Media
Post by Sarah Bartash on 2/11/2010 2:43pm
Two social media companies popped into my peripheral vision last month in separate incidents and, after a little research, I was surprised to find that they were both based right here in Dane County.
Brazen Careerist is a social media network tool that professes to bridge the gap between “I need a job but I don’t have experience” and “I can’t get experience without a job.” It has built a reputation as a “career management tool for next-generation professionals” and fills a niche between the personal pages of Facebook and the professional world of LinkedIn. Shoutlet on the other hand, is a marketing platform designed by and for marketers that combines web 2.0 elements (email, podcasts, video, etc.) into one application for distribution and tracking. The company just announced a $2 million influx of capital which will allow for expansion.
Curious to know more, I contacted Milissa Rick, VP of Marketing and Strategy for Shoutlet, and Ryan Paugh, Director of Community at Brazen Careerist, to find out how these high tech startups landed in Madison.
Thursday night I and various notables in the local arts scene attended an intriguing talk by Douglas McLennan, founder of ArtsJournal.com and director of the National Arts Journalism Program, called “Arts Journalism 2.0: The next wave in arts conversations.” It was a public event associated with UW-Madison’s Arts Enterprise: Art as Business as Art course and McLennan shared some ideas about the expectations of today’s potential arts audiences. He used slides and clips to accompany his talk and each slide had his cell phone number: he invited people to text him questions as he was speaking and he took a couple breaks during his prepared remarks to address them. Afterward there was a full Q & A session. Some highlights from my notes:
Information sources that give high editorial control to users are the most trusted. The traditional role of a critic is to acquire information, filter, and communicate. The Internet creates an unfiltered, peer-to-peer communication model that “changes who we trust.”
Post by Jesse Russell on 9/28/2009 5:53pm
Months ago the website Your Logo Makes Me Barf noted the unfortunate evolution of the letters WTF and how it applied to the Wisconsin Tourism Federation. The Federation established it's acronym way back in 1979 and well before 'net speak changed the meaning of those three letters to something completely different. Well, in a sign of the times, Language Log noted this weekend that the Wisconsin Tourism Federation has changed its name and its acronym. WTF is now TFW, the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin. We were sort of hoping the name would have been changed to the Federation of Tourism in Wisconsin because we could redundantly write Wisconsin Toursim, FTW!
As Language Log notes, WTF still lives on with the Tourism Federation's "About WTF" button.
Post by Jesse Russell on 9/11/2009 2:00pm
I’m not happy. One of our missions here at dane101 is to try our hardest to “keep it local.” Part of that means linking to local blogs and local media when we do Breakfast Links in the morning and that includes the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times. Since the redesign of those paper's website, we’ve been having a very difficult time doing so.
Seriously, what was the rush? The old design was working just fine and I could typically find content I was seeking. Now I’m dealing with feelings of frustration that are in no way similar to simple “redesign adjustment phase” emotions. These are “why should I bother coming back?” emotions.
Post by Jason Dean on 8/14/2009 12:23pm
The transistion began in February of 2008. In order to maintain its identity in a declining economy, The Capital Times newspaper would cease print publication and move solely to the web - the first major newspaper to make the transition. The move would allow them to continue their high-quality reporting while becoming the premier source for online news in Madison.
The transition that was to be completed by late April of 2008 never occurred.
Yesterday The Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal announced cuts to their already dwindling news staffs. Like most news organizations, they cited lost advertising revenue for the cuts. Both organizations are owned by Lee Enterprise, and the 15 jobs lost would come from both newsrooms. From WSJ’s article:
The two newsrooms will merge staff members into combined departments for features, sports, photography and multimedia as well as design and production to gain efficiencies, they said. The State Journal and Capital Times will continue to independently produce news and opinion content on the Web and in print, except for coverage of breaking news, which is already done in collaboration between the two newsrooms.
Over the years I have gotten to know a number of people that work at both organizations. Once the news broke about the firings yesterday, I contacted a bunch of them to get their thoughts. All offered to speak anonymously.
Post by Adam Schabow on 7/14/2009 12:50pm
[inline:forestrepublican.jpg]A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about the Letterman/Palin feud. I received a response from a conservative friend surprised in my inability to acknowledge the alleged liberal media bias. He asked me, “Where are the jokes about Obama?” or “SNL skits?”
Post by Jesse Russell on 6/25/2009 3:00pm
It was high noon (well, technically, it was 3:18 p.m.) and all was quiet in the dusty newsrooms of Madison.
*cue tumbleweed down State Street*
Suddenly, the Associated Press telegraph da-dit-da'd to life. "General Motors has made their decision. STOP. Will produce at Michigan plant. STOP. No production in Wisconsin or Tennesse. STOP. Will save Michigan 1,200 jobs. STOP."
The call of "TO THE TWITTER FEED!!!!" rang out from the editorial rooms at Channels 3, 15, and 27. They knew that the quickest twitterer would win bragging rights throughout the sun soaked midwestern town.
Post by Adam Schabow on 6/16/2009 12:00pm
Comedy should be a cruel, relentless, heartless bitch. It shouldn’t be nice. It shouldn’t be sweet. Rather it should beat up on you like an unforgiving older brother. Last night, David Letterman had to, once again, apologize for a joke he gave one week ago about Sarah Palin’s daughter getting knocked up by Alex Rodriguez at a ball game. The problem was what daughter he was talking about: Willow (the underage 14-year-old) or Bristol (the adult 18-year-old).
In the current environment of deep uncertainty within the media community--newspapers folding, jouralists losing jobs, massive cut-backs--it may come as no small surprise to learn that there is a magazine that's been in print for 100 years. Not only that, but it's been publishing from and continuing to thrive in our own fair city of Madison.
The Progressive has been printing anti-war, pro-environment, civil liberties and rights championing news and opinion since 1909, carving out a solid spot for itself as one of the nation's foremost muckracking periodicals. And to celebrate all they've accomplished over the years, the magazine is throwing themselves one hell of a shindig this weekend at the Monona Terrace.
Post by Jesse Russell on 3/26/2009 9:50am
This story represents the opinion of the author and is neither an official opinion from Dane101 nor is it necessarily representative of the opinions of other Dane101 contributors.
Yesterday Mayor Dave Cieslewicz made a modest proposal on his blog to the Wisconsin State Journal in the face of declining ad revenue for newspapers and the threat of a total collapse of the print news market. He wrote, "Charge me. Please charge me. Why is it that I should expect to pay for news delivered on paper, but not expect to pay for the same story I read online? It costs something to hire reporters and editors and why shouldn't I, as a consumer of the news, pay for some of that cost?"
I agree with the mayor when he writes, "I'd rather not have just one daily news outlet. It would be better for democracy if there were a bunch," but I fervently disagree with the concept of charging for an online subscription to an online newspaper website. I am a firm believer that information should be free. Isn't it bad enough that when newspapers discontinue publishing on pulp they restrict access to reported information to those of us that have easy access to an internet connection? Now, on top of that, people should be expected to look at their shrinking bank accounts and ballooning credit card debts and determine which online newspapers should be subscribed to in order to get that information? Sad as it is for me to write, I don't think online newspaper subscriptions would survive the home budget ax.
