Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Hey, even she will tell you that I told her to work on her grammar and spelling. (Oh, word processors, what have you done to us?). But more importantly, it made me realize I never wrote the obligatory "own your name in Google" post. I have surely touched on it in previous posts, but rather than repurpose that information or rewrite what has been written so many times, I say to young reporter or fresh-on-the-web journalist, find out why branding your name online matters, and then read the following - because they've already done the job.

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

OK, that should answer your questions. Have anymore? Let me know below. ]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/feed/ 0 Are WordPress, Blogger the next Angelfire and Geocities? http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:08:35 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2818 In the late 1990s, a host of Web sites democratized the Internet, giving the average Internet-user the chance to have his own online home. In 2003, MySpace used the model and brought in a new age of social networking. Last week I posted that MySpace is on the way out, and briefly mentioned that Wordpress and Blogger are taking over the role of providing free, easy-to-manipulate Web presences. Does that make them the next Angelfire or Geocities? Are they just another trend ready to be overcome?]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/feed/ 0 My problems with Google applications: holes in these journalism tools http://christopherwink.com/2009/01/07/my-problems-with-google-applications-holes-in-these-journalism-tools/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/01/07/my-problems-with-google-applications-holes-in-these-journalism-tools/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:28:38 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2116 [/caption]

Updated 6/27/10 @ 8:50 p.m.: Added additional Gmail improvement suggestions Yeah, we're all on Google's bird. It may be a phenomenon, financially and socially, but I still have my complaints. I'm sure you do too (even if you just blame them for killing newspapers, like the French do.) As Google applications have grown in popularity during the past few years, journalists have taken to see Google aps as a way to better unite newsrooms. The advantages are clear, but having only used Google aps for a couple years, and a couple for half that, but I have already found a number of faults with these free Web-based services, particularly for journalists. With e-mail forwarding, ditch janky, hard to access company e-mail addresses in stead for larger capacity, better navigable GMail. Rather than complicated, if not arcane word processing software, let reporters work or editors simultaneously review on a single story, from different cubicles, bureaus or even countries with Google Documents. Track crime or story focuses or trends with Google Maps. Schedule meetings and speakers, book the conference room and staff events on a shared Google Calendar. Let beat writers and editors share news from around the world and every news source, consuming content more efficiently than ever imagined with Google Reader. Perhaps the only similarity most of these diverse applications have, other than being Google proprieties, is that they don't self-monetize. Something tells me Google will do alright. They'll do even better if they take the below advice on how to improve these products: Gmail: Google's e-mail client has to be their best project. Its size, searchability, tagging and starring brought down the free e-mail house. Still, because it leaped ahead in so many ways, it hasn't closed all the doors for what it's meant to offer, so I find it sometimes inconsistent.

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

Google Documents: I love the concept of Google Docs most of all. The idea of having my most-important texts - resume, standard cover letter, stories on which I am working, etc. - affords me the opportunity to access or work on them wherever I have Internet access. However, Docs may also be the most behind. There are reasons in the periphery, like the following:

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Google Maps: This application has gotten the most attention and quickly been the mechanism newspapers and other media have incorporated the most into their product. I have some thoughts on improvement.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

Google Reader: With Google Documents, Reader has the best real-world application for newsrooms. I can see beat reporters in the future subscribing to any related blog or RSS feed, then sharing the most interesting stories with their section or entire papers, chancing at someone seeing broader applicability. As an energy-industry blogger with BNET Industries, that is what I am doing, subscribing to dozens of feeds and sharing them with other journalists. We're talking speed and efficiently of consuming the Internet. It works so well there are classic Google Reader over-sharers. Still I see room for improvement.

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Google Picasa Web: I wrote on Picasa and compared it with other online photo sites last week. Google Blogger: This tool I am only now getting comfortable using, as opposed to year or more I have with the others, so I feel unprepared to accurately and intelligently offer my criticism. I hope to update this post in the future. Do you have thoughts now? Comment below. Google Trends: Google AdSense: Feedburner: Google Alerts: Google News: Google Transit: Google Analytics: This tool I am only now getting comfortable using, as opposed to year or more I have with the others, so I feel unprepared to accurately and intelligently offer my criticism. I hope to update this post in the future. Do you have thoughts now? Comment below.

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/01/07/my-problems-with-google-applications-holes-in-these-journalism-tools/feed/ 3 The 10 best Philadelphia images from new Life Magazine Google archive http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/ http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:33:47 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2507 here.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/feed/ 1 Journalism Tool box: What every young journalist needs http://christopherwink.com/2008/10/13/journalism-tool-box-what-every-young-journalist-needs/ http://christopherwink.com/2008/10/13/journalism-tool-box-what-every-young-journalist-needs/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:50:50 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=1349

As a young, aspiring journalist, I want to know what it is I need to have, what I need to know and what I need to learn. I've spoken to some friends, colleagues and with a few professional internships in my past, I think I am ready to fill the vaccum. What needs to be in every young journalist's tool box? Yeah, you have to have a sense of how to give an interview and ask questions. You need a sense of your beat or relevant sources. You want to establish a list of Internet resources for quick, effective answers to your questions - where can you get the statistics to package with the color and quotations you get. But all of this comes with working in a setting. A statehouse to a city desk to a rural local section all present fairly different methods for the above necessities. Let's talk more practically and tangibly.

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Some more great advice from Howard Owens on his post about things a journalist can do to improve journalism.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/10/13/journalism-tool-box-what-every-young-journalist-needs/feed/ 2 Internet Vacation: Because sometimes you need an IV http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/ http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:01:05 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=1225 I recommend an occasional IV for everyone. Yes, the Internet vacation is a necessity. Through the magic of forward posting on this site, RSS feeds of this blog on all my social utilities and a reckless abandon when it comes to e-mail, I can do that with some regularity now that I am in between my post-graduate internship and an upcoming trip that I'll post about in coming weeks. -I haven't checked my Google Reader in a week or more - oh the horror! The Internet vacation certainly isn't new, even if my pushing the IV for short on Twitter and elsewhere may be. Last year Lore Sjöberg at Wired took an Internet vacation and included a pretty funny diary. Now, I'm no addict, so I don't expect a reaction like his, but I do feel like I need to check my e-mail or sit down at a computer whenever I see one. Here's one of his entries.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

As I've written, Blackberries and the trend they represent don't help this one bit. But the more technology we get, the more prevelant the IV will have to be, no? Tech consultant Eric Mack took an Internet diet for a week in January and praised it.

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

OK, that should answer your questions. Have anymore? Let me know below. ]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/feed/ 0 Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

I'm into that. So, I'll take an IV from time to time, hoping for more extended tours. Forward posting on this blog and cutting everything else out. Let me know your IV thoughts. Photo from Eric Mack Online.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/feed/ 0 There's a baby with beer on my news story http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:08:35 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2818 In the late 1990s, a host of Web sites democratized the Internet, giving the average Internet-user the chance to have his own online home. In 2003, MySpace used the model and brought in a new age of social networking. Last week I posted that MySpace is on the way out, and briefly mentioned that Wordpress and Blogger are taking over the role of providing free, easy-to-manipulate Web presences. Does that make them the next Angelfire or Geocities? Are they just another trend ready to be overcome?]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/05/are-wordpress-blogger-the-next-angelfire-and-geocities/feed/ 0 Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2009/01/07/my-problems-with-google-applications-holes-in-these-journalism-tools/feed/ 3 Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

I'm into that. So, I'll take an IV from time to time, hoping for more extended tours. Forward posting on this blog and cutting everything else out. Let me know your IV thoughts. Photo from Eric Mack Online.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/feed/ 0 There's a baby with beer on my news story http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/ http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:33:47 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2507 here.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/12/17/the-10-best-philadelphia-images-from-new-life-magazine-google-archive/feed/ 1 Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for $10.19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Some more great advice from Howard Owens on his post about things a journalist can do to improve journalism.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/10/13/journalism-tool-box-what-every-young-journalist-needs/feed/ 2 Christopher Wink » Google http://christopherwink.com Sharing my work and writing about media convergence, entrepreneurship and the future of news Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:03:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Required reading to own your name in a Web search http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/ http://christopherwink.com/2009/02/17/required-reading-to-own-your-name-in-a-web-search/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=2992 I don't want to repeat this anymore, so let me direct you elsewhere. I got an e-mail from a young aspiring journalist, still in high school and already coming to the questions I just started coming upon late in college. Her question:

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

I'm into that. So, I'll take an IV from time to time, hoping for more extended tours. Forward posting on this blog and cutting everything else out. Let me know your IV thoughts. Photo from Eric Mack Online.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/feed/ 0 There's a baby with beer on my news story http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/ http://christopherwink.com/2008/09/05/internet-vacation-because-sometimes-you-need-an-iv/#comments Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:01:05 +0000 Christopher Wink http://christopherwink.wordpress.com/?p=1225 I recommend an occasional IV for everyone. Yes, the Internet vacation is a necessity. Through the magic of forward posting on this site, RSS feeds of this blog on all my social utilities and a reckless abandon when it comes to e-mail, I can do that with some regularity now that I am in between my post-graduate internship and an upcoming trip that I'll post about in coming weeks. -I haven't checked my Google Reader in a week or more - oh the horror! The Internet vacation certainly isn't new, even if my pushing the IV for short on Twitter and elsewhere may be. Last year Lore Sjöberg at Wired took an Internet vacation and included a pretty funny diary. Now, I'm no addict, so I don't expect a reaction like his, but I do feel like I need to check my e-mail or sit down at a computer whenever I see one. Here's one of his entries.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

how do you buy spaces on a google seerch?

Somewhat relatedly, lots of posts I've read have focused on what that branding should be (and whether it really matters):

I've written about using social networks to develop more control on a Web search of your name:

My biggest complaint with Gmail comes with contacts. I love Gmail features for collecting sources. I can easily write their position, employer, contact information, and even add a photo from online to help keep a face with that name. I also often list information about that person to help me remember him: where did I meet him, why might I want to speak to him in the future, yet I can't search by this "More Information." This is no good for the world's most powerful search engine. For a reporter or anyone else with a lot of contacts, I want to be able to search by any information I might remember, even if I can't think of a name or e-mail address.
On more than one occasion, one of those great features - checking whether you want to navigate away from an e-mail you haven't saved or sent - hasn't come through. I've clicked away accidentally - more on Macs - and lost an e-mail on which I was working.
I would also like to see separate options of saving/deleting an e-mail and/or its attachment. That is, I often get e-mails I want to keep in my inbox, but their attachments - documents, photographs, etc. - just take up space. Give me the option of deleting the attachment, but keeping the e-mail.
Update 1/8/09: One of Gmail great options is its e-mail forwarding and address masking, so I can manage multiple e-mail addresses from my primary Gmail account. Accepting multiple roles, I'd like to see related multiple signatures, one for business, personal or different roles. (Thanks Jessica!)
Update 6/27/10: Followup needed alarm clock -- When I send an important e-mail -- rather than using labels -- I'd love to be able to be able to request a reminder for followup to, say, remind me that I reached out to someone and if she didn't respond, I ought to follow up.
Time release e-mails -- I want to be able prepare an e-mail today and have it sent at a certain time on Wednesday, to coordinate with a post publication or another time reason.
Drag and drop functionality -- Moving e-mails, placing contacts in folders and adding to labels could all be made way easier and sexier with this movement.

Gchat: Incorporating an instant messaging unit within Gmail is totally cool. But complaints linger.

I appreciate the option of merging my AIM account onto Gchat, but people who use other popular IM services, like Hotmail might feel left out
I'd like to be able to see a full list of buddies - AIM and Gchat, offline and online alike - as I can in AIM. The Gchat dock as a whole needs updating and developing.
Developing video chatting was another exciting development, though someone has to explain to me the point, then, of Google Talk.
Additionally, I'd like to see better, easier HTML options in the text window - links like this - and a more streamline shot at writing in bold and italics.
I've also heard complaints on that frustrating noise - which is only ever off or the sound is made when the window is minimized. Give us an option for reminding folks of a incoming message while the window is up, but perhaps behind another.

When I forward a Google doc - which I do often, when sending stories to editors - I can't find that e-mail in a Gmail search.
Like Gchat, the notes with forwarded Google docs can't have links.
I can't save a draft of an e-mail with a forwarded Google doc to be sent later.
When forwarding documents I have to deselect anything that I've previously selected, rather than be automatically deselected.
Also, in a broader way, the document-editor interface needs to become friendlier. The options and user-friendliness is behind Microsoft Word (criticisms aside), and even Open Source document editors.

Though it presents a level of difficulty, Google Maps doesn't click to an actual address, but rather focuses on a middle of the street, even for cities, where addresses are fairly standard and simple.
When searching an address, why not incorporate a news or Web search of that address alongside. While that will surely freak people out, it could help reporters quickly see if there is any other alarming associations with an address.
I would like to be able to get distance estimates with dragable directions. How far is Point A to Point B, particularly by this particular route. That could surely help reporters, but also, I would think, be used by runners or bicyclists to find routes and friends trying to end debates (No, Wawa is way more than a mile away, dude). Update from comments 11:25 p.m. EST: One can do that here, but what say Google Maps add the feature? (Thanks Colin!)

Google Calendar: Newsrooms could assign staff-wide meetings, book a conference or meeting room or events with this ap, but I want to see improvements in these areas:

Searchability. This tool could also help reporters develop a timeline for a story or column. But, I've found inconsistency in the search field. I have found "Chris's" not come up when I search "Chris," or something similar. Like with Gmail contacts, I expect the most comprehensive searches from Google. The same should come from its online applications.
Organization: I'd like to see calendar categories, so I can organize my events by Work or Fun, etc. This could also be called into search. Yahoo's advanced e-mail client calls this "Event Type."

I remember reading that Google was rolling out the option to share an item with just one individual. If that option came, I never found it. If it's there, this needs to be made easier. If it isn't, then we need it.
Can I create and share with Google Reader groups? Let's say I am a city reporter for a big urban daily. I could create groups of editors, fellow reporters, the city desk, the entire newspaper, management, competing reporters, fellow beat reporters elsewhere, even just friends and more. Then I can more easily dictate to whom I share what I want to share.
While starring items is all well and good, let me star or tag items into a folder. Reader can be a great tool for storing story ideas, but they get buried quickly. I'd like to be able to save stories in my feed in folders like "pitches," or "trend stories" or "crime," etc.
I would like to see more ability to change the default size of my left column, listing feeds, and central portion on which I read my feeds.
I can add tags to what I share. Can I make individual RSS feeds of them? I should be able to do so.
Update 1/07/09: Why not fix the problem many noticed last summer, asks Reader Justin Sanak, in which Twitter feeds in reader weren't properly updating?

Am I being unfair? Have I missed other Google aps worth my attention? What complaints do you have with Google aps that I didn't include here?

Like it? Digg it here

The classics: That means a devoted, designated notebook or steno pad, so notes aren't lost, and a dependable pen. Try to never leave without either. This also means an AP Style Book, because almost every newspaper follows their style and grammar rules strictly or nearly. If you follow it, you'll improve your copy in an editor's eyes dramatically.
Audio recorder: Ideally you want one that can transfer files onto your computer via a USB port and creates MP3 files. Many journalists still refuse to use audio recorders - I didn't for much of my college reporting career. They say, and sometimes rightly so, that they aren't paying attention to the speaker. Get over it. Take studious notes, but don't be afraid to go back to the audio. You'll be impressed by how often you incorrectly bridge sentences when you're taking your own notes. What's more, with the ease of USB entry and a simple audio-editing program like Audacity, you can seem a whole lot more knowledgeable in audio reporting than you are.
Point and click camera: If you're strapped for cash, it's no necessity, but whether you buy it or not, familiarize yourself with a digital cameras, preferably one that can shoot video. If you can, get one and go nowhere without it. Make it one with you. Make it the anchor of your mobile journalist kit.
Binder with clips: Get a small half inch binder. Stuff it with your best clips, printed as pretty as you can. Get a resume in there. Whenever you go for an interview or meet with anyone with some professional merit, bring it along - even if they've already seen your clips. It's your portfolio, give to anyone to flip through and judge you.
PDF clips: Here's a thought. If you know your paper's designer or an editor, try to get PDF versions of your clips. The colors are vibrant, the words crisp and look far more professional. If not available, work your ass off on getting clean photocopied versions and get them in your binder, so you always have a good version from which to make copies if you have to send. If you ever get a front page story, use Newseum, which posts the covers of hundreds of daily newspapers in the country.
GMail account: It's time to give up on your Juno account. In addition to oodles of space, great searchability and organization, having an account gives you access to a host of great applications. Not the least of which are Google Reader and Google Documents. Reader gained noteriety for being the first powerful feed reader that allowed you to share items with your friends. Once you figure it out and develop a community of friends sharing what they read, you can comb the Internet and news sources remarkably efficiently. In your Google Documents, get a copy of your resume and clean versions of your clips ready, so wherever you are, if you have Internet access you can send in your materials.
Professional Web site domain: This is nothing unique among new media circles but plenty of young journalists are missing this message. Buy your own domain name from GoDaddy for .19 a year. Link to a free Wordpress site or Blogger or whatever you prefer. Post your resume and clips. List it on your printed resumed and your e-mail signatures. Share it with friends. Link to their sites and have them do the same for you.
Blog: You need... need to set up a Web site with a resume and clips. That can be done simply. I won't yet tell anyone he needs to be blogging, but it helps in so many ways for young journalists. It increases your search engine optimization, it allows you to develop a voice, speed and a sense of blogging. It can also give you a chance to try to develop digital imaging skill by creating images for your posts. See another list of blogging necessities, as if a list of things you could learn by blogging, in addition to being forced to better understand the Internet.
Social networking accounts: You can decide what ones are most important to you, but you need to accept this new age. Journalists of the past hid in the shadows. Do not make yourself the story. It was a mortal sin to do otherwise. But increasingly in the future, your byline is your brand is your professional identity. Using an RSS feed from your Web site, you can exist in multiple venues without much effort. I use my Facebook account, MySpace site, and Wired Journalists page to expand the voice of my Web site, while also controlling Web searches for my name. So I say join them all, get your name in there, link to your site and forget about them.
Know what you want to do.

Day 3: Woke up feeling kind of ... itchy. Felt surly and resentful about having to go to the window to see what the weather was like. Someone, somewhere, could be reenacting Ladyhawke with Lego figurines and I'd never know it. Have the folks at Digg tracked down 14 tips for optimizing your FeedBurner experience? HAVE THEY? [Source]

In an effort to keep my easily-distracted brain on-task, I have temporarily eliminated all non-purpose-specific Internet web surfing and Internet news from my daily diet and reducing my RSS consumption to a few key sites just a few times a week. It's given me an amazing productivity boost.

Google's news aggregation tool couples top ranked news stories with photos from related stories that are similarly rated. So, while my story on college presidents calling for a dialogue on underage drinking ran with the Patriot-News, at a particular moment, the top rated photo came from the story covered by eCanadaNow, which chose its image to be one of a sleeping baby holding onto a bottle of Miller Genuine Draft, at right. That can't be great for my professional product, eh? Still, these pairings change continuously, so we can hope it won't last long. Hey, you looked bored, check out an array of photos with children comically - read: irresponsibly - placed with alcohol.]]> http://christopherwink.com/2008/08/25/theres-a-baby-with-beer-on-my-news-story/feed/ 0