Finding my place in the digital world

On Saturday, I attended an all-day Digital Journalism Camp in downtown Portland along with 120 other people interested in the future of online journalism.

A broad topic, for sure. And there were plenty of breakout sessions to make it more digestible -- best business practices for niche websites, lessons from three startup founders, using digital tools to give marginalized communities a voice, video storytelling, audio recording/editing and more. All of it was capped by a superb keynote talk by The Washington Post's national innovations editor, Mark Luckie, who challenged us all to read broadly, think outside the box and find ways to marry technology with innovation.

Four days after the event, I'm still going over my notes, reading what others have said about the camp (see below) and trying to figure out where to begin applying lessons learned and insights gained. It's not a matter of being intimidated or scared, but more an issue of getting past the realization that even though I've learned a lot in the past year, there's still so much that's new to me in the digital world. That's a humbling feeling.

As camp organizer Abraham Hyatt said in his introductory remarks, "The journalism ecosystem has changed a little" since the first camp was held just two years ago. (A subtle sign: Name tags had a space for attendees to fill in their Twitter handle: @georgerede, for instance. Obviously, Twitter was around in 2009, too, but it wasn't as ubiquitous as it is now, with folks tweeting away during the conference and using the hashtag #DJCPDX.)

And how has the journalism ecosystem changed since then? At the risk of stating the obvious:

-- The transition from legacy media to new media is in full bloom. News organizations like The Oregonian and Oregon Business magazine are increasingly offering readers online content, delivered to mobile devices, while anxiously waiting for online advertising to become a bigger share of the revenue pie.
-- It's all about collaboration. All across the country, you're seeing partnerships big and small as national and local media try to maximize resources and build audiences. At my shop, The Oregonian already has a TV partner in KGW and just recently partnered with several independent news web sites under the banner of an Oregonian News Network.
-- It's also all about innovation. It's not easy quitting your day job to launch a startup, but that's exactly what newbie and experienced journalists are doing in order to create their own little niche in the blogosphere. It's a risky business, but the refrain heard over and over is that people would rather have control over their own product and brand and accept less pay than stick with a soul-sucking job.

What's so impressive about the folks who attend a tech-oriented event like this is that it seems to naturally foster a spirit of mutual support, which leads to networking and sharing information. People don't hesitate to ask each other "how" or "why" and that's a great thing. I know I'll be following up with a couple of people I met.

What's also apparent is that the line between professional journalist and citizen journalist is becoming blurrier by the day. Those of us who studied journalism in college, embraced its code of ethics and principles of accuracy, fairness and transparency, and practiced it for decades are having to make room on the same stage for a new generation who proclaim they are not journalists by education and training but journalists by experience.

I can't help but admire the array of technical skills they own and the dedication they bring to the cause of making "unheard voices" heard, whether it's in low-income neighborhoods of Portland or in farflung places like Afghanistan, Libya and Egypt. If these are the people I now look to as colleagues -- in addition to those in my own shop -- I see there's a lot I can learn from them.

More reading:
-- Cornelius Swart, J-Lab coordinator at The Oregonian: "Digital Journalism Camp, "news partners" and other updates
-- Kristen Mira, blogging at Dragonflies in My Net: "Digital Journalism Camp"
-- Andrew Spittle, happiness engineer at Automattic. "Digital Journalism Camp Session Summaries"

Share the goodness

Finally decided to get up to speed and added a new widget to the blog.

Beneath each post, you'll now see five little icons which are meant to encourage sharing of any material that you like on Rough and Rede.

With a click of your mouse, you can email a post or share it on Twitter or Facebook or Google Buzz.

Hope that doesn't strike readers as self-centered. I don't tend to think of myself as an egomaniac.

Rather, these are the tools of the trade for sharing stuff in the blogosphere. Might as well make it easy for folks.

Thanks in advance for anything that gets put out there with these tools.

A new month, a new look

It's time to turn the calendar to another page. And in doing so, I'd like to call attention to a new feature on Rough and Rede.

I've finally added My Blog List, a half-dozen blogs written by friends scattered all over, from here in the Portland area and the San Juan Islands to Chicago, Cincinnati and New York City, plus a link to my favorite general-interest publication, Esquire.

The blogosphere has its pros and cons, for sure, but I love being able to connect with people so easily and dip my toes into such eclectic waters.

Whether you're a writer, an educator, a foodie or whatever, take some time to browse these blogs. You may find something you like, in which case you can continue building the online community through leaving comments or becoming a follower yourself.

Related question: What do YOU like to read? Leave a comment listing up to five of your favorite blogs and I'll compile them into a single post.

In the meantime, enjoy the music video, appropriately titled for the first day of April.

Five hundred

Five hundred -- and still going...
Five hundred -- and going strong!
Five hundred -- and wondering if it's time to ramp it down.

I thought of all three of those as a potential headline for this post because this one here marks No. 500 since I started Rough and Rede on 3-1-09. Looking back, I see that exactly one year ago today -- on 2-1-10 -- I noted the 11-month anniversary of my blog and the 260 posts I'd written. I must have slowed down a bit because it took 12 months to write the next 240 -- a rate of exactly 20 per month or two every three days. Not bad, I suppose.

But as the odometer hits No. 500, I have to ask myself if I want to keep going. It takes time and discipline, a fair amount of creativity and, yes, at least some ego.

When I began, it was so I'd be able to point to my own example as I prepared to teach a class on the blogosphere at Portland State University. Unlike so many bloggers who got started earlier or who've come along since I began, I've never been motivated by a great yearning to broadcast my views and voice into cyberspace. There's a lot of self-promotion that goes into having a widely read blog and that goes against my nature, probably to my detriment.

So, I've been content for the most part to write about whatever strikes my fancy, knowing that any eyeballs on the site mostly belong to friends (both old and new) and a few family members. Of course, I've loved the feedback, sporadic though it may be. Every once in a while, there's enough of a critical mass to call it a conversation and that's really sweet. Other times, I realize it's me talking to myself. But that isn't so bad. Writing helps clarify what I value and what I believe. Plus, at some point, I'll take my friend Aki's advice and convert these first two years (er, 23 months) of posts to a bound print volume.

No doubt I'll keep writing for at least a while longer. There are still a few things I think are worth sharing, be they family matters or highlights from a couple of books on blogging and the economics of the news media. For those of you who've kind enough to drop in regularly or even just every now and then, I offer my thanks and gratitude.

Image: www.pinartarhan.com

Where's George

By now, chances are good that most people have stumbled onto www.wheresgeorge.com. I came across it two or three years ago and was mightily amused that someone had created a software program to track exactly when and where a given U.S. dollar bill had been.

If you've never visited the site, just enter the serial number from your bill, along with your zip code and you'll learn how far your dollar has traveled and how long it took to get to you. For instance:

-- Series 2003A:  This bill has travelled 13 Miles in 267 Days, 13 Hrs, 40 Mins at an average of 0.05 Miles per day. It is now 5.9 Miles from its starting location [in Portland].

-- Series 2006: This bill has travelled 194 Miles in 189 Days, 6 Hrs, 42 Mins at an average of 1.0 Miles per day. It is now 194 Miles from its starting location [in Moses Lake, Wash.].

-- Series 2006: This bill has travelled 277 Miles in 195 Days, 11 Hrs, 7 Mins at an average of 1.4 Miles per day. It is now 277 Miles from its starting location [in Lewiston, Idaho].

The program works only if someone has entered the serial number initially. You can tell you've got a "live" one because people will stamp the website address on the bill itself.

I'm content to find out the above information. For super-users, there are a lot more tabs to click on, including Forums and "George's Top 10" users -- each of whom has entered more than 250,000 bills in the "bill finder" software and come up with more than 60,000 hits apiece. The No. 1 guy on the list has entered a staggering 1.75 million bills and been rewarded with nearly 300,000 hits.

Can you imagine putting in that much time? To each his own, I suppose.

Lonely? Bored? Or something else?

"Lonely people have a natural affinity for the internet. It's always there waiting, patient, flexible, suitable for every mood..."

"What do lonely people desire? Companionship. Love. Recognition. Entertainment. Camaraderie. Distraction. Encouragement. Change. Feedback."


So says Roger Ebert, the film critic turned prodigious blogger, in a weekend post ("All the lonely people") that is getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere and hundreds of comments in response. And deservedly so. Even if you don't agree with his premise -- that there's a fine line between loneliness and boredom -- it's a heckuva post: thoughtful, analytical, provocative, self-reflective.

I was drawn to the piece by the headline and first sentence, quoted above. Is that me he's talking about? Is that why I blog? Is that why I've joined Facebook?

I've never thought of myself as lonely, though I enjoy doing things on my own. (Which is not to say I don't treasure the companionship of my wife and family, because I obviously do.) What I'm saying is that I enjoy running, swimming, reading, listening to music -- all of which can be done by one's self.

When I set up this blog nearly two years ago, I listed "solitude" as among my interests. To me, the word means "time spent alone" and has no negative connotation. You can enjoy solitude on a neighborhood walk, on a morning bike ride or at a coffee shop with a novel -- and I've done all of these.

Yet Ebert's piece had me scurrying to the dictionary. Is "solitude" a synonym for "lonely"? This is how Dictionary.com defines the word:

1. the state of being or living alone; seclusion: to enjoy one's solitude.

2. remoteness from habitations, as of a place; absence of human activity: the solitude of the mountains.

3. a lonely, unfrequented place: a solitude in the mountains.

Readers can judge for themselves if there's a difference between the two words.

But back to the other question...Why do I blog? Why do others create posts, comment on others and link to whatever strikes their fancy? For that matter, why do people join social networking sites? Why do they tweet?

Is it just lonely people -- or those of us who enjoy solitude -- who have a natural affinity for the internet? Couldn't you make an opposite argument? That it's exhibitionists and people who like living out loud who are drawn to cyberspace? How else do you explain the millions of self-indulgent posts and photos out there, along with the hourly status updates?

I think Ebert is a great writer and thinker and I'm especially glad he took on this subject. His words have given me a lot to think about. I may be an introvert, but I think I'm going to plead "not guilty" to being driven to the internet by loneliness.

I'd sure be interested in other people's takes on his essay. 

Photo: http://www.therubicon.org/index.php?s=graffiti

My PSU paycheck

Not to sound greedy or anything, but it sure was nice to start the day picking up my paycheck from Portland State's H.R. office. It had been mailed to our old address, so there was a delay of about a week.

I'd taught the "blogosphere" class a month ago, so I was trying to be patient, having graded class assignments and finals in the meantime. I'll post the final grades this week for the seven students who completed the weekend seminar.

Now that I've got the money in hand, some treats are in order: breakfast with Simone tomorrow morning; brunch with Nathan on Sunday; and tickets for Lori and me to see Patty Griffin in concert April 4 at McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom. We're going with our friend, Molly, whose taste in music probably comes the closest of anyone I know to duplicating my own.

I was fortunate to see Patty last summer when she played with Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller. This time around it's just her and Buddy. I know she's got a new album out, "Downtown Church," featuring gospel music.

The video above is from her 2007 performance at Portland's Aladdin Theatre. It's a nice take on a Sam Cooke classic. Wanna see more? There's great variety in this collection.

Evolution of the blog

Here it is, the day before I teach my "blogosphere" class at PSU and today's Oregonian has a front-page story that couldn't be more timely or relevant.

The headline and deck say it all: "A new age in blogging: 30 and up | As youths give up blogging for sites such as Facebook, adults take their places, a poll finds" (Evidently, we didn't post the story on OregonLive.com, but you can find it here instead.)

A study has found that young people are losing interest in long-form blogging because they tend to communicate in shorter bursts and on the run. Think Twitter and text messages, delivered via their cell phones. That's not so surprising, given that tweens, teens and younger adults have been migrating to those forms of communication rather than e-mail.

According to The Associated Press:

The study, released Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that 14 percent of Internet youths, ages 12 to 17, now say they blog, compared with just over a quarter who did so in 2006. And only about half in that age group say they comment on friends' blogs, down from three-quarters who did so four years ago.

Pew found a similar drop in blogging among 18- to 29-year-olds.

So, who's stepping into the void? Older adults -- with "older" in this case meaning 30 years or more.

The study estimates that about one in 10 online adults maintain a blog -- a number that's held steady since 2005, when blogs became more of mainstream activity. That would mean there are more than 30 million adults in the U.S. who blog.

Significantly, the Pew study found, "the percentage of Internet users age 30 and older who maintain a blog increased from 7 percent in 2007 to 11 percent in 2009."

Interesting to see that Rough and Rede lies squarely in the middle of that trend. And great timing for tomorrow's class.

Graphic: Associated Press/Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

A double milestone

Eleven months ago, I started this blog. Didn't have anything special in mind. I simply thought I owed it to myself and to students who'd be taking my "Opinion and the Blogosphere" weekend seminar at Portland State.

And now here I am, in the waning minutes of Feb. 1, looking back at how far I've come since March 1, 2009.

The stats speak for themselves:
-- This will be Post No. 260 -- an average of roughly two dozen posts per month.
-- I have 33 followers. (Actually, a little less than because I know a couple of people are listed twice. But, hey, I'll gladly take 33 ... although I fully suspect some folks haven't read a single post in months.) Among my followers: family members and longtime friends, along with a long-lost childhood friend (Tommy, a shoutout to you, my best friend from first grade!) and some awfully nice new ones.

I'm due to teach the "blogosphere" class again this weekend, which is what prompts me to write now rather than wait a full 12 months before looking back at the life of this blog.

Back then, I wrote:

It's about time...How will I sustain this? I'm already on Facebook; don't wanna do MySpace. I'm online every day, much of the day, owing to my job as editor of the Sunday Opinion section at The Oregonian. It's about time...It's about getting started, as the title of this post says. Choose an image: dive in, dip your toes in the water, take the first step, just do it. So I'm doing it. I have no illusions about this, by the way. Just one guy on the Left Coast laying the first brick of what I hope will be good for the soul, good for the mind.

For those of you who've been around for most of Rough and Rede's existence, I appreciate your presence and your perseverance. You've had a front-row seat as I've experimented with content -- topics have ranged all over the place, I know -- and voice. Oh, how I admire writers who have such a distinctive voice that you can read them and instantly recognize them.

I've enjoyed maintaining the blog. It is, after all, mine and mine alone. I've zigged and zagged from the personal to the philosophical to the mundane to the inane -- and, hopefully, occasionally wandered into the Land of Insight and Genuine Revelation. Who was it that said, "How do I know what I believe until I write it down?" I think there's a lot of truth in that.

Thinking back on some of these blog posts, I recall the ones where I had to come to grips with becoming the father of a soldier and getting past my pacifist nature to be able to fully support him as an Army enlistee. I also recall the ones where I've written about religion -- me, the non-spiritual guy, the skeptic -- and surprised myself with my openness toward and respect for people who choose to lead a faith-driven life.

When I began writing this blog, I honestly didn't know whether it would generate any or much online conversation. To be honest, it's been pretty much hit and miss as to when comments will appear. As a blogger, please know that each and every one is greatly appreciated. It's a reminder that I'm not writing into some big, black hole where my voice is swallowed up without a sound. As often as not, it's the observations about everyday life that prompt a comment, which is fine. I like seeing what connects with people.

One thing I'm sure of is that this blog is far more effective as a means of self-expression than Facebook. For some time, I've meant to comment on what it is that led me to spend less time on FB -- and virtually no time on Twitter -- and more time on my blog. Eventually, I'd like to explore that in some depth. For now, suffice to say that Facebook makes me feel like I've walked up to a stream -- no, a river -- and it's rushing by with all these leaves and twigs representing little pieces of information that are hard to grasp and ... gone too soon if you don't reach out.

A good blog, on the other hand, feels like a place where you've been invited to come in, poke around and sit for a while. You can get to know the writer beyond staccato witticisms and pointless observations on FB.

Wow. Here I am rambling. Guess I should try to wrap this one up and sign off.

What I meant by "A double milestone" was that I'd hit a certain threshold by blogging for 11 months and that I was preparing to teach the PSU class again.

A year ago, I had nearly 40 students. This term, I see, I'll have 11 or 12 students, unless there's a last-minute rush of late registrants. No matter. I'm taking a furlough day tomorrow and will spend much of it prepping for this weekend's class. As good as last year's class went, I want to make sure I bring my best effort to this year's class.

Image: http://bleongcw.typepad.com/simple_is_the_reason

August and "Perfect Sand"

All this week, I've tried to practice what I preached during the class I taught at Portland State last winter -- namely, to spend some time surfing the Web, exploring the blogosphere and becoming part of the universe made up of tens of millions of blogs.

These past few days I've mentioned blogs by my co-worker Mike Francis, new media professor Pam Cytrynbaum and news reporter-turned-food writer Heather Lalley (all of whom, now that I think about it, are graduates of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism).

Today, I recommend to you "Perfect Sand," written by August. (That's her screen name; in real life, she is Rachel, living in Cincinnati).

But, first, some more background. When I began the class, I cited a few statistics, which even now boggle the mind.

According to eMarketer (May 2008), there were:
-- 94.1 million blog readers in the U.S. in 2007 (representing 50% of Internet users)
-- 22.6 million bloggers in the U.S. in 2007 (representing 12% of Internet users)

According to Universal McCann (March 2008), there were:
-- 184 million people worldwide who had started a blog, including 26.4 million in the U.S.
-- 346 million people worldwide who read blogs, including 60.3 million in the U.S.

According to Technorati.com:
-- 77% of active Internet users read blogs.

Summing up, Discover Magazine in 2007 said:

"The blogosphere is the most explosive social network you'll never see. Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 million blogs exist online, and about 175,000 more crop up daily (that's about 2 every second). Even though the vast majority of blogs are either abandoned or isolated, many bloggers like to link to other Web sites."

Given the explosive growth in this experimental medium, and allowing for extremes in quality, is it any wonder you can purposefully search for a blog on a specific topic and find treasure as well as trash? Likewise, is it any surprise you can stumble across something that disgusts or delights you?

It was the latter method that led me, about a month ago, to a blog that instantly appealed to me. It had all the qualities that I touted to my class: Well organized, clearly written with a distinctive voice, and thought-provoking content. A closer look revealed the writer's intelligence and tendency toward introspection.

What stood out to me? References to writers and topics that I care about, such as stories, teaching, writing, language, education. One post, "In the news," referenced David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, writing about a successful charter school in Harlem. Another, "Dishonor descended," discussed the words we use in everyday speech to either muddle or convey real meaning, citing the terms "waterboarding" and "water torture" as one example.

"Language," August wrote, "has the power to connect, to reveal truths, but it also can disguise or obfuscate...the truth."

As an editor, I'm all about clarity and specificity.

Anyway, I think August is a terrific writer. We've become followers of each other's blogs and I invite you to check hers out. http://perfectsand.blogspot.com/

And I hope you, readers, will expand this conversation by offering links to other blogs or Web sites that you recommend.

Heather the "Flour Girl"

Calling all foodies!

Hi! My name is Heather and I'm a recovering newspaper reporter in search of a new career in flour, sugar, butter and yeast.

With an opening line like that, how can you resist not wanting to know more? The author, Heather Lalley, is someone I've known since the mid-90s, when she was a junior journalism major at Northwestern University and I was The Oregonian's internship coordinator. Which is to say, it was years before she became a mom and well before she left the business about a year and a half ago.

It still pains me to think about that -- someone with Heather's talent and passion having to leave the profession she loved, for the usual economic reasons that are challenging newsrooms everywhere. In her case, especially so, because Heather was such a pleasure to be around, with a dry wit that I like to think was honed growing up outside the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

Anyway, check out this post from her "Flour Girl" blog -- "Taking home the Bronze Cupcake" -- and see if you agree that journalism's loss is the blogosphere's gain, especially for those who love freshly baked bread and/or a homemade cupcake.

Students grade the teacher

Early last week, I received an envelope I'd been waiting for: the course evaluations for the special topics media course -- Opinion and the Blogosphere -- that I taught during the winter term at PSU.

Although the communications department chair(woman) had emailed me earlier to say I'd gotten positive reviews, I looked forward to seeing the details. Nothing helps a person more than specifics, including constructive comments.

Some 29 students responded. The evaluations showed: "All students agreed that the course helped them learn to find and use information and that you responded constructively to questions. The vast majority agreed (98%) the course stimulated them to think, found the assignments clear, and help them evaluate ideas."

Though it's hard to say what pleased me most in the different areas where I was evaluated, I was especially gratified to see the students rated me highly in conveying enthusiasm for the subject and strongly agreed they would take another course from me.

I tried very hard to prepare well for the class and I know from experience what I would do differently to make the experience even better next time. I'll have to see if my colleagues, Rick Attig and Susan Nielsen, want to make guest speaker appearances again -- they certainly played a big part in helping to convey basic knowledge about blogs and the process of writing and editing opinion pieces.

I've been asked to teach the course again during the winter 2010 term, and there is a good chance I may get to teach a second course -- details to be determined.

From the classroom to publication

I can't claim a shred of credit for this, but I can say I'm awfully proud.

Proud of Jennifer Knutson, whose op-ed --"Facing the recession: Picking up, start anew? No can do" -- was published online Saturday and in print Sunday.

Proud because Jennifer was a student in the weekend seminar -- Opinion and the Blogosphere -- that I taught recently at Portland State University. Check the March archives on this site for more...

Not only did she contribute greatly to class discussions, but she wrote a wonderful opinion piece for her final exam (a different one from the one cited above). I praised it as being worthy of publication and encouraged her to keep The Oregonian in mind if she were to pitch another piece. She did just that.

From an instructor's standpoint, it's great to see a student demonstrate initiative and follow-up.

"Opinion and the blogosphere"

It's Sunday night and I'm winding down after teaching the weekend seminar at Portland State mentioned in the post below.

We covered a lot of ground in 20 hours spread over three days. I anticipated feeling stressed out during the class and exhausted by the end of it. Instead, I think I paced myself pretty well and came away energized and encouraged.

In a class that brought together beginners and experienced bloggers, we spent time reviewing and critiquing professional (mostly journalism) blogs and personal blogs, collectively amazed at the incredible variety of topics, web page designs and visuals. We discussed ethical issues, citizen journalists and where we get our news, information and analysis.

Thanks to two guest speakers -- my co-workers Susan Nielsen and Rick Attig -- we also spent time on writing tips and the concept of the "third place."

According to Wikipedia: The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (in photo, above) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.

During the last hour of class, I had each student talk about what he or she learned. I was gratified to see we filled up an entire whiteboard with their list. Now I await the next steps: Office hours on Wednesday; a final exam that's due on Friday (create a blog or write an opinion piece); grades due a week from Tuesday.

I go back to work tomorrow with a renewed commitment to explore the blogosphere and apply it to my work. It's a whole separate universe out there.