Wednesday, November 14, 2007
'Mike Huckabee is Chuck Norris approved'
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Fresh off endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last month, actor Chuck Norris has penned a fundraising e-mail Tuesday on behalf of the Arkansas Republican, and he's making several demands.
Full Story
Although, I heard Chuck Norris's tears could cure cancer. Unfortunately, Chuck Norris never cries; he only kills. Full Story
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Media Ownership
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday proposed that the agency relax its ban on the cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the "relatively minor" rule change would help bolster the newspaper industry by allowing owners in the top markets to buy a TV or radio station.
Relatively minor...Of course it is relatively minor that is the only way changes are made. But just because it is relatively minor doesn't mean it is not terrible.
Full Reuters Story
Monday, October 29, 2007
Google making its own social network...
Pointer from LostRemote.com
Very good interactive storytelling.
Pointer from Glenn.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Good Stuff
Pointer from LostRemote.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Obama in Columbus
So yeah it a crappy picture, but what can you do it was with my phone. I would have taken my actual camera, but I didn't think I was going to go to the event until minutes before it started.
So here's my thoughts about the speech. It was a good speech, an inspiring speech, but it was nearly the same speech we have been hear for the last 3 years.
"A politics of hope not fear" has been a mainstay in the Obama campaign and I can understand that. It is a great rhetorical tool. It is powerful, dichotomous, and plays off one of the main attributes of the Bush presidency, fear and national security. Another main part of the Obama campaign is his outsider status. This is another great rhetorical tool which separates him from Hillary, McCain, and a number of other major candidates.
But again I already knew these things. This style of rhetoric has been with Obama since he really enter the national scene. In his first major speech, his keynote at the 2004 DNC, he said hope no less than 13 times. In his announcement speech in Springfield, he used hope and change nine different times. This is his rhetorical style and it is a good strategy, but it is time he shows that he is a presidential candidate and not just a rhetorical strategy.
We need to hear specifics in the form of major policy initiatives in the couple months. We are 67 days from the tentatively scheduled Iowa caucuses and he needs to start proving that he is actually a different style of politician. He needs to start saying how he is going to accomplish what he says he is going to accomplish. He also needs to activate and empower the grassroots in a meaningful way.
Obama has a more powerful social network than Dean could have ever dreamed of. Here is some ideas:
-policy discussions on the website and by the way I mean actual discussions not just Obama listening, but Obama listening to his supporters and discussing the finer points of the policies...American politics is not simple and cannot be solved with a 12-second soundbyte, so you have these discussions...you get to focus group your ideas and they get a feeling of agency..."I helped shape Obama's policy on blah, blah"
-meet with more of the grassroots groups...stop doing the contest to have dinner with Obama...it shouldn't be a prize to meet you...it should be your goal to meet everyone of your volunteers and donors...
-systematically organize the grassroots groups more...seriously you have hundreds of thousands of supporters across the country you need to get them feeling like they are part of the campaign
Anyway, these are just ideas. Ideas the Obama camp is never going to read and are more than likely going to go unheeded by every major candidate in the 2008 election. But I think they are right for certain candidates and could be used to strengthen and empower the electorate.
Also I was quoted in the Dayton Daily News.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Week One Down
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
College
-Reuters tests facial recognition video search - Creepy
-MySpace to roll out self-serve advertising system - Amazing
-Google launches PowerPoint clone - Badass, but still not 100% there
Also some funny news. Apparently, Coach Tressel jumped in excitement during last weeks OSU v. Washington game. As far as I know he showed less emotion when his wife gave birth. Full Dispatch Story
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Examples for Comm 367 - September 19th
Monday, September 17, 2007
Starbucks Cups Aren't Recyclable
Full Dispatch Story
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Summer's Nearly Over
It has been an amazing and relaxing summer. I have been able to spend time in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and a few other places and I have been able to spend that time with some very good friends and my wonderful girlfriend. Although, this has been a great summer I am very excited to get back to school and get back to a more consistent schedule.
This quarter, yes quarter, I will be taking three courses and teaching one. The course I will be taking are part of the School of Communications core curriculum and will cover comm theory, research methods, and stats. Then I will be teaching one section of persuasion in the undergrad comm program. I should be fairly busy this quarter getting adjusted to the seemingly more rigorous OSU program.
Beyond my coursework, I will be working on a couple of pieces of research and working on other side projects. I will keep everyone abreast of my research and other things as they happen.
Friday, September 07, 2007
My feedback on the iPhone
Hey Steve,
I assume Steve Jobs reads everyone of these e-mails. Anyway, I just bought the iPhone and love the hell out of it. I think when it comes to interface design there is no single company better than Apple. My suggestion is that you add 802.1x wireless connectivity and here's why. I am a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University and one of my good friends is a PhD candidate at UT-Austin. These 2 schools represent over 100,000 students and 20,000 faculty and staff. Most of these people are in your target demo and none of us can use our iPhones on the campus wireless networks because of the lack of 802.1x support. IF OSU and UT are the same, there must be a number of other colleges using this style of connectivity, which could really anger users in your target market.
I googled real quick and these schools (2006 enrollment) also use 802.1x:
University of Florida (50,785)
University of Minnesota is in the process of switching to 802.1x (50,402)
Syracuse University (19,802)
Just an idea.
Thanks,
Nick Geidner
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Apple appeases early adopters
Full Press Release
Ron Paul iPhone Page
Random thoughts
-the "Petraeus" report about the state of Iraq, which the media is hyping as the end all be all of opinions on Iraq, is not being written by Gen. Petraeus, but the White House. So that's interesting. Full Story
-AP, Reuters, and the French wire services are all boycotting coverage of the rugby world cup, due to coverage restrictions...I wonder if they are doing this to show to the NFL they have the balls to do it. Although, I must say it does create an odd prescedence. The whole not covering a bond fide news event to prove a point. Full Story
-LostRemote.com is talking about Microsoft's Silverlight...a new video streaming format I am not familiar with Full Story
-Apple seems to have pissed off investors by dropping the price of the iPhone too fast, but I bought one only because they dropped the price so who know. Either way the stock is down about 2%
That's it for now.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
iPod Reax
This further changes the idea of location. What is the importance of the office if I can do pretty much everything I need to do from my mobile device? It also again changes the way newsrooms are going to think about distribution. If wifi devices end up becoming a majority technology, which I assume will happen, newsrooms will be able to go right to the phones. Here is what I am picturing: If there is breaking news in Columbus, I want WBNS to text me and let me know about it. I also want them to set-up a vodcast and have it sent straight to my phone (which hopefully the mobile iTunes will support).
This is the future. The iPod, podcasts, etc. were all pieces of this puzzle. To be able to access my whole life on one mobile device is where we are going. The newsrooms have to catch-up. I want to see iPhone newscasts by the end of the week. I know this is a new technology, but this is were we are going. This is what we have been waiting for and what I have been picturing for the last number of years.
I don't know how to study these trends in an academic setting, but if anyone has got any ideas drop me a line. Over the next week or so I am going to try to put on my futurist cap and think about the implications of mobile technologies on various field (ie. journalism and politics). Hopefully through thinking about the future I can overcover the concepts in this which need studied.
Ohhh...by the way I bought an iPhone.
Apple announcement
In a stock market where you need to increase profits 10-12% year-over-year you can't consistently do just by expanding current operations. You must constantly be looking for new revenue streams. New untapped ways to make money. Itunes is the original example and how much have they made off that. Now you have the iPhone, where they are not only making sales money, but they are also making commissions from AT&T for every user who signs a contract. For example, Apple makes $8 dollars for every new AT&T customer who signs up with the iPhone. Let's say 150,000 new customers come to AT&T with the iPhone. This works out to 1.2 million dollars, which for 186 billion dollar company is not a lot. But it money that came out of nowhere, which cost them nothing. Long story short...I will be kicking my self in the ass for not buying Apple at 91 for a long time.
Check back to MediaDork later today to see analysis of the Apple announcement from a techs effect on society perspective.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Michigan Who?
It was like watching an 18 year-old guy play basketball with his 13 year-old brother. The fact is most YSU fans are OSU fans. More accurately most YSU fans are Jim Tressel fans. Coach Tressel is still a hero in Youngstown and rightfully so. While at YSU, he elevated the penguins into arguably the best college football team of the 90's. YSU's overall record during the 90's was 103-27-2 and they went to 6 national championship, winning 4. Tressel is still a presence in Youngstown, appearing at a number of charity events and donating over 1.25 million dollars to YSU, since he left. Then most OSU fans know and understand Tressel's legacy in Youngstown, so there is a bit of respect there. A "You produced our hero" kind of feeling. So, unlike every other game in the horseshoe this year, when a fan walked in wearing attire of the oppenent nobody booed, nobody threw beer. It was just a good football game between two clearly unequal oppenents.
Speaking of unequal oppenents, the second reason this weekend was so great is Michigan. Like OSU, Michigan scheduled a 1-AA team for their season opener. So they took on Appilacian State at the big house on Saturday and what happened...arguably the greatest upset in college football history. No 1-AA team has ever beaten a ranked 1-A team. And they not only beat a ranked team, they beat the team that was favored to win the Big Ten and be a major contendor for the national championship. Now Michigan's whole season is messed up. They have no chance to go to the national championship. How can you go to the 1-A national championship if you can't even beat the national champion of the division below theirs? Anyway, what a great weekend for college football.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Sharing the wealth...
Swingers are growth business for U.S. firms
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Matt Virtue, who works as a consultant at a Washington law firm, says he spends more than $10,000 a year to attend conventions, hotels and clubs where he and his girlfriend can have sex with other partners.
"Any other hobby that I was into at 40 years old is going to cost me $10,000," he said from a hot tub he was sharing with his girlfriend and a couple with whom they had been intimate the night before. "Dude, I'm addicted to it, there is no doubt about it."
Full Reuters Story
iBug
OSU Football
What I love most about Buckeye's football is the sense of community that radiates from the city on gamedays. Scarlet and gray takes over the city. You can go anywhere inside the loop and scream "O-H" at the top of your lungs and not only will people not be creeped out and annoyed by you, but at least a few will return an "I-O". Over 100,000 fans will make the trip to the horseshoe for each of the 7 homes games this season and countless others will pack bars and living rooms across the city and country to watch the games.
This season is different for me than any of my other years as a Buckeye's fan. This time around this is my team and this is my city. I have always had a little bit of an outsider complex as a Bucks fan. But now I am an OSU student who lives a mile and a half from the Ohio Stadium and there is no outsider complex. I am a Buckeye.
Dispatch Bucks Coverage
2007 OSU Football Commercial
OSU O-H-I-O Archive
Youngstown Vindicator Coverage
*Blatant lie
Guess who's peeing on the neighborhood??
Full Dispatch story
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Photostories
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Apple Sept. 5th
Full Reuters Story
Think Secret story
Personal Note: Damn...damn...damn...So I originally thought about buying stock in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) when it was at 91 (pre-iPhone). Then I thought again about buying it at $113 when a friend of mine bought. Then I thought about buying again when it dropped to $112 a week and a half ago. But I never had, because I am a jackass. It is now up at $133, up 5.5% today and with the upcoming announcement the stock will probably stay high. Either way, I should put money in. I really think Apple is a good term investment for the next 5-10 years. They seem to be doing everything fairly well...growing computer sales and creating new revenue streams.
The Internets
The above quote is from an article in today's Washington Post looking at broadband Internet access in Japan. It is shocking to me how far both our Internet and mobile technologies are falling behind alot of other developed countries. I mean we invented baseball and the Internet and now Japan kicks our ass in both. More seriously, I think it is detrimental to our country to not maintain a strong information infrastructure, specifically the Internet.
Pointer from LostRemote.com
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Writing for academic journals
That line has been on the front page of CNN.com for a good solid week now and I think it is a great example of making academic writing accessible to the masses. The study is a recently published scientific work examining the speed of multiple dinosaurs. I think the authors did an amazing job of making their study more interesting by using David Beckham as their example, instead of just using the generic "average human being." I think more academic authors should work on making their work more accessible. Please understand that as more accessible, not dummied-down. There is a difference.
Full CNN Story
Presidential Motorcade
Full Chicago Tribune article
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
My girlfriend is going to be pissed...
Info from Google
Lost Remote reaction
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Obama Girl
Full CNN Story
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Google Sky
"Popular mapping service Google Earth will launch a new feature called Sky, a 'virtual telescope' that the search engine hopes will turn millions of Internet users into stargazers."
Full CNN Article
MAPOR Acceptance
Call me an asshole, but...
I'm sorry but where was forgiveness in the Imus situation. I didn't hear the NAACP call for the public to hold their judgment and to remember he is a human being. He made a bad, clearly offensive joke. Mike Vick allegedly killed dogs for fun. I don't mind groups coming out for something they believe in. I don't actually really care that the NAACP is supporting Vick, but it is the constant hypocrisy that really bothers me. And unfortunately this isn't limited to just the NAACP. This extends to political parties, lobbying groups, and countless other organizations. The media and the American public has made it so simple to create these simple dichotomies were two people argue back in forth, that now-a-days I don't think it matters what they are arguing about.
We as people need to start examining these messages, so we can gain an understanding of not only the immediate message, but also the context that surrounds the message and the speaker. I believe this is again a call for all universities to add Media Literacy or some such class to the core curriculum. Students today need to have a greater understanding of media, so they can deconstruct the messages presented through it.
Now I'm going to need a ladder to get down from this pedestal...ohh nevermind, no ladder needed...there are a couple of soapboxes right here I could use to get down.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Facebook Hyperlocal
Friday, August 17, 2007
Today's the day...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Columbus Congressional Seat opening
Pryce, 56, said family considerations were the key factor in her decision. Her daughter, Mia, 5, will be entering kindergarten next week, and Pryce said, “My daughter Caroline, who passed away, I missed a lot of growing up, and I don't want that to happen again.”
Caroline was 9 when she died of cancer in 1999. Pryce adopted Mia as a newborn in 2002.
...
Pryce said that it became harder to do the job after Democrats took control of the House this year and changed the traditional Tuesday through Thursday work week to Monday through Friday.
...
Pryce also said that while she had grown a thick skin from her last difficult race against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, whom she beat by a percentage point following a recount last year, the increasing ugliness and rancor of campaigns is taking a toll on her family and friends.
Pryce said she was ready for another close race and the prospect of one wasn't the reason for her departure.
“The ugliness of the election may have played a part in it, but certainly not the closeness of it,” she said.
Full Article at the Dispatch
Holbrook looking for new job
Florida Gulf Coast is tiny compared to Ohio State, with slightly more than 9,000 students, 64 degree programs and a $130 million budget.
Ohio State has nearly 52,000 students, almost 400 degree programs and a $3.7 billion budget.
Back to 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Nielsen NetRatings
1 Yahoo! News 32,674 (+381)
2 CNN Digital Network 29,757 (+1,436)
3 MSNBC 26,015 (-1,419)
4 AOL News 23,103 (+1,165)
5 NYTimes.com 14,149 (+1,614)
6 Gannett Newspapers 13,812 (+1,533)
7 Tribune Newspapers 12,218 (+180)
8 USAToday.com 10,611 (+2,019)
9 ABCNEWS Digital Network 9,876 (-976)
10 Fox News Digital Network 9,343 (+1,151)
Very interesting. Google News is not in the top 10.
Pointer from LostRemote
Like Saturday at the Masters...
Also, in today's news the DOW is tanking. For some reason about three weeks ago I predicted to Glenn that it was going to fall to 12,500 before it would really settle. I am sticking with that prediction.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Back From AEJMC
How to Catch a Predator Caught in a Mess
I think this all very interesting, because I have always had some problems with the idea of this show. First, from a journalistic standpoint I think it seriously crosses the line from reporting on news to creating news. This is a clear violation of the SPJ's Code of Ethics;
"Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it".
Second, I always thought this was on shaky legal ground. The whole innocent until proven guilty is sort of thrown out the window by Chris Hansen and his team. I am all for arresting these men, but ruining their lives on a national scale before they are convicted of anything...hell, before they are even officiallly charged with anything is bothersome to me.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Is AOL at all relevant?
What he said was run of the mill kind of internet video stuff, but what I took away is that AOL is not relevant at all anymore. I mean seriously. He was sitting on a panel entitled "YouTube Effect." AOL does not seem to be coming up with any new or creative ideas. Example: the only new thing he talked about was minisodes, which MySpace made big. What can I say I am still sort of amazed that a company that played such a large role in revolutionizing media can become so irrelevant a decade later.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Anti-NFL vests
Regardless, I believe the NFL is going to go through with it, because they sort of got the photogs buy the balls. The NFL is the only organization that can grant access to these games and the journalist have to cover it because it is newsworthy. Unfortunately, the journalists can choose to boycott the games. A news organization cannot choose to not cover a bona fide news event.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Fred Thompson
*My thesis, among other things, predicted that all the websites would end up looking just about identical.
AEJMC Day One
Community Journalism Interest Group
Refereed Paper Research Session: Online Expressions of Community Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher
-Weeklies and the Web: A Study of Newspaper Managers and the State of Their Online Editions*
Jennifer Wood Adams, Auburn
-Media Roles and Audience Engagement: Relationships Between Perceptions of Journalists’ Functions and Uses of Interactive Features Deborah Chung, Kentucky
-Connecting Virtual and Geographic Communities: Toward a New Model of Journalism in Bluffton, S.C. Heidi Fedak, Kansas
There is also a panel lead by former Ball State prof, Dr. Bob Papper, entitled "The Future of News," which includes Bob Garfield, from PBS's On The Media, and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
So although this conference seems to be lacking on the poli comm stuff. I should be able to find something to do.
*I am not sure if it is actually the 90th, but I thought that is what I saw
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Ooooh...snap
AEJMC
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Jersey
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Apple Releasing new iMacs
"Apple Inc. (AAPL) on Tuesday is expected to announce a long-awaited upgrade to its Macintosh computers.
Apple representatives weren't commenting Thursday beyond saying the company has scheduled a press event for Tuesday to focus on its computer lineup, and it will feature an appearance by Chief Executive Steve Jobs.
However, it's widely expected the company will unveil its first lineup of new iMac computers since the company initially adopted Intel Corp. (INTC) processors in January 2006."
2008 and Online Social Networking
"First, the Paul, and to a lesser extent, Obama, examples show that a dominant online presence does not necessarily convert to a commensurate standing in offline polls or campaign contributions. Similarly, a weak online presence relative to other challengers need not preclude reaching the top of the polls, as Giuliani's numbers show" (para. 4).
This is a little too ambiguous of a finding for my comfort level.
They do successfully examine the various presidential candidate's OSN profiles and start making a list of characteristics of this new genre of communication.
*biographical information
*issue position information
*excerpts or clips from speeches, appearances, press coverage
*campaign photographs or videos
*comment blogs posted by visitors
(para. 10)
And they note some characteristics of OSN communication by presidential candidates, which are different from normal online communication (ie. candidate website).
*personal interests and activities, favorite music, movies, and books
*campaign events: Mike Huckabee is the one exception who announces them
*solicitations for campaign contributions: Sam Brownback and Kucinich are the two exceptions, generating $200 and $6, respectively through Facebook.
(para. 11)
I believe the 2nd and 3rd points of difference are referring to the lack of solicitations and campaign event info on candidate's OSN profiles. I think the press release is worded a little awkwardly.
Also of note, I am currently in the design process of 2 studies looking at the effects of OSN's on the 2008 presidential campaign. These are being co-author with Dr. Young Mie Kim, Assistant Professor of Communication at The Ohio State University. I will try to update the blog as these pieces of research go forward.
Neat-o
I just can't say enough about the good things the New York Times are doing in the interactive realm. I mean seriously...they are by far the best of any of the mainstream media of weaving news and new media. Love it.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
My Current Life
The next couple weeks are going to be incredibly busy. I am flying out to Newark, New Jersey on Friday to spend the weekend with my girlfriend and help her move out of New Jersey. We will be taking our time driving back and I think she'll stick around Columbus until Monday. Then on Wednesday I head out to Washington DC to attend the AEJMC annual conference and hang out with my buddy, Glenn Luther. I'll get back to Columbus on Sunday and will be moving that next Wednesday. Busy. Busy. Busy.
Over the next couple weeks I hope to be able to keep blogging when I can and let everyone in on the research I am working on. Stay tuned.