Saturday, October 18, 2003
Looking Back: the week in New York
I ended up coming down a cold and sore throat and canceling most of my Friday appointments. Hot tea at my brother’s apartment won out over seeing friends, especially since I had a 4 AM Saturday departure for the airport.
Some highlights of the week:
--Lunch at The Century Club, both for the amazing Stanford White building and my lunch partner’s conversation.
--Discussions about a new project that involves creating (and licensing) creative learning materials for an education-focused nonprofit that’s been running programs for many years, but has no products that can carry their message and bring them earned income.
--Talking with a former staffer and old friend who’s decided to go back to school and become a teacher. She was set on Hunter because she wanted to start classes this winter. I advised also checking out Bank Street and Columbia Teachers College. She went up to Bank Street and fell in love with the program--it feels good when advice is useful.
-- Board and committee meetings for Teachers Network, a curriculum and policy-focused nonprofit whose board I’ve joined.
--Seeing family: Staying with my brother and sister allowed me to spend time in the evenings with them, and with my nephews, ages 5, 7, and 10.
--Visiting Reverend Claude Jeter, the 89-year old lead singer of the Swan Silvertones, a friend of my husband’s who is considered one of the greatest Gospel singers of all time.
Low points:
--The difficult of finding Wi-Fi that worked for me in midtown and the absolute lack of any Wi-Fi in the Riverdale high-rises, meaning it was dial-up all the way.
--Similar problems with my cell phone, which had trouble finding a signal in Riverdale, South Salem, and too many parts of Manhattan. As soon as November 24th hits and I can keep my number, Sprint’s going to be history.
--New glasses: I am squinting, again.
Comment
Some highlights of the week:
--Lunch at The Century Club, both for the amazing Stanford White building and my lunch partner’s conversation.
--Discussions about a new project that involves creating (and licensing) creative learning materials for an education-focused nonprofit that’s been running programs for many years, but has no products that can carry their message and bring them earned income.
--Talking with a former staffer and old friend who’s decided to go back to school and become a teacher. She was set on Hunter because she wanted to start classes this winter. I advised also checking out Bank Street and Columbia Teachers College. She went up to Bank Street and fell in love with the program--it feels good when advice is useful.
-- Board and committee meetings for Teachers Network, a curriculum and policy-focused nonprofit whose board I’ve joined.
--Seeing family: Staying with my brother and sister allowed me to spend time in the evenings with them, and with my nephews, ages 5, 7, and 10.
--Visiting Reverend Claude Jeter, the 89-year old lead singer of the Swan Silvertones, a friend of my husband’s who is considered one of the greatest Gospel singers of all time.
Low points:
--The difficult of finding Wi-Fi that worked for me in midtown and the absolute lack of any Wi-Fi in the Riverdale high-rises, meaning it was dial-up all the way.
--Similar problems with my cell phone, which had trouble finding a signal in Riverdale, South Salem, and too many parts of Manhattan. As soon as November 24th hits and I can keep my number, Sprint’s going to be history.
--New glasses: I am squinting, again.
Comment
Dept of amusing coincidences: Newsweek, edition
Setting: An elevator at Newsweek in midtown Manhattan.
Players: Two Newsweek.com staffers and Steven Madoff, my 5ive business partner, who is in the building to meet a friend for lunch, and is taking the elevator up to her floor.
First Newsweeker (continuing a discussion begun before Steven gets in the elevator): “Is blogging a fad, or it is gong to be the next big thing?”
Second Newsweeker: “Well, Susan Mernit thinks it is going to be big.”
Steven (doing a double take): You know Susan Mernit?”
Second Newsweeker: “I read her blog.”
Naturally, conversation ensues and it turns out that the second Newsweeker is R.A., also k now as Multimedia Man, who used to work with me at an earlier job.
Comment
Players: Two Newsweek.com staffers and Steven Madoff, my 5ive business partner, who is in the building to meet a friend for lunch, and is taking the elevator up to her floor.
First Newsweeker (continuing a discussion begun before Steven gets in the elevator): “Is blogging a fad, or it is gong to be the next big thing?”
Second Newsweeker: “Well, Susan Mernit thinks it is going to be big.”
Steven (doing a double take): You know Susan Mernit?”
Second Newsweeker: “I read her blog.”
Naturally, conversation ensues and it turns out that the second Newsweeker is R.A., also k now as Multimedia Man, who used to work with me at an earlier job.
Comment
Friday, October 17, 2003
Last day in New York
I am staying in South Salem and working with my 5ive partner Steven today.
The trees are beautiful near his house.
Comment
The trees are beautiful near his house.
Comment
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Kevin Sites: War blogger back in business
Dan Gillmor reports that after CNN shut down Kevin Sites' blog, he left the network--and is now at MSNBC, where they're allowing him to blog. Kevin's latest post is from October 10th.
Kevin: "The blog is reopen for business. It has been seven months since this site went silent. Time for everyone to get back to work. To all of you who have made this place so interesting with your informed and intelligent discussions, I thank you. For all who have been so kind as to inquire about my welfare—I also thank you and apologize for not being able to respond."
Comment
Kevin: "The blog is reopen for business. It has been seven months since this site went silent. Time for everyone to get back to work. To all of you who have made this place so interesting with your informed and intelligent discussions, I thank you. For all who have been so kind as to inquire about my welfare—I also thank you and apologize for not being able to respond."
Comment
What if you were blogger in chief for the New York Times?
How sad that John Markoff disparages blogging. Seems kinda like dissing the telephone--hey buddy, it's a tool, not a cause.
Meanwhile, online news sites continue to think about blogs--and bloggers think about news sites:
Dave WinerSusan Mernit
Roland Tanglao
Comment
Meanwhile, online news sites continue to think about blogs--and bloggers think about news sites:
Dave WinerSusan Mernit
Roland Tanglao
Comment
Journalism and Blogging
There's lots of bytes being expended on how journalism and blogging line up together. as Tim Porter points out today. I'm in the middle of writing a piece about this topic, so will content myself to say that a genuine antipathy seems to be developing towards blogging on the part of some journalists, while some bloggers seem overly eager to be blessed accredited as journalists. The joke here, of course, is that readers don't make these distinction as carefully as the writers do.
Comment
Comment
Is Friendster worth more than a Tickle?
Quiz and personality test experts eMode just launched Tickle, a would-be Friendster-killer. Labeled "America's Social Network," a wonderful tag-line, Tickle asks for 7 screens of very detailed sign up data, providing committed users with dozens of excuses to strike up conversations.
Once I was signed up, the site directed me to a page saying there were 700,000 members in the network and asking my my favorite ice cream flavor (all the better to lick you with, my dear). I don't think Tickle actually has 700,000 names in its database already; I suspect that's the number of eMode users who have given the service permission to opt them in to new things.
Given how popular eMode has become, and how well they have done syndicating and distributing their quizzes to partners such as Cosmo Girl, I predict a bright and shiny future for Tickle.
ZDNet has a story on the launch; I'm going to check and see if anyone else has blogged this.
Comment
Once I was signed up, the site directed me to a page saying there were 700,000 members in the network and asking my my favorite ice cream flavor (all the better to lick you with, my dear). I don't think Tickle actually has 700,000 names in its database already; I suspect that's the number of eMode users who have given the service permission to opt them in to new things.
Given how popular eMode has become, and how well they have done syndicating and distributing their quizzes to partners such as Cosmo Girl, I predict a bright and shiny future for Tickle.
ZDNet has a story on the launch; I'm going to check and see if anyone else has blogged this.
Comment
Jay Rosen: Radical things about the weblog form in journalism
Jay Rosen has some don't miss observations here:
Ten Things Radical about the Weblog Form in Journalism:
" 1.) The weblog comes out of the gift economy, whereas most (not all) of today’s journalism comes out of the market economy.
2.) Journalism had become the domain of professionals, and amateurs were sometimes welcomed into it— as with the op ed page. Whereas the weblog is the domain of amateurs and professionals are the ones being welcomed to it, as with this page.
3.) In journalism since the mid-ninetheenth century, barriers to entry have been high. With the weblog, barriers to entry are low: a computer, a Net connection, and a software program like Blogger or Movable Type gets you there. Most of the capital costs required for the weblog to “work” have been sunk into the Internet itself, the largest machine in the world (with the possible exception of the international phone system.)"
And so in, all true.
Comment
Ten Things Radical about the Weblog Form in Journalism:
" 1.) The weblog comes out of the gift economy, whereas most (not all) of today’s journalism comes out of the market economy.
2.) Journalism had become the domain of professionals, and amateurs were sometimes welcomed into it— as with the op ed page. Whereas the weblog is the domain of amateurs and professionals are the ones being welcomed to it, as with this page.
3.) In journalism since the mid-ninetheenth century, barriers to entry have been high. With the weblog, barriers to entry are low: a computer, a Net connection, and a software program like Blogger or Movable Type gets you there. Most of the capital costs required for the weblog to “work” have been sunk into the Internet itself, the largest machine in the world (with the possible exception of the international phone system.)"
And so in, all true.
Comment
Rainier 'McBain' Wolfcastle is the cartoon parody of Schwarzenegger on The Simpsons
Personal scrapbook tools
Phil Glyforrd has an entry about the consumers' possible interest in tools for online scrapbooking. AOL has invested much effort in creating album capabilities for You've Got Pictures, their photo exchange area, and worked hard to integrate photo capabilities into AOL Journals, allowing users to discover the complimentery nature of these two products.
There definitely is interest in blogging tools that would better integrate images and words.
At BloggerCon, Dan Bricklin wished for a more nible drag and drop tool that woud allow him to insert photos into his blog and move and resize them on the fly. The room agreed the development dollars for this would be HUGE. That same weekend, Doc Searls shared a beautiful slide show he'd assembled of his mother's life as a homage to her. And at my recent family reunion party in Philly, I found myself wishing that the terrific video slide show Neil Korostoff produced about his parents could just be ported to thr web, for sharing with my son and others who weren't there.
Comment
There definitely is interest in blogging tools that would better integrate images and words.
At BloggerCon, Dan Bricklin wished for a more nible drag and drop tool that woud allow him to insert photos into his blog and move and resize them on the fly. The room agreed the development dollars for this would be HUGE. That same weekend, Doc Searls shared a beautiful slide show he'd assembled of his mother's life as a homage to her. And at my recent family reunion party in Philly, I found myself wishing that the terrific video slide show Neil Korostoff produced about his parents could just be ported to thr web, for sharing with my son and others who weren't there.
Comment
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
You've got New York Mag? Ex-AOLer to bid for NY Mag
Paul Corvino, former AOL sales and marketing exec, apparently plans to put in a bid for NY Magazine, according to a Business Wire post.
Comment
Comment
Jeff Jarvis gets written up in Editor & Publisher
Steve Outing touts Jeff for practicing 'citizen journalism' at the online news sites he oversees.
"Jarvis looks at community blogging as a way for a news organization to get to the hyper-local level. A motivated group of community members volunteer to write on a regular basis about something they know or care deeply about. They publish "news" and opinion about things that the news organization can't afford to cover....
Jarvis envisions a Google AdWords-like model, where advertising sales are automated. Local advertisers seeking low rates and selective targeting -- for example, a sporting goods store selling ads into a town's sports-related blogs -- will be a central target to fund the citizen-blog initiative. Advance also knows the ZIP codes of its customers (collected in a brief registration screen before Web-site content can be viewed), which will combine targeting by location with targeting by topic interest."
Outing ends the piece by saying "Remember Koz," an online community tool created by a business team lead by Frank Daniels, former head of Nando, but he forgets to mention Community Connection, a similar tool that Advance created and deployed across all its sites. You can still see it at community.nj.com--think of it as a blog like effort before there were blogs.
(Disclosure: Jeff and I worked together-along with a host of others--to create that application.
Comment
"Jarvis looks at community blogging as a way for a news organization to get to the hyper-local level. A motivated group of community members volunteer to write on a regular basis about something they know or care deeply about. They publish "news" and opinion about things that the news organization can't afford to cover....
Jarvis envisions a Google AdWords-like model, where advertising sales are automated. Local advertisers seeking low rates and selective targeting -- for example, a sporting goods store selling ads into a town's sports-related blogs -- will be a central target to fund the citizen-blog initiative. Advance also knows the ZIP codes of its customers (collected in a brief registration screen before Web-site content can be viewed), which will combine targeting by location with targeting by topic interest."
Outing ends the piece by saying "Remember Koz," an online community tool created by a business team lead by Frank Daniels, former head of Nando, but he forgets to mention Community Connection, a similar tool that Advance created and deployed across all its sites. You can still see it at community.nj.com--think of it as a blog like effort before there were blogs.
(Disclosure: Jeff and I worked together-along with a host of others--to create that application.
Comment
Feedster subscription tool: Didn't work well for moi
I just put my blog's RSS URL into the new toy Scott Johnson and Andrew Grumet whipped up to pull like blogs by keywords. Here's what I got:
My "High scoring words" were--
president chief executive
about
money
new york
one
wifi users
On this basis I got :
links to craig's list new york's list of admin jobs,
Insurance Journal,
News is Free news for Canada.
Guys, you better try again...great idea, execution still in development
Comment
My "High scoring words" were--
president chief executive
about
money
new york
one
wifi users
On this basis I got :
links to craig's list new york's list of admin jobs,
Insurance Journal,
News is Free news for Canada.
Guys, you better try again...great idea, execution still in development
Comment
Primedia gets Kelly Conlin, new CEO
This just in:
Priedia has named Kelly P. Conlin president and chief executive officer. He has served as president and chief executive office of International Data Group (IDG), ans as CNN's Chief Assignment Editor in New York during the network's start-up era.
At The New York Times, Conlin was a reporter for the paper's business section and later a strategic planning manager in the company's magazine group. In 1995, at the age of 35, he was named president of IDG,. Since leaving IDG in 2002, Conlin has been an advisor to a private investment firm specializing in equity investments in communications and media companies around the world.
Said Henry R. Kravis, a director of the Company:. "Our goal was to find a leader with experience in growing the top line organically and a proven track record of maximizing the potential of a broad portfolio of media assets. We are extremely fortunate to have found the perfect balance in Kelly. He is the ideal person to build on PRIMEDIA's core base of consumer and business-to-business properties and position the Company for the next phase of its development and success."
Comment
Priedia has named Kelly P. Conlin president and chief executive officer. He has served as president and chief executive office of International Data Group (IDG), ans as CNN's Chief Assignment Editor in New York during the network's start-up era.
At The New York Times, Conlin was a reporter for the paper's business section and later a strategic planning manager in the company's magazine group. In 1995, at the age of 35, he was named president of IDG,. Since leaving IDG in 2002, Conlin has been an advisor to a private investment firm specializing in equity investments in communications and media companies around the world.
Said Henry R. Kravis, a director of the Company:. "Our goal was to find a leader with experience in growing the top line organically and a proven track record of maximizing the potential of a broad portfolio of media assets. We are extremely fortunate to have found the perfect balance in Kelly. He is the ideal person to build on PRIMEDIA's core base of consumer and business-to-business properties and position the Company for the next phase of its development and success."
Comment
Do you use your neighbor's Wi-Fi?
44% of Wi-Fi users would take a peek at their neighbor's wireless network if they got the chance, 21% of Wi-Fi users can see their neighbor's wireless
LAN, and 25% have logged onto a neighbor's network to access the web or see files, according to a study and press release issued this week by 2Wire, Inc.
Do you ride on free networks in your neighborhood? Is it wrong? Weigh in, wise minds.
Comment
LAN, and 25% have logged onto a neighbor's network to access the web or see files, according to a study and press release issued this week by 2Wire, Inc.
Do you ride on free networks in your neighborhood? Is it wrong? Weigh in, wise minds.
Comment
Profound insights at Starbucks, NYC
9am, crisp and windy fall day in downtown NYC. 40 minutes early for an appointment, I pick up scones at the Greenmarket and head for Starbucks on Union Square. There are enough seats and wall outlets to make me think this Starbuck’s is a popular free agent (read consultants and the un/underplayed who have to escape their apartment) destination, but I’ve got the only laptop in the place--there are a number of students reading and making notes, some business folks chatting about the sushi blowout they had last night, and someone with a wailing cat tucked into a gym badge.
Profound insight #1: Half the people in this country are either working to get health insurance or working some odd pastiche of jobs as long as they can hold out.
Profound insight #2: Must-have luxury goods--bags, shoes, watches, coats in New York, nice cars, big trucks, and fully-loaded SUVS in the rest of the world re meant to cloak the unrest cause by #1.
Profound insight #3: People are getting fatter because they sit at home and eat in front of the TV, trying to block out the stress trigged by #1 and #2.
#4 Starbucks offers coffee and health insurance, and now, for a fee, Wi-Fi access. Maybe Howard Schultz should run for President?
Comment
Profound insight #1: Half the people in this country are either working to get health insurance or working some odd pastiche of jobs as long as they can hold out.
Profound insight #2: Must-have luxury goods--bags, shoes, watches, coats in New York, nice cars, big trucks, and fully-loaded SUVS in the rest of the world re meant to cloak the unrest cause by #1.
Profound insight #3: People are getting fatter because they sit at home and eat in front of the TV, trying to block out the stress trigged by #1 and #2.
#4 Starbucks offers coffee and health insurance, and now, for a fee, Wi-Fi access. Maybe Howard Schultz should run for President?
Comment
Web Gazing: Gotta Have It
From newsie Steve Outing: A Guardian story covers a survey by British research firm NOP that claims that for the first time the Internet has overtaken television in the amount of time that consumers spend with it. On average, according to the research, Internet users spend 3.5 hours a day on the Internet, and 2.8 hours watching television.
Comment
Comment
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Family Ties: The Closeness of Near and Far
One of the hard things about leaving NY was moving away from my brother and sister and their families.
But one of the surprises of coming back to New York--now that I actually live in California--is how rewarding it is to visit them when I come back to the city.
When I lived here, it was hard to get together, there was no time, we all had a million things to do.
Now that I am a visitor, I am a one time only offer, the schedules are cleared, and spending time together is a priority.
It is GREAT.
Who knew that going so far away would help bring us so close together?
Comment
But one of the surprises of coming back to New York--now that I actually live in California--is how rewarding it is to visit them when I come back to the city.
When I lived here, it was hard to get together, there was no time, we all had a million things to do.
Now that I am a visitor, I am a one time only offer, the schedules are cleared, and spending time together is a priority.
It is GREAT.
Who knew that going so far away would help bring us so close together?
Comment
(Un)love for Sale: Will AOL go on the block?
TW leaves the AOL off the name starting Thursday, and industry analysts predict a sale could be close behind.
Betting pool: Will Google buy AOL? Earthlink? SBC? Who is a good candidate to acquire the ISP?
Comment
Betting pool: Will Google buy AOL? Earthlink? SBC? Who is a good candidate to acquire the ISP?
Comment
Monday, October 13, 2003
What I've been reading
Airplane travel means novels and memoirs--here's my latest list:
READING: Volcano, by Garrett Hongo
"...What I cared about was the inner city, about my teenage life brooding on the social complexities of my integrated high school--unusual in that it was a third white, and a third black, and a third Japanese American. I cared about what it was it was I didn't see a whole lot of where I'd grown up. Compassion. I cared about what the family could give that the city could not. I cared that the complete brutality of ghetto life was not compensated for by anything I'd ever witnessed, by anything I could yet imagine. "
Hongo's memoir of growing up Hawaiian and Japanese in Los Angeles reminds me of writings by poets Phil Levine and Gary Soto, not a bad thing by any means.
READING: A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance, by Jane Juska.
This charming memoir mixes stories of 20-plus years as a writing teacher with amusihg accounts of a 66-year old woman's determination to have "sex, lots of it," before her next birthday. As Juska weaves her tale, her love affair with New York (she lived in Berkeley) emerges as the greatest of her passions..
READING: In the Country of the Young, by Lisa CareyThis entertaining literary page-turner spins the tale of Aisling, a ghostly dead girl reborn for a time, and Oisin, an emotionally scarred painter living on a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts. I could not put it down, even as the graceful writing grew heavy-handed in the last third of the novel.
Comment
READING: Volcano, by Garrett Hongo
"...What I cared about was the inner city, about my teenage life brooding on the social complexities of my integrated high school--unusual in that it was a third white, and a third black, and a third Japanese American. I cared about what it was it was I didn't see a whole lot of where I'd grown up. Compassion. I cared about what the family could give that the city could not. I cared that the complete brutality of ghetto life was not compensated for by anything I'd ever witnessed, by anything I could yet imagine. "
Hongo's memoir of growing up Hawaiian and Japanese in Los Angeles reminds me of writings by poets Phil Levine and Gary Soto, not a bad thing by any means.
READING: A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance, by Jane Juska.
This charming memoir mixes stories of 20-plus years as a writing teacher with amusihg accounts of a 66-year old woman's determination to have "sex, lots of it," before her next birthday. As Juska weaves her tale, her love affair with New York (she lived in Berkeley) emerges as the greatest of her passions..
READING: In the Country of the Young, by Lisa CareyThis entertaining literary page-turner spins the tale of Aisling, a ghostly dead girl reborn for a time, and Oisin, an emotionally scarred painter living on a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts. I could not put it down, even as the graceful writing grew heavy-handed in the last third of the novel.
Comment
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Figs on both coasts
I love fig trees--the way they look, the beautiful leaves, and the delicious figs. My neighbor in San Jose has a Black Mission fig tree whose figs I've been picking; today in Philly Spencer's great-uncle Irv brought me figs from his trees in Elkins Park, PA, which he wraps in burlap every winter to guard against frost. 
I never ate figs off the tree before this fall, and now I've tasted them on both coasts. Hopefully, sometime next year, I'll be able to plant some new fig trees of my own.
Comment
I never ate figs off the tree before this fall, and now I've tasted them on both coasts. Hopefully, sometime next year, I'll be able to plant some new fig trees of my own.
Comment
Family reunion fun
Spent the weekend offline in Philadelphia at a terrific family party--the 50th wedding anniversary of Spencer's great-aunt and uncle, Irv and Ethel Korostoff.
Imagine a hundred Jews coming into Philly from around the world--Israel, Russia, California, Florida, Texas, New York, DC, Williamsburg, VA, Los Angeles, Buffalo, etc, and ranging in age from 95 to 5 converging for a 3 day party--that was my weekend.
The great thing about it was that I realized I could easily be good friends with many of the people there in my age group-- Deborah Gussman, Neil Korostoff, Stacy Levy, Tori Gussman, David Gussman, and a score of others, most of them related to my husband in some way or another.
What a great family party!
Comment
Imagine a hundred Jews coming into Philly from around the world--Israel, Russia, California, Florida, Texas, New York, DC, Williamsburg, VA, Los Angeles, Buffalo, etc, and ranging in age from 95 to 5 converging for a 3 day party--that was my weekend.
The great thing about it was that I realized I could easily be good friends with many of the people there in my age group-- Deborah Gussman, Neil Korostoff, Stacy Levy, Tori Gussman, David Gussman, and a score of others, most of them related to my husband in some way or another.
What a great family party!
Comment
