Sunday, October 29, 2006

No more misteaks I'm looking forward to widespread improvement in the quality of spelling in Web-based mail services and on weblogs... including my own. Why? Because Firefox 2.0 is out and it has a spelling checker that puts little red dots under misspelled words as you type. Many of them, anyway. Of course it won't stop anyone from being a Candidate for a Pullet Surprise. Now if Firefox wd jst keep ppl from writing e-mail with those habitual txt msg abbrev. Hmm. Interesting: The spelling checker operates in Radio Userland's main text box, where I'm writing this, but not in the Title field where I typed "misteaks." And, for some reason, it likes the word "abbrev" in the previous paragraph. Oh well. 8:13:55 PM    comment [] Media Reform Conference Scholaship Deadline, Blogger Discount A National Conference for Media Reform is coming to Memphis in January, and I just noticed a scholarship deadline coming up sooner -- Nov. 6. Along with scholarships, volunteer opportunities and lower registration fees for students, the conference organizers also are offering discounts to bloggers who promise to blog from the event. The deadline for press and blogger credential requests is Jan. 8, just a week before the event. Bill Moyers and Ben Bagdikian head the list of what the organizers call "activists, media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens... gathering in Memphis this January to mobilize for better media." Well, those two head my list anyway. (Bagdikian's book "The Media Monopoly" was scary in its first edition in 1983; now it's in its seventh, and things haven't exactly improved.) Other folks might start the list with Jane Fonda, Jesse Jackson or Phil Donahue, or maybe FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps. The website says the conference is for "anyone who is concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change." I hope media critics from the conservative end of the political spectrum will be represented. "Preaching to the choir" isn't the strongest communication model. The topics on the agenda sound like issues for everyone. Here are the main headings: Media Literacy, Critique & Accountability Independent & Noncommercial Media Civil Rights, Social Justice & Media Media Reform Activism 1:32:44 PM    comment []

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