Simon Owens

On the day the AP Stylebook announced it would change the requirement that its users refer to online destinations as “web sites” to the more widely-used “websites,” I sent a message to a person named Justin LaBerge requesting a phone interview. He responded quickly saying that he was “about to go meet up with my GF for our Friday night plans (In light of today’s event, we have much to celebrate!)” When I spoke to him a few days later he said he was mostly kidding about the celebration part (he had been planning to go out with his girlfriend already) but that they did raise their glasses to “toast” the news. “You wouldn’t believe how many emails and Facebook messages I got when people saw that,” he told me.

Source: Bloggasm

Two military journalists behind an ambitious NATO International Security Assistance Force project to traverse Afghanistan in one month and file daily reports in words, photos and video recapped their experiences in a March 25 “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable.

The Web-based project, titled “30 Days Through Afghanistan,” concluded, March 15. It was the brainchild of Air Force Tech. Sgts. Ken Raimondi, whose background is in broadcasting, and Nathan Gallahan, a photojournalist. Both are based at ISAF’s Joint Command in Kabul.

The complex logistics required to reach all five ISAF regional commands in Afghanistan ultimately stretched the project an extra five days. From start to finish, Raimondi said, 90 percent of the encounters they had with coalition service members and with Afghan civilians were positive.

“The whole 35 days through, we saw almost endless opportunity and good spirits out there, and it was really a morale booster for us about the whole mission,” he said.

He added that no restrictions were placed on their coverage. “There was no approval chain. What we saw, we talked about,” he said.

And they pulled no punches in talking candidly with those they met. Raimondi recalled speaking with a sergeant stationed in the south who had witnessed 117 “ramp” ceremonies conducted planeside for fallen soldiers. “It was just crushing, really, knowing that there are people out there that have seen that many ramp ceremonies,” Raimondi noted.

Gallahan said the greatest challenge to keeping up the pace of daily reports was finding Internet access with enough bandwidth to upload video material to their Web site. The easy part, he said, was finding stories to tell.

“There are so many people in this country who have so much to say, and there’s so much to talk about, that I could have spent 10 years blogging every day and could have found something new to talk about,” he said.

Both reporters said they were gratified to read comments submitted by some of the several thousand followers of the blog, which Gallahan wrote, and the video log postings, which Raimondi produced. Although they would have liked the Web site to have attracted a larger audience beyond the military community, they said, they hope their approach has opened doors for others.

The airmen added that while “30 Days Through Afghanistan” may have broken new ground in contemporary military journalism, it really represents a return to the personal, frontline interview style of famed World War II reporter Ernie Pyle.

Gallahan said his two regrets about the project are a lack of time to plan out logistics and having to wrap up after just skimming the surface of the country.

“I would like to continue to try to tell the entire story of Afghanistan so people can make their own judgments,” he said.

Chicago Sometime?

The Past Imperfect of ChicagoNow Posted by Mike Doyle on 3/01/10.

You can’t run a 21st-century blog network at the speed of a 19th-century newspaper. I wish someone would tell the Chicago Tribune. Yesterday, when I ended my ten-month run as the scribe of the Chicagosphere online-media blog for the paper’s ChicagoNow content network, I was still waiting for the roll-out of site improvements promised on Day One. I was far from the only blogger dissatisfied with the paper’s glacial responsiveness. Eventually I realized why: ChicagoNow is a blog platform that simply wasn’t designed with bloggers in mind.

What other explanation can there be for a network of more than a hundred blogs that makes it hard for visitors to find and explore those blogs? Over the past ten months, I lost track of how many times friends and readers told me how inscrutable they found navigation on ChicagoNow.

HT to Journerdism

I wonder if they will keep up the ChicagoSphere goodbye post from him? Good luck Mike Doyle.

CJ Grisham

CYBERSPACE – On Wednesday, December 16 2009, many military blogs (milblogs) have decided to go silent for the day, while others are choosing to go silent for a longer period of time. This is happening because milblogs are facing an increasingly hostile environment from within the military.

According to Mr. Wolf of Blackfive.net, “While senior leadership has embraced blogging and social media, many field grade officers and senior NCOs do not embrace the concept. From general apathy in not wanting to deal with the issue to outright hositility to it, many commands are not only failing to support such activities, but are aggressively acting against active duty milbloggers, milspouses, and others. The number of such incidents appears to be growing, with milbloggers receiving reprimands, verbal and written, not only for their activities but those of spouses and supporters.”

The catalyst for the day of silence across the blogosphere is the treatment of milblogger C.J. Grisham who writes A Soldier’s Perspective. Grisham has earned accolades and respect, from the White House and people across the Internet because of his honest (although sometimes blunt) discussion of military issues – particularly PTSD.

~ Muncie Free Press

Thoughts?