Wikipedia- Is it what it seems?

Wikipedia was founded on the idea that anyone can contribute or edit an entry with their own information. Information, of course, not ideas or opinions or thoughts or musings. But information, facts.

However it seems that Wikipedia has been forced to go back on its word, and the ideals it stands for are slowly changing as the site becomes more protective of its content.

Jesus, for instance, is a locked entry, edits cannot be made to the page.

It sounds a bit like what is nice in principal doesn’t really work in the real world. In the real world, people don’t all want to provide genuine valuable knowledge to a base of information. Some people just want to be vandals.

There are a total of 82 entries that are ‘protected’ and another 179 entries, including George W. Bush, Islam and Adolf Hitler that are “semi-protected”.

But how far should Wikipedia go to protect its pages? At what point does protection go to far and “anyone can edit’ becomes ‘only a few qualified people can edit this page, bad luck for you. go away’? Because when Wikipedia reaches that point, I think it’s lost its point.

Here’s a list of all of the protected entries.

Bloggers: ripe for the pitching?

One of the new frontiers for public relations professionals (one of which I aspire to be) is pitching bloggers. They’re nearly as valid (and sometimes have just as many readers) as traditional news outlets, so why shouldn’t we get in touch with them about a story that may be of interest?

In my experience, it’s hit or miss, some bloggers like to be contacted and others don’t. And there are plenty of rules out there on how to do it- as well as how NOT to do it.

One blog that consistently teaches lessons on good and bad pitching techniques is The Bad Pitch Blog.

Another blog with some good ideas on pitching, including the ideas below, is here:

• Address the blogger by his/her name, or just say “hi.” Never say “dear editor” or “dear sir/madam” (honest, I get pitches addressed that way.)
• Don’t tell anyone they “must” or “should” write a story or book a guest. Instead, explain why the topic is of interest and why this person an expert worth knowing. Don’t be cute.
• Reporters and bloggers all follow headlines. Explain how the idea or person you are pitching ties into a current news item or a trend.
• Let the blogger know you’ve at least looked at the publication and see if you can find something to praise. For God’s sake though, don’t say “Loved your great post the other day” unless you read it and you mean it. People who look at dozens of releases and pitches a day can pick up on baloney faster than a hungry hound.
• Don’t whine if you don’t get coverage by saying you “can’t believe” the blogger didn’t include, won’t write about, haven’t heard of XYZ company.
• Bloggers aim to provide a personal view of the news. They write in conversational style as an antidote to the canned news of traditional media. Why would you send a canned PR-speak pitch?
• Run your content through Bullfighter or similar software to be sure it is bullshit and jargon-free before you send it out.

Why ebooks will never catch on

I really hate the idea of reading a book on a computer screen. Books are meant to he touched, pages are meant to be flipped, and then they’re meant to be put on your shelf as decoration until the next time you or someone else picks them up again.

I love all gadgets, I always want the latest device, but for some reason electronic books sound like the worst thing ever invented. And I’m not the only one who thinks this. David Pogue agrees in an article he’s written for the New York Times, here:

“So e-book readers keep on coming and keep on flopping: the Rocket eBook Reader. Gemstar. Everybook. SoftBook. Librius Millennium Reader. The Sony Reader is in stores even now, priced at $350 and making literally dozens of sales.”

But when you stop and think about it, we are willing to move from vinyl to mp3 with ease. We went from cassette tape to CD quickly enough. But why are we so attached to paper and ink?

Here’s a video about the Amazon.com Kindle, which is the e-book that has gotten critical reviews indicating it could be the first e-book with potential to catch on- and allows for reading of much more than just books, it goes online too. What do you think?

Social Communities and Facebook Etiquette

A few weeks ago in class we talked about Social Software and Networked Communities. The community I am most familiar with is Facebook. I’m not sure if it’s really a networked community for me, as the community on facebook is my RL (real life) community as well. All of my Facebook friends are my RL friends. It is most certainly a social software for me, and enables me to reach people who, were it not for the internet, I would probably have let slip out of my life a long time ago. Particularly because I have a lot of friends overseas in different countries, it allows my own personal ‘community’ to include more than just the people who are physically or geographically close by. Instead, the defining factors of my communities are:

• We grew up together in Richmond, VA
• We went to Elon University together
• We worked together at Bite Communications in NYC
• We have shared mutual friends
• We met at Curtin University in Perth….

The list goes on and on. These separate communities would remain separate, and in fact would no longer be my communities, were it not for the internet and social software. It makes me thankful for the world I live in now, but also reminds me how it is so very much more possible to live overseas and still keep contact with home, but 20 years ago this was not the case at all (and probably this is a reason many people stayed close to home when they grew up).

Thinking about Facebook also made me think about the different ways of communicating we have on a social networking site versus the real world. This is a funny article on Facebook etiquette, but it’s quite true. Here are some, can you think of any other do’s and dont’s of online communities?

• One should not friend another whom they have no association or connection with whatsoever. Doing so makes you a ‘creeper’.
• Poke with moderation and caution.
• When speaking with someone whom you have been casually ‘facebook stalking’, try to pretend you do not know everything about them. Avoid comments like: “So, I saw you and Mike broke up on facebook…”

Mobile phones and the mobile internet

A long time ago, phones were phones. My boyfriend’s grandmother owns one such phone. It’s old fashioned, to dial a number you have to spin the little wheel with your finger in the little hole, and she has no voicemail. If she’s not home, too bad. In the shower, too bad. Getting her mail, too bad. You just call back.

I compare that to my phone. I have no landline in my apartment, only my mobile phone. I use it to take photos, videos, check my email, message friends on sms, message friends on facebook, keep track of how long to boil eggs with the stopwatch, check the calendar, and play music.

Phones are becoming small personal computers, hubs of contact. In the US, Blackberrys were extremely common, even among the non-business types. Paris Hilton owns a pink sparkly one. I would guess that Australia is headed in that direction.

As Rheingold points out in this week’s reading, digital devices are ‘mating’. Our phones mated with our computers to create mobile internet. Now they are mating with our TV’s creating mobile entertainment.

All of these mobile digital mediums are making us more portable than we have ever been. Offices are not necessary, as meetings can be conducted anywhere. Travel doesn’t take us quite as far away as it did 20 years ago… our mums can sms us even when we’re riding camels in the Sahara desert.

All of this makes us an incredibly mobile society: always switched on, always connected. For some, it’s a relief or a safety net. For others, it’s a constant burden they can’t get away from.

What’s next in mobile technology? It will be interesting to see how our personal digital devices meld with each other, much like the way the iPhone has combined music, messaging, phone calls and life organisation applications.

Online Documentary Topic

I’ve finally chosen my topic for my online documentary. I had to single it out from several other great ideas, including:

Expat Americans in Melbourne

Collingwood supporters

Sororities in the US (one of which I was/am a member

But finally narrowed it down to Fitzroy, the suburb, where I am currently living. I’ve had so many people express so many opinions of the place to me, plus I’m just getting to know it as well, and think it’s a fantastic community with a bit of underdog spirit, a little feisty-ness, and a whole lot going on at once.

I think I’ll be using mainly photography to represent the community, as I think it’s something best witnessed just walking down the street and seeing all the people.

But the members of the community are the best to speak to what makes Fitzroy what it is, and I’ll be interviewing them as well. The difficult part will be getting strangers on the street to open up to me, and even more difficult will be getting them to open up to being video-recorded or at least having their photos taken so that I can provide some sort of visual to accompany their stories.

There are also plenty of blogs focused on Fitzroy, the best of which is Fitzroyalty.

Web addict

I read a column in MX today written by Gwendoline Watson on web addiction. She explains that she was recently house sitting for a friend who didn’t have internet, and she struggled to accomplish anything without first turning to the web. Without online movie reviews, google maps, banking, TV listings, she couldn’t do a thing!

I have recently been in the same situation. I’m an internet addict, I love using the internet to find out about local restaurants, movies, TV shows, recipes for dinner, etc etc etc. If it can be done over the web, I do it there. But I just moved into a new apartment and it’s been quite a new experience not to be 24/7 connected. I’m working on installing wireless in the place, but it’ll be at least a month before I can sort it all out, and in the meantime I’m learning to accomplish everyday tasks without my computer. I’d say it’s definitely good for me, but I also have to admit that I’ll be thrilled when my computer gets back online and I can return to my connected life.

Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Hyperactive Minds

Today in class we discussed hypertext and how stories are no longer told in one direction, along one length of narrative. On the internet, there is no first and last page. It reminds me a bit of the books I used to read when I was young that had options at the end of each chapter. Suzy and Bobbie would be in a predicament and the reader had to choose their next move, taking the story in a different direction. By the end of the story the outcome could be completely different depending on the choices made during the story.

Nowadays, I find myself doing the same thing when using the internet. However, I think sometimes this prevents me from ever getting the full story or having the patience to fully explore something before moving on. The perfect example is the Wikipedia page. I try to read an entry, but find a link along the way that seems interesting and click it. Soon I’m in another entry, then another, never having taken the time to fully explore one.
People are becoming more and more unable to focus on one thing at one time, and I’m a chief culprit. On the whole, being able to take our own direction through information is a good thing, but if it keeps us from staying focused long enough to determine the right direction to take, keeping us moving on to the first semi-interesting new story without making a conscious decision, then it’s like flicking through TV channels at every ad break and, in the end, never seeing understanding one show completely.
For a hilarious take on the ‘Internet Attention Deficit Crisis’, check out this blog entry.

Also, check out this attention test video.

Some thoughts on blogging

I’ve been blogging for several years now, mainly about my own personal life. Because I have a tendency to travel far away from my friends and family, as well as acquire new friends along the way and then travel far away from them, it’s been important for me to be able to keep in touch somehow. Writing personal emails to everyone I know is impossible, but blogs have allowed me to post the happenings of my life, plus photos, for friends and family to check whenever they have the time.

While I was living in New York and working for a PR consultancy, the company had a blog that all employees were invited to post on. The idea was that the blog would act as a discussion forum for new developments in technology as well as public relations. I only wrote once, I found it quite difficult to maintain an entry, which required me to respond to all responses and trackbacks. Instead, I liked commenting on other people’s posts.

I’ve thought for quite a while about starting my own blog discussion issues in PR and technology, since this is my specialty, but I’ve been put off by examples of young PR professionals being ripped to shreds by more experienced and well known bloggers. I’ve seen many times where a young blogger writes something about the state of PR and gets berated for his thoughts, to the point where the trackbacks and comments become impossible to respond to. In fact, there was an example a few years ago of a blogger who worked for one of the big firms in NYC and had a personal blog, then wrote about why women are much more commonly found in PR than men. It was cheeky and a bit bold, but he wasn’t entirely wrong, however he received such criticism that his company sacked him.

I think I will focus this blog primarily on sites on the internet that are useful and make connecting with others easier. There are millions of social sites out there, many that do very cool things and are relatively unknown. I have a few favourites, but I’ll also try to find some new ones that even I didn’t know about. Hopefully readers will share some too!

Hello WordPress. And RMIT.

I’ve been blogging for several years now, switching between platforms (right now I’m hooked on blogger) but I’ve been asked to blog for my degree, Masters of Communication at RMIT here on WordPress. So here goes, another blog, maybe to become my ‘real’ blog by the end of it. I’m not converting all my followers of my other blog just yet, but hopefully this will be a 12-week test for something new.