Category Archives: Internet
Presidential debates go online
“The 2008 election is already shaping up to be the most cyber-savvy presidential contest in the brief history of the Web. Now three major Web sites — Yahoo Elections 2008, The Huffington Post, and Slate — have announced that they will collectively host two online-only debates, one for the announced Democratic candidates and one for Republicans.
The debates will allow the candidates to participate wherever they are located around the country. Each will appear on live video, and will be able to speak to and question the other candidates through the online connection.
The debate will also be uniquely interactive for the audience. Viewers will be able to submit both written and video questions in real-time, and can blog their responses to the candidates’ answers.
The idea of hosting a virtual presidential debate was the brainchild of conservative-turned-liberal-pundit Arianna Huffington, who saw the potential for an online forum while at the World Economic Forum in Davos. That event was covered by both traditional journalists and bloggers.” — Yahoo! News
So, I can be sitting in the Coffee Zone in beautiful downtown Jefferson City (slurping Rocket Fuel)… record a 30 second question and zap the the video clip to the debate site…and see my question (and candidate responses) 5 minutes later. Or, watch what hundreds (thousands?) of bloggers are saying, about what the candidates are saying, in real time. Okay, that’s only cool to bloggers.
I find most TV debates to be a waste of everyone’s time. But I might watch/take part in something like this.
Voice-to-text-to-blog?
Planet Nelson points to Jott: “…is a free service (to the extent that your cell can call anywhere in North America for free) that allows you to dictate a 30-second message into your phone and then have it sent as a text email to a friend/colleague/self/offending politician/anyone whose email address is in your Jott address book.”
From Jott.com: “Using Jott, yoau can either Jott your blog directly or just jott yourself and post later. Better yet, your readers can listen to you too — a great way to connect?”
If I understand this correctly… a news reporter could be posting audio and text reports directly from their mobile phone to their blog. And given the evolving definition of “reporter,” this tool could be used by anyone, whether they went to J-School or not.
Update: Jamie at Planet Nelson Jott’ed back on this post. The voice-to-text was close. “Blogroll” became “blog rule” and “Gnomedex” showed up as “noon desk.” But pretty slick all the same.
NAB keynote: Broadcasters still don’t get the web
I keep looking for signs that broadcasters are beginning to understand the importance (an potential) of the Internet. I’m sorry to say, I’m just not seeing them. And, based on Steve Safran’s (lostremote) summary of the keynote at this year’s NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) meeting, I won’t find it there:
“The internet did get a shoutout at the National Association of Broadcasters keynote speech Monday morning in Las Vegas. David K. Rehr, CEO and President of the NAB, said “internet.” He mentioned it once. In passing. During his discussion of issues about radio. It came 47 minutes into the keynote session and was the only time anyone said “internet.” That’s really all you need to know about the keynote. The NAB is simply not interested in the potential of the web, and what little interest it may have is only in terms of saying how broadcasting is better.”
Working for a company that provides services to broadcasters, I really hope they have a bright future. Mr. Safran’s summary of the keynote is worth a read.
Internet ad spending to overtake radio next year
That would be a year earlier than originally forecast. Mark Ramsey asks, “How much of your business plan is aimed at driving your audience to – and deriving revenue from – the Internet?
Uh, can I get back to you on that?
Google Audio looking better to radio groups
“Google is finding some friends. There are plenty of critics of Google’s foray into radio — but we’re slowly seeing some group heads come out and say there may be a place for the Internet giant in radio sales. Regent tested the service in two markets and CEO Bill Stakelin says they sold “a tremendous amount of inventory” and the results “far exceeded our expectations.” He says the issue that remains to be worked out is pricing.
While Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan says “if Google has the advertiser that we’re never going to call on at rates that make sense … then it’s business that we want to take.” Smulyan says Google’s efforts are especially welcome in “transactional” markets like New York and L.A. where radio has done a “marginal job” at attracting new advertisers.
Meanwhile — Border Media Partners CEO Tom Castro says many folks are focusing on HD and streaming. But the real technological breakthrough will come on the sales side. Castro says “it’s not very sexy — but it’s where we are going to make a lot of money in the future.” — INSIDE RADIO report from the Kagan Radio-TV Summit:
The Death of Bingo (Seniors Online)
Someday in the not to distant future, our nursing homes (“long term care facilities”) will be filled with residents who spent a portion of their lives online. Email, web surfing, etc. They’ll expect/demand net access in this new phase of their lives. (I first posted on this in November, 2005)
If I owned such a facility, I’d install a fast DSL line, just for the residents. And a strong, wifi signal throughout.
I’d invite family members to equip mom or dad with a computer if they wanted and I’d have a procedure in place to make sure access was restricted to that resident and that the computer didn’t walk off (a problem with valuables in many such facilities). I’d arrange to have some computers in the day room that anyone could use.
I’d invite high schools students to take part in a program to show the residents how to use the Internet. Help them send/receive/read email from family members. Send photos back to their loved ones around the country.
I’d put webcams on a couple of the computers in the Day Room (or whatever it’s called). Yes, I know there are privacy issues, but I’d find a way to deal with that. And I’d encourage family members to video chat with their loved ones. Wouldn’t have to be long or involved, just a short “visit” with a familiar face/voice.
All of this is going to happen eventually. But some enlightened, well-run facility has the opportunity to be a leader in this space. The winners are: the resident; the family of the resident; the young people who share their knowledge and –perhaps– get some wisdom in return; and the facility that has improved the lives (if only for a few minutes) of their residents.
Disclosure: My wife, Barb, is a long-term health care attorney and many of her clients own or operate such facilities. But the idea for this post comes from my own interest in all things online and the time I spent visiting my father in such a facility.
Running after the Cluetrain
I spent a lot of energy in the late 90’s trying to convince people I worked with (and anyone I could get to listen) the Internet was a force to be reckoned with. Something that would touch and change every part of our lives and our business. There was plenty of eye-rolling and rib-nudging. Then, one day, I didn’t have to say another word. Anyone with a functioning cortex understood the Internet wasn’t just happening… it had happened.
Five years ago I started blogging and, a couple of years later, listening to podcasts. Again, I tugged at a few sleeves and suggested these tools would be/could be/should be part of what we do. The reactions were very similar.
As I swill Rocket Fuel and surf away another Saturday morning, I come across story after story about how people, company organizations are blogging and podcasting. Out of habit, I started to forward these to those who would (or should) want to know…and I stopped.
No need. If you don’t get it by now, you won’t. I’ll continue to post on these topics (until even that seems pointless), but I won’t spend every evening tip-toeing up and down the hall, sliding these links under co-worker’s doors.
Whew. Glad that’s over.
Three “flavors” of web journalism
At the Columbia University School of Journalism, they’ve been thinking about how to better reflect the Internet in their journalism curriculum and have come up with three “flavors” of Internet-related jobs that students or alumni are or will be doing.
“Continuous News” – Entails providing multiple stories of varied lengths at deadlines across the day. The all-too-familiar wire service style of reporting upon which many journalists have cut their teeth for decades.
“Editor-host” – The journalist works inside the newsroom most of time. This job is about synthesizing, analyzing and displaying (in timely fashion for online audiences) content from myriad information sources: newswires, the Internet, video, audio. This is very much an editing role; some have likened it to a typical newsroom copy desk role.“Webified Reporter” – A kind of one-man band, the Webified reporter is able to apply multiple Web tools — from reporting to videography to Flash — to create original content that takes full advantage of the medium’s interactive multimedia capacities. Not only does the Webified reporter knows how to use these tools, but also when to use which tool for a particular Web story.
$1.6 million for Branson.com
So says pal Morris James. “The most money ever paid for a dot-com address for a city was for Branson.com. Commercial real estate broker Larry Milton and his wife plunked down $1.6 million for the address last year.”
For that kind of money you’d expect to be at the top of the Google ranking and Branson.com is (the top of the non-paid results). The link reads: “Branson.com: The Official Website.”
Like Morris, I wonder what makes the site “official?” Would the local Chamber of Commerce have a better claim on that distinction?
Stories like this always remind me how fortunate we were to register (waaaay back when) our company names (Missourinet.com, RadioIowa.com, Learfield.com). But one of my favorites is Legislature.com.