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category archive listing Category Archives: culture

Dale Willman on radio in Indonesia

May 10, 2008 – 10:23 am

Dale Willman

Borobudur, a Buddhist temple on the island of Java.

For a change of pace, here’s an audio podcast. My good friend and environmental journalism colleague Dale Willman just got back from a three-week trip to Indonesia where he was training radio journalists there how to do an environmental radio show — and just how to [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Audio Show, education, environment, experience, interviews, media evolution, mobile, podcasts, world | Comments (0)

Toxic Journo Culture Oozes Across Blogosphere

April 29, 2008 – 7:41 am

E-Media Tidbits on Poynter.org

My Tidbits post yesterday seemed to resonate with a lot of journalists. Check out the comments .

My E-Media Tidbits post yesterday, Journalism: A Toxic Culture? (Or: Why Aren’t We Having More Fun?) (cross-posted to Contentious.com) has gotten many comments and also picked up wider traction. Here are the various people [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, blogs, community, conversational media, journalism, media evolution | Comments (1)

Journalism: A Toxic Culture? (Or: Why Aren’t We Having More Fun?)

April 28, 2008 – 11:58 am

Despair, Inc.

Remind you of any journalists you know?…

(NOTE: I originally posted this article on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits. But I thought Contentious readers might be interested in it, too.)
Most of what I do is help journalists and news orgs wrap their brains around the Internet. Generally I enjoy that work. Lately, though, I’ve been getting quite [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Media Musings, careers, collaboration, community, credibility, emotions, events, fun stuff, journalism, media evolution, mindset, problems, skills, solutions | Comments (1)

Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber

April 20, 2008 – 3:20 pm

OpenDemocracy, via Flickr (CC license)

What might this Malian girl and I have in common, and what might we learn from each other? How could we know if we can’t really connect?

This morning I listened to an excellent Radio Open Source interview. Host Christopher Lydon was talking to Global Voices Online founder Ethan Zuckerman and GVO [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Net Effects on Society, Resources, community, conversational media, critical thinking, mindset, news, personal, problems, processes, psychology, skills, social media, social networks, society, solutions, tools | Comments (9)

The Cup: The Cool Boulder Geek Hangout

April 17, 2008 – 5:08 pm

I spent most of today working and socializing at The Cup in downtown Boulder. It’s known locally as the cool hangout place for local geeks. It also specializes in fair trade coffee (which is cool, even though I don’t drink coffee, I’m a tea fan).
Today several of my friends stopped by, so I grabbed video [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Amy's Adventures, Conversations, community, friends, video | Comments (5)

New J-Skills: What to Measure?

April 10, 2008 – 10:02 am

Berbercarpet, via Flickr (CC license)

Journalism sudents need the right tools — and skills — for the kinds of careers and opportunities they’re really going to be making for themselves.

Picking up on my post yesterday, Univ. of Florida journalism professor Mindy McAdams challenged me (and her other readers) to translate my quick list of what j-schools [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Content Style & Business, General, Labels and Metadata, PR & marketing, Resources, Strategy, Wikis, blogs, business, careers, collaboration, community, content management, contributed content, conversational media, creativity, credibility, critical thinking, distribution, education, experience, forums, innovation, journalism, media evolution, mindset, mobile, networking, news, processes, projects, research, search, services, skills, social media, traffic, transparency, world | Comments (15)

The Perils of Political Romance

February 4, 2008 – 11:39 am

KoAn, via Flickr (CC license)

Questioning romance may not be popular, but it’s vital when stakes are high.

This morning I finally figured out why I’ve been feeling so utterly disengaged from the inescapable frenetic quest for Presidential candidates.
Well, actually Canadian blogger Rob Hyndman figured it out for me in his post this morning: We Won’t Get [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in community, credibility, critical thinking, emotions, psychology | Comments (2)

Preview: Sex, Journalism & Trust

January 6, 2008 – 5:08 pm

RabbleRadio, via Flickr (CC license)

Prudishness and journalism were never a good mix.

Today I started pulling together a bunch of stray threads that have been nagging at me for some time. Anyone who reads my work knows that I have longstanding admiration for quality journalism — and growing frustration with the culture and attitudes of professional [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in emotions, help needed, innovation, journalism, psychology, random thought | Comments (13)

Caucus day literary break

January 3, 2008 – 1:25 pm

While Iowans go a-caucusing today, I thought I’d give Contentious readers a short literary break from one of my all-time favorites, Alice in Wonderland. This is from Chapter III: A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
“…What I was going to say,” said the Dodo in an offended tone, “was, that the best thing to get us [...]

By Amy Gahran | Comments (0)

Barcelona is great, my Macbook is not

November 23, 2007 – 2:58 am

Just a quick update — I’m greatly enjoying my brief vacation in Barcelona. Last night a friend and I enjoyed tapas, tempranillo, and an AWESOME flamenco fusion trio in the courtyard of a Catalonian cafe. Here are some photos I took in Barcelona and at the seaside town of Vilanova i la Geltru.
However, my Macbook [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Amy's Adventures, Mac, problems, world | Comments (6)