Bye-Bye Blogger

Sadly, I've never become attached to this blog. At least this blog at this location with this layout and, well, everything about it. So often does it happen that I think of wonderful things to blog about, sit down at my computer and shrug my shoulders. My thoughts need a better vehicle to make their way from my brain to the blog, so here it is. It will serve as a central hub-de-Mallory with all my addictive posts, tweets, del.icio.us-ness, etc. Mosey on over there and scope it out.

Wine bloggers head to Twitter

Dr. Vino, of Dr. Vino's Wine Blog (one of my favorite daily reads that doesn't have to do with journalism), had some chuckle-worthy commentary on his reluctance to join Twitter.

I can’t decide if this is a revolution in micro-blogging or a complete waste of time. So far I’ve learned various things such as: one woman was PMSing, another guy hates his job, another guy just finished 18 holes of golf, somebody else is at the farmers’ market (BREAKING!), and yet another guy is pinging his DNS server or some such. I have revealed trivialities as my confusion thinking New York State cider was different from mere apple juice...(read more)

And whether or not he actually wanted to read about the lovely monthly emotional tribulations of said woman, he did. I guess that's the point, stumbling across random ramblings and tweeting right back. The more people into the conversation, the better, I say! Follow me on Twitter.

Word Press or bust!

I've decided to migrate this blog to WordPress. Not an easy task, I know, but I've been too intimidated to make the move until now. I want more design control. If I'm not going to redesign my Web site just yet, I might as well step up to the plate and redesign my blog. I'll even go out on a limb and say that having a more "fun" design might get me to update more. But maybe not since I've finally succumbed to the Twitter revolution.

Updates, updates, updates...

It's been a while. Shame on me. What's been keeping me so busy, you ask?

1. Spring Break. Three girlfriends and I spent five fabulous nights on the Norwegian Jewel cruising around the Gulf of Mexico to the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. It was my first extravagant spring break with real plans, and I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing or more fun vacation. It was the last spring break we'll probably ever have, and we went out with a bang.



2. School. Well, sort of. More like me getting used to the fact that I only have 35 days left to be a college student. There isn't much actual schoolwork left to do, but the energy that is taken out of me from stress keeps me busy enough. For now, I'll continue to live in denial.

3. Post-school. It's been hitting me harder lately that I need to get my butt in gear with some post-college plans. I'm sick of being asked that question without having a decent answer. Of course like anyone who has spent the last 18 of their 22 years going to school everyday, I don't want to do much of anything but be lazy. Not for long, either, but at least a week of absolute nothingness as some kind of reward to myself for making it here. I deserve it, don't I?
However, doing nothing also results is making nothing. As in money. And I don't want to be broke. So, I've submitted resumes for two positions at Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive (I'm so excited about this) and one at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. And now comes my least favorite part of the job hunt, which is coincidentally my least favorite part of fishing too -- the waiting part.

4. Side Projects. My Flash-iness is being used for bits and pieces on a project that a TA of mine (shout-out to Gary!) is working on for the UF College of Law. Project My Voice is a social-networking style Web site that he is developing that is geared toward tweens between 11- and 14-years-old to get them engaged in politics and law. So far, his sketches are pretty darn cool and I'm excited to be a member of the team. I'll be working on some Flashtastic navigation and some other odds and ends.

And that's about it. Other than that, I've been trying to soak up as much of Gainesville life as I possibly can in the past few weeks. Every time I'm walking around campus I'm reminded of how much I have become attached to this place, and I never really thought I would say that. Four years has felt like four minutes, but ya know what they say -- (insert predictable cliche here ->) Time flies when you're having fun!

A question of ethics with the New York Times -- a j-student's perspective

I've been thrown for a loop.

It was only a few short weeks ago that I decided to change my browser homepage from CNN.com to NYTimes.com, a move that was unquestionably overdue for someone like me who is fed up with entertainment and sensationalist headlines from what I no longer consider a credible news source. It makes little difference really, considering that the news I get comes from all over the Web through my RSS reader. I like the Times for the same reasons everyone else does (multimedia reporting, feature stories, etc.) despite its left-leaning rap sheet, but some of their recent news judgment decisions have left me, a journalism student whose brain is still being molded, confused.

By now everyone's either read or heard about the fuzzy article that was published last week about presidential hopeful John McCain's "troublesome" relationship with female lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The article, which made these claims using sources that would only dish the dirt on the condition on anonymity, prompted McCain to hold a press conference to handle questions and deny the allegations. So what? People use confidential sources all the time right? But I'm lost...

All UF j-students are required to take Problems and Ethics in Journalism. I did. I got an A, too, and after reading this article I pulled out some of my notes. For most journalism dilemmas we were given a checklist to determine if the decisions that are made can be ethically justified. Usually they are if at least a few of the conditions in the checklist are satisfied.
Here is the checklist we were given for using confidential sources:

• All else being equal, identify all news sources fully.
• The story should be of overriding public importance.
• Always try to obtain the same information from sources who are willing to be quoted first.
• Grand confidentiality only to someone who is relatively powerless or likely to lose the capacity to remain a solid information source.
• Don't let anonymous sources use the cloak of anonymity to attack other individuals or organizations.
• Make sure you are willing to tell readers how you got your information and why you're protecting the source's confidentiality.

And here is the attribution being called into question:

Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

First, it's tough to think that a paper as big as the Times sucked all their sources dry before having to publish this story based on anonymous sources. If there were "several people involved," couldn't they at least be more specific and say what positions they hold in the campaign? With this attribution, they might as well have gotten the information from McCain sign-waver Joe Schmoe on the corner at the voting precinct. Second, could a story about a questionable romantic relationship of a potential presidential candidate years ago be considered an "attack on an individual?" Of overriding public importance? To me, it's not so overriding that it needed to be rushed to publication before more attempts at obtaining open information could be made. In this case, I'd also say that the Times did not openly explain to their readers the "how" and "why" behind the information. I think they failed the checklist.

This only leads me to my next troubling thought: Has most of the American public been conditioned NOT to question their news sources? The answer to this must be a resounding "yes" if channels like FOX News can sustain so many viewers, and this is disheartening.

Whether or not the article is true, and whether or not the voters would actually care if it is or not, was it a responsible decision for a news icon like the Times to publish an ultimately unsubstantiated story like this one? Based on my novice knowledge, I'd have to say no.

A blessing in disguise: What I learned from a redesign

What began last week as a nightmare has ended in some lessons well learned. A while back I accepted the task of building a Flash site for a local company that specializes in customized school footwear fund raisers for high schools across the country. What the client wanted was very simple and fairly easy to build, but I will shamefully admit that my heart and soul was not fully into the design, and it wasn't my best. I even opted to leave it out of my portfolio.

When the time came recently for the client to want some changes and updates made, my computer decided to really ruin my day. No files to be found. And yes, I know, what the hell was I thinking without a backup? Of course, I thought I had made one but yet again, no files (I've had quite a few problems like this with my PC laptop - I think I see apples in my future). Long story short, a rebuild was unavoidable. I took those lemons that life tossed at me and squeezed them into a cleaner, more precise and MUCH more professional looking glass of lemona...I mean Web site.

BeforeAfter

ItsaShoeThing.com -- What do you think??

The rounded star in the left corner has been an adopted logo of sorts for the company, so I was excited to find this new header font that carried the theme. I spent most of today working through some PHP tutorials for building an automated e-mail form for the "contact" section, but I'm still ironing some kinks. On the upside, the client is happy and I've got a nice addition to my portfolio.

Morals of the story:
* It never hurts to make a backup of a backup of a backup.
* Upload backup files to your clients hosting server. (I realize this might be a "duh" for some people, but hey, I'm learning!)
* Before turning your laptop into a Frisbee and tossing it out the window during times of technological turmoil, step back, take a deep breath and make the best of the situation.

Short and Sweet Media Job Fair

I have to give a lot of credit to our department of journalism. Not a day goes by that I don't receive some nugget of information in my e-mail inbox. If it's from Charles Harris (all UF j-students know this mysterious man, the phantom e-mailer/Director of the Knight Division), I know that I'll read about the happenings of our college. To my detriment, I've become the kind of e-mail-skimming zombie who mindlessly deletes things just so my mailbox doesn't become overwhelmingly overflowed, and admittedly, some of those journalism e-mails just do not get read (we get a LOT!). But I digress. Miraculously, instincts told me not to be so hasty the other day and check out a few, and I found this little gem of information.

Now I've only been to one job/internship fair. It was last year in our student union, and I don't think I've ever been more intimidated in my life. The Grand Ballroom looked more like one of those big spread-out office rooms you see in movies with the endless desks and cubicles. Minus the cubicles. Then throw a stone-faced editor behind each desk, all facing the entrance as you walk in and you can imagine the size of the knot that took root in my gut. I was lucky enough to snag an awesome summer internship that day with the High Springs Herald, but not after releasing a few beads of sweat.

Which brings me to why I am so amped up about South Florida's out-of-the-box idea for a job fair. Who in their right mind wouldn't rather dress up and go to a jazz club to mingle with some industry bigwigs on a more relaxed level than the stiffness and anxiety-ridden experience of a traditional job fair? It's being hosted by the South Florida chapter of SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists for all you non-JOUs who stumble on this), The New Times of Broward and Palm Beach and by South Florida Media Jobs. Plus it's on a Saturday, about a 10-minute drive from my folks' house. You'll definitely see me at this one, but I plan on leaving that annoying stomach knot at the door.

Washington Post reporter Anne Hull speaks at UF

Rather than attending lecture for my editing class today, we have been given the opportunity to sit in on a talk given by Pulitzer Prize finalist and national reporter for the Washington Post Anne Hull.

For those who may not know, Hull, working in collaboration with Post reporter Dana Priest, is responsible for the story that ran in February of 2007 about the less-than-acceptable conditions of the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. The online version of the story is accompanied by three audio slide shows, featuring Hull as a narrator. I like the package as an example of how a top-tier prize-winning reporter can still dip their feet into the multimedia realm of their story-telling.

Other pieces by Hull include stories about gay youth, welfare reform, AIDS and immigration.

Further reading:
"Young and Gay in Real America" -
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Frontline special tonight: "Growing Up Online"

There are very few TV shows that I like enough to actually work into my nightly schedule. With the writer's strike, it's even less. Tuesdays, I'll admit, are usually dedicated to the heartfelt and motivating weight-loss stories of NBC's Biggest Loser, but tonight I'm switching things up. (But still rooting for the Orange team!)

PBS's Frontline prides itself on "thought provoking journalism on air and online," and more often than not it delivers. Tonight at 9p.m. eastern they are airing a new special called "Growing Up Online."

In "Growing Up Online," FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. From cyber bullying to instant "Internet fame," to the specter of online sexual predators, FRONTLINE producer Rachel Dretzin investigates the risks, realities and misconceptions of teenage self-expression on the World Wide Web.

The documentary also glimpses into the phenomenon of social networking, plagiarism and the disappearance of paper media in schools; all relevant topics to a journalism student like myself and worth a watch this evening. Here's a preview from PBS:

Surfline.com

It's pretty exciting when a cool piece of journalism comes from an untraditional soft-news source. Surfline.com is an online resource for surfers to scope out ocean conditions all over the world, check out sweet photos and stay on top of surf news. Other than a vertical drop-down style of navigation that bothers almost every one I know, the site is nicely done. I especially enjoyed "Eye of the Storm," an audio-backed photo story.

Gotta hand it to their staff for presenting some pretty standard-big-blue-wave-tiny-surfer-dude photos in a way that drew me in by adding some audio to the piece. Listening to the surfer being interviewed, I got to hear the actual "surfer slang" accent give some nice details on what it was like for these guys to be towed into enormous, potentially life-threatening waves. This could be the perfect example of a piece that could have been just as easily created using Soundslides, but I assume it is only a matter of time before that software becomes more popular outside of the journalism community.

Job Post of the Week: MTV News Production Assistant

Job Post of the Week: MTV News Production Assistant

Where do I apply? How? When? They're not very generous on the job responsibilities details but it's MTV. I'll take it.

MTVNews.com is seeking a full time Production Assistant to support daily news operations (via both written stories and video). The Production Assistant reports to the Vice President of MTV News Digital and will work closely with the Senior Producer on a day-to-day basis.

The Basics --

Qualifications/skills:
- Some production/digital media experience (internships/student activities OK).
- Photoshop
- Avid / Final Cut Pro or similar non-linear editing application.
- Basic HTML (text formatting, tables, lists)
- Willingness to learn MTV News' digital content management systems
- Some background in writing/journalism a plus.
- Experience with shooting video and/or photos also a plus.


The ideal candidate is:
- Versed in web and video production.
- Interested and immersed in music, movies and popular culture.
- Energetic, dynamic and creative; reliable and punctual.
- Cool under pressure.

This one has been bookmarked and is on top of my pile so far! :)

Finally, a Bloglines CON

I love Bloglines. I can read blogs minus the obnoxious ads (a necessary evil, I know) and confusing, distracting layouts. Text, links and photos with little mess. But this simplicity and cleanliness that bloglines delivers also sells the reader short. Side elements of a blog like a Blogroll, related links, archives, etc. are left out if a reader service is used, and some of my favorite time wasted online comes from clicking from blog to blog via, you guessed it, blogs! Once my Bloglines list was built I forgot that reading blogs and RSS feeds should be a changing and expanding network process. If you find something that tickles your fancy, click the link to the actual blog and see where it takes you. Don't be a slave to your feed reader!

Mobile media in action

It may have been a longtime coming for me to ditch my old cellphone and enter the wonderfully portable networked world of a PDA phone, and I know I've already blogged about my Blackjack 2 once before, but, because my love affair with my new gadget is still in the honeymoon phase, here I am to rave again. Just wanted to take a minute and demonstrate the mobillity power gained from a device like this as I type from the seat of an RTS bus on my way home from campus on the first day of my last semester. Here's me, almost to my stop, taken discretely with my phone :)

Job Post of the Week: Staff Writer for TheStreet.com/MainStreet.com

Job Post of the Week: Staff Writer for TheStreet.com/MainStreet.com

It's funny that my first Job Post of the Week is a staff-writer position at TheStreet.com. My ever-adventurous dad was just telling me about the Web site the other day after reading Jim Cramer's (of CNBC's Mad Money) new book "Stay Mad." TheStreet.com gathers investment advice, stock market news and trading information and presents it to the average Joe in an understandable way. Their new site MainStreet is set to offer an unusual combination of celebrity entertainment and personal finance. The job listing says:

MainStreet.com will cover breaking news, including celebrity and entertainment news, as a means to get into personal finance, i.e. Jamie Lynn Spears is having a baby…Suddenly finding yourself with an unplanned bun in the oven? Here’s how to start preparing yourself financially to have and raise a child.

The Basics --

Requirements:
• Great news judgment
• 3+ years of journalism experience
• Ability to flourish in a fast paced environment
• Good copy-editing skills
• Sense of humor
• If not direct experience, then interest, in learning about personal finance
• Experience with online publishing is preferred
• Interest in interactive media and the business side of editorial • Creativity

Description:
Write 300 to 1,000 stories and the occasional longer sections
• Come up with ideas both for stories and the promotion of video and interactive content
• Stay current with our subject areas. That means you are required to read both Kiplinger’s and PerezHilton (Yes, this is probably the first time that those two names have been in the same sentence.)
• Write and produce special projects as needed
• Make your stories web-ready (We’ll explain what we mean.)

Location:
New York, NY

Could you apply for this job? Sounds like loads of fun to me, but that 3+ years experience gets me everytime. It's almost discouraging but I know this is a business of working your way up and paying your dues in the beginning.


**Job Posts come via JournalismJobs.com in the online media section unless otherwise noted.

New Wednesday feature: Job Post of the Week

Happy New Year! January is always a time for reflection and anticipation for me. I managed to get a lot of fairly important things done in 2007:

1. In April, through my Online Media Production class, I revamped my personal Web site with an updated resume and bought my domain name. (I'd really like to do a new TextPattern redesign, but I don't want to half-ass it so I'm taking my time.)

2. Spent the summer at the High Springs Herald as an intern and came away some clips that I was pretty proud of.

3. Built my first all-Flash Web site for my sister's photography business and started to get my footing in working with clients.

4. Learned how to use a TextPattern content management system through JOU4946. (I just have to implement it on my own site next!)

5. Invested in an Olympus USB digital voice recorder and a Nikon D40x SLR camera and feel fairly comfortable using both. (Money very well spent!)

Now that 2008 is here with a vengeance, I've made two resolutions that I hope will be easy to maintain and fulfilling to my soon-to-be professional career. (Graduation is May 4 and my job-hunting fingers have been firmly crossed for quite some time.)
First, I'm going to read more books. I'd like to make a habit of putting down the cute but purpose-less dress at the mall and using that money to build a nice library of reference books for what I'm doing on the Web. On my wish list so far? A good book on ActionScript and a beginner-level guide to PHP or working with databases. I'm an self-prescribed novice who looks forward to soaking up a ton of knowledge this year.

If I can't keep up that resolution (some dresses are just TOO cute to put down), then I'd like to start the new year off by blogging more, and using my blog more as a networking tool in the blogosphere. So often are we instructed to do this from professors at UF's J-School, and from the wise words of industry professionals, but I don't do it enough. And after hours of obsessive browsing on JournalismJobs.com and my excitement about getting a REAL-LIFE job pretty soon, I've come up with something to keep me on track. Wednesdays at this blog will now feature "Job Post of the Week." I'll link to and describe a job opening I've spotted during the week that I would jump at. Some may have requirements that are way out of my reach (It seems like 3+ years of newsroom experience is always hiding on the post somewhere), or deadlines that don't work, etc. but just checking in on exactly what editors are looking for and knowing that there really are positions out there for us keeps me motivated. I only hope that it can do the same for whoever may read this thing.

Best wishes for a prosperous and healthy new year to all!