The Taste of Home cooking school arrived in Beloit on Tuesday for a show, and I had the opportunity to play photographer for a day. It didn’t take me long to realize it has been years since I handled a digital (or even regular) SLR camera. I decided to use the strategy ‘if you can’t shoot good photos, shoot lots of photos.’ I was actually quite pleased with how most of the images turned out, and received my first print photo credit in BDN yesterday.

Here is a Soundslide gallery of the better shots.

Don’t forget to check out the corresponding BDN article.

Origionally published on BDN Blogs.

The Internet changes everything. Newspapers and other media companies are learning they can provide informations to consumers in new and interesting ways. Some are slow to grasp the potential of the web, while others lead the way.

James Lileks, columnist for the Minneapolis – St. Paul Star Tribune gets it.

Last week a colleague sent me a link to a video Lileks did called “More tales from the scary front lines of flu defense.” Go watch it now, it is quite brilliant. The video is funny, cleaver and informative. More importantly – it was done by a newspaper.

I am excited to see news organizations moving outside their comfort zone. A few years ago this video would have been considered unprofessional for a daily newspaper. Some likely still feel that way. Still, others are willing challenge the established “newspaper norms.”

I hope more newspapers take a chance with similar spectacular results.

From the website:

Our goal is to create a collaborative community of individuals, businesses, and non-profits. We feel that the content is the invitation into this community and we didn’t want to make the invitation too expensive. We thought about what we like and respect, and we decided that what Radiohead did meshed with where our heads are  at. So meet the new model for GOOD.

Publicity stunt – maybe, but it was enough to get me to cough up $10 for a subscription to the magazine.

Upon subscribing, Good lets you choose which non-profit your donation goes to from a list of 12.  My donation went to 826 National — a group that provides free educational assistance for in-need students.

This is by no means a bad deal for Good.  Many magazines give away subscriptions in order to improve circulation.  Increased subscription rates mean the magazine can charge more for advertising. The charitable donation won me over.

What are your thoughts? The site promises an update on October 22.  Check back here for a follow up as well.  If you subscribe, please leave a comment saying how much you paid for your subscription.

View the announcement/subscribe here.

Plastic Logic yesterday announced their new product, known currently as the reader.  Similar to Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s eReader, the unnamed reader uses E Ink technology, which provides a digital display with a similar look and feel as a book.  From Plastic Logic’s Web site:

Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it’s thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience – better than alternatives of paper or other electronic readers on the market today.

The reader will be released in spring of 2009.  The question is what – if any impact will this have on the newspaper industry?

A big issue will be the price.  The reader is aimed at the business class, and can read PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and PDF documents.  Thus, the initial price will probably be similar to the Kindle (around $300).  However, what if newspapers gave one of these away with a one or two subscription?  Each morning, you could press a button and have the paper delivered instantly.  Also, this would cut costs for the newspaper, as printing and delivery are a significant percent of the production cost.

Could this help rejuvenate falling subscription rates for newspapers?
I believe it’s only a matter of time before we find out.  What are your thoughts?  Add them in the comments.

Plastic Logic’s press release

NY Times article on the reader

In a bid to offset slumping ad sales and rising costs, The Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis., said Thursday it will publish the majority of its 118-year-old paper on the Internet starting this fall.

The afternoon paper, which has a circulation of about 6,000, will print only two issues a week, down from its current six. It wasn’t clear yet which days the paper will print, said Ron Brochu, executive editor.

The Superior/Duluth area provides a similar example to Madison – an area with two dailies basically in the same town.  I wish the paper luck, and plan to watch closely as changes take place at The Daily Telegram.

The Onion. Wow, with the headlines in the Onion, it seems they never left Madison. The “Dying Newspaper Trend” article is ripped right from local media (including this site), while the “‘Get the fuck outta the road’ program” should be directed towards the students at the UW. The Onion also provided a great summer movie preview, that helps me hate Hollywood even more.

77 Square. Yes, we’ve all heard numerous jokes about the name. However, when I first moved to Madison from Milwaukee, I was extremely disappointed in the “Rhythm” section compared to the Journal’s “Weekend Cue.” It was absolutely pathetic to have a weekend paper that devoted at most two paragraphs to the cover story each week. While I admit I may be slightly bias (since my article appeared in the first issue), 77 Square is the best weekend section I’ve seen in a long time. Packed with a ton of articles on everything from music to cloths; food to sports, 77 Square has quickly become my favorite of the local weekly. Well played Cap Times.

Isthmus. I will leave my take on the Isthmus overall for another day. Two articles jump out this week as exceptional. The Zimmerman – 911 article had every other news organization in the city scrambling to catch up. Also, the “Are you ready for digital TV” article is well written and provides needed information about the transition to HD next year. I did find it curious that the Isthmus started begging for demographic information in their “readership survey” the same week that The Cap Times launched their new weeklies. Hum…a little worried?

The Cap Times. I’m guessing it’s partially because I didn’t know what to expect from this magazine, but I reserve judgment on The Cap Times for another day.

I hope to do this again soon, possibly every week

Change is all around in Madison. Drive by where University Square was once located, past the Chazen Art Museum and the addition to Granger Hall.

Change is not limited to campus. Downtown is in a constant state of flux. The west side continues to grow. Even the suburbs seldom remain the same.

For those not from Madison, change is noticeable when you visit your hometown. A favorite clothing store is replaced by Target; the local drug store is now a Walgreen’s.

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory,” — W. Edwards Deming

Change happens for a reason. The old becomes new because people demand it.

A recent Zogby poll says that 48 percent of respondents say the Internet is their primary source of news and information. This is an increase of 8 percent from a year ago.

“You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell how it’s going to begin.” — Neo, “The Matrix.”

Change brings mixed emotions. People may be intimidated, as change replaces the known with the unknown.

The Capital Times is changing. Starting today, the print edition of the paper that has survived over 90 years will cease to exist. Roughly 17,000 subscribers in Madison will lose their newspaper.

However, The Capital Times will not disappear. Rather, it will transform.

CapTimes.com will continue the tradition of the newspaper on the Internet. The website is supplemented by two weekly magazines. One will cover entertainment, while the other focuses on editorial.

“Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change,” — Confucius
Related:
The Capital Times: Is change good?
The changing face of newspapers

……..

“The times have changed so dramatically since I got into this business,” says Rob Zaleski, a columnist for The Capital Times as he paces before a room of aspiring journalists.

“You might think twice about going into the newspaper business,” says Zaleski, admitting it is the first time he has ever said this.

“At The Capital Times, which has existed for 90 years, they dropped a bombshell on our laps last week and announced that at the end of April they would no longer have a print edition,” says Zaleski.

The paper announced it would move operations to the web from a daily newspaper. Two weekly print supplements will appear in the other Madison newspaper, the Wisconsin State Journal.

“I don’t think any of us saw this coming,” says Zaleski. “That’s an entirely different beast for a journalist. I think that’s a sad day for writing.”

Zaleski spent 26 years at The Capital Times, but knew at age 14 that he wanted to be a journalist.

“Nothing was going to stop me from this dream,” he says.

Zaleski grew up in Bay View, on the south side of Milwaukee. He excelled in English, but did not care much about other subjects. He says he believes he still holds the lowest score on a geometry test with a 19 percent.

After high school, Zaleski attended the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He dropped out after his junior year “mainly because I wanted to be a sports writer, and I heard about a part-time job at the Milwaukee journal covering high school sports, and I talked my way into the job.”

“Back in those days, you didn’t need a degree,” says Zaleski.

Zaleski became a sports editor at the Green Bay Daily News. By 25, he was living his childhood dream of covering the Packers.

Zaleski moved to Madison in 1976 to work for United Press International. At the time, UPI was the top wire service competition for the Associated Press.

In 1981, Zaleski took a job at The Capital Times as its sports editor. He covered the Brewers World Series run in 1982 before becoming a features columnist for the paper.

Zaleski has written columns and features for the paper since 1984. One of his favorite topics is overpopulation, although he did earn the wrath of a fifth-grade class when he wrote “one does not move to South Dakota, one gets sentenced there.”

Zaleski has his doubts about his newspaper becoming an online entity.

“Nobody in the newspaper industry has yet to figure out how they’re going to raise revenue off an Internet newspaper.”

“Right now, advertisers are still reluctant to buy ads on the Internet,” says Zaleski. “If you don’t have advertising revenue coming in, and people are getting the news free on the Internet, how do you pay for the salaries of your staff?”

Like others at The Capital Times, Zaleski is uncertain about his future.

“I feel like I’m the chopping block,” says Zaleski. “They’ve eliminated my position basically, so I’m going to have to apply for a new job.”

“We have to reapply for all our jobs,” says Zaleski.

“The bad news for a grizzled middle-aged reporter is,” says Zaleski; “Is anyone going to hire us?”

The Pulitzer is the most prestigious award a news writer can win. Umhoefer won the award for an investigation published last summer detailing pension deals for county workers.

This is the first Pulitzer for the Journal Sentinel, and I congratulate Umhoefer on the honor.

Read more at JSOnline.com

2. Always shoot first. Every good leader should be willing to do what he or she asks of her team. One of the reasons for the loyalty of the ragtag crew of Serenity, the ship Malcolm Reynolds captains in Firefly, is that Mal will throw himself into battle to protect his team. Whenever he has a crazy scheme or rescue mission in mind, he takes the first plunge. Lesson learned? Show your crew that you’re willing to take a bullet for them, and they’ll do the same for you.

Complete list can be viewed here.