Kids reaction to our first snow in Boulder

Being true blue surf, sand and sea Aussies who have lived on the Eastern coast of Australia forever, our kids have never seen snow.

Australia definitely has it though. But it's about a 5 hour drive to the ski fields from where we lived, and the price to stay, ski or whatever was incredibly prohibitive, especially given we're a large family. And the snowy mountains only has snow for about 8 weeks of the year anyway.

So we never did it.

And now we've moved to Boulder, where it snows from October through to about April(?) This video captures Harry and Charlie's first reactions. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=yWOcHWPUpEA]

Disclosures

Here I disclose absolutely everything that I consider could be deemed (by a reasonable person) to influence what I talk about or how I talk about it. I'm not seeking to monetize this site, but I recognise that my social equity is building and my branding has some value. I see the future of media is not in the vast number of clicks, but in the quality and resonance of the audience that interacts with me. I'm not looking to build my audience using any means possible - I really don't care that much for people visiting as an accident because they clicked through someone else first. I'd much rather have people actively seek *me* out for conversation, or to see what I've got. Advertisers are not caught up on that yet. So far, I've been offered a few free 'link to us and we'll link to you' deals that I'm not taking up. I will, of course, keep you posted. :)

Research, Papers and Presentations

My first ever public presentation was at PubCamp 2008. I undertook an unconference session in Sydney looking at the quality of media reporting of stories online as opposed to its traditional format. A few days later I delivered a more wide-ranging presentation at PubCamp in Melbourne, which was filmed and put here (if you watch it, please allow time for buffering so the slides begin with the speech). Of course, I think there are some great points in this presentation, but I believe I could do it so much better now. :)

I am currently undertaking my Masters in Mass Communication Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I'm working on research papers covering the following areas:

1. The mediation and mediatization of breastfeeding and its relationship to societal norms. On February 18, 2009 I presented a segment of my research at Ignite Boulder. Ignite is an awesome fun opportunity where presenters have 5 minutes and 20 slides that are on auto advance, with 15 seconds for each slide. You can watch the fun here.

2. The integration of Web 2.0 strategies with professional journalism and associated ethical issues.

3. My thesis is moving towards studying the strength of online communities formed using social media. My current semester's research is on the use of speech acts (hashtags, @ and retweets) and discourse/turn taking on Twitter.

I am going to endeavour to be as transparent as possible here on my blog, and post my outlines for relevant things I know associates who read my blog may be interested in. I would really appreciate feedback, contributions, questions, opportunities to present my work, and free coffees (not necessarily in that order).

Why you shouldn't read print

Since moving to Boulder I've actually started picking up the local free newspaper each day, but I'm over it. Why? I read it online and believe it's the cheapest, easiest way of helping the environment - even easier than all that other recycling we do.

In Australia to get a paper you need to visit a newsagent, or the train station - basically have a human interaction. But here in the US, there are a plethora of newsboxes (I dunno what they're actually called) all around the place - everywhere - carrying an assortment of daily newspapers, catalogues, classifieds. Almost anything! Many of them are free, and those that aren't are cheap to buy. The Daily Camera is only 50c (the Sunday edition is $1). You put the money in the slot and it lets you pull the handle open to grab your paper. While in Sydney we have about 4 generally available mass media newspapers, here there are at least twice that.



This seems great - it's so convenient, there's never a line for the paper, and it's so cheap it's easy to pick it up to read on the bus or whatever. And on a Sunday morning, you don't have to make conversation.

That's the big difference. The quality of news in these papers is shocking. The Colorado Daily is really crap. The writing is complete drivel. The topics are ridiculous. There is no real news. The best part is the comics. And even then, whomever is editing it sometimes runs the same comic two days or more straight. The Boulder Weekly, another free paper, is a bit better, but really - it's a good thing they're free. Nobody in their right mind would pay for this crap. The writing is grammatically incorrect, badly edited - it looks like a 4th grade paper. It's simply not professional in any sense of the word, let alone 'journalism'. Sort of like a cut down, free version of Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

But that gets me on to 'good quality' print - you know, the stuff you expect to pay for. The real journalism.

The Daily Camera and The Rocky Mountain News, which are like Sydney's Daily Telegraph in the 'real' sense, have been running subscription campaigns. Get it cheaper and you'll save! Big frigging deal. I can read both of them online... for free!

And there's nothing left of it when I'm done. No papers laying around to put in the recycling.

That's the biggest deal of all - the environmental cost. The New York Times, one of the most respected newspapers in the world, is also available online. Consider this: 314 acres of trees are cut down for every single edition of the Sunday New York Times.

314 acres. Gone. Because people like something tangible to hold with their coffee on Sundays; and then they chuck it out come Monday morning.

For a world of people who are becoming more aware of global warming and all the associated issues of environmental catastrophes, surely we owe ourselves and our kids those 314 acres.

Join me. Demand great journalism from your traditional mastheads, but demand it online. Leave the paper on the trees where it belongs.