The first annual U.S. mobile phone user survey by Azuki Systems Inc. suggests that the long-heralded move to the mainstream mobile web is getting closer*. Some choice quotes (via Research Brief):
Almost 80% of those surveyed said they wished it were easier to access information from the Internet on their mobile phones, and an equal percentage stated they wished it were easier to access rich media on their mobile phones. Continue reading
Written by Wilbert Baan
The last year has seen social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn updating the design of the homepage to turn it more into a notification page: the homepage as a place where you can see what your friends are doing. Your virtual center of the network.
These updates let you know what your friends are up to, but they also let you know what your friends like or share. The social networks often work as recommendation networks as well. Continue reading
Alex Gamela talks to Dave Cohn, founder of the non-profit, crowdfunding journalism project Spot.us, winner of a Knight News Challenge grant, and a suggested new model for the news business. On the eve of launching the Spot.us official website, Dave told OJB how he is putting his ideas into practice, and his views on the current state of journalism.
Four months after winning the KNC grant, Dave Cohn is a happy man. He started with a wiki where he presented and tested the different sides to his project, and he quickly managed to fund three stories. Now it is on its way to fund a fourth one. All of this even before having an official website. Continue reading
I’ve created a social network for anyone researching news and journalism. It’s at http://onlinejournalismresearch.ning.com/
It’s an attempt to provide a way for journalism students and academics to get in touch with others researching the same area, exchange ideas and tips, and ask for help on everything from finding relevant literature to sourcing contacts and the best research methods.
Research is traditionally a solitary, frustrating endeavour. It doesn’t need to be. If you work with journalism students, please encourage them to join the network and contribute a question or an answer.
If it helps, I’ll be hanging around trying to help as much as I can, and I’ll be inviting others to do the same.
Let’s get news research networked.
I’ve been speaking to news organisations’ community editors on the lessons they’ve learned from their time in the job. Today, The Times’s Tom Whitwell:
Self-policing often works. I had a case where a sports writer was annoyed by a commenter who said he’d got his facts wrong. He wanted us to take the comment down, but by the time we got to the page, there were 3-4 other commenters backing up the writer. On the whole, we have very intelligent readers who leave great comments.
Similar articles with similar traffic can get very different responses – something in the wording of one will inspire hundreds of comments, but not the other.
Some people are hesitant about leaving a comment, but they might be very willing to vote in a poll, or fill in a survey. There are an infinite number of ways that websites can get readers more engaged.
A couple weeks ago I switched to the IntenseDebate commenting system, which has a number of advantages (threading, voting) and disadvantages (er, video commenting is disabled). The result seems to have been fewer commenters, but commenting more often – an increased sense of community.
How have you found it? (Feel free to comment via Twitter if it annoys you that much)
So I was speaking at Blog08 last Friday – here are my vlogged impressions upon my return…
…and here is a snippet of video to give you a taste of that A List Bloggers panel tackling, of all things, ‘Is blogging journalism?’ The American speaker is Loren Feldman – a reactionary trapped in a revolutionary’s body – the Brit is Pete Cashmore of Mashable. Continue reading
France is currently paralyzed by yet another strike. Unlike the ones you’re used to when visiting my country, usually from railway or airport staff, this one was launched by lawyers and judges alike, united against their government minister, Rachida Dati (read more here).
Traditional journalists have been covering the event as it unfolded. Google News brings you more than 300 bland and unsurprising articles.
The only place where you can read what’s going on in France’s judicial system is a blog. Maître Eolas, a lawyer who opened his blog 4 years ago, just published 64 testimonies from justice professionals. He even renamed his blog ‘Daily news from angry justice professionals’. Continue reading
Peter at Video 2 Zero is going 7-crazy on his blog, with what will eventually be 8 great posts.
Newspaper Video – 7 strategies for success(maybe) outlines the following very intelligent advice:
1. Ban people who teach videojournalism from judging videojournalism awards. This is just a self-fulfilling method of promoting an unproven agenda. Yes I am a great teacher – students who follow my methods win awards. Continue reading
Why did over 10,000 people watch this video on YouTube today (don’t be fooled by the screenshot*, click Play to see something involving a Gordon Brown speech and washing)?
Because over 100,000 people watched this one:
And the title of the first video? “kerry katona drunk today this morning live on phil and fern sleeping medications new body”.
(*YouTube uses a screenshot from the very middle frame of every video. Whoever produced this was savvy enough to include a shot of Schofield and Katona at that point)
Clever, and rather anarchic, use of SEO.
Meanwhile, Mr Paparazzi have a real scoop of sorts with the video above – the most discussed on YouTube today. Candi from the site tells me she
“Wasn’t watching at the time but tracked it down on another website and after some crafty work managed to download a suitable file to upload to You Tube.
“If you search Kerry on You Tube you’ll see I did the same when she was on GMTV a few months ago. It’s all about being one step ahead. Get up there first, get found first.”
Updates to come tomorrow.
(PS: Apologies if you came across this blog post looking for something else.)
Online Journalism Blog 