I am finally back in the Annapolis area, and while I work on my job search, I wanted to begin to re-familiarize myself with the area, its news, and its politics. Hopefully, this site will someday be some sort of hyperlocal hub, but for now it is just a blog about living in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, and the Chesapeake.
Check out: Arundel Living
I’ll be graduating from Drexel University with my Bachelors of Science degree later this week, and I’ll be the first to admit I still have a LOT to learn. Actually, I would argue that the college educational experience is a lot less valuable than the aspect of meeting new people and living in a diverse social atmosphere.
The reaction to a post I wrote earlier this week really got me down. When I was writing it, I had no intention of being on the offensive or being a jerk, but it sure came off that way. I’d like to think of myself as a decent writer, but in social and public spheres, it looks like I have a lot to learn.
In the past week, Rob Curley has faced a lot of criticism about the project he has been working on the past few years, and even some that seems to attack and question his whole career.
I can’t judge whether Mr. Curley is right or wrong about his “local-local” or “hyperlocal” strategies (and I hope he is right!), but anyone has to admire the guy for how he takes criticism in stride. He takes personal responsibility for any mistakes his team has made (as any good leader should), and doesn’t try to say that he won’t mess up in the future. Sure, he tends to brag about some of the things his team has accomplished, but who wouldn’t get excited over creating such cool and totally awesome stuff?
I hope I can retain such a positive outlook after I enter the “real world” at the end of this week, and that I can display the same senses of responsibility and humility. When I am immediately oppressed by feelings of failure in the event of a setback, I hope to be able to leverage that emotion into the power-source that drives my next success.
I can’t wait to see what cool stuff Rob Curley and his team come up with next.
After Rob Curley announced that he and his skunkworks team are leaving the Washington Post a few weeks ago, there was a large amount of publication and blogger fallout over the state of “hyperlocal.”
To be fair, since its inception, LoudonExtra has been subject to criticism, even from county natives. The main gripe seems to be that the county’s population is so diverse economically and socially that a one-fits-all website can’t speak to each and every resident.
NOTE: The following is an edited attempt to better explain the text that appears in italics below. I did not take the time to adequately review my sources, and thanks to a generous comment and explanation by Mr. Hartnett, I see where I did not invest enough effort in carefully reading linked posts and was unfair in my portrayals. The italicized text is included to provide context for his comment.
At what “zoom” level does hyperlocal work? State? County? City? Neighborhood? Currently, although I am impressed with the efforts of sites like Backyard Post to focus on the extreme detail level while still uniting large geographical areas, I feel that they are almost glorified spreadsheets. I have a hard time seeing what benefits neighborhood mapping efforts actually create. Backyard Post’s William M. Hartnett has created an amazing map database, but can his company really design enough features around this information to make it truly useful or profitable before community boundaries and demographics change? To me, it seems like an uphill battle for little reward. Please read Mr. Hartnett’s comments post below, as he makes some great arguments against my lines of thinking.
Do people even care about super-duper-local? Community websites, generally, do a good job of covering board meetings and block parties. I feel that this extreme level of coverage, while not ideal, is adequate. These sites could work better by offering syndication feeds and inter-compatibility with other, larger news webspaces, but usually they do not have the monetary or computing resources.
Original text: At what “zoom” level does hyperlocal work? State? County? City? Neighborhood? Sites that look towards the extreme detail level but aim to cover a large geographical area, like Backyard Post, come off as glorified spreadsheets. What benefits do neighborhood mapping efforts actually create? Even Backyard Post’s William M. Hartnett admits (in a comments reply) that the whole practice is a little crazy. He has created an amazing map database, but can his company really design enough features around this information to make it truly useful or profitable before community boundaries and demographics change? To me, it seems like an uphill battle for little reward.
Do people even care about super-duper-local? Community websites, generally, do a good job of covering board meetings and block parties. This extreme level of coverage, while not ideal, is adequate. These sites could work better by offering syndication feeds and inter-compatibility with other, larger news webspaces, but usually they do not have the monetary or computing resources.
Local Kicks, a website that purports to be hyperlocal, boasts a crowded layout inundated with issues that are better covered by a national forum. As a male living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, I’d rather get my Redskins news from The Washington Post, my national politics fix from CNN, and my lifestyle information from GQ.
The big sites cover all of this stuff much better than a hyperlocal publication could ever hope to. And, why would they ever want to? From my local site, I want to know about my former high school’s sports standings–and whose children are making the big plays. I want to know what’s going on at the county ordinance meeting, and how it will effect the boat in my backyard, or the patio I want to put in out front. I don’t care if Ralph Lauren Polo is all the rage in New York City–I want to know what local movers and shakers are wearing to the club on Friday night.
Big non-local organizations can’t hope to speak to individuals, and cannot seek to be successful. Big, media conglomeration sites like Philly.com are detached from discreet citizens, and can only ever hope to offer entertainment or general information–even with detailed databases. These sites need to look through a wide lens, and focus on covering “general” issues the best they can. People will always go to these sites, just as people make time to tune into the major television networks when they cannot find programming on more targeted cable stations.
Database information changes too often, and there are just too many database sites. Hyperlocal sites need to have carefully defined scopes. Right now there are lots of big sites covering big issues, and little sites covering small issues. There are also big sites that are trying to seem like small sites which cover the intimate details of one area.
I agree with Jeff, and in my opinion, there is still room for the mid-sized site–the site that exists at the county level, covers pee-wee sports, gossips when Lindsay Lohan is in town, and most importantly, brings people together on a local level. I feel that far too many people identify themselves on over-reaching scales (such as Republican, American, firefighter, or stay-at-home mom). Regionalism can bring people together at the local level, allowing them to identify and relate to eachother on common levels in a world that wants to segregate people into absolute sects or subcultures. Small can be the new big, and can create individual worth and meaning in an era that keeps pushing for group identity.
Jeff Jarvis has a great post this morning analyzing Time Warner’s proposed tiered internet service. This, along with Comcast’s proposed bandwith cap overage charges, is beginning to making me sick. So much for freedom on the internet’s high seas–I feel like we are going back to the days of by-the-minute pay for net access. The internet needs to be open and neutral. No company should have a monopoly over access to it. These bandwith-related missteps are going to kill the rich media content industry, and stymie technological growth.
I caught the 11:59 screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night.
I’m a huge fan of the three earlier films, and remember seeing the intro up to Raiders up to the point where Indy jumps in the plane to avoid the advancing natives many times on television before I was ever allowed to watch the full movie. The amount of violence up to that point was always enough for my parents to make the call that the film was inappropriate, but I’d already seen enough to fall in love with the idea of a swashbuckling archaeologist adventurer. When I finally saw the full movies, I became a huge fan of the series, even in light of the latter films’ flaws.
I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, but I had tremendous problems with the new movie.
I really enjoyed the series of sequences from when they first showed Jones at university, up until the end of the grave site scene, but the bookends of the film completely ruined it for me. Within the scenes I found redeeming, I thought the cinematography in the soda-pop bar scene was awful and misguided. I wanted to see close-ups of Mutt and Jones’ faces, but all we got was a long dual profile shot. I was really bothered by the digital post grading, and especially by the bloom on everything in the final scene. I felt like I was watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
My largest complaint was the overuse of CG and compositing. Why they couldn’t build the background facades in the first shot of the Nuke-test neighborhood is beyond me, but almost everything in the film had an ambient occlusion haze around it–and everything looked too new. I wish the production had just built sets. The grave site set was amazing, and probably the most successful of all the jungle locales. The motorcycle chase was thrilling and heart pounding. I felt like a lot of it was stunt work, and didn’t feel like I was constantly being shown wide shots of all-digital characters and vehicles like in the jungle chase. The early shot of Colonel Dovchenko ducking to reveal the Soviet soldiers was so obviously a composite, it sparked fear about the rest of the film that was quickly confirmed. The CG work was incredibly shoddy, and I can’t believe it came out of ILM. Why couldn’t they have gone out in the desert and have simply shot those dusk scenes? Absolutely heartbreaking.
Some of the leaps of reality David Koepp made in order to bring characters into the story or out of or into the chases or fight sequences were too ridiculous for Indy’s world. Mutt and the Monkeys, the sudden appearance of Marion Ravenwood, the ants pulling the Soviet soldier into the nest, and Indy’s continuous trust of Mac in the face of his double-dealing come to mind.
I appreciated the appropriate amount of attention that Marcus Brody and Henry Jones Sr. were given. Shia “The Beef” did a great job, as did Harrison Ford. Their relationship was great to watch unfold. Karen Allen was good, but wasn’t given anything to do. Kate Blanchett played her Katherine Hepburn character in a black wig. Indy should have killed Mac when he betrayed him. Indy should have killed SOMEONE in this film. I don’t think anyone even died from a gunshot except for the poor gate guards in the beginning.
The film was just awful. Only the mentioned center section had anything redeeming about it, (and honestly, I really enjoyed those sequences).
Like the Star Wars franchise, modern technology has obliterated the legacy of another of my childhood pleasures. Next time, let’s try it without all the needless digital interventions.
I have been reading Pat Thornton’s blog, The Journalism Iconoclast: Journalism Redefined for about 8 months. As one of the most popular and visionary Online Journalism bloggers, he does a great job pointing out the faults and shortcomings of traditional newspapers, and repeatedly shouts the sermons of breaking-news updates, online video, social networking, and blogging from his pulpit. Most of his posts realistically portray the dour situation that traditional newspapers and news organizations face.
I find that his best posts, however, are the positive, proactive entries–the ones where he manages to grab ideas that have the potential to revive and reinvigorate newsroom products by using the thriving resources that they already posses.
In today’s I can’t wait for the future of print newspapers, Thornton proposes that newsrooms augment their failing, day-late coverage by releasing weekly analysis publications–magazine-like editions that use the knowledge and talent of experienced reporters and staff to deliver in-depth explanations for issues from the past week, in the style of The Economist:
“I subscribe to National Geographic, and it works really well as a print product because it is filled with in-depth enterprise and analysis pieces (and much of what I read in NG I don’t regularly come across in other news outlets). It’s the very kind of content that makes perfect sense in print.”
I agree completely with his post. Magazine-like editions are the future of print media.
There is something to be said about the power of the large, gorgeous printed photography that complements and enhances a good magazine article, and a well-printed glossy reflective photograph almost always speaks louder than one confined to a computer display, regardless of screen-size or resolution.
These printed analysis editions would be the type of publication that readers collect and save, much like National Geographic issues–they could be used later for reference, and strong photographic content would imbue them with physical value.
The best part of Thornton’s proposal is that it leverages already churning media generators within the newsroom. Beat reporters and features writers are often experts in their fields–and it it seems silly to limit their writings to by-the-day updates on news items. Leveraging their talent to produce deeper, richer content is a method that visionary Rob Curley has been advocating, and one that I support.
Great photography and excellent analysis in a magazine-style format could revive print profits, and I see it as the best way for traditional newspapers to regain lost ground.
Saul Hansell wrote an interesting post yesterday on the New York Times Bits blog, entitled “How Apple Is Preparing for an iPod Slump .” He said:
“Apple sold 10.6 million iPods in the first three months of 2008. It has a 73 percent share of the music player market in the United States and a growing share abroad. Still, the number of iPods sold in the quarter grew only 1 percent from the same quarter a year ago. And sales of the low-end iPod Shuffle have been falling sharply.”
Hansell makes some good claims about how Apple will induce iPod owners to keep buying or upgrade , such as new features, I feel he ignores the real reason people will be rushing to the stores to buy new iPod, iPhone, or iDevice–Battery life.
Electronics users are enslaved to lithium ion batteries–I personally have four different chargers in my bedroom alone. From our phones to our SLR cameras, everything runs off lithium ion technology. The problem with this technology is that over time, and after repeated re-charges, battery life declines.
A former roommate had his iPod battery life reduced to only a few minutes just over a year after he bought the original iPod. My original iPod Shuffle is still going strong, although I have noticed a gradual decline in lifetime between recharges. Admittedly, Apple is known for quality, and service, but I have known many people who have had to buy new personal music devices after their iPod batteries failed.
Apple says that their iPod lithium ion batteries are meant to last, but the amount of people I have seen running back to the store to buy new devices speaks otherwise. Battery degradation will be the main reason that sends iFanatics back to the Apple Store to buy new iPods.
First Sylvester Stallone made Rocky Balboa.
Then Bruce Willis starred in Live Free or Die Hard.
Stallone made another Rambo.
This summer, Harrison Ford will be starring in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, the fourth recent film sequel to feature the series’ aging character’s return for “one last adventure.”
The baby boom generation has done plenty for mankind: They have unlocked the human genome, shrunk the computer, and forged the internet. Now, as many baby boomers retire and begin to look back at their lives, Hollywood studios are giving filmgoers a chance to have a final encounter with some of their greatest screen heroes.
These recent films all deal with aging, lasting legacy, and looking back at successful conquests–thoughts that are heavy on the minds of many older Americans.
Film often helps us deal with our fears. As Social Security melts in the gutter, the economy recedes, and the clouds of terrorism and middle-east turmoil soften the sunlight of retirement, these films help older Americans to remember that they’ve been in difficult situations before, and even though they might be a bit more wrinkly now, they are also wiser and can triumph over adversity as good as ever.
Apple’s iTunes internet store is now outselling Wal-Mart, the former largest music retailer in the United States.
Sure, digital downloads are nice, but iTunes downloads still mostly feature invasive DRM, and are of lower audio quality and fidelity (a limit of mp3 compression). I would much rather have a physical disc, which is of much higher quality, is infinitely rip-able, and can be stored in a safe place in the inevitable event I loose it’s ripped data in a hard-drive crash.
But, this is just the way all things are headed.
A friend of mine, Ben Rosenbach, recently posted a note on Facebook in which he commented on FreeCreditReport.com’s recent marketing strategy, and, specifically, on the targeted Facebook ads that the company has been using:
“So I was just minding my business on facebook today when this ad popped up on the left side, like they do, and I roffled to myself a little bit. The ad is for FreeCreditReport.com (of which many other ads we’re all familiar with, whether it’s that stupid jingle or the fun little song played by the gentlemen at the shrimp shack). This one however, was obviously compiled by some awful marketing firm that was told to “target the young kids”. Not only is the title “Is Your Credit Whack”, which I can totally relate to because of the slang usage, but there’s also some college kid holding a guitar for absolutely no reason as the image used. I guess it does make sense though, since I’m constantly walking around with a guitar talking about how whack my credit score is.”
“I just thought that was funny. Sadly, I work at one of those awful marketing firms now. Even though the job rules and I like the company, there’s no denying they would do the same thing in a heartbeat.”
Here is the image of the ad, which he posted:
I noticed that the gentleman in the advertisement is also the singer from the company’s latest commercial series. There are three that I am aware of, and each features the gentleman singing with his band about how he should have gone to freecreditreport.com. I actually think the ad agency is doing a great job targeting young people who might be wondering what their credit score is. A lot of students getting ready to graduate will probably need to know when they pursue loans for buying houses or cars.
All of the three jingles I have seen have been pretty catchy, and I’m relieved that the commercials employ catchy songs, instead of just another boring sales pitch (like the company’s older, TERRIBLE series of ads, which even have a lousy jingle!). Additionally, all the situations portrayed have been ones that college students can relate to.
I have caught myself humming the new jingles, and even singing along to the commercials, which frequently play. I haven’t yet visited the site, but I have been tempted. I think the agency has created something pretty effective!