Monday, May 21, 2012
The Woodbridge Avenue Honor Roll and War Memorial Committee has installed two replacement plaques at a war memorial in Ansonia, after they were stolen to scrap for cash last year. 

The Woodbridge Avenue Honor Roll and War Memorial Committee has installed two replacement plaques at a war memorial in Ansonia, after they were stolen to scrap for cash last year. 

They’ll have a hell of a job trying to get it out if they tried now,

Nancy Evans, member of the Woodbridge Avenue Honor Roll and War Memorial, talking about new bronze plaques installed at the memorial in Ansonia, Conn.

Saturday, March 24, 2012
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

The SPJ clap. Instead of a round of applause, just one clap to save time.

Saturday, March 3, 2012
I didn’t see participants wringing their hands and worrying about the future of journalism. They’re too busy building it.

David Herzog, associate professor for print and digital news at the Missouri School of Journalism, in an interview after the NICAR 2012 Conference. (via O’Reilly Radar)

The event is well-summarized by another conference attendee, Anthony DeBarros, senior database editor at USA Today:

The conference is a place where news nerds can gather and remind themselves that they’re not alone in their love of numbers, data analysis, writing code and finding great stories by poring over columns in a spreadsheet. It serves as an important training vehicle for journalists getting started with data in the newsroom, and it’s always kept journalists apprised of technological developments that offer new ways of finding and telling stories. At the same time, its connection to IRE keeps it firmly rooted in the best aspects of investigative reporting — digging up stories that serve the public good.

Read the full conference report here, and check out the first two interviews in Alex Howard’s new series profiling data journalists.

The Long Form Developer: Originally an aspiring long form writer, Pro Publica’s Dan Nguyen says,

With data journalism techniques, there are countless new angles to important issues, and countless new and interesting ways to tell their stories… It just happens that programming also provides even more ways to present a story when narrative isn’t the only (or the ideal) way to do so.

The Elections Developer: the New York Times’ Derek Willis emphasizes how data can help journalism fulfill its promise of public services. He says,

We live in an age where information is plentiful. Tools that can help distill and make sense of it are valuable. They save time and convey important insights. News organizations can’t afford to cede that role. [Data journalism and news apps] really force you to think about how the reader/user is getting this information and why. I think news apps demand that you don’t just build something because you like it; you build it so that others might find it useful.

(via futurejournalismproject)

(Source: futurejournalismproject)

Friday, March 2, 2012
In a culture that favors sensation, the fact checker is an anomaly, perhaps even anathema. He is the brakes on editors and writers racing toward deadline intent on dazzling readers at the expense of edifying them. He is the schoolmarm tsk tsking. He is the public defender for the unrepresented, the downtrodden, the forgotten—the facts. On the unheralded work of fact checkers via The Atlantic (via aprilmayparker)

Indeed.

(via futurejournalismproject)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
We’re delighted to hear that Rep. Fleming is a regular reader of America’s Finest News Source and doesn’t bother himself with The New York Times, Washington Post, the mediums of television and radio, or any other lesser journalism outlets. The Onion editor Joe Randazzo • In response to the Republican Congressman who mistook an Onion article for the real thing. source (viafollow)

Too funny.

(Source: shortformblog)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
good:

Enough, We Get It: Retweets Aren’t Endorsements
Twitter has been around for almost six years and each year people feel the need to remind everyone that their retweets are not endorsements. Overkill or still necessary?
Read more on GOOD

So true. I think people keep writing this message because some people actually believe your retweet is an endorsement.

good:

Enough, We Get It: Retweets Aren’t Endorsements

Twitter has been around for almost six years and each year people feel the need to remind everyone that their retweets are not endorsements. Overkill or still necessary?

Read more on GOOD

So true. I think people keep writing this message because some people actually believe your retweet is an endorsement.

Friday, January 20, 2012
futurejournalismproject:

The Big Book of Fonts, 1912 Edition
Via Kottke.org:

The Internet Archive is hosting a copy of the American Specimen Book of Type Styles put out by the American Type Founders Company in 1912. It’s a 1300-page book listing hundreds of typefaces and their possible use cases.


This is really cool.

futurejournalismproject:

The Big Book of Fonts, 1912 Edition

Via Kottke.org:

The Internet Archive is hosting a copy of the American Specimen Book of Type Styles put out by the American Type Founders Company in 1912. It’s a 1300-page book listing hundreds of typefaces and their possible use cases.

This is really cool.

(Source: futurejournalismproject)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

The Valley Indy staff talks about our first political debate we hosted in Seymour CT.

Old podcast, just trying out the audio uploader.

Sunday, January 8, 2012
Nobody knows. It’s like this really big secret. And since it was so sudden, it’s even more suspicious.

Malika Mosely, president of the tenants association at the Riverside Apartments in Ansonia Conn. The executive director of the Ansonia Housing Authority resigned and an employee was fired last month, but no one will talk about what happened.