Good Reads, Feb. 16-22, 2013

There’s a little bit of something for everyone in here this week. Lots of technology and marketing, of course – email tips, writing advice, great information on Google’s search algorithm for Google News – but there are some really good reads around bigger themes as well. Themes like innovation (new ways to think about association membership, and the direction technology will take in the near future, for example). Continue reading

Cleanliness Is Next to… Effectiveness?

Antique filing cabinet

Behold...the antique oak filing cabinet that was handed down to me by my mother. Will I be more productive now that I can see the top of it?

I’m cleaning my home workspace to make room – well, honestly, to make it presentable – for an exchange student who is coming to stay with my family in a couple of weeks. Our house is a small one, and my home office space is at one end of our spare bedroom. It includes the family filing cabinet and a desk, in addition to my computer table, and stuff tends to accumulate. A lot of stuff. I’m too embarrassed to tell you how much stuff, but it’s honestly enough to justify the term “anal-expulsive”. ‘Nuff said. Continue reading

Valentine’s Love from a Journalist turned Web Strategist

Antique shop ValentineYes, it’s Valentine’s Day. And that has me thinking about the things I love as a professional, things that make my life richer or easier or both. As a journalist turned website and electronic communications strategist, it’s a fairly wide-ranging list. Here are just a few of the things I really am appreciating today: Continue reading

Book Review: Uprising

Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street” – by John Nichols, Washington correspondent and blogger for The Nation magazine and associated editor of The Capitol Times in Madison, Wis. – is an interesting and thought-provoking read, both for the politically minded and for those interested in journalism and how to keep it alive as a vibrant force in American society.

The book is essentially an analysis of the protests that broke out when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker moved to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights – and the impact the protest movement had nationwide. Nichols is perhaps uniquely positioned to write about this, as he has reported on both politics and media for years, and also lives and works in Madison.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about the book. It’s a short read, and you should just pick it up and read it for yourself. Here are some of the reasons why:

  • Nichols pulls together many details of the Madison protests that you will have missed if you only followed them via mainstream media outlets.
  • He paints a vivid picture of the breadth of the coalition that cropped up to oppose Walker’s plan. This was not just a protest by and for union members but one that drew in farmers, students and other Wisconsin residents concerned about economic fairness and the fate of the middle class.
  • He shows how mainstream media got the story wrong – not just conservative outlets like Fox News but The New York Times as well. And he shows how creative, responsible and truthful citizen journalism – using social media and independent channels –  provided a more accurate and timely picture. This should be an object lesson for all journalists, and anyone else who is concerned about the future viability of journalism.
  • He quotes liberally from the writings of James Madison, Thomas Payne and other founding fathers, as well as Wisconsin’s own political forebears, to give historical perspective.
  • His examination extends beyond the Madison protests, offering perspective on the senatorial recall efforts that followed, as well as the lessons that labor organizers took forward to use elsewhere and in the future.
  • The book makes a great argument for my belief that the best way to ensure the viability of quality journalism is by “developing new models for creating and sustaining independent, not-for-profit media.” (Note his use of the word “not-for-profit;” that’s what the news business needs.)

Happy New Year: What happened 50 years ago?

JFK handwritten speech, "Ich bin ein Berliner"I have a friend who turned 50 yesterday, and last night we celebrated her birthday. As a gift, I decided to put together a bookmark for her, depicting 1963 in history.

Certainly the most famous event of 1963 in the United States was the Nov. 22 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. But did you know that all of the following events also occurred in 1963? Continue reading