The site is a sister site of Breaking Tweets that a classmate of mine at DePaul founded. It helps give a human element to the news through Twitter. The site has received a lot of attention from large news organizations all over the world.
I came to Chicago in order to find opportunities. I came to earn a masters degree, get my foot in the door, get some experience, make some connections, and get the experience of living in a different part of the country.
As I'm applying for internships, I'm floored at all of the positions available to me. I've even developed an interest and enthusiasm for broadcast I didn't think I would ever have (I don't like being on camera, but editing and producing is exciting). I'm applying for editorial and broadcast internships to keep my options open, but the experience at a news station is what I really want. Even if I hate it -- which I can't imagine I would -- the experience is going to be invaluable to me. I'll know if working behind the scenes at a TV station is what I really want instead of wondering. I came to Chicago because I never wanted to wonder "what if?"
My biggest concern is that I don't have the advantage of growing up here and knowing all of the history and locations of everything. But I'm learning, and I have my own experiences and knowledge to bring to the table too.
On Monday, I'm meeting with an internship coordinator at DePaul. I hope she can help open doors for me to get interviews and eventually an internship this summer. I want to make the most out of being in Chicago, which is why I'm taking a photojournalism class that has never been available to me until now and also a Chicago Olympics class. I have my first Olympics assignment on Saturday.
I think now is the best and worst time to be in journalism; I'm determined to make the most of it.
The last time I was in Washington, D.C., I was 14-years-old on my 8th grade class trip. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane, but also the first time I'd ever been out of the Deep South in my life. I toured the monuments and museums and spent a day in colonial Williamsburg, Va., and it was the first time I remember realizing that there was life outside of the world I knew (I think Junior High was also the time I realized Mardi Gras is not a national holiday).
Now at 25 -- after studying abroad in Europe, traveling around the U.S., graduating college and living in the Midwest for the past six months -- I saw the city in a different way. I wasn't just on a tour bus clicking away on a disposable camera; I felt the ebb and flow of the city's character the way I do when I now walk through different parts of other cities with so much personality. The monuments were not just a pile of stone, the museums not a storage closet of old things.
D.C. is the epicenter of our country's history in that it houses many of our most valued documents and artifacts -- The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution. The museums are open history books, each exhibit a different page. I walked through the Museum of Natural History and The Holocaust museum, and I passed by the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Washington monument in awe and respect.
By far one of the best museums I've ever been to was the Newseum, the year-old home of the history of journalism. Not even four hours was enough to see everything on its six floors of video, photos, artifacts and papers, but it was worth every minute. I don't remember ever being so moved by being surrounded by history. In case you need a reminder of what journalists have accomplished over centuries of disseminating information and their imperative presence in the world, spend a few hours looking at old newspapers, typewriters, photos and videos of reporters in action.
But the true highlight of my trip was being blessed with good company. My friends took time out of their lives to visit with and host me, and my time with them reinforces that doing nearly anything in good company is worth doing. D.C. is a great city, but she's lucky to have her invaluable new residents.
With Chicago being one of the four remaining candidates to host the 2016 Olympics, you'd think that Chicago's major daily newspapers would be on top of events relating to the Olympics. Guess again.
Since this news could have a huge impact on Chicago's bid, why aren't the Sun-Times or Tribune reporting this story?
There are Associated Press reports from the International Herald Tribune, The Guardian (UK), and ESPN, but there is nothing on either Chicago newspapers' site -- not on the local, national or world news pages at all.
I hope to see the dailies break down what this means for Chicago in the next day or so, but if they don't feel mentioning it is even important, I wouldn't count on it.
The fate of this Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper might soon become the fate of our dailies here in Chicago -- the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times -- if they don't start doing something different.
Isn't the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?
I believe that old-school newspaper men and women are so reluctant to change their format because the newspaper is no longer the only one deciding what is worthy of being deemed the news. With hyperlocal sites such as Uptown Update that covers Chicago's Uptown neighborhood or even Every Block, these people are threatened that they are not the sole authority on what is and isn't news worth knowing.
This was obvious at the Chicago Journalism Town Hall conference because the seasoned reporters spent the first two hours patting themselves on the back and reinforcing what good journalism is rather than brainstorm ideas for new business models.
While no one has all the answers, newspapers need to start doing something different. Try redesigning the web site. Work with advertisers and ask them what they want and how they want to advertise their products. Here's something crazy: ask the readers what they want out of their local newspapers.
Good reporting alone isn't going to pay the bills anymore.
(Cross-posted from my class's blog, go to newsnow.ning.com to see comments from my classmates).
Matthew Lane said he wasn’t surprised the crowd at the Elbo Room in Lincoln Park was sparse by 11 p.m. on Wednesday when his band, The Vindits, was scheduled to perform. Besides being late on a weeknight, most of the people there left when one of the previous bands, A Wu Li Conspiracy, finished its set. Lane said those people were probably friends of the band and more interested in socializing than listening to live music.
“Most of those people were younger, probably in their early twenties, and they were texting the whole time and not really paying attention,” The Vindits’ 29-year-old vocalist and guitarist said. “They probably found out about the show because they got a text or MySpace message about it from one of their friends. Nowadays, the younger kids, that’s how they hear about bands.”
Despite that they were initially against using MySpace, Lane said The Vindits were forced to establish a presence on the site. “A lot of clubs now, that’s what they ask you for. They say ‘Send us your MySpace’ because it’s the easiest thing to do. Promotion has completely changed.”
Amazon MP3 became the first store to have the compliance of the Big Four to sell all DRM-free music. Recent rumors suggest Sony will follow suit of EMI and release their music on iTunes Plus, where music fans can pay an extra 30 cents to download DRM-free tracks.
Big record companies are starting to slowly accept the changed landscape of music marketing in the digital age, but many argue they’re far behind. Many musicians have already embraced the Internet as their premiere marketing tool by using social networking sites to acquire new fans and selling their music directly to consumers through online music stores or their own Web sites. With record companies losing profits and frustrating its online consumers, local musicians are leading the front by marketing their music online themselves, potentially leaving record labels behind.
Frustrating fans
When digital downloads became increasingly popular, record companies wanted to protect their music from people using peer to peer networks to freely share files illegally. They supported the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which Congress passed in 1998 to prevent copyright infringement.
However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, released a report on Oct. 28 –the 10th anniversary of the DMCA – that stated that the law has limited free expression and scientific research, jeopardized fair use, impeded competition and innovation, and interfered with computer intrusion laws. The report also said that DRM had no effect on deterring piracy.
“DRM has stymied people who want to make fair and legal copies of music instead of stopping dedicated pirates,” Rebecca Jeschke, Media Relations Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. “We’re hoping the music industry will come to understand that DRM is not helping them protect their business. What DRM is doing lots of times is frustrating fans and encouraging them to acquire music files illegally. DRM is hurting them, not helping them.”
Several online music stores sought to distance themselves from selling music with DRM but came across additional usability issues.When Yahoo and Wal-Mart wanted to scrap their DRM servers (or in the case of MSN Music, do away with its store completely when it launched the Zune Marketplace), users either had to acquire new licenses in order to play their music on upgraded computers or operating systems or burn all of their music on CDs and recopy them onto their computer. These music users were faced with losing the music they legally purchased, and amid a backlash of disgruntled customers MSN, Yahoo and Wal-Mart promised to keep their DRM servers online. Yahoo, who merged with Rhapsody, offered coupons to its customers for DRM-free tracks at the new store.
This month Edgar Bronfman, the head of Warner Music Group, said in an interview with Vator News that DRM should have been a less restrictive technology.
“Frankly we never came up with a version of DRM that did what we needed it to do. We're not technology companies,” he said.
In early 2007 Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted a letter on Apple’s Web site for the major labels to release DRM-free music to “create a truly interoperable music marketplace.” But only EMI allows iTunes to sell its tracks DRM-free.
“By becoming law, the PRO-IP Act sends the message to IP criminals everywhere that the U.S. will go the extra mile to protect American innovation,” Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
Despite some online music stores moving away from DRM software, Senior Research Manager for Ipsos Insight Media CT, Karl Joyce, said DRM hasn’t gone away yet. Apple’s iTunes became the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., and the majority of its music is still sold with DRM-software.
“The Amazon announcement a year ago is the more important move in terms of moving away from DRM because it obtained the support of the four major companies,” he said.
Vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research, James L. McQuivey, published a study in February – “The End of the Music Industry as We Know It” – that said this model of selling only DRM-free music will eventually extend across the industry to iTunes and other music stores as well. In this study, he said that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are the key to getting rid of DRM.
“Even if some young consumers prefer piracy to purchase, they prefer convenience over all,” he said in the study. “Buying a track for $0.99 from a friend’s MySpace page gives legal music the social lift that Napster proved nearly a decade ago could work for music if given the chance. As long as buying is easier than pirating, it stands a chance.”
Dr. Suzanne Fogul, Chair of the Marketing Department at DePaul University, said the absence of DRM music would have a positive effect on sales by expanding the market for music in general.
“The music industry used to be controlled by record companies,” she said. “Musicians had to be signed to a company in order to have a chance for their music to be heard by a large audience. Consumers had to buy all the songs on a record, whether they wanted them all or not. Now musicians can release their music directly to consumers and decide how much to charge, if anything. I think music consumers will buy more.”
Double-edged sword
What does all of this mean for a local band looking for their big break?
Jay Ziegler, guitarist for garage rock band The Code Kids, said the Internet has made communicating with fans faster, easier and cheaper.
“I’m for people getting music whenever possible,” he said. “It’s great because people who are not able to get music in stores can get it, pass it along to their friends, come to shows and support the band that way, which is how bands make more money.”
However, Ziegler said the Internet can be a double-edged sword if people download their music without paying for it. “You’re giving away music that you spent time and money on and not seeing a return on it.”
After only being together for a couple of months, he said his band is more worried about getting their music heard at this point, using social networking sites and making their music available for digital purchase on sites such as SNOCAP.
The Vindits use their MySpace to promote their music too, and they have an album “The Beagle EP” for sale on CD Baby.
“You can get from Band A to Band B to Band C easily,” he said. “It’s the interconnectivity of bands in the city. It’s more prevalent now than before. But you can go to a band’s MySpace page, and you might not like it and not come to the show.”
Jonathan Ifergan, vocalist for pop-rock band Color Radio, said his band tries to cover everything on the Internet to get their music heard. They have their music on iTunes, Amazon MP3, CD Baby, MySpace, Pure Volume, Rhapsody and Napster
“Everything we have an opportunity to put our music on, as long as it’s free and promotes, why not?” Ifergan said. “Music is all going to be free one day anyway.”
Fogul said with the ability to establish an extensive web presence, record labels have less power over musicians and consumers. “The Internet is a great equalizer,” she said.
But a band still has to do more than put their music on as many sites as possible.
“I think you still have to do the legwork and go out and meet people face to face by passing out flyers and telling people about the band,” Ziegler said.
Lane said the Internet is a helpful tool, but bands still have to try more creative ways to get their music heard.
“It’s not like an exact science, or else everybody would do it,” Lane said.
Though marketing music in the digital age has become faster and cheaper than ever, Lane said the marketing power from a major label would make their music more well-known, especially for his band who he said is not as Internet-savvy.
Ziegler said despite the turbulence in the music industry, he would still like to be signed on a label.
“Then it’s not all on your shoulders. With the label’s support, you have people working around the clock trying to promote your music,” he said.
Lane said being in a band is a bad investment.
“After equipment, practice, and transportation costs, you’d be better off working at 7-Eleven,” he said. “But that’s not why people do it. I like that you have to earn your stripes. You never know who might randomly catch your show.”
Iconic images of Chicago include the Sears Tower, Navy Pier and Wrigley Field, but there is more to see in this city than what comes on a postcard.
On display at the Chicago Cultural Center is “Made in Chicago: Photographs from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection,” an exhibit that displays photographs shot in Chicago by local and visiting photographers from 1930 to 2007. The exhibition consists of political scenes, street corners, portraits and abstracts that were all created in Chicago.
The collection includes a mosaic of images around the city from Chicago native Nathan Lerner’s cakes in a display window of a bakery to Thomas Struth’s elevated train shooting between two skyscrapers.
But there are also pictures that illustrate more than the Second City’s scenery. Robert Sengstacke’s woman walking up steps after sweeping off snow and Ben Gest’s group of people reading the Chicago Tribune over coffee together are only some of the images that deftly depict the people and daily life of the city.
Several photos show picturesque views of the city such as Ruth Thorne-Thomsen’s ethereal 1979 “Expeditions” that shows a paper plane floating over the skyline in the sunset. Jonas Dovydenas’s “Iron Worker” in 1969 gives a human element to an aerial view of the city with a steel worker perched like a bird atop a beam overlooking the city below.
In addition to the city scenery, the exhibit includes images from renowned artists such as Aaron Siskind’s black and white abstracts that resemble Magic Eye pictures and ink blot tests. Arthur Siegal’s “Right of Assembly” from 1939 captures a moment in Chicago’s political history with the entire frame filled with the tops of heads in a crowd.
The photos selected for this exhibit reveal not only the history of the city, but also the history of photography as an art form and the creativity the city spawned and inspired. The collection of these photographs forms an open historical photo album that was long overdue to be shared with the public.
The “Made in Chicago” exhibit is on display through Jan. 4, 2009 at the Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition Hall on 78 E. Washington Street. Visiting hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
For information about gallery talks for the duration of the exhibit, visit the Chicago Cultural Center.
ll over the world.
