Internet Vacation: Because sometimes you need an IV

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.

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There's a baby with beer on my news story

A photo of an infant clutching a beer is currently paired with a story of mine on Google News, as seen above.

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.

Google Image Search: The next frontier

Today’s journalists need a Web presence. No one is arguing that anymore.

Indeed, the brighter and more Web savvy, young journalists have already made the step and are looking to refine the quality and searchability of their product so that when an employer (or future, crazed romantic interest) runs their name in a search engine, the right product comes up.

You want your Web site, clips, appropriate photos, a mature, healthy online persona. Considering I’m part of a generation that will find answers through technology, for ourselves and broader issues, I’ve thought plenty of how to do that, including using online applications, most notably actually giving in and joining Facebook recently.

But, once you get that much figured out – No. 1 Google search for Christopher Wink and among the top for Chris Wink, damn you Blue Man Group founder with the same name – the next step becomes clear: image searches.

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