This Week's Assignment

Before class this week, please pick an RSS Reader and sign up for it, customizing it for yourself. We are going to want to talk about what reader you chose, what feeds you signed up for and any adjustments you have made so far.

Here is more info about RSS readers.

And here is a list of tips for picking the best RSS reader for your individual needs.

A Lesson in Modern Media

A warning: If you are a student and you road-trip to New York City and write about your trip to the big city for your college newspaper, it will most likely be linked to and quoted from in a snarky NYC blog. Then it will get worse. The even-snarkier commenters will post mean (but pretty hilarious) things about you.

Amazon-Style Journalism

I asked in class if anyone thought there was journalism happening at Amazon.com. I am interested to hear what folks have to say. For me, long ago, I realized that sites like Amazon.com that have both editorial reviews and user-based reviews are showcasing some fine journalism. I use it all the time to figure out whether or not to buy something. Often, the user reviews are more helpful to me than the series of 30-second sound clips.

Today I was checking out the reviews for the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah CD Some Loud Thunder. The user reviews, as usual, run the gamut from awesome to awful.

The lead customer review, written by Adam P. Newton "Dryvetime," unveils some mighty fine writing. And it assues me I do, in fact, want to pick up this CD.

Newton writes:

So, when news surrounding the release of their second album, entitled Some Loud
Thunder, began leaking out, people obviously began to wonder what might happen
to CYHSY. Would the album be worth anything? Would the band do it all over
again? What was going on?!? The last thing indie rock needed was for its poster
band for true independence to release an album that sucked or, even worse,
actually sign to a label, indie or otherwise. Well, rest easy all of you skinny,
unwashed, messenger bag-carrying masses - Some Loud Thunder is a quality album
that's filled with better songs and greater focus than the debut.

There are less distinguished reviews, like this all-caps one from Chris J. Marksbury:

PRODUCTION SUCKS THE LIFE OUTTA THIS RELEASE. GIVES ME A HEADACHE. WHINING,
WHINING...THE VOCALS ARE REAL PATHETIC. SAVE YOUR MONEY.

But even that I find entertaining and somewhat helpful.

So the answer to my own question: Yes, there is journalism at Amazon.com. And some of it is top-notch.

The Other Walter Reed

Today's class starts here...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html

Comment and Win

We have been talking about comments in this class, and many of you have been employing your own set of cheap tricks to try to elicit comments to your blog posts these past couple weeks.

Over at Gridskipper, they are having a contest to try to allure more commenters.

They write:

Tell you what, 25th commenter this week, will win a Gilette Fusion Power
razor, a copy of Secrets of the Model Dorm and a plastic hand. We figure
that covers pretty much every demographic we have.

That sounds like a mighty-fine prize package. I mean, who could resist?

Journalism's 'Watershed' Moment

In the Miami Herald, columnist Carl Hiaasen nails the way the Anna Nicole Smith story has played itself out in mainstream media.

Hiassen writes:

Don't make the mistake of dismissing the Smith story as an anomaly; it's a
media watershed. If the death of a hapless, doped-up ex-model can knock two wars
out of the headlines, there's no end to the squalid possibilities.

We have seen the future, and it's in the gutter.

Well put.

Assignments

Here is a recap of the two assignments for this week...

Project One: 1,000-word blog post on your first-hand experience being an active member of an online community.

Assignment for no-class week: Write six different blog entries (on whatever topic you want) with the express purpose of eliciting as many comments as possible. Write one follow-up post summing up the project.