Posts under ‘Techniques’

UPDATED A long Q&A: Life in Iraq on the New York Times website shows the Baghdad bureau in more human terms, and gives readers an even better idea of what life is like in that nation. At one point John F. Burns, the newspaper’s outstanding bureau chief, writes of the Iraqi nationals who do an […]

The Guardian: Right sermon, wrong preacher. There is an easy response to Tony Blair’s lecture on the failings of the media, and some will seize on it. It is to accuse the prime minister – the master (some will say) of half truths, evasion and spin – of breathtaking hypocrisy and an almost clinical lack […]

Jason Calacanis, who calls his new venture Mahalo “human-powered search,” says the company will pay freelance searchers a fee for links the site accepts. He says he hopes for hundreds or thousands of people in this part-time capacity. This sounds to me like an updated version of the Open Directory Project, but this time with […]

At Poynter.org, Steve Klein discusses deals by niche sports sites YourMTB.com and YourCycling.com, which “have developed an innovative program to provide coverage for cycling races and events that allows competitors and/or spectators to blog, take photograph and shoot video.” Klein calls this “yet another lost opportunity for mainstream media, which simply lacks the resources to […]

Louisville Courier-Journal: Courier-Journal reporter ejected from U of L game. A Courier-Journal sports reporter had his media credential revoked and was ordered to leave the press box during the NCAA baseball super-regional yesterday because of what the NCAA alleged was a violation of its policies prohibiting live Internet updates from its championship events. Gene McArtor, […]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Avvo’s attorney rating system draws fire. Setting up an online rating system that attempts to rank the best and worst attorneys, is kind of like dipping your toes in shark-infested waters. Sooner or later, you are bound to get bitten. That’s the situation facing Avvo, the heavily funded Seattle startup that just four […]

My Berkman Center colleague Jonathan Zittrain has written a piece for Harvard Business Review, “Saving the Internet.” Quote: The runaway successes of the Internet and PC with the mainstream public have put them in positions of significant stress and danger. Though the Internet’s lack of centralized structure makes it difficult to assess the sturdiness of […]

If you’ve been following the comments in this blog, you’ll note that Simon Dixon has unwrapped NewsMap, which he says puts a newsroom-friendly face on the Google Maps API. The end-user sees an annotated map (or satellite image), with various points of interest marked on it, using custom icons. The points are presented in a […]

Invisible Inkling: 10 obvious things about the future of newspapers you need to get through your head. My favorite line: “Stop whining.”

The Wall Street Journal does a service this weekend with “Deconstructing TripAdvisor,” a long article (unfortunately behind the newspaper’s pay-wall) that helps explain the popularity — and the flaws — of TripAdvisor, which for many people (including me) has become a first stop for travel planning. Thanks in part to its prominence in Google searches, […]