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January 25, 2003

Sauteed blog
: I just discovered the Julie/Julia project blog and if you haven't, head over there and pull up a chair now. In it, one Julie Powell, a sef-described government drone (for renewnyc) decided to take on the challenge of cooking every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the 40-year-old classic from Jula Child et al -- the book and the woman who taught American how to cook (and eat). She chronicles the project in her blog -- and what a perfect venue the blog turns out to be.

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Enough already
: Many folks are rightfully impressed with J.D. Lassica's experiment with what he calls "transparent journalism." He put up all his interviews for a story on syndicated news feeds (see his links here). Dave Winer says:

Someday all reporters will do this. Hey maybe they'll skip writing the polished piece, esp when the article isn't appearing in print.

ARRRGH! Noooo!
I look at J.D.'s voluminous interviews (oh, boy, did he do his homework) and I have a very different reaction: I thank God for reporters and writers who distill all this into a brief story that tells me what I need or want to know and little more. That is the value they add and I hope they never stop adding it.
When I started online news sites, lo, eight years ago, the reflex that came out of many print editors was: Gee, we can put up all the stuff we didn't have room to print; at the end of every story we can have a line that says "for more, go online..."
Well, that didn't work for two reasons: First, and most important, if you're doing your job as a reporter or editor, then you should have told most people most of what they want to know in the story you just published. If you didn't, you did it wrong. I never finish every story in the paper and I leave informationally sated; I rarely read a whole story and remain hungry for more. The second reason this didn't work is that it takes effort to put all that material online (and also worry about whether there's anything libelous or wrong in it).
I'm fine with reporters who have the time putting up their interviews and notes for those who really want more. But I warn you: Those will be few -- often too few to justify the effort.

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Citizen Layne
: Ken Layne et al just published their prototype issue of the LA Examiner. This is huge. The only new papers starting in this country (besides the NY Sun) are ones in other languages; here's one I can read. I can't wait to see it. I wish they'd put up a few PDFs of pages so we can all bask in the glory of a newspaper launch.

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Wear just the facts, maam
: Lost Remote reports that Naked News -- the web show that is just that, naked people reading news -- will now get on the air at Toronto's CityTV, a real innovator (they created the Speaker's Corner, in which people off the street record snippets -- opinions, songs, jokes -- and the best get on the air). Note a few trends here, born of the Internet: This is a show created on the Web that will now be on real TV. And this indicates a loosening attitude toward nudity (at least in Canada).

: Update: Cory Doctorow reports that CITYtv visionary -- and I do mean visionary-- Moses Znaimer may retire.

He launched community station CITY-TV in 1972, creating a blueprint for interactive TV that has spread across Canada and the world. He has been the on-air host of several series and specials, including The Originals on specialty channel Bravo and TVTV: The Television Revolution.
The accompanying ego is as monumental as his legacy. His west-end Toronto backyard was rearranged in the eighties to accommodate metre-high letters spelling out "Moses."

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