Saturday, May 17, 2003Location, Location, Location: Tips For Storing Web Site Files : Here are three common approaches -- whcih address the needs of basic, intermediate, and advanced web developers on Mac OS X. (O'Reilly Network via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]
- Posted by William A. Riski - 8:43:52 AM - comment []
Journalism vs. Weblogging: the word journalism once meant "The keeping of a journal or diary"*. Even today, it is still defined as "Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal"*.
So, is Weblogging journalism? Yes, if you accept either definition, above. As the business of media has grown in the last 150 years, journalism has come to mean "The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts."
In that case, Weblogging is not journalism. But, what if you happen to be a newspaper reporter who keeps a Weblog? Is your work in print, journalism? Almost certainly yes. Is that same work, presented on the paper's Web site, journalism? If it's the same story, I would say yes.
So, what about a journalist who keeps a Weblog?
Good question: one other definition may help: "The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation."
So, in that case, the answer is 'it depends'. If the Weblog is just presenting straight reporting, it might be journalism. But, if the Weblog is offering analysis and opinion, it's probably not. And, most of the Weblogs I read offer a mix: pointers to items of interest to the 'blogger and analysis and commentary.
The reality is that I can get reporting - real, newsroom-standards journalism - from many sources: on big stories, there are literally hundreds of sources. It's rare that even arcane, tech-oriented stories are reported by a single source. I can often get enough details and sufficient perspective to paint a pretty accurate picture of the event.
What I read Weblogs for are pointers to the pieces I miss: Weblogs act like a giant, intelligent filter for me - I scan maybe 30 a day, and, if each of those scan 30, that means I have some 900 sources at my fingertips every morning - far more than I would scan when I worked the morning desk at the old S.F. Examiner
But what I love most is precisely the analysis and opinion: there are few things as much fun as Doc Searls or Meg Hourihan or Dave Winer or Natalie d'Arbeloff or Corey Doctorow or Susannah Breslin in full, informed, impassioned rant, each in their own way. They, and dozens of others, can really make my day.
And, newspapers and other media appreciate that people, readers, like that: they offer Op-Ed pages and similar broadcast segments. And some papers, The New York Times is one, offer analysis on the front page - suitably marked, of course. At most of the newspapers that I've worked at, the jobs of writing opinion and analysis, have been given to the most capable and thoughtful and experienced hands.
So are 'blogs journalism? Sometimes, but not often. The point is, they don't need to be journalism - that's available in a lot of places... they need to be Weblogs. And as Weblogs, they need to continue to work to define that which is very, very good about a new, and, for me, vital medium. Blog on... [www.gulker.com - words and pictures from Silicon Valley]
- Posted by William A. Riski - 8:21:06 AM - comment []
Affordable Tools : Most of the low-cost Mac stuff is software, but there are plenty of companies that sell great hardware products for $100 or less. (Macworld via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]
- Posted by William A. Riski - 8:01:41 AM - comment []
