AR&D Reinventing Local Media

From Dan Gillmor: “The Guardian’s Jack Schofield has a chat with the founder of OhmyNews.com, the Korean online newspaper. Could it work elsewhere, he asks?”

I think so, and so does Dan. Good reading.

From Dan Gillmor: “The Guardian’s Jack Schofield has a chat with the founder of OhmyNews.com, the Korean online newspaper. Could it work elsewhere, he asks?”

I think so, and so does Dan. Good reading.

From Dan Gillmor: “The Guardian’s Jack Schofield has a chat with the founder of OhmyNews.com, the Korean online newspaper. Could it work elsewhere, he asks?”

I think so, and so does Dan. Good reading.

It’s amazing what the Internet will teach you, if you’ll just let it. Promotion, for example, more often comes through attraction rather than anything manipulative. If the product or service is something that somebody is seeking, the increasing omniscience of the Web can easily put the two together. This, I think, is bad news for the shysters of the world, who’ve lived off mass marketing, and good news for excellence, innovation and integrity. Why? Because on the Web, the end user is capable of making his or her own decisions without the influence of mass marketing manipulation. A case in point is my experience last night.

Earlier this week, I published the latest in the TV News in a Postmodern World series of essays. OhmyNews! in South Korea republishes these essays in their English language version. Here’s the way the essay looks on their Website:

I’ve highlighted the “Contact Reporter” link, because a couple of the people who read the essay there (instead of my own server) sent emails. Todd Thacker, my contact at OhmyNews!, forwarded the emails last night. One was from Malcolm Lewis, president and CEO of PremierGuide, Inc., the people who built the local search example I used in the essay. So, an essay written and published in Nashville, and later republished in Seoul, is read by the head guy of a California company referenced in the essay.

How did he find the article? There are many possibilities. Google, among others, offers news alerts on any keyword you can imagine. Since Google doesn’t spider my Website as a “news” outlet, it showed up in the Google system via OhmyNews!:

This is fascinating to me, and, more importantly, it’s a(nother) confirmation that the Internet is forever changing our world. This principle of “attraction” as a marketing concept is the polar opposite of conventional thinking. People (mostly journalists) often hammer the idea that the vastness of the Web and its content makes it impossible to get an overview perspective on things, to which I respond that the belief in such a perspective is — and has always been — an illusion for mere humans. We’re building an enormous brain to do it for us, and as each month goes by, it keeps getting easier and easier to cross its synapses and access that which we require.

The Internet is the modern day “Tower of Babel.” Let’s hope God allows us to keep this one.

It’s amazing what the Internet will teach you, if you’ll just let it. Promotion, for example, more often comes through attraction rather than anything manipulative. If the product or service is something that somebody is seeking, the increasing omniscience of the Web can easily put the two together. This, I think, is bad news for the shysters of the world, who’ve lived off mass marketing, and good news for excellence, innovation and integrity. Why? Because on the Web, the end user is capable of making his or her own decisions without the influence of mass marketing manipulation. A case in point is my experience last night.

Earlier this week, I published the latest in the TV News in a Postmodern World series of essays. OhmyNews! in South Korea republishes these essays in their English language version. Here’s the way the essay looks on their Website:

I’ve highlighted the “Contact Reporter” link, because a couple of the people who read the essay there (instead of my own server) sent emails. Todd Thacker, my contact at OhmyNews!, forwarded the emails last night. One was from Malcolm Lewis, president and CEO of PremierGuide, Inc., the people who built the local search example I used in the essay. So, an essay written and published in Nashville, and later republished in Seoul, is read by the head guy of a California company referenced in the essay.

How did he find the article? There are many possibilities. Google, among others, offers news alerts on any keyword you can imagine. Since Google doesn’t spider my Website as a “news” outlet, it showed up in the Google system via OhmyNews!:

This is fascinating to me, and, more importantly, it’s a(nother) confirmation that the Internet is forever changing our world. This principle of “attraction” as a marketing concept is the polar opposite of conventional thinking. People (mostly journalists) often hammer the idea that the vastness of the Web and its content makes it impossible to get an overview perspective on things, to which I respond that the belief in such a perspective is — and has always been — an illusion for mere humans. We’re building an enormous brain to do it for us, and as each month goes by, it keeps getting easier and easier to cross its synapses and access that which we require.

The Internet is the modern day “Tower of Babel.” Let’s hope God allows us to keep this one.

It’s amazing what the Internet will teach you, if you’ll just let it. Promotion, for example, more often comes through attraction rather than anything manipulative. If the product or service is something that somebody is seeking, the increasing omniscience of the Web can easily put the two together. This, I think, is bad news for the shysters of the world, who’ve lived off mass marketing, and good news for excellence, innovation and integrity. Why? Because on the Web, the end user is capable of making his or her own decisions without the influence of mass marketing manipulation. A case in point is my experience last night.

Earlier this week, I published the latest in the TV News in a Postmodern World series of essays. OhmyNews! in South Korea republishes these essays in their English language version. Here’s the way the essay looks on their Website:

I’ve highlighted the “Contact Reporter” link, because a couple of the people who read the essay there (instead of my own server) sent emails. Todd Thacker, my contact at OhmyNews!, forwarded the emails last night. One was from Malcolm Lewis, president and CEO of PremierGuide, Inc., the people who built the local search example I used in the essay. So, an essay written and published in Nashville, and later republished in Seoul, is read by the head guy of a California company referenced in the essay.

How did he find the article? There are many possibilities. Google, among others, offers news alerts on any keyword you can imagine. Since Google doesn’t spider my Website as a “news” outlet, it showed up in the Google system via OhmyNews!:

This is fascinating to me, and, more importantly, it’s a(nother) confirmation that the Internet is forever changing our world. This principle of “attraction” as a marketing concept is the polar opposite of conventional thinking. People (mostly journalists) often hammer the idea that the vastness of the Web and its content makes it impossible to get an overview perspective on things, to which I respond that the belief in such a perspective is — and has always been — an illusion for mere humans. We’re building an enormous brain to do it for us, and as each month goes by, it keeps getting easier and easier to cross its synapses and access that which we require.

The Internet is the modern day “Tower of Babel.” Let’s hope God allows us to keep this one.

ICANN, the U.S. body managing global Website allocation has announced a powerful new technology which makes it possible for every human being to have an Internet address. The new Internet protocol is called IPv6, and it provides trillions more addresses than the IPv4 system that is in use today. This announcement bears watching. On the surface, it seems great. It’ll help with Internet security, but there’s also that sticky privacy issue, because it’ll certainly make it harder for people to “hide” online.

ICANN, the U.S. body managing global Website allocation has announced a powerful new technology which makes it possible for every human being to have an Internet address. The new Internet protocol is called IPv6, and it provides trillions more addresses than the IPv4 system that is in use today. This announcement bears watching. On the surface, it seems great. It’ll help with Internet security, but there’s also that sticky privacy issue, because it’ll certainly make it harder for people to “hide” online.

ICANN, the U.S. body managing global Website allocation has announced a powerful new technology which makes it possible for every human being to have an Internet address. The new Internet protocol is called IPv6, and it provides trillions more addresses than the IPv4 system that is in use today. This announcement bears watching. On the surface, it seems great. It’ll help with Internet security, but there’s also that sticky privacy issue, because it’ll certainly make it harder for people to “hide” online.

A friend of mine bought a new Macintosh powerbook this week. It is one very cool computer. The OSX Safari browser has an RSS element that is also very cool, so she’s spent the day loading it up with xml addresses to receive her favorite news and blogs. I can tell she’s excited.

She lives in a community where the local TV station Websites are all managed by Worldnow, so I was able to tell her how to obtain local news headlines in addition to her favorite national outlets. Worldnow’s centralized software creates the same thing for every client. By attaching a variable to the URL of a Worldnow “news” page, everything published on that page is available via RSS. The variable is:

&clienttype=rss

Simply navigate to the news page of a Worldnow website, copy the URL, add the variable, and enter it into your RSS reader. Viola!

The interesting thing about this is the station she’s tapping has no idea this is taking place. They’re unaware they can do this, or, if they are aware, they don’t think it’s a big deal. How sad.

A friend of mine bought a new Macintosh powerbook this week. It is one very cool computer. The OSX Safari browser has an RSS element that is also very cool, so she’s spent the day loading it up with xml addresses to receive her favorite news and blogs. I can tell she’s excited.

She lives in a community where the local TV station Websites are all managed by Worldnow, so I was able to tell her how to obtain local news headlines in addition to her favorite national outlets. Worldnow’s centralized software creates the same thing for every client. By attaching a variable to the URL of a Worldnow “news” page, everything published on that page is available via RSS. The variable is:

&clienttype=rss

Simply navigate to the news page of a Worldnow website, copy the URL, add the variable, and enter it into your RSS reader. Viola!

The interesting thing about this is the station she’s tapping has no idea this is taking place. They’re unaware they can do this, or, if they are aware, they don’t think it’s a big deal. How sad.

A friend of mine bought a new Macintosh powerbook this week. It is one very cool computer. The OSX Safari browser has an RSS element that is also very cool, so she’s spent the day loading it up with xml addresses to receive her favorite news and blogs. I can tell she’s excited.

She lives in a community where the local TV station Websites are all managed by Worldnow, so I was able to tell her how to obtain local news headlines in addition to her favorite national outlets. Worldnow’s centralized software creates the same thing for every client. By attaching a variable to the URL of a Worldnow “news” page, everything published on that page is available via RSS. The variable is:

&clienttype=rss

Simply navigate to the news page of a Worldnow website, copy the URL, add the variable, and enter it into your RSS reader. Viola!

The interesting thing about this is the station she’s tapping has no idea this is taking place. They’re unaware they can do this, or, if they are aware, they don’t think it’s a big deal. How sad.

Here is the latest in my series of essays, “TV News in a Postmodern World.” This one examines the hot topic of local search and why I think it’s so important for TV stations to get deeply involved in this. The Sacramento Bee is providing a pretty neat model via a Website that doesn’t contain the news, weather and sports. I think stations should go one step further and build their own databases.

The Value of Local Search

Here is the latest in my series of essays, “TV News in a Postmodern World.” This one examines the hot topic of local search and why I think it’s so important for TV stations to get deeply involved in this. The Sacramento Bee is providing a pretty neat model via a Website that doesn’t contain the news, weather and sports. I think stations should go one step further and build their own databases.

The Value of Local Search

Here is the latest in my series of essays, “TV News in a Postmodern World.” This one examines the hot topic of local search and why I think it’s so important for TV stations to get deeply involved in this. The Sacramento Bee is providing a pretty neat model via a Website that doesn’t contain the news, weather and sports. I think stations should go one step further and build their own databases.

The Value of Local Search

“Surveying the Sad Decline of the News Business Since the Triumph of Watergate” is the subhead of an AdAge rant by Randall Rothenberg, author, journalist and now chief marketing officer at Booz Allen Hamilton. Here’s a guy who glorifies Walter Lippmann, the father of professional journalism, and blames ego, celebrity and the media’s obsession with the media for this “decline.” I’m sure Mr. Rothenberg’s a smart guy, but he’s only partially right here.

Ego, celebrity and the media’s obsession with the media are all FRUITS of Watergate. Here’s what I posted on The Buzzmachine this morning:

I used to think Watergate was the be-all-and-end-all of journalism, but I don’t see it that way anymore. In fact, I think Watergate started the inevitable slide of institutional journalism, by exposing it for what it was — just another institution enamored with itself. Watergate produced reporters of fame, and soon everybody wanted to be just like them.

Notches on a journalist’s gunbelt were first carved during Watergate. Damn, it was heady! “We” brought down a sitting President. Just imagine what else “we” can do! Ask the TV reporter in Fargo who got fired after pleading guilty to trespassing if he wasn’t looking for a notch when he jumped a chain link fence at the Fargo airport to “test” security.

And I love this:

…Walter Lippmann gave journalists standing alongside other leaders as shapers…of public opinion…

Pride goeth before the fall, the old Proverb says. Oxygen deprivation is journalism’s biggest problem — from living so long atop the pedestal it has created for itself.