DigiDave | Journalism is a Process, Not a Product

Interview - Dan Gillmor

As far as I'm concerned Dan Gillmor is the Pope of participatory journalism. I was very lucky to grab this interview with him where he describes one potential career path for young journalists - as you might assess from the interview, it's the path I'm most interested in.

I'm also honored that Dan pointed to me as a working example of this career path. I think it's safe to say that nobody knows what is going to work for journalism right now. As Clay Shirky said: It's not a science - it's more like predicting the weather. We have an idea of what elements combine to make a successful web community, but we can't say for certain when a web storm is going to occur.

But there are some folk who can lick their finger, stick it up in the air and tell you with assurance that a storm is brewing. I hope to be like that one day. For now, I'm learning all I can.

Onward!!!

links for 2008-05-13

• Online magazine about Open Source
  Flyp Mag is a great interactive magazine. I helped produce one page of this issue dedicated to OS software. See if you can spot me!
  (tags: davidcohn,)
• Breaking News In MY Backyard! Again!
  News happens where people and reporters live. Go Figure.

Critique on Crowdsourcing - We Want to Hear From You

Via Jeff Howe at Crowdsourcing.com.

As you may know, I'm writing a book about crowdsourcing and also operate the blog, Crowdsourcing.com. I've been publishing the lion's share of this book on the Website with the goal of eliciting critical comments that can be collected together and published in an appendix to the book proper. The idea, obviously, is that a book on crowdsourcing would also embody some degree of crowdsourcing. But further, I'm hoping to help pioneer a model of book publishing in which the book can serve as a dialogue as much as a monologue. The comments from readers in the appendix will be used to show that crowdsourcing touches on many issues that can be viewed from multiple perspectives.

I've been very happy with the quality of comments, but unfortunately the quantity and diversity among commenters is lacking. In other words, too few people are taking the time to read my work and disagree with me! So I'm appealing to all of you to stop by crowdsourcing.com in the next three weeks and contribute your insights, your experience and your wit. I'd really like to make this little experiment work, but naturally, I can't do it without the crowd.

I've been Jeff's research assistant for a reason - I've studied and talked about Crowdsourcing on this blog as well, which means perhaps some of you are interested in the topic as well. If so - check out Jeff's blog and see if you have a critique. You just might end up in the footnote to his book.

Interview - Ben Melancon on Drupal

I met Ben at the NewsTools conference about two weeks ago and after the conference we got a chance to hang out, talk shop and get to know each other.

Ben is, hands down, one of the best Drupal evangelizers I've met, and I've met a lot.

Here's a quick interview with him. Enjoy

links for 2008-05-10

• Chronicle to cut 25% of jobs in newsroom
  Note the paragraph where a Hearst attorney says SF Chron is loseing 1 million a week.
  (tags: spotjournalism)
• Mathew Ingram | Broadcasting Brain
  An interview with Mathew Ingram.

Interview - ME!!!

I really wanted to interview Amy Gahran at the NewsTools conference and that interview is below. But right when I was finished, she turned the camera on me. The good news... I don't sound like an idiot!

Here's the interview I did with Amy

Interview - Guy Kawasaki

I still don't know how - but I ended up on Journalism.alltop. So hey, I like it.

I'm a little bummed that the interview below got cut-off. That's right, I ran out of memory in the middle of it, so the interview ends abruptly. But hey - I'll take what I can get. My favorite part is when Guy takes a moment and says... "I think, basically.... it's stupid," when talking about news organizations that adhere to a strict linking policy.

Interview - Geneva Overholser

If you've never heard of Geneva Overholser you should take a look at her epic report: On Behalf of Journalism, a Manifesto for Change. Yes, epic is the right word to describe it.

Below she talks about teaching journalism as it relates to her next job as director at USC's Annenberg School of Journalism
.

Interview - Amy Gahran

What can be said about Amy Gahran?

She is a force of nature. In the video below she talks about:

• The future of journalism education: "I'm not convinced that universities are the best institutions to support that."
• The newsroom culture that is stifling creativity: "It's grinding people down..."
• The future of mobile.

Interview - Ryan Budke, Scout Master at Propeller

Video interview week continues here at Digidave. Later today I'll have a fantastic video with Amy Gahran who, if you are a journalist, you know kicks butt and takes no prisoners.

But a quick internet sidetrack. Last night, excited about all the interviews I have to post over this week - I twittered "I wish I could interview everyone" - to which I got a response from Ryan Budke that he was ready to be interviewed anytime.

Anytime indeed. I launched a recorded iChat with him 10 seconds later.

For those who don't know: Ryan is in charge of the Scout program at Propeller. In this interview he talks about what he does and the joy/difficulties involved in managing a team of part-time contractors from around the world (including yours truly) and the difference in community between social news sites like Digg and Propeller.

I just like Ryan cause he is a cool guy.