Newsrooms Struggle with Wikipedia Citations

The Editors Weblog reports on the mixed attitudes of newspaper editors citing Wikipedia articles. Some, like the LA Times, are liberal. Others, like the Journal, use it for research. The American Journalism Review goes into more depth. A Google News search shows the practice is rampant.

The big question in my mind is this: when journalists cite Wikipedia articles, what happens when the facts they reference from the wiki entries change (assuming they do)? Do the reporters go back and update their articles? The news reports call more attention to the articles, potentially opening up a can of worms each time they source WIkipedia.

Seems like a big vicious cycle. Perhaps in the future these stories will carry some of the same disclaimers that WIkipedia lists.

Three Bookmarklets for Happier Mobile Browsing

With smartphone sales soaring and Citigroup projecting year-over-year growth of 50-60%, it's a safe bet that a lot of you are increasingly surfing the web from your mobile devices.

Still, even with the iPhone, the mobile browsing experience leaves lots to be desired because of the bandwidth and reception issues. Enter bookmarklets. These utilities add one-click functionality to your mobile device and they're terrific time savers.

Here are three such links I use constantly on the go. Drag the first two to your bookmarks/favorites and sync them to your device and you're all set. For the final bookmarklet, you need to first visit each service to configure them.

Mobilize This!

Google, Mowser and Skweezer are mobile transcoders that take any URL you throw at it and strip away the graphics for faster browsing. I prefer to use Google's version since it also gives me the option to browse the feed. The next time you want to get to a page quickly and your browser keeps loading the page. Stop it mid-stream and simply tap your Mobilize This! bookmarklet.

Wikipedia This!

Need to settle a bar bet like the name of Boba Fett's dad? Wikipedia of course has all the answers. Access this bookmarklet, enter your search term and you'll be whisked away to the answer.

ToRead and Instapaper

The great thing about the mobile web is that it's always with you. The downside is that sometimes it's hard to read a long story. Enter ToRead.cc and Instapaper. Both of these sites help you bookmark articles for the future. In the case of ToRead, it will email you the full text of the page. Instapaper assembles a reading list you can access from anywhere.

Happy browsing, travelers!

links for 2008-02-18

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  eMarketer: Online Buyers Seek Out User Reviews
  
  
  "Nine out of 10 US online buyers surveyed in February 2008 read customer reviews at least "some of the time" before making a purchase."
  
  
  (tags: Stats reviews peertopeer)
  
  


• 
  
  eMarketer: Podcasts Aren't Just for Young Nerds
  
  
  Good overview of the demographics of podcast listeners.
  
  
  (tags: Podcasting Advertising demographics Stats)
  
  

Media Jobs Sink as Marketing Services Jobs Rise

Adage:

U.S. media employment in December fell to a 15-year low (886,900), slammed by the slumping newspaper industry. But employment in advertising/marketing-services -- agencies and other firms that provide marketing and communications services to marketers -- broke a record in November (769,000). Marketing consulting powered that growth.

Is there a disconnect in the data here (PDF)? Yes, on the surface. However, it's also possible that more advertising and marketing programs are going direct-to-consumer, bypassing the media altogether. The upshot is to watch as pros who spent their entire careers in media start landing jobs at digital, PR and ad agencies. The need for content specialists is rising, not abating. Many of the jobs are still around but they may simply be migrating industries.

Also noteworthy, AdAge also reports that the local business sections of many newspapers are drying up.

links for 2008-02-11

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  Poynter Online - Blogging Best Practices for Journalists
  
  
  Tips from Sree Sreenivasan
  
  
  (tags: Blogs Journalism Writing)
  
  


• 
  
  MediaShift Idea Lab . Why I Love Forums -- and Not Blogs | PBS
  
  
  Interesting POV but I disagree that blogs are not communities.
  
  
  (tags: Blogs forums community)
  
  


• 
  
  t|w|i|t|t|e|r|m|e|t|e|r
  
  
  Enter a word to graph its use on twitter's public feed.
  
  
  (tags: twitter visualization Stats)
  
  


• 
  
  eMarketer - What Can Widgets Do?
  
  
  Widgets explained with statistics.
  
  
  (tags: Widgets Marketing Stats)
  
  


• 
  
  How not to get sued for bloggers : Real Lawyers Have Blogs
  
  
  "An online course for bloggers and media practitioners with the 10 things you need to know to stay out of court"
  
  
  (tags: Blogs law CitizenJournalism)
  
  


• 
  
  loose wire blog: Computers: Right Back Where We Started
  
  
  A variation on the same theme I wrote about yesterday. Clearly Jeremy and I are on the same track.
  
  
  (tags: attention Trends culture Technology Overload)