AMY GAHRAN: The Right Conversation

links for 2007-04-25

• Democracy: Internet TV
  Ooooh, this is a very cool media player, kind of a blend of a media player and podcatcher. Playing with itm will blog it soon
  (tags: collaboration tidbits+fodder video audio feeds)

Tools of Engagement: Links and Notes for Discussion

Minnesota Public Radio got a lot of things about online community right with this "Idea Generator" project.

As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow I'm giving a session about online political coverage called "Tools of Engagement: It's a Conversation, Stupid!"

I've been collecting a lot of "string" for this talk, and I won't pretend I have it thoroughly organized. That's fine -- I tend to mostly improvise my sessions based on what the attendees need and want most at that moment.

Here, then, are a bunch of links to site I'll probably want to mention tomorrow...

Online Political Coverage: Communities Matter More than Elections

View of downtown L.A. from my hotel window. This town looks better at night.

I'm in Los Angeles right now, where on Thursday I'll be giving a session at a Knight New Media Center seminar on Election '08: Covering Politics in Cyberspace.

My session is called: "Tools of Engagement:  It's a Conversation, Stupid." No, I didn't come up with that title, but I really like it. My audience will be a mix of journalists, online-media pros, geeks, and political experts. I hope they're ready to talk, because I don't really do lectures; I start conversations.

I'll admit, in my journalistic work I've generally avoided covering elections -- for good reason. Generally, the way most news orgs handle that assignment bugs the hell out of me.  The press conferences, the pundits, the posturing, the race metaphors... in all that, communities, issues, and the real workings of government tend to get pushed into the background. It feels fake and even counterproductive to me. I'm tired of it, and for the most part I tune it out.

That's not to say I tune out politics. On the contrary, I follow certain aspects of politics very closely: local, state, national, and international. And I do note how elections affect the politics that interest or affect me. However, I don't believe elections should garner the lion's share of political coverage.

It seems to me that the best political coverage is ongoing, not cyclical. Ideally, coverage of elections or other political events should support and enhance the public conversation about issues and communities.

To accomplish this with online political coverage, I think we need to get our priorities straight. Here are some thoughts on how we might do that, so we might collectively avoid turning the 2008 election season into a complete three-ring circus...

Journalists: How to Feed the Blogging Beast

There's more than one way for journalists to tame a blogging beast. (Photo: Herschel Rubinstein, via Flickr)

(NOTE: Here's something I posted recently to the Society of Environmental Journalists' members-only e-mail list -- but I think journalists on any beat could use this information. By the way, I've added a special offer to SEJ's current endowment challenge: Any person or organization who donates $1000 or more to SEJ through May 31 gets two free hours of online/conversational media consulting or research from me. That's a $250 value. You can donate today.)

I work with a lot of news organizations, where there's now another "beast" to feed. Many reporters are being asked or required to blog. A lot of these reporters aren't happy about it, because (at least at first) they see this as an increase in their daily story load.

But it doesn't have to be so beastly, if you're smart about it.

Here's a tip: If you're a reporter who also blogs, don't use your blog to post stories. Instead, use it to post complementary content around your stories.

Specifically, here's what you can do...

links for 2007-04-17

• The Hyperconnected | TIME
  "Like any good pusher, services like Twitter don't answer existing needs; they create new ones and then fill them. "
  (tags: social+media tidbits+fodder)

Trying Twitter for Liveblogging

OK, I finally succumbed. I'm trying out Twitter. I'm both curious and skeptical about this service, which focuses on people saying what they're doing at any given time in 140 characters or less.

But I think this may hold some uses for live blogging, especially augmenting coverage for live events.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Los Angeles, for a Knight New Media Center seminar: Election ‘08: Covering Politics in Cyberspace. There, on Thursday, I'm giving a talk: Tools of Engagement:  It’s a Conversation, Stupid. I'll be out there for a few days, so I figure I'll try Twitter out for occasional posts about the goings-on there. Who knows -- it might even end up being listed as one of my tools of engagement.

If you want to follow along, on Twitter I'm agahran. Here's my feed. Don't worry, I'm not posting anything too intimate -- although I won't guarantee relevance or clarity for all.

It's an experiment. Tell me what you think!

links for 2007-04-09

• UncleBens.com - Instant & Long Grain Rice Recipes - Wild, White, & Brown Rice Recipes - Healthy Meal Solutions
  Oh, this is very, very wrong......
  (tags: advertising)

links for 2007-04-08

• "Should you enable HTML in your blog comments?" from The Intuitive Life Business Blog
  "whether to allow HTML in comments is a function of how closely you police and watch your comment stream. If you really don't want to be bothered at all, I suggest you leave it disabled and let 'em eat cake, uh, live within the confines of plain text."
  (tags: comments blogs content+strategy conversational+media)
• JOHO - March 7, 2007
  "Things gain meaning by being connected to other things: It's similar to this, contained in this, derives from that, reminds me of something that reminds me of something else. Every connection adds to the potential for understanding."
  (tags: psychology)

links for 2007-04-06

• Creating Passionate Users: Angry/negative people can be bad for your brain
  I'm not sure why this post from April 2006 showed up in my feed reader today, but I think it's incredibly relevant to conversational media. Understanding more about how the brain works -- alone and in community & conversation -- helps a lot.
  (tags: conversational+media human+nature psychology research)

Snark at Your Own Risk: Setting Boundaries for Online Discussion

A lousy photo of me and news industry consultant Vin Crosbie -- whom I like and respect in part because we disagree strongly but well.

We all know it's true -- some people feel entitled to be rude online. That can ruin anyone's online experience. Sadly, this problem is so common that many of us (including, until now, me) generally accept it and act as though there's no way to change it.

The common wisdom is that the "anonymity" of the web encourages rudeness. I'm skeptical of that, since usually I receive rude comments by e-mail -- with a real name and e-mail address attached.

I'm not talking about disagreement or criticism. I'm not even talking about outrage. In fact, I value all of those aspects of discourse, online and elsewhere. I'm talking about personal insults and put-downs -- you know, good old-fashioned ad hominem attacks. The kind where someone is explicitly or implicitly demeaning you personally, not just taking issue with something you said or did.

I think it's important for every net users to know that, while online rudeness is common, you don't have to accept it gracefully if it really bothers you. Setting clear limits on the kinds of communication you will accept is not only "allowed," but actually a very good idea. This can include calling people on their rudeness.

Here are some thoughts on how to enforce your communication boundaries without getting embroiled in a flame war...