Archive for April, 2006

Date: April 28th, 2006
Cate: Future, Internet/Technology/Gadgets, Journalism Practice, Journalism Theory/Analysis, Open Source and Community, Straight Geek, Weblogs
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The Future: Journalism Dies

If you are like my father, then your search for science fiction novels can never be quenched. I have to admit, when I do read fiction, I like the science stuff the best too.

This week in class we talked a lot about the future of journalism. Where it’s going, what jobs will look like, what skills we will need etc. It’s hard for anyone to really know what is going to happen. It excites me to be honest. I think, more than ever, I want to focus my time at Columbia on New Media journalism, which will provide me with a new set of base skills (this website will get better, I promise) and perhaps some insight into the future, which is looking more and more like a science fiction novel.

We had a talk from Sreenath Sreenivasan, who would most likely be my New Media guru at Columbia. I was both embarrassed and pleased to be the person in class who knew the most about blogs, RSS feeds, the many different tools google can provide you and other geek things.  In fact, my professor has asked me to give him a tutorial next week. This whole “Wired” thing has paid off. This is stuff I’ve been studying every day, but now I feel validated that for some in the journalism world it is important.
Googlezon
The real highlight of the class was a video called Epic 2014. It was a fake history up until the year 2014 when Google causes the New York Times to fold. “On August 4th, The New York Times becomes a newsletter for the elite and the elderly,” according to the future history.

It’s a scary video because in all honesty, I could see something like EPIC actually happening. But there are some flaws to the video. For example, they highlighted Friendster as an important moment in Internet history. Way off there. Perhaps their future history has a few mistakes as well.

Date: April 25th, 2006
Cate: Environment/Geography, My Work, Quote, Science

The Q&A Revisted: Interviews with Denis Hayes and Laurie David

Not too long ago I posted about meeting Deborah Solomon. She has mastered the art of the Q&A like no other. She has it down to a routine.

Although I wasn’t able to do it with as extreme proficiency, I tried my hand at the Q&A format recently for Seed.

Gearing up for Earth Day and the environmentally aware month of April you might remember that I went to the State of the Planet convention at Columbia University. I also started doing some reading on Denis Hayes and Laurie David, because I was told to interview both for a brief Q&A for the site.

Denis Hayes is the founder of Earth Day and gave me a scary breakdown of where he thinks the planet is going.

Laurie David’s interview was not as depressing in terms of doomsday scenarios. And although Larry David — her husband and creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm — didn’t pick up the phone as I hoped, she was a delight to speak with.

I won’t over-analyze the Q&A’s here. I will say this, I’m happy with them but not thrilled. I would have liked the chance to go into more detailed subjects, but for what these conversations are worth — an introduction to environmental concerns via a famous personality — they get the job done.

Date: April 23rd, 2006
Cate: My Work, Social News
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Still Alive, Just Working

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have a lot in the works for the next two weeks. I’ve got two freelance gigs. One of which should come out next Sunday and I’m very excited about. I also got school work to catch up on.

So although I may not be posting as much, don’t think I’m going lazy on you.

In the meantime, I would like to put a public call out for the following.

1. Any information on Albert Pacino, the number one rated Digg member ever. I’ve been trying to track him down on the Internet and it has proved to be almost impossible. Sure, Al Pacino is a fake name, but he should have some tracks somewhere that lead to a real person. It seems he has retired from Digg, his blog, the world, without leaving any traces behind. It makes for a good story indeed, if only I could talk with him to find out why? If anybody knows where he is or how to contact him, please let me know.

2. I went to an interesting hip-hop/performing art event in the New York City subway today. I’m going to write a story about it for a possible scholarship. But the event left me wondering; is there such a thing as giving beat-box lessons. Does anybody know someone who gives personal beat-box lessons. Not for me, thank you, I’m an amazing emcee and beat-boxer, but I  think that would make an interesting story as well.

3. Don’t you just love lists to organize your thoughts sometimes.

4. This summer I’m going to change a bit about this site. For one, this URL needs to go. I made it up on a whim not realizing I couldn’t do a tap-tap take back. Typepad should really give a warning that the URL is a tap-tap no take back kind of thing. So this summer I will tackle that and readdress the purpose of this blog.

Date: April 17th, 2006
Cate: Links and People, Quote
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When You Want to Write for Readers

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be read once.
Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise (1938

Sad, but true. Most of what a journalist writes will only be read once while it is pertinent. Once the reader gains the knowledge that is contained within the piece, they move on to disseminate it to the world. As a journalist, I’m fine with that. I only mean to get conversations going. But for a writer working on a piece of fiction, they aim to move people, to touch emotional wells that the reader will want to revisit years down the road by opening up that same book.

I don’t know much about fiction writing. It’s not my cup of tea. But I have gotten into checking out Writesville frequently enough to realize that it takes time, effort and skill to write a good piece of fiction. It’s a good site for a budding novelist to meditate on character building, plot development and all the other aspects of fiction writing that go above my head. Enjoy, bon appetite, and please, read everything twice.

Date: April 14th, 2006
Cate: Quote
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Quote

“It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper!”
– Jerry Seinfeld

more))

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