KC Star Web site enters 21st century, doesn't break

I want to extend kudos to the Web staff of the Kansas City Star for the good looking facelift it recently gave to the paper's site, kansascity.com.

It was a long time coming. In fact, this is the first real significant improvement to the site since I started reading the Star online...in 1999. That year, I went to college and missed my hometown dearly. And with this Internet thing, I was able to stay up-to-date with the goings-on in KC.

Problem was, the Star's site didn't change after that. Sure, there was a tweak here and there, but what resulted was a jumble of content, with breaking news in a corner, surrounded by ads, links, headlines, ads, press releases, pop up ads and even ads that scrolled across the screen. Sections were hard to find, hidden on a sidebar that was difficult to navigate. The day's main headlines were way below the fold, about 3/4 of the way down the page.

They're still there, but with the Star's new layout, you can easily maneuver the site, thanks to section tabs at the top of the page. The Star has also done a nice job in growing its blog farm, with Sam Mellinger's Royals blog at the top of my list. Still, the Chiefs are king in Kansas City (despite their record), and the Star has a nice Chiefs blog (wish I could say more, but my interest in the Chiefs slowed after Elvis Grbac left. For real), Joe Posnanski's gospel, a cool metro blog, and even a community for pet owners. There are many more, as well.

I think its Varsity Zone blog is really cool. It gives stats, scores, photos and news for high schools in the area. It even allows readers to keep their own blogs about high school sports.

The Star's site is getting better. There's still work to do. There's just so much darn content on the front page. Personally, and I might be biased, but I enjoy a nice clean front page.

Also, a big thumbs up to the University Daily Kansan, which, despite the gripes I had with the paper as a student, has a sweet Web site, and just upgraded an already good product.

BeatBlogging to connect with communities

I'm listening to Pat Thornton's interview with the Trib's Dan Honigman, the man behind Colonel Tribune (and a cool dude to boot), and he's talking about the importance of linking to connect people. And I realized that I didn't even blog about my interview with Pat. He talked to me and LJWorld.com's Jonathan Kealing a few weeks ago, and talked to us individually about the beat blogging going on at the Journal-World.

The news organization is doing a lot in terms of micro-reporting in order to a) expand coverage of Lawrence and b) further connect with our readers -- and beyond. Personally, I found writing my blog, Schoolhouse Talk, to be a great experience. How else would I report so much on mock elections at Free State High School?

Now I'm working the overnight shift (and anticipating not getting any sleep today...body clock is adjusting), and I'm hoping to install a graveyard shift blog. It would be great fodder for stories like this, that hold probably a limited interest for most of LJWorld's readers. Think a blotter/marketplace of random ideas. Who knows? It might be fun.

But, to be honest, Schoolhouse Talk has had limited success. Perhaps for two reasons. First, we don't update it enough. We're still trying to figure out what kind of news is blog-worthy. In a market like Lawrence, most school news is big enough for a full story, and we don't want to blog about the lunch menu at the high schools.

Second, I wonder if our audience is blog-savvy. Do they see blogs as a snark market, full of opinion? Do they take our blogs seriously? We've certainly had some success with story leads coming out of the blogs, and some of them, like our KU blog, do quite well. The opportunity is there...buffering, I guess.

Our audience knows a heck of a lot more about Lawrence than we do...we take that seriously...and we can use blogs, as an informal reporting base, to learn more from them. Now we just need to start talking back and forth.

War, wind farms, Obama and MTV: Street Team '08 concludes

I posted my final video for MTV News' (EMMY AWARD-WINNING!) Choose or Lose Street Team '08, a Knight Foundation initiative that used 51 citizen journalists (hate that term) to cover the youth movement during the election.

This project was rewarding, though sometimes frustrating. But looking back on it, it provided me with skills, insight and ideas that I never had before. I can edit a video like a whiz, our Election Day-tweets were posted on Times' Square HD board and I interviewed Ralph Nader. Pretty cool.

Here are some highlights, in no particular order:

• I saw Barack Obama speak three times, including his first (and only) visit to Kansas, the state where his mother was from. Also twice in Kansas City, including a rally with 75,000 people, where I got patted down by Secret Service.
• I embedded with the 1st Infantry Division's Dagger Brigade, as they trained to go to Iraq at Fort Irwin, Calif. I saw first-hand how our troops train for war, reported from the back of a Humvee and had front row seats to some intense combat simulation. I was also invited to embed with them in Iraq, but that looks unlikely.
• Great interview with author Tom Frank, who wrote "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "The Wrecking Crew." Tom, if you're reading, I'll buy you a beer next time you're in Lawrence.
  
• Ralph Nader came to Lawrence to speak. I didn't do a story on him for MTV, but I got to interview him for LJWorld.com's Schoolhouse Talk blog.
• My MTV blog, Making Kansas Count, was named one of the state's top political blogs by The Washington Post's Chris Cilizza.
• I contributed an article on guerilla journalism to Harvard University's Nieman Reports.
• I met tons of exciting, engaged young people who are working hard (on both sides of the aisle) to make Kansas a better place. Most impressive, I think, are the kids at Greensburg High School, who are rebuilding their town as America's first all-green city.
• Daily Kos linked to a story I did on State Sen. Donald Betts, who was running for Congress at age 30. He, however, got smoked in the general election.

So it's been a long, crazy 11 months. Many thanks to MTV for choosing me to report on Kansas, and major props to my fellow Street Teamers, who were a source of support (both technically and emotionally).

My new beat blog

Today LJWorld rolled out our new education beat blog, Schoolhouse Talk. 6News education reporter Lindsey Slater and I edit the blog, which we think will allow us to beef up and extend our coverage of schools in Lawrence. It's one of more than 10 blogs our reporters keep.

I've already got a million ideas for the blog, and things that can grow from it. Excited? You betcha.

It's ironic, because I don't do a particularly good job blogging here. I don't think I have many particularly interesting or groundbreaking insights to add to the debates surrounding journalism. Yeah, I have opinions and misgivings and maybe innovative ideas, but who cares what I think?

I have a few blog entries I want to write here, but I'm reticent to post them just because, well, what do I, as a reporter with a year under his belt, have to add?

I don't know. Maybe I'll post them here. All I know is that Schoolhouse Talk is going to be cool and fun. The layout might need some work, but that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there.

Cubs Rule. Sox Drool. New RedEye blog proves it.

My friend, former co-worker, and current Chicago Tribune sports scribe Matt Lynch is setting the story straight in Chicago with his new blog, Oddballs. Hosted by RedEye, Matt will seek to let everyone know that the Cubs rool and the Sox drooool. His friend Ryan will ill-advisedly try to do the same for the Sox.

Check it out!

http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/oddballs/

CitJ in Kansas City: A dream explained

Geoff Dougherty, editor the Chi-Town Daily News, wrote a column at Poynter discussing his management of several dozen citizen journalists in Chicago. His use of software to organize his team is pretty interesting, I think.

I'm beginning to plan my thesis project to (finally) graduate from KU. I'm rolling around two ideas in my head: One is a multimedia project about homelessness in Lawrence or a citizen journalism venture in Kansas City. There are a lot of blogs that muse on life and politics in KC, but I think there's a way to bring them all together.

My thoughts are this: Using a model of the Daily News and the Voice of San Diego, a citizen journalism venture would work best by combining user-generated content with the work of professional journalists. You create editorial standards and ensure your writers adhere to them. You use your in-house reporters to cover beats (Geoff had a good list on one of his blog posts, but I can't find it), some breaking news and some features, while relying on citizen journalists -- including high school journalists -- to beef up your coverage.

Then use your site as an aggregator local blogs (the Daily News does this, but I think there are a lot of local bloggers that could be represented. Kansas City has a solid group of city bloggers who are smarter about a lot of things than a lot of people) and media, maybe even using AP stories. Invite local bloggers to participate in online chats or as guest columnists. Heck, see if they'll be regular contributors. Using Yahoo Pipes to automatically expand the scope of stories. Use a front page Twitter-like function so readers and reporters can give updates on stories or traffic jams or the Royals' World Series victory (or not).

It needs to feed the sense of community that lives online and not appear as a monolith, as so many news organizations do. It should encourage community leaders or government officials to participate in op/eds.

Advertising? Um, I don't know much about it. But there's got to be some solution. One could be similar to the Journal-World's Marketplace, which allows businesses to upload info about their business, while paying for some premium features, like photos. The World Company is branching out of Larry to sell the service nationally.

My vision for Kansas City site would be heavy on multimedia: Maps, Google StreetView, lots of video for feature stories, and more.

Of course, I could be totally mistaken about all this. And I'm sure there's a whole helluva a lot more I haven't even thought of. I am not, how you say, a thought leader. That's what you get for musing on late-night visions.

This just in: The Bean is sweet.









Reporting from outside Union Station...










Greetings from the LJ World's News Center

Me and the Washington Post

Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix blog for the Washington Post, was looking for the country's top political blogs, state-by-state. And who did he pick for Kansas? Yep, me.

It's pretty exciting, but I'm certain there was a lack of representation from the Sunflower State. Nonetheless, I've got some work to do to live up to my new-found title as one of the best political blogs in the state. I can't say that I believe that yet; there are some really good ones out there, like Blue Tide Rising, Kansas Voice and Evolving in Kansas. I've had a tough time finding more conservative blogs in the state. Weird, I think, since the only blue spot is here in Lawrence. Nonetheless, I strive to do better, and I think I'll continue to improve my reportage and blogging, especially when I'm finished with the semester.

A tip of the cap the Brian Rich, our Street Teamer from Idaho.

MTV News Street Team '08, Kansas Style

So I'm about three months into my Street Team '08 experience, covering Kansas for MTV News' Choose or Lose campaign. So far, it's been a lot of fun and very interesting, but I look forward to broadening my horizons from northeast Kansas.

Mark Glaser at MediaShift wrote about the Street Team today, as well as some of our competitors (?), like HuffPost's Off the Bus and PurpleStates. Overall, he's pretty spot on in his criticisms and praises. We've got some work to do in our reportage (this reporter included). But it's all a grand experiment, and it will improve. I'll discuss this more in an upcoming issue of the Nieman Report.

I thought I'd link to my stories and see if anyone actually reads this blog. Most recent first.

Hussein? Who cares? (video)
What do Kansans think about the Barack Hussein Obama question?
Nader: He's baaaaack (blog)
Commentary on Nader's entry to the race.
Kansas City Clash (v)
Minutemen come to KCMO
Why Pakistan Matters, and Why You Should Care (b)
Pakistani journalist, and KU student, Rauf Arif talks about the importance of Pakistan
And, yea, there was a Huckabee (b)
Republican caucus coverage
Kansas Caucus Wrap-up (v) (blog)
A weak wrap-up to my caucus coverage; we live-vlogged all day on Super Tuesday. For some reason, MTV has not archived that footage.
Young vets await education bill decision (v)
Kansas vets petition the legislature for money to supplement their GI Bill funds
Related blog here: Republican response
All eyes on us...so don't drop the soap (b)
Gov. Sebelius gives the Dems rebuttal to Bush's SOTU
Kansans hope they have a voice at the caucus (b)
Pre-caucus coverage
A singular image? (b)
Kansas: More than what you think.
Kansans rally for Ron Paul (v)
My first video about Lawrencians supporting Ron Paul

Snarking is hard

Man, it's hard to be snarky all the time.

That's one of my biggest challenges when I blog here and over at THINK. Blogging is a medium that allows, nay encourages, a little snark, a little attitude. But when you're blogging about Mike Huckabee, and you're just a lowly little man like me, it makes it difficult. Huckabee is a funny name, for sure, but I'm not sure what I can add to the conversation in terms of snark.

I like to throw out the occassional zinger in my daily life, but there's a lot of pressure to do it on the blogosphere. I'm no Wonkette, I know that. We'll see if I can get funny.

Multimedia = Hot naked people

There's been a lot of chatter on the Internets lately about the importance of journalism students having blogs. Hence a renewed interest in this one. But the problem with my blog is that, well, I'm not very interesting and I don't have a whole lot to say.

Well, I do, but I don't think everybody needs to know everything I want to say. We'll see what happens as I develop the Kansas beat for MTV News; I think that will give me a lot more to say. In fact, I think that could make me *gasp* a decent blogger because I'll have some sort of niche expertise about something.

The best blogs are targeted. They offer straight information about, for instance, politics, baseball, your own life, etc. They're not a mish-mash of random samplings of information, as this blog has been. Well, this blog has tried to be about journalism, with a few other musings, but I think it's pretty schizo.

Still, when people say j-students must have a blog, I'm not so sure. They say it gives insight to their unfiltered writing styles and skills. Perhaps. I wouldn't say it's totally unfiltered; we're all responsible for what we say. They say it shows you're an Internet "native," that you're interested in the Web culture, that you're down (or up) with the times...sure, these are all true. But what if you're an empty suit? Or blogger, in this case.

Rare is the time I walk away from a blog post thinking, "Job well done, sir. You are a shining beacon of Internet culture."

I think if you're going to have a blog it should be about something. Not just anything, but something. Having a blog just to say you have a blog is an empty gesture. And to do multimedia just to have a sense of accomplishment is an empty gesture, too. If it's going to be something worthwhile, then it has to be good, especially if it's something an employer is going to consider when hiring me.

To me, it's like nudity in a movie. If it furthers the story (Hello, "Wild Things"), fine. If there are just a bunch of man and lady parts on display for the heck of it (I'm looking at you...um "Wild Things" might be nsfw, but it's pretty tame), that's where it becomes a problem. These new media applications should be necessary components to the story, or else they should add a new, compelling element to them, not just WWWWH.

Just to have a link to a slideshow or movie isn't enough. After all, who's going to watch an audio slideshow about Student Senate or a short movie file about the traffic cops? But you will want to see a slideshow of KU's Orange Bowl victory, or a movie about a traffic cop who has some sort of disease that makes walking difficult. It's got to be well-done.

So, you may ask, what the hell are you doing on your blog? I guess I'm trying to make it worth it.