HOW WE GOT HERE

Poynter's David Shedden has developed an extensive and fascinating timeline of new media, from 1969 to 2004. This isn't a quick hit; set aside some time to make your way through it.

I found it fascinating because the period that it covers is basically the time I've spent working in or teaching journalism. For younger folk, it's a good overview of the developments and trends that leave us here, in the early 21st century, on what feels like the edge of revolutionary change in media.

SOURCE: UNMEDIATED.ORG
9:09:50 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

INTERNET GROWS

From I Want Media:

Daily use of internet is going to keep tracking higher as broadband becomes more entrenched, and as wireless moves us closer to always on-always available. People may not be demanding new journalism delivered over the internet, but ease of use and access makes it attractive. Right now, it's primarily we geeks who are using aggregators to plow through a couple of hundreds web sites and blogs a day (or even several times today).

But this is one of the things that makes Greensboro exciting, at least at the conceptual stage: a web site that has the potential to "aggregate" the power of the press and the power of the people, at the local level, which is what people care about. And make it easy to tap into it all, not just as a passive "consumer" but as part of a community.

That some media is starting to get this is important. Questions: Where's the tipping point? What will it take to see widespread mainstream media adaptation of the ways of the web? How far are we away from the type of partnerships that Greensboro seems to promise becoming the norm?
9:02:40 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

AW, GEEZ

It's clear Canwest either doesn't get the web or has no interest in using it for better journalism. That's clear from their decision to put almost everything at their web site a behind subscriber-only firewall.

But this is in a class by itself: I noticed today that the Vancouver Sun website has a subscriber-only link to the text of the Supreme Court of Canada decision on native land rights. But that's a public document that's available at a number of places on the web, including here.

Good grief. It would be better journalism for the Sun to provide a direct link to the freely available document instead of giving the impression it was doing something special for the paying readers by giving them access to it.

C'mon Canwest. It's time to return to practicing real journalism again.
5:30:52 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

KEY WEST CHECKLIST

Margarita at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Done.

Smoke a hand-rolled cigar purchased from a street side stand. Done.

Applaud the setting sun at Mallory Square. Done.

I am such a tourist.
2:42:12 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

MORE QUICK LINKS

A couple of items at my links blog, including a provocative Winds of Change piece on the role of media in war time.
2:28:00 PM  LINK TO THIS POST  

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE

More on Greensboro and related topics at the following sites:

Ed Cone: A quote from John Robinson and pleasure in the fact the conversation is going on. With comments.

Tim Porter: Writes about what journalists can learn from bloggers.

Jay Rosen: Much more on Greensboro, including an interview with Roch Smith Jr., the founder of Greensboro101, which has helped build the active blogging community there.

Rosen says he considers what's happening in Greensboro a national story and expects it to "break" in one of the big media soon. I expect he's right; it'll be hard for the media to ignore the buzz that's being generated. Whether they will recognize the value and importance of what's happening remains to be seen.
7:54:42 AM  LINK TO THIS POST