Cathy is @ ALA – will be available Wed July15th

Wish me luck! Heading to the Windy City for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference.  While I’m away, feel free to contact my colleagues at the IC Reference Desk: 607.274.3890.

MITSloan: Design Thinking

Source: MITSloan, “Design Thinking – Special Report,” (a collection of articles).

Here is the overview & TOC:

Design thinking — distinct from analytical thinking — has emerged as the premier organizational path not only to breakthrough innovation but, surprisingly, to high-performance collaboration, as well. “It’s not about the pretty,” says one design-thinking practitioner, “it’s about the productive.” In this special section of articles, interviews, illustrated cases and research findings, the Review explores how to put design thinking to work.

Jul 6   USER EXPERIENCE Designing Waits That Work
By Donald A. Norman
“Perceptions are more important than reality, so manage [them]. Make the reasons for the wait clear, give feedback about the status, and provide a conceptual model.”

The Psychology of Waiting Lines,” the original version of this essay, to be featured in Norman’s upcoming book, Sociable Design

IN PRACTICE Usability for Evil
By Chris Nodder
How do some companies get their customers to do something that’s useful for the company but not really for the customer? Maybe by trying hard. And often

ELSEWHERE Evil by Design “Discover purposefully designed interfaces which make users emotionally involved in doing something that benefits you more than the

JUL 7: PROBLEM SOLVING: How to Become a Better Manager … By Thinking Like a Designer
Interview by Jimmy Guterman

Presentation experts Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds help world-renowned executives, politicians and thought leaders deliver stronger presentations. Here they reveal how to influence and persuade in a different way, regardless of whether you ever have to communicate via PowerPoint.

JUL 13: COMMUNICATIONS: How Facts Change Everything (If You Let Them)
By Edward R. Tufte, as told to Jimmy Guterman
Information-visualization guru and famed PowerPoint debunker Edward Tufte explains how businesses would think better, make better decisions and present themselves more powerfully if only they would learn to talk — both internally and externally — in facts.

JUL 22: DIGITAL BUSINESS: Morph the Web To Build Empathy, Trust and Sales
By Glen L. Urban, John R. Hauser, Guilherme Liberali, Michael Braun and Fareena SultanWe’ve long been able to personalize what information the Internet tells us — but now comes “Web site morphing,” and an Internet that personalizes how we like to be told. For companies, it means that communicating — and selling — will never be the same.

JUL 24: INNOVATION: Toyota’s Secret: The A3 Report
by John Shook
How Toyota solves problems, creates plans, and gets new things done while developing an organization of thinking problem-solvers.

We should have access to these articles from ABI/Inform in the next 3-6 months; they are not yet available fulltext.  Try ILL if you need them soon.

Ad Council Creative: Fatherhood involvement

About the Campaign (from the site): President Obama, a father of two, recently lent his voice to the call to “take time to be a dad today.” Even from his vantage point as president, Obama recognizes fatherhood as “the most important job in a man’s life,” emphasizing the critical role fathers play in their children’s lives. Official Sponsor Name: U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Family Assistance and the National Fatherhood Responsible ClearinghouseCampaign Website: www.fatherhood.govThe Agency Team:Bill Ludwig: Vice Chairman, Chief Creative OfficerMark Simon: EVP, Executive Creative DirectorCraig Marrero: VP, Art SupervisorBecca Loose: Sr. Copy WriterCristina Cecchetti: Sr. Account ExecutiveMary Ellen Krawczyk: SVP, Executive Produce.  Visit the Ad Council’s site.

more about “Ad Council Creative: Fatherhood invol…“, posted with vodpod

ARF: Audience Measurement 4.0

The Advertising Research Foundation recently held a conference called Audience Measurement 4.0.  They have sample videos including keynotes from Nielsen Online’s John Burbank and NBC’s Alan Wortzel.

paidContent: Yahoo & Fantasy Sports stats

Source: paidContent, “Yahoo withdraws lawsuit over rights to fantasy-sports stats,” by Joseph Tartakoff, 7/7/09.

Lead sentence:

Yahoo withdrew its lawsuit against the NFL Players Association, which had promised to reignite a battle over the rights to data used in fantasy sports leagues

PEJ: King of Pop tops news

Source: alert from Tom Rosenstiel, Director, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Pew Research Center
Date: 7/8/09

According to the PEJ News Coverage Index, the “King of Pop Tops News”:

In a week of major events ranging from U.S. troops withdrawing in Iraq to Sarah Palin’s surprising decision to step down as Alaska’s governor, Michael Jackson’s death drove the media narrative from June 29-July 5, according to a report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Jackson has dominated the headlines since his death on June 25. Registering at 17% of the newshole, the singer’s saga was the No. 1 story last week. And it has largely been a television story, accounting for 30% of the airtime studied on network news and 28% on cable news last week. In the network news universe, the morning shows devoted 56% of their airtime to Jackson, compared with 20% in the evening.

Last week, the Jackson narrative was driven by several themes. While some of the coverage centered on him as a legendary icon, looming questions about a possible prescription drug habit and legal concerns about his estate and custody of his three children also made news. Indeed, the brewing battle over his children and will accounted for the biggest component of Jackson-related coverage last week.

The second-biggest story last week was the ongoing economic crisis (10%), which largely focused on the troubling financial situation in California. With U.S. troops withdrawing from key cities, the war in Iraq (6%) was next—marking the highest level of coverage for that story in 2009. The No. 4 story was the war in Afghanistan (5%), driven by the offensive involving thousands of U.S. Marines. Rounding out the top five stories last week was the health care debate (5%).

These findings are part of PEJ’s running content analysis of media coverage, called the News Coverage Index, which studies 55 outlets from five media sectors.

Here is the pdf of the report & the website.

See also: Columbia Journalism Review, “‘We love you, Michael’: How much Michael Jackson is too much Michael Jackson?,” by The Editors, 7/7/09.

CSM: Newsletter, 6/3/09

Source: AU SOC Center for Social Media, Newsletter, 6/3/09

There is no way to summarize all the goings on at the CSM so I’ll just link to their newsletter.  Highlights include the Silverdocs wrap up & the Reel Journalism showcase with the Newseaum.

MediaPost: Cable TVs DVR tech suit

Source: MediaPost, “Cablevision wins key DVR Technology suit,” by Wayne Friedman, 6/29/09.

Here is Friedman’s lead:

A major victory for Cablevision Systems Corp. against the Hollywood studios and television networks took place when the Supreme Court declined to hear a case over its network DVR technology.

The article explains why TV and film studios find this technology problematic (copyright) while cablevision prefers it (no set-top boxes).

Cable News Network, Inc., et al., Petitioners v. CSC Holdings, Inc., et al. 2009 U.S. LEXIS 4828 June 29, 2009, Decided  [available at IC Library]

Sup. Ct. docket No. 08-448

Weymouth’s WaPo snafu

A new “gate” that does not have the “gate” suffix:

Source: Politico.com, “Washington Post cancels lobbyist event amid uproar,” by Mike Allen and Michael Calderone, 7/2/09.

Source: NYTimes.com, “A publisher stumbles publicity at The Post,” by David Carr, 7/3/09.

I expected a lot of articles about Palin in my news briefs; Ms. Weymouth appears to have eclipsed Palin on the media news coverage front.

ECREA: MAVISE database of E.U. TV markets

Source: ECREA listserv
Subject: European Audiovisual Observatory – MAVISE TV markets database

Here is the post that decribes MAVISE TV:

MAVISE is a database developed by the European Audiovisual Observatory for the European Commission DG COMM.

MAVISE provides you with detailed profiles of:

* 29 national TV markets
* 6530 television channels
* 4512 companies (broadcasters, packagers, transmitters)

Aims of MAVISE
The main aim of MAVISE is to provide better knowledge of the audiovisual market and more transparency. These goals are essential if the market is to operate properly and to ensure the laws governing it are relevant.

MAVISE is the biggest data collection operation ever carried out
concerning the European television sector. The only one of its kind, the database will enable the European Audiovisual Observatory to provide the TV industry, institutional decision-makers, and the general public with all the information they need about developments affecting the European market for television even more regularly and efficiently than before. Companies in the audiovisual sector also stand to gain considerably from this project.

Ragan: using LinkedIn effectively

From Ragan’s PR Daily: “Communicator and LinkedIn expert Chuck Hester discusses how to build your network, contact journalists and look for a job on this popular professional networking site.”

more about “Ragan: using LinkedIn effectively“, posted with vodpod

Newsgathering and Privacy – Stay on the Story, Don’t Become the Story! Part 1

Kudos to CMLP for this clever video that covers tips for newsgathering.  Read more about the series on the CMLP’s site.

more about “Newsgathering and Privacy – Stay on t…“, posted with vodpod

PR Daily: Wiki of Social Media Marketing examples

Source: PR Daily, “All the examples of social media marketing you can handle,”

The headline links diretly to the wiki. I’ll add it as a resource to my CMD guide.

TechCrunch: Teens watch TV

Source: TechCrunch, “Nielsen debunks myths on teens & media — they still watch tv!,” by Robin Wauters, 6/24/09.

She writes, “According to Nielsen, teenagers are far from abandoning TV for so-called new media. In fact, television viewing rates among U.S. teens have actually gone up 6% in the last five years.”  Not sure if this data is an eye-opener, though.

paidContent: Mags move online only

Source: paidContent, “Death Watch: the magazines that didn’t make it,” by David Kaplan, 7/1/09.

Lists of magazine — including Oprah at Home — that are now online only acording to MPA’s PIB.  Quarterly titles data.

New Yorker: Gladwell reviews Anderson’s new book

Source: New Yorker, “Priced to sell: Is free the future?,” by Malcolm Gladwell, 7/6/09.

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Chris Anderson’s (editor of Wired) new book Free: The future of a radical price.  Here is a quote:

The digital age, Anderson argues, is exerting an inexorable downward pressure on the prices of all things ‘made of ideas.’ Anderson does not consider this a passing trend. Rather, he seems to think of it as an iron law: ‘In the digital realm you can try to keep Free at bay with laws and locks, but eventually the force of economic gravity will win.’

I’ve placed an order for this title.

UTNE: Joss Whedon on Writing strong female characters

Source: UTNE, “Joss Whedon on writing strong female characters,” by Danielle Maestretti, 6/26/09.

Maestretti calls attention to a clip of Whedon’s speech at Equality Now.

I remember his NPR interview regarding Dollhouse (David Bianculli, 2/12/09).

BusinessWeek: Business comm should employ stories

Source: BusinessWeek/ Communications, “‘Let me tell you a story’: It’s the best way to grab potential customers’ attention and warm them to your pitch. Here are some tips,” by Carmine Gallo, 6/30/09.

Discusses the benefits of using story telling for business communications.

MediaDailyNews: Clear Channel pushed toward bankruptcy

Source: MediaDailyNews, “Radio Biz in trouble, Clear Channel pushed toward bankruptcy,” by Erik Sass, 7/1/09.

An excerpt:

…it is becoming apparent that Clear Channel Communications’ creditors intend to push the behemoth into bankruptcy, hoping to gain control of its equity at a big discount, then sell them off

paidContent: Gannett Layoffs / I.J. access

Source: paidContent, “Gannett layoffs may come in next few days; more than 1000,” by Rafat Ali, 6/30/09.

Yikes.

The Gannet suite of papers, including the Ithaca Journal, has left our Newsbank platform, too.  We are currently limited to what is available from the website (for online — we have print & micro).   Our library is working with a regional group on alternative access. Sorry for the inconvenience.

From our local scene:
Ithaca Journal’s printing press retired, 6/20/09 by Bruce Estes from the I.J.
Ithaca Journal building up for sale, 6/24/09 by Rob Monana, IthacaTimes.com

_____

see also: MediaDailyNews, “Gannett: More than 1,000 jobs to be cut,” by Erik Sass, 7/2/09.  He cites Gannettblog.com (the author has recently decided to stop blogging — he refers to Gannettoid) & a WSJ report.