaving.

StoryWeaving is more then "once upon a time." It's real conversations about things that matter to us, the members of the organization. It's using techniques (methods?) to draw out the thinking, the wisdom of the crowds.

StoryWeaving will give us the chance to talk about leadership and the Stewardship Report.

StoryWeaving will let us share ideas about what we think is essential if the Girl Scout organization really is going to be (and be recognized) as the best organization for girls, Another acitivity should get us thinking about what we do next. (That we, by the way is the organization, the councils and the individuals.)

I think StoryWeaving tries to fix what happens at most of the conferences and conventions I go to - the brilliant ideas and best solutions come from conversations that happen in the hallways, the lobby, and over a meal.

I can't (yet) explain all the terms to you - Open Space, World Cafe, Appreciative Interviews, Digital StoryWeaving, etc. But I've already seen how powerful we become by using the wisdom of the crowd.

And I end with what is my biggest surprise: the Discussion Board. I've wanted the membership organization to tap the advice, the wisdom of at least its Internet-using Girl Scouts ever since we first had an AOL home that became a listserv (That's WAGGGS-L, still a listserv, still running - I know because I'm still the moderator.)

Wait until I tell you about arming teenage girls with video cameras or building wikis or ...

Update:Sometimes, I hate the written word because can't see reactions and there are no followup questions. Some saw the above as negative. I was trying to say that maybe this discussion board is a success story from 2005.

The reasons I diid not believe such a board was possible five weeks ago is my experience outside Girl Scouts.

This is the third time in 15 months that I have been involved in helping a non-profit organization start a discussion board. This was the fastest operation.

Even in an all-volunteer organization using free software, it can take months. There are technical, financial, and legal, issues. Plus there are things like what to call it, getting everyone on the same page, training moderators (I can go on)

So yes , there was a a discussion board set up for the proposals. There were plans to seek topics for one of the conversations through the web somehow.

But there was no budget or staff in place for an all-member ConventionTalk board - our own virtual open space

Actions speak. ConventionTalk shows a commitment to listening and a willingness to using technology

(a public thankyou to the WAGGGS-L listserv beta-testers,, and GSUSA staff and volunteers who moved at the speed of light to launch this)
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ONA08 job fair was fun!

I'm not handing out the resumes - yet, but I was in the Online News Association's Job Fair room all morning as an ONA volunteer.

Recruiters from AP, NPR, Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly and others were interviewing folks. (Anyone hired yet?)

Amy Adkins, who coordinated the job fair, is amazingly good with names. Folks who had mailed her resumes for the recruiters would come in and she knew they were on the job fair list without even consulting it. And that was without sleep the night before.

The Q&A on positioning yourself in the marketplace was interesting. Some discussion about copyediting, changing newsrooms and advice - "Get to work on time." I couldn't hear all of the discussion because I was staffing the welcome table right then and answering questions. But I heard that advice loud and clear.

Some lucky ones got to sign up for a one-on-one resume critique by former Detroit Free Press recruiter Joe Grimm, who didn't make the Q&A session because he was working one of his new jobs. He sent a great handout – My Career 2.0, advice for journalists in a changing environment. (Be bold, pick up the pace, be entrepreneurial, be a leader, build networks, and geek out.)

By the way, it wasn't my purse that was lost. I just sent out the announcement on Twitter. Isn't it nice that the purse was found and that job candidate will be able to fly home (yes, her purse had her ID, $$ and credit cards.)

And isn't it nice that folks like Brian Henderson will buy a volunteer a cup of coffee and Reginald Stuart shared info on how someone can own Helen Thomas' White House typewriter. (See http://www.sdxdc.org before Sept 19).

Originally posted in the ONA forum "Discuss the Pre-Conference Workshops"

What do you do? Pulver gives me an idea

It's on my mind as I get ready to head into a bunch of conferences. How do I tell people what I do.


Fortunately, I'm not the first who doesn't know what to say when asked What do YOU do?

So Jeff writes:

"When you attend a networking event and are meeting people for the first time, my observation is that the people who are “professionals” who are working in their chosen profession have it easier than others introducing themselves since most people have a general understanding what an: Accountant, Actor, Artist, Director, Doctor, Lawyer, Writer, ... does.

But if your chosen profession is slightly off the beaten path, what do YOU say? How do YOU describe yourself? How do you answer the question, “What Do YOU do?” How much information do you give of yourself to a total stranger when asked? "

Tough question to answer for a person on a buyout-funded sabbatical because as Jeff says “It is not about what I did but what do I do.”

Many woman who have elected to stay home have faced that question over the years. A woman who has never had a job tells me she tells folks she is a painter. She is because she paints.

A sister-in-law echos Pulver without ever reading him, saying it is tough to decide which role to share. It depends on the moment, where she is, and the mood. Perhaps she is a writer. Or a teacher. Or a mother.

Pulver, too, falls back on roles defined in a professional world even as he understands what else he might say:

"Rarely do I tell people that I’m a dreamer. That I love to look into the future and explore the unknown. That I believe in karma. And in having a heart."

"... my desire to challenge the status quo ..."

I wish more people would tell me things like that when we meet.

Doesn't it matter that I want women to trust technology and believe you don't criticize if you're not willing to help fix the problem?

Wouldn't you rather know I collect old linens to recycle into collaged hangings that rarely get finished? Or transfer dreams from ideas into reality?

Does it help to know I'm not working now? That I'm - gulp - retired even though I'm busier then ever before.

Or shall I just watch your eyes smile when I tell you I'm not working right now.

Beyond the buyout, beyond the bylines for journalists

I started this list of things to help me know others went on to new careers after the newsroom. Some left early, some left later. All are still living. Some happily every after.

Let's start with the St. Louis Magazine that took a look at 20 who left in 2005 in: They took the buyout and now some provide a community site that has moved.

Some choose to write out on their own. Here are two:

• Mike Himowitz writes MikePluged In (Updated: In April 2009, we learned he's now deputy managing editor of MedPage Today, an online site that brings breaking medical news to doctors and medical professionals.
  
• Downing's Views j are those of a journalist turned blogger. He often writes of politics, but he expands the topics sometimes.
  

Blog helps track ex-workers

A number of journalists from the Toronto Sun keep up with each other and the newspaper at the Toronto Sun Family blog.

Some folks move on - a film on the effects of buyouts. Update: The DVD is available now. The film description says "takes viewers inside disheartened newsrooms to document the devastation and into the community to learn what readers think of journalism’s fate."

A former newspaper photographer, Heather S. Hughes, writes about what he doesn't miss now that she's a wedding photographer.

"I don’t miss putting my heart and soul (and personal time) into a story that I thought was important to tell, only to see the photos never run in print and get posted online three days late, while getting no feedback or appreciation from anyone."

She also wrote about starting your own business, sharing what she learned in creating her photography business.

Former newspaper columnist and Hugo Award winner John Scalzi tells Eat, Sleep and PublishGood writers will always make a living Meanwhile, he's blogging at Whatever.

Find your own description

Some find different words to label the separation - hey, I've gotten used to buyout-funded sabbatical for me.

"Today begins what I call my "Katharine Weymouth Fellowship," and what the Post calls a "voluntary retirement incentive package." It was announced a scant month after the new publisher took over in February. This was her first buyout, but the paper's third in five years, owing to declining circulation and tanking ad revenue"

says Annie Groer in After the buyouts, the goodbye.

"In return for leaving, I got an adequate chunk of cash, an inadequate pension and a shot at re-invention. (Insert cheery boilerplate here...."I look forward to this new chapter of my life. I have several projects and a book to finish blah blah blah.")"

What some co-buyout-ers from the Washington Post are doing:

• Sue Schmidt is now at the Wall Street Journal
  
• Rick Weiss join the Center for American Progress.

The Huffington Post has more details, including photos.

Making your place in the world

And though Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press hasn't even left yet, he certainly has put together an afterlife with books on diverse topics like folk music and newspaper images, a blog on online recruiting and a visit to his first unconference. (Update: Joe left, started teaching in August 2008 at Michigan State University, among other things.)

When the paychecks stop, inspiration might come from this post on tips for being on the dole. Besides learning that beagles do not make good assistants, you'll learn about setting up your office and where to spend your time. (Hint: Networking). SB Anderson has started his own company since writing the post.

Watch out for you

Or perhaps a reminder to focus on self care when cutting the corporate cord.

Leaving the Working World? Watch Out For PISS: Post-Institutional Stress Syndrome by Elizabeth Coleman.

This post was updated Aug. 3, 2009, to update links and where some folks are today.

Stalking or starving? Your status now

I remember watching two men watching me, tracking me. In some shadows, my heart can still race.

I eagerly await status of folks I rarely see, partly for assurances they are still there, partly for a pause that refreshes.

Is the craving to know stalking? Or just starving for interaction?

Two bloggers I follow write about seemingly separate ideas, but somehow my mind links them to this stalking/starving idea.

Louis Gray outlines a relationship highlighting why being polite may not always be right as he talks about a potential web friendship that turned bad.

Gray was being polite and answered a number of comments, emails. But he watched a relationship with potential sour as the man's attitude changed. Without knowing the other person - did he expect more speedy responses? was he misled by the intimacy the internet can create? did he forget that text leaves no room for body language?

Over on GotBeeler, there's the sharing of Facebook statuses as an art. He cites some folks he thinks have a knack for using a 140 characters or so for delivering a universal truth, a puzzle of words that promote a smile, a combination that makes you pause to ponder.

As I read through his choices, I realize that I'd like to follow some folks so that I could benefit from these pearls. Yet, in no way, could I ask them to be my Facebook friends.

It helps me realize, though, how I do count on some people for their updates - David Armano who reminds me of the pleasure of motorcycle riding and enjoying life, Michael Stobbe whose puns make me groan, Hassan Hodges who shares the delights of a growing child and changing workplace. Beeler too.

In describing the artful way some update their statuses, Beeler notes that some rely on their children for help. And though Beeler moans that his children don't give him clever lines, I realize that all children do - it is just that some of us don't recognize the good lines. Or know how to use them.

Beeler notes:

"These artists take the mundane update of where they are or what they are doing and routinely add a li’l somethin’ somethin’ to it. They make checking status updates every 5 minutes worthwhile."

So, inside out, is it stalking if you only read statuses and rarely contribute your own? Is it stalking to add strangers you know only via their blogs or web postings? Is it stalking to add colleagues from across the miles when you know there will never be a face to face meeting?

Or is it starving for a link to someone else, a safe relationship with low expectations.

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 .


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Forget death watch. Send help

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blame mass production for media illness?

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

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

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

Today some fill a whole book documenting each vacation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just asking. Just mulling.
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