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September 24, 2007
Let them speak!
What single issue brings the most problems for newspaper Web sites?
Commenting on articles.
There is a lot of debate on whether it is appropriate to let the public post their comments on articles.
As you might expect, the overwhelming majority of the time, the comments are negative. People like to write about their outrage over just about everything, and then we start getting emails from people saying we need to remove lots of comments or turn them off altogether.
For the record, we remove a tiny fraction of posted comments.
The controversy over the Iranian President Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University points out again, there are a lot of people that want to silence those who have different views than their own.
Whether you agree with Ahmadinejad's views or not, he is the leader of Iran and we should be engaged in a dialog with him, not trying to silence him.
How can we deal with people if we don't understand their views? and how can we understand where they are coming from if we never let them speak?
If you don't agree with what someone has to say, engage them... post your own comment showing how wrong they are, or what a ridiculous argument they are making, but don't argue they shouldn't be able to express their views.
It seems to me, silencing people is never the proper approach.
Posted by Bustraan on 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 22, 2007
Newspapers now adding video
The web has given newspapers the ability to provide video reports that until recently, were offered by TV.
The problem- we don't know how to do it yet!
Shooting video is a whole new experience, one we haven't learned yet. We know how to write, we know how to edit, we know how to photograph events, we know how to gather information, but we don't know how to provide video.
Who do we assign video assignments to? our photographers? our reporters? This is the latest issue we are struggling with.
Then, once the video is shot, who will edit it? Most of the time, so far, when someone comes back from shooting video at an assignment, they come over and hand me the video camera and say "Here is the video from ...", and someone must edit it and then get it onto our site.
We now have tools at our disposal we never had before. They offer exciting possibilities, but there is a learning curve that we have just started to climb.
For now, you can see the videos we have so far in our new video player. I suspect when we look back at some of these early videos, we will be surprised at how primitive they were.
Posted by Bustraan on 7:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 13, 2007
Busy week
Wow. It's been quite a week. I finally feel like I am caught up for a while.
We had re-create our election page for the primary election on Tuesday, we launched a brand new page devoted to all things Fairfield, set up the football page with the new stuff for the '07 season, and added a brand new video player to the site.
We also set up new blogs for some of our sports reporters: Sports of all Sorts, UConn, (for football and men's basketball) and UConn women basketball.
Tomorrow, (Friday), kicks off the 07 football season, so we got everything done just in time. Football season keeps us very busy, so hope you will visit our football page and tell us what you think. And don't forget to check out Sean Patrick Bowley's podcast, which returns. By the way, his podcast is now available on iTunes, so sign up to subscribe so you won't miss an edition!
Posted by Bustraan on 7:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 1, 2007
End of year 1
I became Online Editor at the Connecticut Post a little over 1 year ago.
We have made many changes during the past year and the numbers are in- the number of people coming to our site has doubled. I hope that means you like the changes that we have been making.
Rest assured, we aren't done. This web site is a work in progress. We continue to look at ways of improving how we manage the site, and features that will improve your experience when you do visit.
Suggestions are welcome. Tell us what you think we should do to make ConnPost.com better and you just might see it in the future. We are just an email away.
Posted by Bustraan on 1:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Are you ready for some football?
Football season is right around the corner.
Friday night football games begin in 2 weeks. Our crack football reporter Sean Patrick Bowley is already hitting the sidelines and checking in with all the different schools as he does his homework for the 2007 season.
We sent him out with a little video camera and he has been posting some interviews on the High School Sports blog. You should check them out and leave him your own thoughts on the new season.
He assures me he is gathering the info he needs for the return of his podcast, which by the way, is now available on Apples iTunes. Just search for Sean Patrick Bowley and subscribe to his podcast so you don't miss any of them.
Posted by Bustraan on 1:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
