Everyday is Caturday.
Author: Joe Wilcox
Vice News puts Perspective
If you’re not watching VICE News reports from Crimea (or Venezuela), it’s time to start. VN practices “immersive journalism”, which documentarian style makes you feel like you’re there with the reporter.
Yum!
Subliminal sidewalk message spotted between my apartment and the local convenience store. Suddenly I crave…
Write Affirmatively!
Your writing should have voice and authority, something present-tense helps achieve. Some sense of you should slip through, too.
Journalism schools perpetrate a great urban legend—that news reporting is unbiased, objective. There is no such thing. All reporting is biased by factors immeasurable. Consider culture as one filter. Political preference is another. Education. Economic class. Heck, whether someone uses Android or iPhone influences perspective.
Future Seen
The difference taking care of an elderly relative versus a child? In one you see your mortality, and in the other your vitality. Joe Wilcox
Ugly Tin Foil Hats
For reasons I won’t even guess, hashtag #tinfoilhatselfies trends today on several social networks. It’s a mystery, because the signals are blocked. Our Uglydoll family are mob sluts. They rush to participate in every trend […]
Hello, Responsible Reporting
Today, the ebook formally known as Be a Better Blogger published to Amazon, Google, and Smashwords ebook stores. Title—drum roll, please—Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers.
As explained in post “Bye, Bye, Be a Better Blogger“, I launched a 28-day crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to spend two months researching and writing the book. But the campaign lost money and wasted valuable time. You can always get more money, but time is a commodity never regained.
What's the BuzzFeed, Tell Me What's Happening
Say, bloggers, journalists, and social sharers, you do want to watch this Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard interview with BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith. For more than a year, I have offhandedly observed the site’s […]
What's Behind the 'Wall Street Journal' Paywall?
The other day, I investigated current Wall Street Journal subscription pricing, as part of broader research about paywalls. The Journal still charges more than I want to pay but I am relieved to find one price for online, smartphone, and tablet.
People consume information contextually, so paid content should be available wherever they want to get it. What follows is my chat with a Journal sales rep, with full pricing.
Bye, Bye, Be a Better Blogger
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which ended at 11:59:59 p.m. PT on February 28. I set a $7,500 goal and raised $135—disastrous, disappointing end to the 28-day effort.
Be a Better Blogger is my fifth non-fiction title, none exceptionally long, published since August 2013. Sales disappoint; being an independent publisher is much more difficult than expected. By crowdfunding, I set two goals: To receive the equivalent of a publisher’s advance and to earn something from my writing efforts. I failed. The only contributors are people I know, while the campaign lost money and wasted valuable time. You can always get more money, but time is a commodity never recovered.
Yahoo searches for Itself
Ah, shucks, I missed Yahoo’s 19th birthday yesterday. That’s okay, because 20 will matter more. Yahoo is cloud computing’s elder statesmen, long before anyone used the term. Just a handful of first-wave dotcoms—Amazon is another—are public companies today, making the transition from venture-backed startup with a dream and no viable revenue source ahead.
Yahoo is a warrior. A survivor. A transformer. I use the latter term not to describe a company that transforms industries but one that transforms itself. Yahoo is many things over 19 years—search engine, web portal, and media mogul to name a few. Under CEO Marissa Mayer, the company changes again, but still seeks new identity. Good luck with that.