Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2007

I plan to get back to regular posts after the new year (if not sooner). Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Wondering where Santa is right now?

NORAD’s tracking him for us with Google Maps, and in 3D with Google Earth (check out the animated videos, too).

Not familiar with this tradition? Here’s more about it and why they track Santa (read more here):

“For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa.

The tradition began on Christmas Eve in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special “hotline” included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.”

The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff check radar data for any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa’s location. Thus, the tradition was born.

To listen to Colonel Shoup talk about the experience, click here.”

Good reads for 12.10.07

Posted on December 10, 2007

Work, the holidays and personal stuff have kept me from updating this regularly the past month. But I have been reading. Here are some good reads I’ve seen:

>> Omaha.com was caught flat-footed after a gunman killed eight people at a mall last week, says Alan Mutter. “… the worst problems in Omaha were not technical, but editorial. The poor coverage evidently was caused by a lack of contingency planning on the part of editors, web producers, reporters, photographers and all the other people who are responsible for rapidly, thoughtfully and accurately gathering the information and visual assets necessary to tell a story like this in the age of multimedia.”

>> The business model for newspapers has changed, and it’s hard to see any turnaround, says Polk Laffoon for the Cincinnati Post. “What will happen? My guess, and it’s only mine, is that ink on paper will be with us for some time, but transformed to something intensely local. Large regional newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times will not be able to sustain the levels of excellence that marked them for a generation. Readers eager for in-depth national and international news will increasingly look to a handful of publications, some of them “national” newspapers, some of them magazines.”

>> More reasons to Twitter. Says Yoni Greenbaum: “I’m afraid that because the spirit of experimentation has been replaced in so many cases with concerns over ROI, too many newsrooms won’t try out this tool.”

>> It’s about journalism, not flashy projects. In response to Mindy McAdams’ post “Learning Flash is not the answer,” Howard Owens says: “Nowadays, especially when you’re working online, you must think about more than the journalistic value of the story, but also ask questions like — where does this fit into our overall online strategy (do we even have a strategy)?, and how will this help grow and retain audience? …

“Mindy also hits on an important theme: Quality. If you’re going to do Flash, you better make sure it’s good. A lot of people don’t like my approach to video, but video is a much more forgiving medium than Flash multimedia projects. If it isn’t well done, and it isn’t meaningful, it’s a complete waste of time, both for the people who produce it and the audience asked to endure it.”

>> Knight Foundation is looking for an online community manager. “The new position will play a key role in creating a vibrant online discussion community for Knight Foundation and shape it into the premier digital presence focused on journalism excellence, communities and systemic, transformational change.” You can watch the YouTube video created by Marc Fest, Communications Director, for more information.

>> “There’s certainly life, and work, after journalism.” Yup, that’s a quote. Former Denver Post features editor Diane Hartman and current Rocky Mountain News staffer John Ensslin have created a support group called The Jump for journalists transitioning into other careers.