Good reads for 10.26.07

Posted on October 26, 2007 by Melissa Worden

>> Data is the new black. Roanoke.com has launched DataSphere, a compilation of databases on topics from “schools, crime and politics to Virginia Tech football and trophy freshwater fish.” Patrick Beeson has posted an excellent review.

>> Jon Stewart is today’s Socrates? Hm. Sam McManis thinks so: “Just as Socrates’ and Diogenes’ reason-over-emotion doctrines served as an antidote to the sophists and rhetoricians of their day, Stewart’s nightly reports combat the dissembling of politicians and the blathering of mainstream media’s so-called ‘chattering class.’”

>> Stephen Colbert is the next U.S. president? Double hm. Comedy Central may be thinking so: “The network has consulted a top Washington election law firm and appears keenly aware of the strict election law provisions that could be triggered by Colbert’s satirical campaign,” reports Politico.

>> Don’t count newspapers out, says Richard Siklos, Fortune editor-at-large: “What is often overlooked is where newspapers rank, at least for now, in overall spending in the pantheon of media industries fighting for dollars from consumers and advertisers. They are number one, ahead of TV networks, magazines, billboards, you name it. And it’s instructive that no legacy medium has been obliterated by a new technology: consumers simply adjust and adapt. In the era of DVDs and downloads, we still go the movies and listen to the radio.”

>> Intriguing online approaches to the California wildfire coverage. That’s what Amy Gahran calls the list of efforts she’s drawn up. I particularly like the Twitter updates by KPBS. I’ve seen several news sites playing with Twitter, and this just shows how newspapers can take advantage of technology and own it in the readers’ eyes.

Howard Owens has posted some more links to media coverage, too.

>> 5 things to tell the students. Mindy McAdams asked a group of 40 journalism students: “How much time did you spend online yesterday and today? (Pause.) Compare that with how much time you spent reading a newspaper or a magazine.” She then proceeded to give them a kick in the butt they need and outlined five ways they can get moving on learning online skills.

I’m continually shocked that students are so unprepared. I have a degree in architecture, and back in the day, we didn’t learn Computer Aided Design/Drafting because the professors said we would learn that in the field — we were in school to learn the fundamentals of design and structures. Thank you, but my colleagues had a difficult time finding a job, even with a master’s degree (I opted for journalism right out of college, so didn’t face that problem). But what’s going on in journalism today is even worse, I think. They’re not teaching the technical skills, AND they’re not teaching the fundamentals in online storytelling.

>> Are you producing videos for your newspaper Web site? Andy Dickinson of the Department of Journalism, University of Central Lancashire, wants to hear from you. He’s put together a short survey to find out how video is produced and who does it. He’ll post the results on his blog.