May 22, 2009

A tip of the hat

Katy R. and Nisha got the ball rolling today by submitting their blog URLs. (You can find them to the right of this post under the heading "Course blogs"). I'll update the list as new URLs come my way.

Katy coined hers dcnewsie; Nisha opted for News About the News and selected a retro header typeface that brings to mind old newspapers (such as The London Chronicle).

Be sure to check out Nisha's preliminary post. She keys off a Fortune article about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and poses an interesting question about what his goals could mean for the news industry.

UPDATE, Sunday, 9:09 pm: All blog URLs that have been submitted are now available in the "Course blogs" section to the right of this post.

May 21, 2009

Debating (or not) the "definition of journalism"

Adrian Holovaty, the developer and founder of EveryBlock, today wrote a short, sharp answer to the question Is data journalism?

As some -- such as the Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Krewson -- quickly observed, this is not exactly a current debate.

But the conversation that followed allowed Holovaty to put a sharper point on his thoughts. He replied in the post's thread:

....I no longer see the point in debating the definition of journalism. I'm interested in building products that improve people's lives via information. Whether somebody calls that "journalism" is utterly uninteresting.

QUESTION
: From your perspective, what are some current "products that improve people's lives via information"? Think broadly and don't be constrained by classic definitions of journalism.

Big ideas can start small


Sometimes a very simple concept -- in this case, massive photographs -- can really catch on. 

Boston.com's award-winning blog, The Big Picture, highlights photojournalism by elevating it above all else. The image is not a secondary element in a storytelling package. Instead, it captures our attention (as well as our screen real estate). It also encourages us to scroll down the page and consume more. 

The photographs come from wire services, as well as the public domain and individual photographers. The site's FAQ does a nice job of explaining its sources and methodology.

Remember that excellent ideas in digital journalism don't always need to be complex.

Update, 2:02 p.m.: I also like this sentiment of openness from the site's developer, Alan Taylor.
What about copycats/I saw another site that stole your idea?

If they are doing a good job, then that's excellent, we can always use more quality photojournalism on the web. If not, then that just make this site look that much better :) - I'm not too worried about others emulating the style of the blog, as long as they don't use my name, or my exact images, more power to them.