LMedia

At work today, I wanted to embed a Flickr slideshow in a low-tech wordpress.com blog, so I did a quick google “how-to” search.

I believe this is the first time I’ve seen social search appear this way and admit it’s pretty nifty what we can do with data and the connections we can make. As Dave Morin, founder of Path, said last week at Snowcial, “What’s going to happen when everyone is connected to everyone else everywhere?”

Even scarier, was when I clicked on “jinxer” because it was the only name I didn’t recognize. It took me to a page with the above advertisement.

Flickr asking me to buy @mjenkins a Pro Flickr account. I like Mandy and think she is a good person and all, but I’m going to go ahead and declare this an epic failed use of targetted advertising.

Another one of my favorite songs I can’t stop listening to is “When I was in your heart,” by David Gray. It’s not often you get this sort of perspective from the musician and I greatly enjoyed it.

Make sure you listen to the full version as well.

Lately, I’ve been soaking up as much as I can about the tourism industry and how it is being impacted by technology. Often, journalists find themselves preaching to the choir. It is enlightening to explore how another industry is integrating new technologies into its day-to-day.

Overall, I’ve been quite impressed with how interactive marketers and e-commerce specialists in the tourism industry, specifically at ski resorts, have embraced and exploited opportunities with LBS, deals and brand management via social services like Facebook and Twitter. Many of the learnings surfaced through their experiences are applicable to the waters we seem to be wading through, knee deep in questions.

Take deals as an example. Trending in my feed the other day was the hastag #mktgchat so I tuned in for a while.

What results are you seeing?

What else is trending?

What is working?

Beyond #mktgchat

This wasn’t the first time I stopped to absorb the implications of what I was finding during my research. When I was planning my trip to Kalispel last month, I met the @thebigmountain. Trust me, after I was propositioned by a mountain, my trip experience and connection to Kalispel will be long-lasting. This is a perfect example of engaging customers and personifying your brand. It was if the big mountain whispered into my ear, “Trust me. You’re going to have a good time here.” Others are also doing this well. Check out @skiheavenly, @skiwhitefish, @AspenSnowmass and others I’ve listed.

The ski community itself has also embraced new technologies to help it share real-time conditions with other snow enthusiasts. This year, you’ll find crowd-sourced terrain, base depth and lift information at skireport.com. You can also track down powder points.

I’m really looking forward to meeting some of the individuals powering these different efforts at the 2011 Tahoe Snowcial. The event, itself, is exemplary of an industry embracing innovation and creating a culture of collaboration, something journalists have struggled with for years. We are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m not sure if I’m more sad for society or for buybuy Baby if the world has come to this. Sesame Street’s Elmo isn’t allowed to cross the street alone or even stand alone. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since my mom did tell me last weekend she use to fight other women and wait in extremely ridiculous lines on Black Friday to get me the Cabbage Patch Kid I wanted for Christmas.

I downloaded Sister Hazel’s album this weekend and each time I hear “Firefly” I end up hitting repeat at least twice. Even before I read the lyrics, it felt right. Enjoy.

A good friend and I caught up over a glass of red wine and delicious hot tapas including grilled lamb and eggplant parmesan at Panache one evening this week. It was one of the first truly cold evenings in the Washington area this year. We decided it was best to stay inside…full of warm spirits.

As every good journalist knows, after every good meal and fine spirits you’re certain to find thought-provoking conversation about the future. It was our discussion about mobile and new product development that left me thinking, “Seriously? Are we doing this again?!”

My inbox already knows what I’m about to say. It has been overindulging a fondness for emails about location-based services, apps, gaming, real-time news, hyper relevancy and the father of them all – mobile advertising. It’s here. We’re again facing a game-changing moment in platform innovation and how people receive information. And we’re again facing newsroom restructuring to reflect this change.

Some newsrooms are already reacting. USA TODAY announced its plan earlier this year. In its plan, content verticals and platform editing hubs were erected.

Structure and workflow are certainly key to success but at the core of our business is content. We are an information-gathering business. If we’re not changing at the core, are we really changing?

Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) offers this advice on mobile-first strategy:

• Executives emphasize mobile priority
• Journalists focus on mobile news & information delivery & presentation
• Tech staff focuses on mobile apps
• Designers focus on mobile design
• Sales staff meets business customers’ mobile needs

In 2009, Buttry highlighted focal points for news gatherers in a mobile-first newsroom: metadata (the story behind the story), location, tagging, crowdsourcing, email, and SMS. These demands reemphasize the need for collaboration and integration in the newsroom. If every news gatherer isn’t focused on the end result being mobile, it’ll be very easy to ignore the need to tag, provide metadata and think about dynamic stories told through crowdsourcing and real engagement.

Sound familiar?

For years, digital evangelists have stressed the importance of tagging, metadata and crowdsourcing. If newsrooms really want to play in the mobile sandbox, they will need to evolve at the core. Non-traditional mobile news gatherers are already crawling into bed with our businesses.

Foursquare is building its own database of local businesses, deals and reviews by location by giving individuals tools easy to use and accessible anytime. Before Foursquare came to the scene, craigslist successfully built a database of real estate and jobs. Both databases, by the way, are free.

In 2011, newsrooms will continue to be faced with the challenge of sustaining legacy operations and investing in evolving technologies. The mobile and online staff shakedown will be watched closely. Will online journalists be old school in 2012 or will we finally change at the core?

Inspiration for this post:

Magda Abu-Fadil’s review of “Trends in Newsrooms 2010;”

Rick Edmond’s review of the most recent USA TODAY restructuring;

Steve Buttry’s presentation on leading a mobile first newsroom;

Steve Buttry’s 2009 thoughts on what a mobile-first strategy is;

Another social innovation site launched today. Jumo, a not-for-profit founded and directed by Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook. It shares the Facebook vision of connecting the dots between people and opportunities. One of its highlighted jobs to be done includes using technology to alleviate some of the challenges of finding meaningful opportunities to get involved.

“Despite huge advancements in connection technologies, it’s hard to find meaningful opportunities to get involved.”

I can rattle off a few places to find volunteer opportunities today: VolunteerMatch, the HandsOn Network, Idealist, Charity Navigator and there are even more once you dig into the local-level volunteer listservs.

I’m a huge of social innovation so I’ll be watching Jumo carefully and recommend you all check it out. However, after taking a spin around the site, my first compliment is on the name. I’m really excited it doesn’t include the word “good.”

Over the weekend, Patrick posted a great piece on how he navigates the morning. One of the most noted lines amongst his friends was his statement “I’m content being nobody until I have to be somebody, nowhere until I have to be somewhere.”

His post is the inspiration for this random piece, which may or may not bore you. This is me apologizing in advance.

What is more important than this post, and my random thoughts, however, is my commitment to finding a creative outlet. Hopefully, this blog can do some of the heavy lifting.

Often we find ourselves so caught up in the day-to-day, we forget to slow down. A strong morning run is the first stance of my poem. Although, on a good day it is not slow at all, it is my day’s fulcrum. It is all about waking up for me and finding a way to find my center before I have to be somebody.

Similarly to Patrick, I have been asked by my colleagues how I keep up a morning routine like this. How do I not give in to the gloves of my bed? The answer is simple. If I’m not waking up to find my center and my happiness, why am I waking up at all?

Today, I found myself sprinting up stairs, pushing myself until I silenced the noise all around me and found me. It was an absolutely brilliant experience and although I’m certainly not hoping to find myself downhill again tomorrow, I definitely can’t wait to dominate those stairs again. There is something exhilarating about overcoming a challenge. I think for right now, I’m going to start small, and declare tomorrow’s biggest challenge to be posting here again.

As I was cleaning out my phone this evening, I ran across this snapshot from a few months ago. It was taken at Marterella Winery on the outskirts of Warrenton, in the heart of Virginia horse & wine country.

This sign hanging above a door well in the tasting room couldn’t have captured the vibe of the place any better. The owner behind the counter radiated with life and love.

That place, that sign, that memory keeps me moving forward today. I can’t wait to go back.

It’s that time of year again when the electric grid sheds its skin and sparks disappear into the black sky and the train leaves the station searching for sunshine and rain – lots of rain.

It’s that time of year again when the sponges on our feet paint the marble floor at work and we complain to our neighbors about the hungry gray skies.

It’s that time of year again when the cement and sand finally lose their battle against the gravel it tried to consume all winter.

It’s that time of year for us to remember to embrace the days ahead for all they are worth — without fear, without chains — spring forth my friends.

Isiah 43:16-21

16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,

17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.