Jason Salas' WebLog : Online Journalism

Barry Diller and I see eye-to-eye...sort of

guam-aspdev — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:26:00 GMT

Billionaire Barry Diller of IAC evidently ruffled some feathers at the Web 2.0 Conference, saying:

"...Diller made some comments disparaging those who create content on the Web that only a handful of people will ever see. "When you get into forms of entertainment, talent always wins out. There isn't that much talent in the world. An audience of 8 to 12 people might be interested in someone's individual expression, but the process of people with talent and expertise making entertainment products won't be displaced by 18-year-olds making videos, except maybe on 'Funniest Home Videos.' "

It's summarizing the sole reason of my hatred of reality TV. Don't get me wrong, despite my role in mainstream media, I'm a huge new media advocate...many have told me one of the few MSM'ers to endorse, much less acknowledge new apps. I constantly encourage people to get involved with cutting-edge communications like podcasting, blogging, v-logging, wikis, mash-ups, etc. But, this still doesn't mean the majority of it won't be as good as that generated by those schooled in the art of formal communications (I'm not, I slid into my job as a news anchor, sports producer, radio show host, columnist, blogger and podcaster while being a sofwtare developer).

The point is that if you're going to get involved with something in new media, do it well. Shatter the stigma of DIY contributions being of DIY quality. Write well, speak clearly, and program intuitively. MSM diehards are counting on new media apps to fade due to the fact that audiences will see the lack of organization, training and poor preparation and realize the error of their ways, and return to big stuff. Do great work and continue to blur the line between what's known as mainstream and what's not. There's no more segregation between "the media" and everyone else on the planet. Everyone is part of the game now, although there does still exist a segmentation between mainstream- and the community-generated content.

Progress the platform.

Google Maps mash-ups dominate mapping hacks for Rita

guam-aspdev — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 23:28:00 GMT

One thing I've noticed from the blogosphere and then have been able to somewhat confirm with a quick Google search is that the number of Google Maps hacks tracking Hurricane Rita far outnumber those from MSN Virtual Earth. The former are legion; the only examples I've been able to find of the latter are here and here. And that's sort of to be expected, being an MSNBC product, and due largely to Scoble's pimping.

I've yet to personally hack around with Virtual Earth, and, coolness factor notwithstanding, I guess the ease-of-use of the API, viral marketing push for Google Maps, and expected "anything as long as it's not Microsoft" mindset is what keeps it so popular among the developer community.

Have you realized what this says about participatory journalism? This is Participatory Development! I've seen developers normally apathetic towards global events build things rapidly for mankind's benefit, just because it's the right thing to do. Any major events in the history of the world, acts of nature or otherwise, from this point on are going to be documented, archived, coded, architected, and shared through all sorts of neat apps. More impressive, mapping apps are still at the embryonic stage where the APIs aren't easy enough to tap for the neophyte to use (case in point: blogs circa 2001). Imagine the community's reaction when developing a custom web-based mapping application, obtaining geocode coordinates, dropping in a few custom pictures, an adding commentary will be as simple as point-and-click and drag-and-drop.

More participatory journalism pix of Northwest Flight 74 on Guam

guam-aspdev — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 03:35:00 GMT

We got some more pix after I posted the first community-submitted imagery taken of the landing of Northwest Flight 74 from Narita, Japan to Guam. I'll bee adding these to our news site sometime tonight and we'll have more streaming video (see the original streaming coverage) of the events and interviews from the day after. These amazing shots were taken by Terra Lynn Nabeyama (used with permission).

Northwest Flight 74 makes sudden landing on Guam

guam-aspdev — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:53:00 GMT

We had a huge story this afternoon on Guam that we were all over and had total team coverage for, with some slick streaming video of our reporters out in the field. During approach, the 747's forward landing gear on a Northwest Airlines Flight 74 inbound for Guam apparently had complications. 318 people were evacuated, with 3 receiving minor injuries.

Read about it here.

Although we weren't able to use it in our TV/web/radio/mobile coverage, local shutterbug Mike Cepeda sent us the pic below (thanks Mike).

CBS Digital Media & CBS News roll out 24-hour broadband news network

guam-aspdev — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:21:00 GMT

I just caught a webcast of a CBS announcement of its new dedication to digitally distributing news information. The multi-platform strategy features a revamped web site (appears to be a Java-based CMS), new blog endeavors (custom app?), on-demand 24/7 broadband streaming video (Windows Media), WWW-only journalism, and a total mindset shift about making content web-ready (which is the keypoint).

I'm critical only of tha fact that I haven't heard anything yet from CBS about wireless/mobile apps; likewise no word on podcasting. I would assume that convergance in the multimedia market would be a major pillar in the new strategy. But at any rate this is a major undertaking - congrats, CBS! Good show.

Check it out - it's good viewing.

Beyond the glitz and glamour...

guam-aspdev — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 08:20:00 GMT

OK, I had my moment of gratuitous self-indulgence when I verbally patted myself on the back for having won an award for "Best Regional News Site" for my work with KUAM.COM.

I'm seriously more proud of my colleague and longtime friend, Mindy Fothergill, who also won Best Documentary for her incredibly personal story "Finding My Roots", in which she, an adoptee who hadn't seen her birthmother since she was 3, made the trek back to Korea to meet her for the first time in 21 years. Absolutely emotional stuff, and we're phenomenally in awe of her courage to do so. That I could never do, much less document and broadcast it.

I've known and worked with Mindy for 5 years, but we know each other like it's been 15. I'm extremely honored to win this alongside her.

KUAM.COM wins "Best Regional News Site" award

guam-aspdev — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 08:11:00 GMT

Yeah! Today was a pretty sweet day, with the news that my labor of love for the past 5 years, my company's site, won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award as outstanding regional news site for Guam, Hawaii, California and Nevada. We represented markets of like size and traffic levels within those areas, so this is a real treat and honor.

It's always nice to be appreciated for your labors, especially by your peers and people that really know what you go through and the ins and outs of the biz. We've long been the fan favorite, and this is gravy, baby. I actually was informed yesterday by a rep from the committee, but it's official today.

Is that a raise I smell?