June 25, 2008

Online News Association

Update: Membership application accepted.

Submitted an application for the Online News Association today. According to their site:

“The Online News Association was founded in 1999 by several working members of the online press. ONA is open to journalists from around the world who produce news on the Internet and other digital platforms, and to others with an interest in online news”

Seeing that it will be the first professional organization I’ve ever been a part of, I’m pretty excited about that.

Prior to being an actual member, I signed up to be a screener for the 2008 ONA awards. That means I’ll be critiquing some heavy-hitting news Web sites, specifically those entries submitted in the “Investigative Journalism: Large” category. I’m looking forward to learning a few things about integrating site design, user interface and storytelling on the Web.

Winners announced in September. Stay tuned.

June 13, 2008

Pearl Jam - 06.12.2008 - Tampa, Fla.



Pearl Jam - 06.12.2008 - Tampa, FL - 2

Originally uploaded by Pearl Jam Official

June 12, 2008 St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Fla. U.S.A.

Support: Kings of Leon

Main Set: Sometimes, Corduroy, Why Go, Severed Hand, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Marker In The Sand, Light Years, Down, Wishlist, Given To Fly, Daughter (Blitzkrieg Bop tag), Even Flow, Present Tense, Insignificance, Better Man, Do The Evolution

Encore 1: Nothingman, Black, Life Wasted, Porch

Encore 2: You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Ed solo), Alive, Yellow Ledbetter (with Star Spangled Banner)

June 13, 2008

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

May 27, 2008

.97 a gallon

Saw this sign in a gravel lot near the Port of Tampa, so I had to stop and grab a photo. Spent the rest of the day figuring out how “old” this sign really is, though.

May 20, 2008

‘Hard news is back in style’

So says Martin Merzer, formerly of the Miami Herald, at the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors multimedia workshop in Tampa this past weekend.

In a session about writing online, Merzer said in an on-demand world, those who can write the news straight, accurate and fast are in demand. Hey now.

May 16, 2008

Triple homicide in Lutz

Reported on a horrific triple murder in the semi-rural outskirts of Tampa. Authorities charged Edward Covington in the murders of his 26-year-old girlfriend and her two children, ages 2 and 7.

Details were not released, but investigators said the three people and the family dog were mutilated. One person was decapitated. Veteran crime scene technicians called it among the most gruesome scenes they’d ever worked.

May 8, 2008

Good site, smart people

The Modern Journalist is a new blog authored by former Wired reporter and current “Media Informatics” professor Brad King. Smart dude. He’s got great insight and instinct into where journalism is headed next.

More importantly, he’s not asking what went wrong with the business. He’s teaching anyone who will listen how to make it right again. I’m paraphrasing, but King calls the discussions he’s started the “conversation we’ve all wanted to have been waiting for” and it’s attracting programmers, journalists, newspaper managers, academics and all kinds of digital pioneers.

May 8, 2008

Changes

Played around with WordPress and made some changes to the blog. Mostly organizational stuff, like creating new pages up top. I’m still getting the hang of WordPress. I’m a TypePad guy at work.

April 28, 2008

This American Life

Huge fan of This American Life. Anyone seen the television show yet? I haven’t, but I’ll bet the formula - extraordinary stories from ordinary people - translates just as well on the television screen as it does on the radio. In fact, I’ve said that newspaper.com’s oughtta pay attention to TAL. There’s lots to be learned about audio storytelling. Get the NPR podcast here.

April 28, 2008

Stop the Presses

New(s) doc. Read all about it here. I wonder if anyone’s started the documentary on the rebirth of American journalism yet.