If your entry has been incorrectly amended you can edit it by clicking on your placemark or listing in the left hand column.
Then go to the top of the left hand column and click ‘Edit’. Both the map name and the selected placemark become editable. Edit your placemark then click OK.
It seems Google Maps has some way to go before being intuitive enough for the average reader to contribute to.
February 7th, 2008
Thanks to all those who have so far added themselves to
the OJB readers’ map - it looks very impressive. I had a couple emails from people who arrived at the map to find it called something else - ‘Mark Weber’ or ‘Félix Bahón’. One of the problems of making it editable, it seems, is people accidentally changing the name of the map itself.
UPDATE: Another is that people can accidentally edit each others’ entries, and so Laura Oliver of Journalism.co.uk in London has suddenly been reassigned to the role of video journalist at Sydney’s Telegraph.
Anyway, the map is now back to its original name with some instructions in the description as well as here.
If your entry has been incorrectly amended you can edit it by clicking on your placemark or listing in the left hand column. Then go to the top of the left hand column and click ‘Edit’. Both the map name and the selected placemark become editable.
It seems Google Maps has some way to go before being intuitive enough for the average reader to contribute to.
Meanwhile, looking forward to seeing more readers popping up, particularly in those hard-to-reach places…
…and after those Google Maps mashups, what better time to start playing with this stuff?
February 6th, 2008
If news organisations thought they were starting to ‘get’ this whole internet journalism thing, yesterday may make them think again.
At 8pm GMT yesterday I received a breathless email from Azeem Ahmad, a student from the journalism degree I teach on:
“Tell me you have seen the Google Maps/Twitter mash up of the American Super Tuesday voters.. it’s amazing! The pointer is flying all over the world, from Spain to England, and all through the various parts of America.”
Logging onto Twitter I found a similar buzz from Martin Stabe and Kevin Anderson:
“Enthralled by Twitter and Google Maps super mashup. I could be entertained for hours”
A quick search on Terraminds (image below) showed it wasn’t just us journo nerds: Twitter was alive with chatter about the mashup - one tweet in particular was worth noting:
“the twitter-google mashup is working for me way better than the election returns on ye olde teevee”
In fact there were two mashups making jaws drop. The Google Maps-Twitter-Twittervision Super Tuesday mashup flashed up any tweets related to Super Tuesday on the location they were coming from, as well as providing videos and results. It was a real time monitor of what people were doing, thinking and saying about the election - not just in the US, but internationally too.
Suddenly, having reporters interview people coming out of polling booths looked very old hat.
But equally impressive was the YouTube-Google Maps Super Tuesday mashup which plotted election-related videos onto a map: a mix of vlogs, satirical efforts and pledges of support. If you wanted to know what people in your area thought, this was a great way to find out - and it was no lazy vox pop.
The whole thing reminds me of early film pioneers attaching cameras to trains to see what would happen. Forgive me for gushing, but if ever evidence were needed that we are in an era of incredible creativity and experimentation with journalism, this is it. New narrative forms and information designs are yet to be established - and those who are finding out seem to be having a lot of fun with it.
Meanwhile, the mashups above present a powerful demonstration of how people are consuming their news, and engaging with issues, in the new media environment. Think about it: where is a young voter going to go on election day? A newspaper website, or YouTube? A newspaper forum, or Twitter? What demonstrates the excitement of an election better? A static news report, or a live barometer of online buzz?
Likewise, there’s a point here about distribution. This was about viral distribution - readers, not advertising hoardings; emails, not newsagents.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, they demonstrate that it was not just traditional news organisations asking “How will we cover this election?” Clearly Google/YouTube and Twitter have been making some editorial plans of their own.
If 2004 was the blogged election, and 2006 the YouTube election, 2008 is the mashup election. The bar has just been raised. Again.
February 6th, 2008
I’d like you to help me out with a little mapping demonstration. I’ve
created a map of Online Journalism Blog readers - here. I’d love if you could add yourself to the map. If you’ve never done this before (and what better way to start?), this is how:
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search for your postcode/zip code/street address,
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click ‘Save to my maps’ on the box that appears - select the OJB readers option from the drop-down and click ‘Save’.
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You can then edit the entry - change the title to your name and add any biographical details you want (e.g. link to your blog) in the Description box. Then click OK.
I’m hoping that a) this will allow OJB readers to network with each other more easily; and b) this will provide a platform for experimentation/mashups (perhaps a mashup with WiredJournalists.com?) - if anyone has any ideas, let me know.
But it’s only as powerful as its members, so map away!
February 5th, 2008