Good Reputation Sleeping

Eye Track, 2007

Navigating slide shows: What do people choose when every choice is possible?.

"But perhaps the most interesting observation was the very low level usage of the non-linear approach (and when it was used, how few slides were observed.) Is the linear orientation to looking through material so hard-wired into our media usage that it is, and will continue to be, the preferred way to take in media? Even when it was visual information – as this was – and did not logically need to follow a narrative thread – people preferred to move through in the order it was presented. What does this observation tell us about innovation in digital storytelling and our audience’s tolerance for new design paradigms."

Thanks Richard!

Japanese Beats

Brilliantly Fun!
(But it takes a few seconds to load!)

(click the speaker icon to turn the music off!)

Uniqlock!
Keeping Time and Selling Polo Shirts; One Beat per Second!

Sunday Reads

Links to some stuff I'm reading...

* hitotoki - A Narrative Map of Tokyo

* Sen. Ben Nelson's Iraq CODEL Google Map

Another Google Map mashup; this one highlighting the senator's recent fact-finding trip to Iraq. Well done with pics and video.

* Adventures in Publishing - nytimes.com - Then (1996) and Now (2007)

A very interesting look at the visual development of the leading newspaper brand on the web. Can you say consistent?

* Monocle Magazine

A throw back to those great big fat 'European' books of the last century. The website is good, the printed version is better. Hope they can keep this up!

Evolution

Ever since the Tower of Babel, effective communication has been a work in progress. Communication on the web is no different. As journalists, one would think we'd have this figured out. Sadly, we don't.

Here are a couple of attempts at evolving the way we communicate with our audience from The Sunday New York Times.

- 'At Home Again in the Unknown'

Great article about my favorite Icelandic treat, bjork. Online, the article is 'spiced-up' with audio from the interview. A small, but very meaningful value-add. I love being able to hear her voice and I love being able to get some additional content I don't have to read.

- 'How YouTube Helped Lisa Nova Start Her Career'

LisaNova has been one of my YouTube subscriptions from the start. She is droll and bust a gut funny at the same time. She is also timely; able to riff off the current culture at the drop of a hat; her latest, 'LisaNova Does 300' may be her best.

Nice, short and sweet piece in the Times about her rise - and for anyone who thinks YouTube is a fad...please pay attention!

twitter

I don't know what to make of twitter.

I have been playing with it for a week or two and am still looking for the 'killer app'.
The technology that allows this instant ability to communicate is wonderful, but to what end?

Lots of new stuff to play with lately; have you checked out ustream?

I have been checking out the NYT tweets.

Is this the future of headline delivery?

Citizen! Diss-Rupt!

Exiled journalists circumvent censors by text messaging | CNET News.com.

We Like This!

"A radio station hounded out of the country by Zimbabwean strongman President Robert Mugabe has found its e-mails are monitored and shortwave broadcasts are blocked by Chinese-built jamming devices, the station manager said at a press freedom conference here on Friday.

But, said SW Radio Africa founder Gerry Jackson, the censors haven't caught on yet to text messaging. It's a challenge to compress "the complexity of Zimbabwe's news into 160 characters including spaces," Jackson said. "That's what I do every day."

More Signal, Less Noise

More Signal, Less Noise
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

Every once in while something neat breaks through the corporate creativity firewall.

Washington Post videographer Jenn Crandall's onBeing takes a simple idea and brings it to the people in the Washington, D.C. community. Rob Curley and his posse provide an interface and user experience that is both familiar (can you say iTunes?) and fun!

Web video, done right!

Updates on a Roll

Dr. John Maeda
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

- My life-hacking experience with Dr. Maeda was wonderful. We talked for over an hour; what a fascinating artist! I hope to find some time to head north to the Media Lab for the full effect.

- I lost my godmother over the holidays. It has been hard to write about; she was one of my parents closest friends and it reminds me of their own mortality. She was also the crazy aunt I never had, helping keep me 'real' and introducing me, to among other things, girls!

Death is a reminder to make the life you have the one you want.

- Recently had this piece published on poynter.org; its a 'rant' designed to call people out. Our industry is in turmoil but it doesn't have to be that way. Journalism has been elitist for too long, time to open the gates and let the people in to look around!

The operative word is ENGAGE.
Engage your community, engage your bloggers, engage your critics; learning shouldn't stop when we get a press card, if anything, it should become part of the job.

Stepping In It

MarketWatch's Bambi Francisco takes on Yahoo. What she says, however, can be applied to almost all media companies trying to fit in to the interwebs.

Random Thoughts on a Roll

10 Minutes in N.Y.
Originally uploaded by Burnt Pixel.

- Presentations and the "Laws of Simplicity"

- 2006, Brought to You by You

- YouTube Quick Capture

- Not Boasting, Even Though He Could

- Maeda's Simplicity