photo galleries: fixed

Add comment November 30th, 2007

thanks for your patience. one little code or protocol error can blow everything out of whack.

photo galleries

Add comment November 30th, 2007

sorry for the bad timing:

we’re having technical difficulties with our photo galleries the morning after our excalibur/excelsior awards reception. we will fix them as soon as possible.

way beyond facebook and myspace

Add comment November 30th, 2007

i heard a story on “marketplace” about how social networking will probably become a feature in everything we do, not just a destination web site.

the example used: a mom in your play group schedules a play date, and and the calendar item automatically shows up on your calendar. or your photo album “talks to” other people’s blogs.

wow, imagine the possibilities.

we all need editors

Add comment November 27th, 2007

there are lots of things out there that i could blog about (like this or this or this), but i’d like to shine light on a topic rarely mentioned or defended in the business: copy editing.

copy editors are the people who work nights, weekends, holidays and, more and more, daytimes to make sure copy is clean, accurate and easy to understand. they tweak cutlines. they write headlines. they catch when you type “goutmutt” instead of “gourmutt” (a dog biscuit business, not a dog with gout). they post to the web. they design pages. they scour the news wires.

some may view copy editors unneccessary these days or see a way to centralize the work, but john mcintyre of the baltimore sun argues otherwise. he’s a longtime editor, educator and defender of the craft. i saw him at an american copy editors society convention in 1999 because i once was a copy editor, too.

as we deliver news and information to multiple platforms, copy editors have become increasingly important in our room. and their skills have broadened greatly. so i say, “save the copy editor.”

wow, what a contest

Add comment November 19th, 2007

when we at rockford woman created a holiday gift giveaway contest, i was optimistically hoping for 1,000 entries. i’m happy to report that we drew nearly double that: 1,914.

the winners are:

grand prize: mary buskohl of rockton. she won $60 worth of stocking stuffings.

first place: lisa schlichting of rockford, sterling silver and amber earrings from cusco jack’s

second place: cynthia rodriguez of rockford, a manicure gift certificate from bliss beauty lounge

third place: alisa mcguire of rockford, wilco scentsation candles

fourth place: linda morgan of rockford, chocolates from chocolat by daniel.

congrats, ladies!

making newspapers sexy

1 comment November 19th, 2007

i have to admit i fell for buying the people magazine that lists its 2007 picks for sexiest men alive.

therein, tom ford, ceo and fashion designer, says one of the five things a sexy man needs is a daily newspaper. “a sexy man needs to be informed.”

mm-k. when i went to link to his site, i have to say he believes in sexy: there was a warning for sexually explicit images. and believe me, they are.

(fyi, the image above is from askmen.com.)

News now

Add comment November 18th, 2007

Interesting — and long — article by Terry Heaton about how the media should post news and information as it happens. Adopt a news-now model where the deadline is always now. Lots of newsrooms live by print-cycle deadlines. That can’t be the culture in our newsrooms much longer.

Back

Add comment November 17th, 2007

Made it back to Rockford on Tuesday evening and played catchup at work Wednesday-Friday, so I am just getting a chance to write about my trip to Canton now.

I had a nice time in Ohio, where I got to talk again about Web-first publishing and see our former managing editor, Jeff Gauger, who is now the top editor at The Canton Repository.

I made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, too, and got to see all my beloved Packers who are there. Even the football Brett Favre threw to break Dan Marino’s touchdown record was there. I had my photo taken with Brett. Uh, Brett’s jersey and football.

another web site makeover

2 comments November 12th, 2007

msnbc.com, one of my favorite national news sites, has revamped its look and navigation.

i’m still getting used to it, but overall i like it a lot: it’s clean, offers a lot of entry points and allows you to customize.

for example, local news from wrex, the nbc affiliate, feeds into the local area if you set that up (though it looks like the feed needs some work).

or you can move sports down and business up. or you can view more headlines or fewer.

Hello, Canton

Add comment November 12th, 2007

Arrived in Canton last night and will head over to the Canton Repository in about an hour. I’ll get to see my former boss, Jeff Gauger, again. He left the Register Star this summer to be the top editor here in Canton. I’ll talk to his staff and journalists from The Times-Reporter, The Independent and The Suburbanite about the benefits of posting news to the Web and not waiting for the next day’s newspaper. I gave this talk in Boston a couple weeks ago. I am excited to do it all over again.