NYTimes: “Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide”

Posted on by

A new series in the New York Times discussing social class in America is opening discussions in various blogs I read: Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide. I haven’t had a chance to read the first article yet, but for now here goes the relevant posts:

Metafilter: Rich get richer, poor get poorer.

Ed Cone: “there is a big difference between being a partner in a Wall Street law firm and handling traffic tickets and simple wills in a small town”.

Want a simple rule to define class in America? I have one – and it is sure to offend:

On average: If you shop at Dunkin Donuts for your coffee – you’re middle, working class or poor. If you shop at Starbucks for your coffee – you’re upper middle class or richer.

That’s it.

I am the only person I know who shops at both. Most thumb their noses one way or the other. I go to Starbucks in the afternoon at work – even though might I bitch and moan to my co-workers that Dunkin Donuts costs less and has better coffee. Sometimes we do a double stop – we go to Starbucks for them and they walk with me to Dunkin Donuts for mine. These same co-workers chide me when I buy a drink there every now and then. Three dollars for a small hot chocolate. Three dollars for six ounces! I admit it – I’ve had a few of them!

Dunkin Donuts is a left over from my economic past. I continue to drink it because Starbucks smells of elitism to me – even if I can supposedly afford it – and I love it over Starbucks – even some try to convince me that Starbucks is just better.

I need to get around to reading that article…

Hosts not Editors

Posted on by

Its a forgone conclusion that this experiment will be watched very closely by those who are hoping to capitilize on emergent journalism. I’m still not entirely convinced that citizen journalism will ever be able to operate on a for-profit model. Nevertheless, if anyone can succeed at this, its Gillmor. Its not that Dan has any special powers, or secret knowledge; rather, Dan simply has the rare skill of knowning how to listen. Unlike most of these startups, Dan is not creating an organization, and inviting people to participate. Rather, Dan appears to be inviting people to create an organization, and is offering resources to help make it happen.

Dan Gillmor & Grassroots Media Launch 1st Project | Nick Lewis: The Blog

Nick quotes Dan on saying he’s a Host and not an Editor. We’ve been using broken terminology at PF. I need to change that. That’s closer to the role our volunteers take. Never is an editor to edit a participant’s post – and I guess that’s implied by the title “Editor” isn’t it?

Piracy is Good?

Posted on by

October 18th, 2004 is the day TV died. That evening, British satellite broadcaster SkyOne – part of NEWS Corp’s BSkyB satellite broadcasting service – ran the premiere episode of the re-visioned 70s camp classic Battlestar Galactica. (That episode, “33,” is one of the best hours of drama ever written for television.)

…SciFi Channel programers had decided to wait until January 2005 (a slow month for American television) to begin airing the series, so three months would elapse between the airing of “33” in the UK, and its airing in the US. Or so it was thought.

The average viewer of the SciFi network is young and decidedly geeky. They are masters of media; they can find ways to get things they shouldn’t have. Thus, a few hours after airing on SkyOne, “33” was available for Internet download. No news there.

…as the Chinese proverb goes, “Many hands make light work.” BitTorrent transforms the creaky and unreliable technology of audiovisual distribution, making it fast and hyper-efficient. BitTorrent creates the conditions for something I’ve termed “hyperdistribution” – a distribution channel which is even more efficient than broadcasting.

That has certainly been the case with Battlestar Galactica. The British aficionados of the series provided torrents for each episode within a few hours of each broadcast. Many fans in the US picked them up and watched them; so did many people in Australia.

While you might assume the SciFi Channel saw a significant drop-off in viewership as a result of this piracy, it appears to have had the reverse effect: the series is so good that the few tens of thousands of people who watched downloaded versions told their friends to tune in on January 14th, and see for themselves. From its premiere, Battlestar Galactica has been the most popular program ever to air on the SciFi Channel, and its audiences have only grown throughout the first series. Piracy made it possible for “word-of-mouth” to spread about Battlestar Galactica.

Mindjack – Piracy is Good?

Craigslist expands into smaller cities

Posted on by

…The News & Record is closely watching Craigslist and developing plans to defend its market share, said Classified Advertising Manager Catherine Kernels.

“We currently dominate the market and they’re the threat,” she said. “We have a plan that will certainly address it. There are a million different websites that are threatening the market. There’s eBay and Monster, and Craigslist is certainly the biggest monster.”

Similar to its editorial side, which has added editor and reporter blogs to adapt to the demands of the internet age, the News & Record’s classified advertising department now posts all its content online. The newspaper has a dedicated employment classified website called TriadCareers, which is by far the largest listing of job ads in the region, currently listing 821 jobs.

Weekly publications that serve Greensboro boast much smaller classified sections.


Yes! Weekly: National online bulletin board threatens to steal ad revenue.

The article leaves to the end the most salient point: the communities that form on Craigslist sites draw traffic to classifieds. Community is key. Anybody can put up a want ads board. Not anybody can attract a community.

On Critics

Posted on by

You must remember that critics are not interested in serving the public trust; they’re interested in serving themselves. You’re a critic, and you need to pay the rent: there is a sea of other critics out there in the same boat. Some people in that situation will always go against the tide, to try and stand out. Some people will focus on gushing with the popular opinion as cleverly as possible – perhaps their punchy little quote will end up in a big ad in the newspaper, and their notoriety/income will increase.

And there are, of course, intellectuals who align themselves with elitism; they are forced to have disdain for all things popular. Their inability to be objective is indication of how ironically intellectual they are not.

In the end, critics are just people. People with an agenda. You are seldom going to find well thought-out, thorough objectivity in that demographic, no matter what they’re critiquing.

But mostly, there’s the bitter, sad realization that while they can write and scream or praise and jump up and down, they will be utterly forgotten in the annals of history, where Star Wars will not. For all their words and self-important positing, they know they have made no lasting contribution, no great impact. They’ve changed no lives, and shaped no futures. They’re resigned to being wordy because they’ve done so little. Like a fat, lazy sports fan who doesn’t like how Barry Bonds is hitting this season. Beset by jealousy, and ignorance, compensatory self-importance and bluster, they sit at their keyboards, furiously typing, and turn their self-hatred outward, to the very things they long to be part of most.

millenniumfalcon.com – The Official Media Review Links Thread

Dan Gillmor’s Bayosphere premiers, and in local news the Inquirer starts a blog!

Posted on by

I like the name and of course I like the concept 🙂 Check out Bayosphere | Of, by and for the Bay Area.

At Bayosphere, we’re going to create a community fueled by that notion. We will reflect — and reflect on — the news, needs and ideas of the
Bay Area and especially the technology sphere that is the prime
economic driver of the area.

Folks – it’s the “of, by and for” that is key and what makes this so important.

I truly believe old fashioned top down “push” media is going to be pummeled by participatory on demand media. You can count on it. Efforts like Bayosphere will help point the way.

Congrats Dan!

Speaking of leading the way, take a look at my old friends at Philly.com today! There be blogs here!

The Inquirer’s Daniel Rubin has launched “Blinq” and joins Daily News’s Will Bunch’s “Attytood” as two local journalist blogs that really *are* two local journalist blogs. Sad to say that the efforts I’ve seen from other newspapers just don’t feel like blogs to me. Too much sameness, not enough off site linkage, not enough personal voice or openness. I’m looking forward to seeing where Blinq goes.

Common PhillyBurbs, Philadelphia Weekly, City Paper – hop right in while the water’s warm.