I’ve done a semi-crappy job of noting things happening elsewhere in the web. But the link economy is strong and I should be adding to it.
So what’s new?
NewsTrust.Net
Many of you know that before Spot.Us became a reality I was a contributing editor at NewsTrust.net (disclaimer). I’m happy to see that they’ve finished the redesign (which started just as I was leaving). From time-to-time Fabrice and the NewsTrust team would call me in as a fresh pair of eyes, so I know just how much thought and effort was put into this massive overhaul.
The site is aesthetically the same, but has been moved to Ruby on Rails, which means future development will happen quicker. But the site itself also moves faster, feels cleaner and is easier to navigate and use.
I always thought that NewsTrust’s biggest hurdle was that they asked so much of the user. I think this is a step in lowering the bar. I am a big believer that aggregation is creation and that linking is an editorial service. NewsTrust, along with sites like Publish2.com and NewsCred are pushing this practice. Journalisim should find a way to own this space and with the right tools I believe that is possible.
ReportingOn.com
I am a HUGE fan of Ryan Sholin‘s. Always have been. Anyone involved in journalism just needs to take a few glances at his personal blog to become a fan as well. His effort at Wired Journalis has been a collosaul success. Ryan has probably done more singlehandedly to evangelize the “get on the web” effort than anyone else.
I was truly excited that Ryan was a Knight News Challenge winner as well – and very happy to see his ReportingOn.com launch. He is the type of colleague whom I’m honored to call my colleague.
Journalism That Matters
Journalism That Matters has a new Drupal based site up which can organize the many tentacles of this organization. If you already know JTM, then you know what a fantastically idealized organization it is. They essentially organize unconferences about media all across the country. When they started planning one in Silicon Valley – I jumped up and did my fair share of the organizing.
The problem as I understand it, was that JTM is trying to be more than a conference facilitator. I believe it’s trying to start its own little movement and create a culture around journalism. If you’ve ever been to a JTM then this would make sense. Again, it comes from the unconference world, so don’t attend thinking all your questions will be answered. In fact, you should be prepared to leave invigorated with three times as many questions as you came in with. Some people find that unsatisfying – I love it.
But to be more than an unconference facilitator JTM needed a single hub where they could collect all their achievements and let participants meet and greet each other online. This Drupal site is the first big step in that direction. That they’ve accomplished so much without a real hub site just goes to show how much force has been behind JTM – the people running this are its life blood.
Spot Us
Okay, so here’s the part where I’ll be brief, because if you’ve been following this blog, you know that Spot Us is moving forward and is getting closer and closer to launch.
But here’s an interesting update. As many know I’ve been as open and transparent about this process as possible. I’ve been very lucky that my developers and designers have seen value in this as well. My developers are also entrenched in the Ruby on Rails community – and their openness has attracted some attention from other developers who get a chance to peek into how they do things.
The interesting thing about this project was that the source is freely available on Github for any Joe Bloggs to pour over (link). Not only that, but the client taped his reaction upon seeing the application for the first time: (link).
I had a quick looksee at the application, and what I saw blew me away – how’d they get so much done in such a short space of time?
Here’s some of the stuff I noticed….
That’s it for now.
Next week I’ll be flying over to Jacksonville Florida to, you guessed it, spend some more face-to-face time with the developers.
The goal was to be finished by the end of next week. As things are right now – we might need one more week, but I’d hardly consider that a failure – the amount of work that is involved in building a website is huge, waiting one extra week wouldn’t kill anyone.
Also: Check me out at PSFK as a source in citizen journalism gone awry via the Steve Jobs incident on iReport. Lots can be said about this. I simply don’t have the time to opine.