Another funny video...but this one isn't LeBron or even one of those fake Cleveland commercials...not even a guy on a banjo keeping time with a tractor. This is strictly for viewing by folks who follow the media's sometimes very clumsy way to figure out how to make the web pay.
Pretty funny stuff, too -- thanks to the College Humor Guys and Will Sullivan of Poynter for the tip and video. I'm guessing most will find this ironic and typical of many websites but hopefully it'll also drive home the one item often lost in building cool stuff on the web -- who's getting this?
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
When Comments Attack
There are plenty of headaches for media companies large and small; the economy certainly ranks as number one, with a close number two figuring how to ride out the wave of seismic changes hitting the journalism and communications landscape. But the one that may provide the biggest heartburn strikes directly at the First Amendment.
I like to point out there's a reason why freedom of speech is the First amendment; after all, the freedom to petition for redress of our grievances, assemble with others of like-mind, even the particular (or peculiar) way we choose to worship all stem from what many Americans take for granted.
This right of expressing our opinion runs deep in the American psyche, even if most Americans would be hard-pressed to actually point out what most of our constitutionally-protected rights actually are.
Which brings us to commenting features on the web.
This feature of letting it fly is nothing new to newspapers, but they've kept it in check by having an editorial page editor sift through letters to decide which were worthy of jumping through the journalistic salmon ladder we call publishing. Some might even be good enough to warrant treatment as a column, although that was still under the control of the editor. That's the way Op/Ed pages in newspapers still work, even today.
Talk radio (and our fresh-faced cousins, talk TV) follow in a similar vein. When you listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck or even Howie, your couple minutes of airtime can depend on whether a producer thinks you are worthy or even something arbitrary such as being caller number four when there's only time left for three.
The web is different.
We expect our thoughts to show, immediately, after clicking. Once sent, never recalled. The heat of the moment laid bare, which explains how so many comments are often rude, insensitive, unkind and disrespectful. The send button isn't much of a recall device.
On recent posts to AkronNewsNow stories, especially those dealing with crime and mayoral recalls, we've been treated to occasional glimpses of passionate thought but that also comes with plenty of bile. Some comments, hiding behind the ease of a screen name, call others names they would never use face-to-face.
Calling out someone who has a different opinion as an "idiot" is tame; we've seen some suggest that people suffering from some kind of impairment should be required to wear dog collars and be restrained on leashes. Readers have seen some wish physical harm, even rape, on those targets of their disdain.
We try to remove those posts as quickly as possible because we believe personal attacks, especially those advocating physical harm, have no place on this site. It's no different than considering the discussion you would allow around your dinner table, or in the backyard with a house full of summer barbecue guests: would you express yourself so openly if engaged in a debate with someone just as passionate sitting across from you?
Disagreement over ideas is one thing, but hate disguised as indigestible discourse is another.
I like to point out there's a reason why freedom of speech is the First amendment; after all, the freedom to petition for redress of our grievances, assemble with others of like-mind, even the particular (or peculiar) way we choose to worship all stem from what many Americans take for granted.
This right of expressing our opinion runs deep in the American psyche, even if most Americans would be hard-pressed to actually point out what most of our constitutionally-protected rights actually are.
Which brings us to commenting features on the web.
This feature of letting it fly is nothing new to newspapers, but they've kept it in check by having an editorial page editor sift through letters to decide which were worthy of jumping through the journalistic salmon ladder we call publishing. Some might even be good enough to warrant treatment as a column, although that was still under the control of the editor. That's the way Op/Ed pages in newspapers still work, even today.
Talk radio (and our fresh-faced cousins, talk TV) follow in a similar vein. When you listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck or even Howie, your couple minutes of airtime can depend on whether a producer thinks you are worthy or even something arbitrary such as being caller number four when there's only time left for three.
The web is different.
We expect our thoughts to show, immediately, after clicking. Once sent, never recalled. The heat of the moment laid bare, which explains how so many comments are often rude, insensitive, unkind and disrespectful. The send button isn't much of a recall device.
On recent posts to AkronNewsNow stories, especially those dealing with crime and mayoral recalls, we've been treated to occasional glimpses of passionate thought but that also comes with plenty of bile. Some comments, hiding behind the ease of a screen name, call others names they would never use face-to-face.
Calling out someone who has a different opinion as an "idiot" is tame; we've seen some suggest that people suffering from some kind of impairment should be required to wear dog collars and be restrained on leashes. Readers have seen some wish physical harm, even rape, on those targets of their disdain.
We try to remove those posts as quickly as possible because we believe personal attacks, especially those advocating physical harm, have no place on this site. It's no different than considering the discussion you would allow around your dinner table, or in the backyard with a house full of summer barbecue guests: would you express yourself so openly if engaged in a debate with someone just as passionate sitting across from you?
Disagreement over ideas is one thing, but hate disguised as indigestible discourse is another.
Friday, January 30, 2009
OMG -- How This All Started
Many thanks to YouTube and my pal Tom Petner at TVSpy.com for a most welcome reminder of how what you are reading, watching and listening to now all started with the clunk of computers we would laugh at now -- and horrible waits to read scrappy text.
For old geezers such as myself this throwback to San Francisco's KRON-TV report on LBW (Life Before Web) is a knee-slapping walk down memory lane; if you are under 35, however, this slice of history may very well remind you of the silver set griping they went to school when it snowed a foot -- by walking barefoot, uphills both ways...
We've been spending the better part of the past month here at AkronNewsNow.com getting ready for our next digital media rollout...a streamed version of an Akron-centered all-news radio station but without the radio. WAKRNewsNow is a hybrid of sorts, featuring updated newscasts every hour from the Akron Radio Center via 1590 WAKR, a mix of community-centered interviews from WAKR's Ray Horner Morning Show, entertainment features from our staff including ANN Editor Ryan Haidet's Reality Check, WQMX air personality George McFly's Nashville Minute, WONE air personality Sandra Miller's Daily Buzz and plenty more.
It'll also be a prime source for live coverage of local events and stories, giving our reporters the opportunity to do longer versions of more complicated issues that don't quite fit into a six-minute newscast. It will also allow us to bring you more of the coverage you'd like to hear, such as replays of Governor Strickland's recent State of the State address or even live coverage of Mayor Plusquellic's upcoming State of the City address next month.
The idea for the all-news radio without the radio originated with our Senior VP Nick Anthony and boosted up a notch by our owner and GM Thom Mandel in recognition of the wide variety of content we produce both on-air and online. The media mantra lately has been to downplay the platform we use -- whether it be paper, transmitter or Ethernet -- and look to make our content more accessible regardless of how you get there. It's why AkronNewsNow.com recently extended ourselves to Facebook and our increasing use and consideration of Twitter as another way to provide you with the news and information you need.
We've also updated our mobile version of AkronNewsNow.com as well (calling it ANN Mobi in house but don't necessarily look for that online) to be more user-friendly to Blackberry, Palm, MotoQ, iPhone and other mobile devices. It is more of a headache since there's no set absolute standard -- phone manufacturers often tweak their specific products for improvements, which impacts what you read on the mini-screen -- but it clearly is a demand we need to meet to stay in touch with you when all you may have handy is a cellphone.
The technology changes are challenging but also inspiring; after all, we're end users too. More on WAKRNewsNow in the next few weeks...
For old geezers such as myself this throwback to San Francisco's KRON-TV report on LBW (Life Before Web) is a knee-slapping walk down memory lane; if you are under 35, however, this slice of history may very well remind you of the silver set griping they went to school when it snowed a foot -- by walking barefoot, uphills both ways...
We've been spending the better part of the past month here at AkronNewsNow.com getting ready for our next digital media rollout...a streamed version of an Akron-centered all-news radio station but without the radio. WAKRNewsNow is a hybrid of sorts, featuring updated newscasts every hour from the Akron Radio Center via 1590 WAKR, a mix of community-centered interviews from WAKR's Ray Horner Morning Show, entertainment features from our staff including ANN Editor Ryan Haidet's Reality Check, WQMX air personality George McFly's Nashville Minute, WONE air personality Sandra Miller's Daily Buzz and plenty more.
It'll also be a prime source for live coverage of local events and stories, giving our reporters the opportunity to do longer versions of more complicated issues that don't quite fit into a six-minute newscast. It will also allow us to bring you more of the coverage you'd like to hear, such as replays of Governor Strickland's recent State of the State address or even live coverage of Mayor Plusquellic's upcoming State of the City address next month.
The idea for the all-news radio without the radio originated with our Senior VP Nick Anthony and boosted up a notch by our owner and GM Thom Mandel in recognition of the wide variety of content we produce both on-air and online. The media mantra lately has been to downplay the platform we use -- whether it be paper, transmitter or Ethernet -- and look to make our content more accessible regardless of how you get there. It's why AkronNewsNow.com recently extended ourselves to Facebook and our increasing use and consideration of Twitter as another way to provide you with the news and information you need.
We've also updated our mobile version of AkronNewsNow.com as well (calling it ANN Mobi in house but don't necessarily look for that online) to be more user-friendly to Blackberry, Palm, MotoQ, iPhone and other mobile devices. It is more of a headache since there's no set absolute standard -- phone manufacturers often tweak their specific products for improvements, which impacts what you read on the mini-screen -- but it clearly is a demand we need to meet to stay in touch with you when all you may have handy is a cellphone.
The technology changes are challenging but also inspiring; after all, we're end users too. More on WAKRNewsNow in the next few weeks...
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Worst Scum I Can Think Of
Have you gotten one of these in your email lately?
We've all gotten used to the "bankers" or "government officials" in this old web scam but this latest wrinkle show just how low these people go. I'm including header information...nice to note the path comes from an anonymous server supposedly using Hungarian language (Inupiak, according to ISO listings)...weird grammar and spelling left intact:
Content-Type: text/plainContent-Transfer-Encoding: 8bitReturn-Path: anonymous@server.ik.nlX-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Jan 2008 13:49:55.0359 (UTC) FILETIME=[04E04AF0:01C8506B]
Attention Please!!! Greetings to you! I am Lieutenant Colonel William Adams...a US MARINE in Iraq.
As you may Know,there are several cases of insurgents attacks and suicide bombing going on here.However We managed to move funds belonging to some deceased persons who were attacked and killed through insurgent attacks.The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash.We want to move this money to you so that you may keep our share for us untill when we shall come over to meet You. We will take 70%, my partner and I while you take 30%.No strings attached.Just help us move it out of Iraq as Iraq we all know is a war zone.Note that We plan to use the British Diplomatic courier in shipping the money out in two large metallic Boxes,using diplomatic immunity.If you are interested I will send you the full details.My job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone/fax numbers for quick communication and also your contact details. This business is risk free. Get back to me immediately for more directives.
Respectfully,Lieutenant Colonel Williams Adams
Like there's really a Lt. Colonel Adams in the USMC?
We've all gotten used to the "bankers" or "government officials" in this old web scam but this latest wrinkle show just how low these people go. I'm including header information...nice to note the path comes from an anonymous server supposedly using Hungarian language (Inupiak, according to ISO listings)...weird grammar and spelling left intact:
Content-Type: text/plainContent-Transfer-Encoding: 8bitReturn-Path: anonymous@server.ik.nlX-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Jan 2008 13:49:55.0359 (UTC) FILETIME=[04E04AF0:01C8506B]
Attention Please!!! Greetings to you! I am Lieutenant Colonel William Adams...a US MARINE in Iraq.
As you may Know,there are several cases of insurgents attacks and suicide bombing going on here.However We managed to move funds belonging to some deceased persons who were attacked and killed through insurgent attacks.The total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash.We want to move this money to you so that you may keep our share for us untill when we shall come over to meet You. We will take 70%, my partner and I while you take 30%.No strings attached.Just help us move it out of Iraq as Iraq we all know is a war zone.Note that We plan to use the British Diplomatic courier in shipping the money out in two large metallic Boxes,using diplomatic immunity.If you are interested I will send you the full details.My job is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone/fax numbers for quick communication and also your contact details. This business is risk free. Get back to me immediately for more directives.
Respectfully,Lieutenant Colonel Williams Adams
Like there's really a Lt. Colonel Adams in the USMC?
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