By Christopher Wink | Oct 26, 2008 | WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com

He liked the movement of the mouse cursor on my computer screen. So I pried his hands from the keys and opened up Microsoft Paint. With a few interruptions to change color and tool, a four-year-old who stumbled upon me in a park in Budapest, Hungary drew me a computer-generated painting.

Children don’t likely understand the concept of language. I certainly don’t remember when I learned of the six billion people in the world, most don’t speak like me. The little boy with the dirty sweatsuit, dirt on his brown-olive skin, and sand in his bushy, black hair spoke on to me, in a language I couldn’t understand.

He shrieked, too. First when – hoping to get him to stop smacking my laptop – I took his underarms and lifted him into the hanging leaves of a nearby tree.

He was positively gleeful.

He got on toy horse near the swings and – with a strong-armed point and another high-pitched shout – demanded I get on one nearby. For a few good moments, he and I raced fast and long toward a Soviet-era apartment complex across the street.

Then he got off and wanted to be lifted more. Offering demand I still couldn’t understand, but smiling in a way I could.

I don’t know where he went. Someone called what I thought was a name – a woman in the distance. He asked me to lift him once more – into the branches and leaves. He spoke more to me, grabbed some leaves and tossed them at me – sand included – and was gone.

Running off with a green soccer ball. A young boy I’ll never know. Who shrieked in my ears, threw sand at my face and gave me a pleasant picture to keep.

Originally written for the travel blog WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com.

Man, who doesn’t have a blog.

Any newspaper that can even be tossed in the conversation has someone adding to it. There is no end to the number of jerks like me doing much of the same, with less experience and knowledge but increasingly more interest than the more professional.

The question, of course, is if any of it is working. One of the simpler answers, I’d say, is, well, look at the comments. If they’re improving, you’re improving.

This is a generational thing, few argue that. But if a newspaper has young, interested staff, why aren’t they encouraged to engage readers more.

The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa. is a great example. Its state capital bureau in Harrisburg, Pa. is currently a one-man show, but one who is as involved as any.

For the Call, a good metro daily with a circulation of 110,000, John Micek is a whole lot. He pounds big statewide copy and hosts Pennsylvania’s first good state government blog, Capitol Ideas, beating the Inquirer, which brands itself as the state and region’s industry leader. (The Inqy’s Commonwealth Confidential has made huge strides by three smart staffers, but the paper itself seems to bury it and the blog’s Web address doesn’t make me believe CC will be there for the long haul – no blame to the Inqy Harrisburg bureau, of course)

Micek was recently named one of the 10 most powerful journalists in the state – one of the youngest on the list. A sign of the time is how four of them have big online presences – Micek, Mario Cattabiani now blogs and at the time Brett Lieberman blogged for their newspapers (the Inquirer and Patriot-News respectively), and Pete Decoursey, a former Patriot-News columnist turned editor of Capitolwire, an online-only news service in Harrisburg.

I came to know Micek through a helluva internship in Harrisburg this past summer, which included at least one faux interview with Micek himself. Micek is a smart 30-something willing to take on something new. He rightly and smartly questions some of the so-labeled innovation that is meant to save newspapers. But that doesn’t stop him from trying them.

Micek’s morning blog rants, where he takes on the state’s news is surely friendly to folks just trying out the news blog game. He’s taken it further by jumping on Twitter, opening himself up to more interaction with readers.

I know nothing of his hits and regular reader interaction. How monetized the Call itself is trying to make Capitol Ideas is beyond me – they run a single ad on the main page that is also filled on his archived pages.

But Micek is making effort plenty aren’t.

No one knows where newspapers will be 10 years from now. But, by my estimation, if a reporter gets e-mails or story comments, that’s good. If that increases with time, that’s better. Every business on the planet knows that encouraing its customers to be a part of the product – see company Facebook groups and, more traditionally, free shirts with cigarette company logos – so why aren’t newspapers jumping on board?

The answer, again and again, is that there is an enormous class of talented (and some less talented) journalists who don’t want anything to do with the reality that their job is as product-related as a washer salesman. Newspaper curmudgeons they’re called in the media blogosphere. Still other of these ideas I’ve accepted as part of the necessity that the business model – and folks with those minds – involve themselves in newspapers.

I know that sometimes, OK, maybe most times, reader response seems wacky. I’ve gotten my share of calls and e-mails and comments that didn’t seem to make sense. Indeed, response that seemed to waste my time. That’s why we need to better develop means of attracting and connecting with readers. So we don’t just get the crazies. We need to accept some comments, even if it’s harsh. So we don’t just seem pretentious.

If UtleyRules15 says your lede “sucks,” hey, maybe he’s right. Chances are someone was saying the same thing 50 years ago, but now it’s easier for him to tell you. Don’t criticize that, accept that it’s possible someone else’s opinion matters. Because he’s the customer.

You don’t have to bend to everyone, but we all need to better accept this as a reality.

Blog communities don’t have the same problems with viscious comments that many newspaper Web sites do.

New media guru Howard Owens posted on this earlier this year. He seems to say the same, the better the comments, the better the community and, in the end, better the product, which has a better chance at succeeding through this tumult, the newspaper bubble. Why are some blog comments better than newspaper comments? Owens says the following:

I would say, primarily because blogs get the close attention of their owners. There is little opportunity for trolls to get a foothold on a well-run blog.  Most blog owners apply high standards for the conduct they will allow.  They monitor closely. They participate in the conversation.  In other words, they are actively engaged and involved.  They are owners.

How involved are reporters and editors involved in participation on their web sites?

Not much.

And until we fix that weak link in our participation strategy, we will continue to struggle with developing the kind of online community our newspaper communities deserve. [Source]

Am I overselling the comments? Um, leave a comment and let me know.

Image courtesy of MediaBistro.

Sean Blanda (left) and I on the Philadelphia Art Museum steps on May 28, 2008. Together we travel blogged and podcasted at WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com for a month while backpacking Europe.

After returning from backpacking Europe earlier this month, I shared some of the professional experience I got while blogging at WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com.

My good buddy, travel partner and fellow aspiring new media journalist Sean Blanda beat me to a post on lessons learned, but I have some thoughts myself: on podcasting, travel blogging and exploring generally.

Exploring

• Backpack with a friend – This is something I shared in our final episode, but it’s worth noting again. I strongly advocate traveling on your own at least once. Really. Prove to yourself that you can follow a map, find housing, use a foreign language and, mostly, have fun, on your own. But, I’d say, try that on a shorter trip. Sometime you have a chance at a week or two of travel on your own, give it a go. Otherwise, travel with a friend or two. Don’t let them keep you from interacting with new people, but instead use them to make light of the challenges and frustrations that will certainly befall you. Sing songs when you’re lost. Switch off on directing the other. But, first, figure out how you’re splitting the costs.

• Know what you want to see – if you’re going through various cities or countries or regions, wherever in the world they may be, you ought to have at least one experience or sight you want to have in each place. That gives you something to look forward to and feel good about your leaving almost certainly too soon. If it rains in Austria while you’re there, at least you can leave knowing you got to see the Vienna Opera House in action.
• Record what you expect, compare with what you find - Something I am happiest Sean and I did was alternate writing preconceived notions for each city we visited. That lets me go back and see how I saw each place before I got there.
• Go somewhere less obvious – Our stops in Lyon, France and Miskolc, Hungary were even briefer than originally planned, but it gave us a chance to see culture outside the international cities that were other destinations. I spoke French in the country’s second largest city, and we rumbled along the buses and trams in little-touristed metropolis in Eastern Europe.
• Couchsurf – If you have even vague notions of someday backpacking anywhere in this world – even domestically – then you better have a profile on Couchsurfing.com. See our tips here and explanation in Episode Six, but, I assure you, get a profile, offer up your couch, meet new people and then travel and see new places with the help of actual locals. …Do this.
• Turn off (or turn down) your home responsibilities – Put a vacation responder on your cell phone and e-mail. Other than promoting or updating your travel blog – which should actually help you remember and better enjoy your trip – stay offline. Web crawl when you get home. When you’re abroad, see the sights and locals and if you have an itch for the c-word, pub crawl. Figure out a way to put your web presence on auto-pilot.

Travel blogging

• Travel blog – Allow yourself a timeline of your travels, so you don’t forget where you’ve been. It helps you put a long, eventful trip together. For those with family and friends whom you will actually miss, it definitely helps connect you with those you can’t see or speak to regularly. Even if you’re doing little more than just posting a personal journal that might not attract a wider audience, this is valuable.
• Pack light, bring a lap top and use wireless Internet - Most places we stayed charged for computer use, but many offered free wireless Internet if you had your own laptop. This also lets you store video and photos before you upload them.
  
• Upload all the video and photos you can – Rather than depend solely on your laptop or camera, backup these files using free hosting sites like Youtube and Flickr. That makes it a lot more likely you’ll have them all when you return. It also makes it easier to share with friends and family. Even if you don’t post them on your blog, get all the material you possibly can. You’ll appreciate this when you get home.
• Post writing of all flavors: travel, creative, even conversations you’ve had – if you’re not travel blogging professionally, don’t question it. If you are moved to write something, write it. It will be a treat when you return, even if – perhaps especially if – you change your view. So, describe events that happen to you but also write about broader subjects that come to you while traveling.
• Carry a journal – write down thoughts or notes when tapping away on a keyboard isn’t possible. These can also include more personal thoughts you won’t post. I wish I did a better job of this, but – even if you just write a sentence to job your memory later – record what you do each day. Travel are the events we’ll want to remember for a long time, make it easier.
• Connect with those you meet – Share your site with everyone you meet. Hope they follow and join in the conversation. If others share with you their own blogging, check it out, you might learn something or better connect. Use social networking devices, like Facebook and MySpace, to develop relationships you can use later.

Podcasting

• Promote more than we did – This first thought was Sean’s, too. We used social networking devices and each sent a mass e-mail to everyone we knew, but I think we could have done better. We got a few hundred hits the first couple days, but that never really grew, rather it flat lined. In that way, Sean and I proved better as parts than a whole. As silly and surprising as it sounds, both of out little sites have developed small, but respectable readerships. Readerships more loyal and faster growing than a product I thought was probably more valuable and more regularly interesting: a video podcast and blog. As Sean wrote in his review post, we didn’t do as much promotion as we could have. We didn’t reach out enough to other travel blogs and podcasts. We each sent an e-mail out to our childhood newspapers, but didn’t follow up or tried elsewhere. If we wanted to monetize the product or better grow it, we would have had to do a lot more work on promotion’s end. Learn from us.
• Bring extra space – My laptop had enough disk space that we could have taken on the 30 gigabytes we produced, but it probably would have run slower and I wouldn’t want to risk it. We also could have backed everything up by uploading to free hosting sites, but that would have lost some of our ability to manipulate the product. Instead, Sean kindly brought a hefty harddrive. Stuffed in our “Tech” bag, I don’t think all of our equipment slowed us much, but it allowed us to keep all of our videos and photos available to reedit.
• Simple, simple – Don’t be afraid of lackluster quality. Keep high quality on your computer or hard drive, but overly compress your product to get it online without fighting with connection speeds. I am less concerned with modes of distribution than Sean because I didn’t want to deal with it while traveling. I wouldn’t have put the effort into figuring out the podcast distribution to ITunes, but it would make it easier for viewers to plop it on their multimedia viewer of choice. Decide what is worth your time. If you’re on the road, though, I think it’s fine to make the product as easy as you can – if that’s just Youtube, then so be it.
• Share anectdotes – Get your cutaways and tell stories. Looking back, I spoke too directly, without leaving room for sharing the color that always comes your way while traveling and better come your way during whatever subject on which you want to podcast.
• Be yourself – Don’t try to be entertaining. Before we left, I had lunch with a large newspaper’s multimedia editor and he cautioned me about podcasting at all. He told me very few personalities are worth watching. If I am not one of those personalities, he said, either I would have to play it up – which is embarrassing and bad for a young person looking for a job – or be boring. If you’re trying your hand at podcasting, be yourself: speak clearly and don’t be afraid to smile and joke, but don’t play yourself up.
• Don’t do it unless you really want to do it – If you think photos and text can tell your story, don’t force it. I am not convinced all of our episodes were interesting enough to attract viewers who didn’t have a direct connection to us or our trip. But, we wanted to try it out. Creating a real, viewable product is difficult under any circumstances, while traveling and with limited time and equipment makes it even harder. It can certainly get in the way of traveling or whatever it is about which you’re podcasting.

Any others?

Sean Blanda (left) and me at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France on Oct. 12, 2008.

I’ve been backpacking Europe.

I returned last week and have been getting out from underneath the transition since then.

Though this is a blog on being a young journalist housed on my professional site, I can’t help but share some of the blogging and podcasting I did on WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com.

My travel buddy Sean Blanda and I didn’t ignore the traditional tools of reporting while traveling.

Indeed, one of the most regular posts we had on our site were foreign perspectives. We interviewed folks we came across on the road – backpackers, vactioners, locals – asking them about their thoughts on Americans, the United States and the world from their view. We got some really interesting material.

In Budapest, we met a young man from Portgual. He was working in the Hungarian capital and, though he was nothing but kind to me, he had his doubts about American values.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOzEU5Ol4Tg]

Thomas, a Belgian libertarian, told us he is “more American than most Americans.”

I took concepts I knew and made broader conclusions to create fresh, interesting content, like a post on Europe’s obsession with graffiti, a Philadelphia development.

But, the new media practice was constant, too. While both Sean and I regularly blog, it was the first time it was my “job.” So you’re damn right I took seriously writing search-friendly heds, like: “What documents Americans need to travel in Europe.”

We developed social networking accounts – on Facebook, MySpace, Youtube and elsewhere. I took photos and video, edited them both and used my digital imaging interests, from beautiful photographs to simple blog-post header images.

All this was done on the road. We were never anywhere more than a few days and we didn’t have access to all the tools we wanted. We had simple equipment, little time, and limited Internet. A challenge indeed.

Set aside the video, photo and image editing I did, our podcast involved actually being in front of a camera. No small feat and certainly not one I claim to have done particularly well. But, in this age of trying stuff out, I tried stuff out.

See all our podcast episodes here, and all the video we posted on our blog here.

Check out our last episode abroad below – split in two parts.

Part One

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFqkhYHlsDg]

Part Two

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8-J16lYrSM]

There is certainly ample room to grow, but I was excited about all we did that I can clearly see have professional implications, with a newspaper or a nonprofit or the communications department of a company.

So, I’ve set up a travel blog and podcast. Couple that with my other interests and experiences and someone really ought to hire me for a job I actually want – preferably in Philadelphia, the best city in the world.

Sean Blanda (right) and I on Oct. 1, leaving from Newark Airport to begin our trip in London.

I returned this past week from more than a month of backpacking Europe with college buddy Sean Blanda. While there, he and I travel blogged and podcasted at WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com.

This week I am going to roll out some highlights and lessons learned, though Sean beat me to the latter.

One of those lessons, I’m afraid, will involve being hacked, as we were just that. (Check WDSTL, we may not have corrected by the time you read this).

But better to happen now that we’ve returned and have better tools at our disposal. One of those tools being time.

My return means – you will be ecstatic to learn – a return to regular posting here and elsewhere, though, I am happy to say, I managed to post at least three times a week here for the extent of my time abroad, in addition to my work with WDSTL and, you know, actually sight-seeing.

I also am going to announce my global job hunt… that I am actually just limiting to Philadelphia. Explanation and expansion on that. I also want to reintroduce a split between this site and a more personal one.

Oh, so much excitement to come.

Mostly I am glad to be back in the beautiful United States of America. God bless America, and good luck President-elect Obama.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3UU3hnliAM]

Backpacking Europe and podcasting at WeDontSpeaktheLanguage.com. But, keep checking ChristopherWink.com for regular posts and professional updates.

Currently I am abroad, video podcasting at WeDontSpeakTheLanguage.com: A video podcast and blog about traveling the world for the young and broke. Follow me there, but also continue to enjoy regular posts here at ChristopherWink.com about the plight of a young, aspiring journalist, which will appear below this reminder.

Consider this the official launch of We Dont Speak the Language, deferring student loans, responsibility and life in general - brought to you by me and my good friend and colleague Sean Blanda.

While the design of this modified-WordPress theme was led by Codename: Media, the design company of my good friend and travel buddy Sean, I was active in its design choices, creating a fitting home for our video podcast and travel blog.

We landed in London on Wednesday and have begun our travels. Spread the word. We hope to speak broadly of cheap travel for the young, no matter if you know us or not. I hope we’ll be entertaining. Get engaged and involved there, comment and help us develop a community. Meanwhile, keep following ChristopherWink.com, posts here will continue, too.

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