Live-blogging day 2 of the conference.
—————
1532: Packing it in. The remaining sessions aren’t sufficiently interesting to me to stay. Got some things to do at home. I probably won’t attend this weekend, for the same reason. It would be nirvana if I was a journalist, but as a technology guy, I’m good.
1445: Session’s over. Consensus was, (a) Using the current generation of journalism tools isn’t that hard, (b) If you need customizations, “just” hire a contractor to make them for you, (c) Making a system that reduced online journalism’s technology load probably isn’t worth it. I don’t agree with any of these sentiments, but, they were in the majority. How odd.
Now thinking about whether to say for the 3:00 session.
1436: Michael Bradbury tries to bring the train back on the tracks. Some participants still want to play in the dandelions.
1409: Yep, in the weeds now.
1358: Group discussion’s driving off the rails.
1346: Technology aggravations: Content migration. Content held hostage to the hosting service, platform, and/or cloud.
1341: I’m sitting next to Ross Reynolds. Thrill!
1340: Proposal is to list all the aggravating things about current online journalism technology. This could be a big list.
1310: Attending 1:30 sessions: Just one, C (How can technology better serve journalism).
1159: Lunch. Wraps. Decent, but… I didn’t go back for seconds.
1130: BTW, two participants here are from KING TV. None are here from KIRO or KOMO.
1125: Another topic was hyperlocal blog astroturfing. Case in point, sigh, Fisher Communications‘ neighborhood blogs. They’re a parody of “neighborhood,” where artifice replaces sincere interest in local news. They even had one of their female employees make a couple of goofy videos tarted up like a teenage party girl. KOMO Sluts on Parade! Nothing says “credible news source” and “trusted community member” than having an employee show some flesh in pigtails, and act like a bimbo. Is that a genuine individuals’ video, or a video by someone who wants a promotion or raise, or just wants to keep her job? Fisher’s management wouldn’t know integrity if it came up and hit them in the face.
1121: Discussion at E about ethical standards. People who came up from traditional media understand where the lines are, by and large. Those that start off in “new media” often do not. Case in point: Companies paying bloggers to write about their products, without clear disclosure.
1057: EveryBlock came up at the B-Town Blog table, in a discussion about reporting on public documents / records / events. No enthusiasm in this group for monetization through mugs, t-shirts, etc.
1000: Attending 10:30 sessions: D (How can we make it easier to publish & find proven solutions to common challenges). K (How can I continue to grow my local blog & sustain it as a business). E (What aspects of traditional media journalism need to be preserved & what should we jettison).
0942: Session creation, sharing, scheduling.
0912: Open forum about yesterday’s results, thoughts, impressions.
0815: Conference breakfast. Coffee. Murmph.
Seek Nuance 