An Ode to The New York Times

Sunday New York Times lyrics

Thank you so much for coming
I wish I saw you more
Sorry I can't offer lunch
I've got to shove you out the door
I'm afraid I'm just too busy
I have fallen way behind
My garage is full of ten years
Of the Sunday New York Times

Some get their news from the radio
Some people read headlines
I read every single word
In the Sunday New York Times

Each week it comes, about 10 pounds
Of newsprint that combines
News and style and reviews
And the Op Ed page opines
Ten pounds of small grey print
Stories of all kinds
I do the best I can but I'm
Up to May 1999.

I feel an obligation
To my teacher Mr. Heinz
To keep up with current events
So I read it, line by line
Bill Clinton still is president
And the Dow Jones Index climbs
‘Cause I read every single word
In the Sunday New York Times.

The garage is full of paper
Each month tied up with twine
Stacks of paper ten feet high
Made of pulp from spruce and pine
Trees died to make this
Men toiled to design
This journalistic moment
For the inquiring mind.

I quit my job at P & G
I gave up beer and wine
Don't go out to dinner
Invitations I decline
I sit and read the paper
Hard copy, not online
And now my ophthalmologist
Tells me I'm going blind.

The columnists: Frank. Maureen. Paul.
Are like old friends of mine
Kakutani, Friedman, Herbert
Ludwig Wittenstein
I'm pretty good at language
I'm not a Philistine
But to do the crossword puzzle
Is a seven hour grind

They say its days are numbered
As readership declines
I can't imagine living
Without the New York Times
When it's gone then I'll be lost
The sun no longer shines
Thank goodness I have a backlog
So I'll just take my time.

Should newspapers fade away
In Auld Lang Syne
We'll drink a cup of kindness to
The Sunday New York Times.

If the White House can do it…

During a recent presentation I delivered to school public relations professionals about Web 2.0 and social media, a murmur went up in the audience when I got to a slide that read:
The next time your IT Department says no, show them this:

This is the sidebar on the White House's blog, pointing readers and followers to a number of the social media tools this new White House uses to get out its message and the news. Now, in addition to its Facebook page, its Twitter account and its YouTube channel, the White House has a Slideshare page. Slideshare, in case you don't know, is a free Web 2.0 site where presentations of all shapes and sizes -- on every topic imaginable -- are shared by people (including me) from all walks of life. By doing this, the Oval Office is inviting us in to judge for ourselves and broaden our knowledge base about our government. No excuses, guys.

Here's just a sample slideshow from the White House page:

Charting a Course for Transformation

View more presentations from White House.

It's an impressive example of how social media can be used. And again I ask: If the White House can do this, shouldn't you be thinking about it?

When Nature Calls, Turn to Web 2.0

There’s something for everyone on social media these days, and two websites — Sit or Squat and MizPee — prove that.

Sit or Squat is a relatively new Web 2.0 site that seriously lives up to its name. When you sign up, the site provides you with a map of all the rest rooms nearby where you can relieve yourself. The Sit or Squat reference? That’s meant for anyone who wants to know whether you’d be safer to sit or squat once there.

On a recent visit to Sit or Squat, I was furnished with an interactive map of White Plains, NY, where I live. I was able to quickly determine that all the major department stores near me — Target, Walmart, Fortunoff, Bloomingdales and more — had rest rooms. Nothing new there. But users also tell you what the conditions are like in those rest rooms.

When I clicked on WalMart, here’s what one reader warned: “YUCK! DISGUSTING! GO ACROSS THE STREET TO TARGET.”

Another reader, who has obviously used the facilities at the nearby Fortunoff department store, made my search easier by noting: “On 3rd floor, near ATM and water fountain.”

I was also able to view the photo taken by the user of a lonely portajohn located somewhere on South Lexington Avenue in downtown White Plains. (See photo at the top of this post.) That contributor also called it the “Blue Box o’ Mercy.” As would be expected, that particular spot was stamped with a big “Squat.”

You can also download Sit or Squat to your iPhone or Blackberry, so you can use it when you are traveling and really have to go. It functions worldwide and is based on Google Maps, and anyone can submit their favorite, or least favorite, “throne” to the site.

MizPee is a simple text service that finds the closest (and supposedly cleanest) toilet near you.Using your cell phone, you simply send a text message of your location (city and state) to the number 415-350-2290. MizPee will send you information about the nearest rest rooms, which includes a rating system for cleanliness and information about whether you need to be a paying customer at the location before using the loo.

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Presentation at NSPRA 2009

I’m happy to present my workshop slides from NSPRA 2009/San Francisco. Great city, funky people. In addition to presenting, I danced with a bunch of crazy people in a former underground speakeasy, witnessed the Gay Pride Parade, had lunch in the real Chinatown, and hung from the edge of a cable car while it headed downhill fast.

NSPRA 2009 — Using Web 2.0 and Social Media to Reach Your Audience

View more documents from Evelyn Mccormack.

Thanks for the Links!

I have a few thanks today, TGIF, to all the bloggers out there who have so graciously linked back to School Communications 2.0 in the past month or so. I’m so behind in my thank-yous, which is a serious breach of netiquette. So here goes:

– Thanks to Topics About Los-angeles for mentioning my OneDayU post. I love being mentioned on the West Coast.

– Gracias to Netizen for linking to my Twitter post and lumping me in with such legendary websites as ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch. Haven’t been in such illustrious company since I slept overnight at actor Cliff Robertson’s Hamptons estate in the 1980s. Seriously true!

– Blogger Mike McCready for linking to my Nings post from his blog on higher education, marketing and the social web. Great post over at McCready’s — check it out.

Thanks again to all my readers. I know I’ve been a bit lax about posting lately, but I’m back on my game!

Survey: Barriers to Web 2.0 Use in Schools Still Exist

A tag cloud with terms related to Web 2.Image via Wikipedia

Not surprisingly, a new survey shows that teachers and students are driving the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in schools, but that human and technological barriers are holding back the use of these technologies as learning tools in many classrooms.

The survey, commissioned by Lightspeed Systems and Thinkronize Inc., creator of the kids’ search engine netTrekker, shows that online communication tools for parents and students have caught on quickly, but online social networking for instruction has a long way to go.

The most frequently identified “human-factor” barriers to the use of Web 2.0 technology were:

– the need to monitor appropriate use of online social networks (55 percent)

– lack of teacher knowledge about how to use the technology effectively (51 percent)

– teacher perceptions about its lack of instructional value or appropriateness (48 percent)

The most frequent technology barriers were:

– concerns about student safety (76 percent)

– concerns about district network or data security (35 percent)

– limited support systems, including technology personnel (27 percent)

You can read more about the survey at eSchoolNews Online.

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Blackberry Interruptus: Whatever Happened to Eye Contact?

Monica Hesse has a fun story in today’s Washington Post that examines a trend in cultural disturbia — that of the Blackberry-interrupted conversation. Hasn’t this happened to you too many times to count?

Oh, no! He’s fading fast! Eyes drifting downward. Responses becoming monosyllabic. No! No, buddy! Pay attention! Did you hear the one about the foreclosed psychic? She was re-possessed. Ha, ha! Just stop that incessant thumb-typing, and give this exchange a chance!

Try to have a conversation with someone, an uninterrupted lunch or dinner, a heart-to-heart with your college-age son or daughter, or any kind of in-depth exchange these days, and you’ve inevitably been there. Playing sloppy seconds to a Blackberry, or a PDA of another name.

I love technology as much as anyone else, but come on. What happened to the “off” button? If you can turn it off during a Broadway play, can’t you make the effort when we’re trying to have a simple conversation?

Now all that you, the former half of two communicating people, can do is awkwardly stand there and deal with the fact that you are less engaging than a five-ounce piece of plastic. It’s maddening — or maybe it’s just a simple question of etiquette: What is the appropriate course of action when you have been abandoned for a Personal Digital Assistant?

Read about “the four stages of Blackberry abandonment” in Hesse’s timely piece, Text is Cheap.

BigThink Looking for Exceptional Young People

Image representing Big Think as depicted in Cr...Image via CrunchBase

Attention teachers, students and parents: One of my favorite websites, BigThink, is launching a new series on Friday called “10 Under 25,” which focuses on the exceptional contributions that young people are making to global society.
BigThink, which features videotaped conversations with some of the world’s best and brightest thinkers — everyone from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to musician Moby– is soliciting nominations for the series.
They’re asking that you create an argument for why your nominee (under the age of 25, of course) should be included in their 10 Under 25 series, and upload a taped presentation to BigThink’s user-generated “expert page.” The most exceptional young people nominated will then be invited to the BigThink studio for interviews during the spring.
The site is encouraging high schools, colleges, and students themselves to submit their nominations for immediate consideration. Include a profile of your young achiever, with a summary of his or her accomplishments and contact information to Big Think senior editor Zachary Shtogren at zachary@bigthink.com.
Here’s an example of a BigThink interview — New Jersey Gov. John Corzine talking about what he learned from his tragic accident:

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Check out These Youngest Bloggers

I am often humbled by young people, and their grasp of technology is just another case in point. It’s a good thing I’m not interested in attracting thousands of readers or in making millions from my blog. Because frankly, the kids  are wuppin’ my ass.

I recently stumbled across youngestblogger.com, which lists the site’s choices for the “World’s Top 100 Youngest Bloggers.” The list, which is constantly refreshed, ranks the most successful blogs by authors aged 18 and under, and is based on the blogs’ Technorati and Alexa ranks, number of inks by other blogs back to these kids, and the number of readers who subcribe to these kids’ blogs..

Naturally, I was curious and found myself rooting around for hours, checking out the wares of these young writers and thinkers. I felt light-years behind the digital revolution as a result.

Here are just a few of the highlights, blogs I found especially wise, novel and successful:

Spencer Tweedy’s Blog – I love Spencer Tweedy, not only for his name but for his blog. He is all of 13 years old, just wrote about his Bar Mitzvah, but also weighs in on topics like the way Barack Obama uses the Internet. His writing is fresh and fun, and I love his use of multimedia – including family photos and videos from the web. And on his favorite music list? “A Whole Lotta Love” by Cream. Is this kid great, or what?

The Blog at the End of the Universe — A 13-year-old blogger who calls himself pacer521 maintains this political blog and describes himself thusly on his About Me page: I am a 13 year-old slightly liberal writer living in Los Angeles, California, and my work has been cited and published across the web. I am a full time blogger here so if you like my work, please come back frequently, as I will post new work daily. I greatly encourage comments and answer back to all credible ones.

Pacer521’s politically astute posts are among the most interesting I’ve read, and I’m apparently not the only one who feels this way. The blog receives anywhere between 20 and 80+ comments per post, depending on the topic. I especially like Blog at ther End of the Universe because pacer521 is not doing this for the money – the blog is free of any advertising. Instead, he’s doing it purely for expression. His blog has received more than 388,000 hits.

WPCandy – Number 1 on the youngestblogger list is 16-year-old Michael Castilla’s blog, WPCandy. Michael exclusively focuses on Wordpress, the blogging platform, and how to use it. Many adults I know would be lost by the techspeak in Michael’s blog, but anyone who’s blogging or interested in blogging should check in with this site. I have a feeling that Michael has a bright future ahead of him.

The Ultimate Neopets Cheats Site – Talk about finding a niche. Chloe Spencer, the 17-year-old blogger, is number 24 on the Young Bloggers list and writes exclusively about neopets, the virtual pets universe. Nothing spells success more in the blogging world than being invited to speak about your successful blog at conferences run by adults. You can find a 3-minute video of the poised Miss Spencer speaking about her site at the Blogher conference in Chicago on YouTube.

By the way, if you’re looking for work, Chloe is hiring. I think I’m neo-jealous.

To see more work by these and other youngest bloggers, check out the list at youngestblogger.com. I would also highly recommend checking out the site of the first-ever Teens in Tech Conference, held last weekend at Microsoft in San Francisco. Maybe you’ll learn something.

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Thanks to my Entrecard Pals

I have been a fairly active member of Entrecard, a link-sharing community of bloggers from around the world. You can see my Entrecard space in my sidebar. Every time someone “drops” a card from my site, the blog displayed in my card that day gets Entrecard credits that they can continue to use by advertising on other participating sites. I finally got around to participating in their latest contest, and I’m happy to write about the blogs that were my “top droppers” this month. Here they are:

BMWF1Blog — This blogger writes almost exclusively about racing the BMW Sauber F1. Lots of news and reviews for lovers of racing.

Inspector Electra – I’m an avid reader of this blog, because it’s about technology and gadgets. Lots of recent tech news here that comes in handy.

Serian Man — The Serian Man and I have a lot in common. We both write about education. He’s a teacher in Borneo, though, which makes him a lot more interesting than me.

Freeware Gadget –Another favorite blog of mine because of the writer’s keen sense of what’s news both in computers and on the web.

Bingo Sites Online for Women — The Bingo Lady is a recent Entrecard friend, but I like her blog. Bingo is big in the UK!

Picture to People — A blog about computer graphic design. A lot of interesting information here.

Best Freeware Files — Another tech blog, with the latest information about free software on the web — everything from Opera to Firefox to Openoffice.

Things About Computer — I’ve learned a few things from this site, especially about computer viruses, security and more.

Diet Recipes Blog — I’m always looking for great diet recipes, and you’ll find plenty here. I’ve tried the carrot muffins and they’re great!

Melissas Homeschool — A Florida homeschooler’s blog that’s chockful of useful information for homeschoolers and parents.
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