Sunday, January 9, 2005

Podcasting news... and podcasting news WNYC in New York announces that it will podcast its NPR-syndicated program, "On the Media," with more to follow. If the word "podcast" is still new to you, follow any of the links below. "We're thrilled that WNYC selected On the Media as its first podcast," said OTM co-host Bob Garfield. "For one thing, we've been following the evolution of the blogosphere for years. Secondly, our show consumes blogs like some people consume doughnuts. But mainly, we know our listeners will 'get it.' Many will latch right on, which can only increase the show's impact on the debates surrounding media, politics and culture in our country and in our world." If I'm reading the article correctly, the show can be downloaded for podcasts at www.onthemedia.org on the Friday before it is broadcast on NPR. Meanwhile, MIT's Technology Review has an item headed Get Ready for Podcasting that begins, "You heard it here first: the technology word of the year for 2005 will be podcasting. Definitions vary (which is typical for a brand new phenomenon) ... By Wade Roush." If you were reading this blog back in October, you heard something similar... but that's only because I was reading (and listening to) Dave Winer and Adam Curry as they cooked up this neat cross between weblogs and radio over the past year. Unfortunately, my new microphone set-up isn't working yet, so I can't celebrate Elvis's birthday by posting my own first podcast tonight. I thought of playing this tune on my mandolin and talking about the history of the tune, just as a test. (If you don't have a mandolin handy, here's a MIDI file to hear a computer play the tune. It actually celebrates a Jan. 8 connection to an earlier Tennessee hero -- Andrew Jackson winning the Battle of New Orleans.) Maybe next weekend I'll get back to my own podcast experiments, but school comes first... 11:16:23 PM     Bits and pieces from the aggregator BusinessWeek: The Future of The New York Times. BusinessWeek examines The New York Times in light of a persistently low stock value and several journalisitc scandals. The dean of the journalism school at the University of California-Berkeley suggests mass media is breaking up and many other sources will hold power and have influence. Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., acknowledges the need to move into cyberspace. While hoping quality journalism will bring them success, the Times is also enhancing content, working on multimedia projects, and increasing sales to people outside of New York. The article takes a look at developments since Jayson Blair's fabricated articles came to light and discusses how the new management wants to move forward. It also covers issues like advertising revenue, free and other language editions, expansion at the International Herald Tribune, and the Web sites. I didn't notice anything about the use of feeds. (The article mentions The Boston Globe now owns a large stake in The Boston Metro, a free newspaper distributed around the Boston area.) Some BusinessWeek content is restricted to subscribers. [from j's scratchpad] Your Daily Paper, Courtesy of a Sponsor. Newspaper publishers are relying on the home delivery of free samples, paid for by advertisers, to raise paid circulation figures. [from NYT > Home Page] Can Internet volunteers improve journalism? CNet has an interview with the founder of Wikipedia about Wikinews, in its early stages as a site for news written on a peer review model. 10:33:45 PM

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