Monday, December 6, 2004
PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYSLexisNexis is the incredibly deep data base of articles and information that's a staple in major newsrooms. It's an expensive service but now we little folk can play along, too. LexisNexis has launched an a la carte service, where you pay per play. Searching the site is free. Find an article you want to download and it'll cost you about $3 an article. After you register (free, although you have to wait a bit for the email confirmation), you can search the LexisNexis news, legal, business information and other sections. Click the "Search Additional Sources" tab and you can access "more than 20,000 sources dating as far back as 1968."
LexisNexis is launching the service "for small businesses and independent professionals" but this will be a boon for freelancers, bloggers, small-newspaper journalists and others interested in tapping into a deep well of background information. |
FACING REALITYEdgar Bronfman Jr. of Warner Music, speaking about digital and mobile music, at Paid Content:
-- the battle for consumer control has been fought -- and lost. The consumer is going to get what they want.
The rest of his comments suggest he accepts the outcome, a refreshing attitude from Big Music. Had the licensing agencies and labels spent as much time and energy figuring out how things have changed as they have spent fighting the change, we wouldn't need to cheer these (apparent) small victories. |
NEW DIGITAL JOURNALISTThe December issue of The Digital Journalist is up and among this month's treasures is Paul Taggart's chilling account of being kidnapped while covering the war in Iraq. He writes:
We drove a short while through the outer edges of Baghdad while I repeatedly demanded to be taken to a mosque and they repeatedly replied "not today maybe tomorrow." I knew then it wasn't going to be quick. It was going to be me, on Al-Jazeera, sitting in an orange jump suit with gunmen at my side. As we passed through IP (Iraqi Police) checkpoints and through markets my abductors tried to reassure me, saying "No Problem, No Problem," to which I replied, "Big Fucking Problem, Big Fucking Problem" and they laughed and gave me a cigarette to calm me down. The "cover" portfolio features Philip Blenkensop's personal and often disturbing work from "Extreme Asia," and there's a portfolio from Nina Berman's book "Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq." Other items I found particularly interesting:
As always, there's a lot more to see and read, so set aside some time or make multiple visits. |
JOIN THE CONVERSATIONT.L. Pakii Pierce has a series of posts under the title How to Blog 101. He calls it blogging fundamentals for the layman. Good starting point for those who want to put their stuff out.
SOURCE: Micro Persuasion |
KILLING RADIOFrom Steve Rubel at Micro Persuasion:
The Denver Post reports that the hours people spend listening to radio are in steep decline as younger audiences switch to iPods, CDs mixed at home and subscription satellite signals. The newspaper reports several local stations are taking steps to address this by cutting ads per hour, jumping back into Internet streaming, and emphasizing live local shows to restore the "companionship" factor in commercial radio. There's no indication that the radio stations involved get it: folks are walking around with iPods so they can listen to what they want, when they want it. By and large, radio doesn't give me what I want -- particularly when it comes to music -- because so much of it has drifted into blandness. iPodding (insert the name of your favourite MP3 recorder/player here), combined with downloadable music and now podcasting, gives me personal radio, all Mark, all the time. (And if I want to listen to classic rock I don't have to sit through the hourly play of Stairway to Heaven or Money.)
Which spins off a thought: the new media I want brings me what I want, when I want/need it, but also finds a way to give me the serendipity hit that good newspapers deliver. |
Last update: 12/26/04; 7:03:37 AM .
