I caught this post by Andy Dickinson about journalism students trying to clean up past indiscretions and have articles they wrote removed from their college paper sites. Apparently, as Bryan noted at Innovation in College Media, “more and more former students are attempting to get college media outlets to remove news items from their online archives.”

I’ve said before how thankful I am my high school newspaper wasn’t online when I was there. It is now, which makes sense but sucks for the students who in five years are going to wish they hadn’t been archived in Google. I had Web sites through middle and high school. But if a recruiter today stumbled upon the crap I wrote about back then, I’d surely never be considered. OK, they’d be able to tell the difference between an article in my newspaper today and one from high school. But the thing is, Google can’t.

I’m still annoyed by certain articles that pop up high in the Google search for my name today. One of the top hits is a list of articles from the Daily Kent Stater. (Fortunately, these are only from when we changed over platforms, so they’re the tailend of my collegiate journalism career, not my first forays into it. They’re also not from a period where I was on a regular beat, so it’s really scattered, but nothing I’d be entirely embarassed for someone to read.) There are articles I hate pop up when you search for me, the ones about May 4, Darfur, black squirrels, a hospital groundbreaking that I covered last summer, etc. I guess — I hope — the more articles I get under my belt, the quicker those will get nudged out.

But I’m not going to hire a company to make that happen. For one thing, I like to be able to look back at old stories and see how much I’ve grown and think how I would handle that story knowing what I know today. Often times even a few months can make a big difference in how I’d go about it. And the great thing about newspapers, and even more now with online, is that I can start over on a fresh story or topic tomorrow even if I didn’t nail the story today. Or I can come back from a different angle another time.

Bryan notes that the most common reason to want to clean up the record from college media outlets was to clean up blotter items of youthful indiscretions. I made a conscientious decision as editor of the Stater not to publish the blotter online for this reason. I was never in the blotter and could not have foreseen myself ever being in a situation where I would be (and in fact we had a discussion when a USS senator was arrested for a DUI that boiled down to the fact that were I to be arrested for a similar offense, as a campus leader I’d be held to the same standard, which would include a front-page article about the arrest). But kids will be kids, and I hated the idea that some underage drinking arrest would bar them from a job someday.

I’m not sure if they went ahead and ran the blotter online after I left. It would draw a lot of hits, surely. It was one of our most-read items in print. And I wouldn’t judge them for not.

The real question is going to be what happens when my generation gets into positions of power. We grew up being monitored by the Internet, or monitor ourselves and friends through it. But when it comes time for us to make the hiring decisions, will be more forgiving or will we be more diligent in our pursuits because we know the back roads of the net better than our bosses today? It’ll be interesting to see.

Do I have no? Um, heck no.

As I told the man in the NPD team meeting this week when he asked if I’d be line for one, “I would love to be. But they don’t pay me enough here to be able to afford a $500 cell phone.” That got a laugh out of the others in the room, including the ME who confessed he doesn’t even have a cell phone. So, I guess I won’t get any pity from them. lol.

However, I really do want one. As was evidenced by my extensive knowledge of the phone, it’s pros and cons, what it does have (and more importantly, what it doesn’t… hello, no video camera, no flash, no data storage, no aim?). The reporter who was writing the local story for today’s paper asked me, after I corrected him seriously like five times because he kept calling the stores and asking about the iPod because he just sounded silly, if I just spent the day reading press releases about the iPhone. Uh, no. But I have been following it since I first heard about it, way back before I even started here.

I still have my Razr. I hate my Razr. I hate it so much that I pray every time I drop it, which admittedly is more than you probably should abuse any electronic device, that this time it will break. But that bugger is resilient. Unfortunately, it’s also glitchy. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I was an early adopted of the Razr. I had read about it in Wired back before it was even on the market, and it was only a few months after it became available that I got my hands on it.

So, maybe it’s not just the money holding me back on the iPhone. There are other considerations, both monetary — I already have a video iPod and a digital camera I love that go everywhere with me and which set me back several hundred a piece less than a year ago — and practical — I’ve never heard good things about AT&T service (and know it doesn’t get reception in our office) and I’m reluctant to sign a two-year contract with a company I may be unhappy with. But really, the other thing is I want them to work out the bugs. I think that was my mistake with the Razr. In my zeal to be the first with the awesome new phone, I took the hit in terms of working the bugs out. Now the Razr is probably the most ubiquitous phone on the market and in the hands of consumers. I’m no longer the cool kid, and instead I have a phone that I hate that is so popular it’s common.

I’ve been talking to one of our editors about blogs lately. It started because he asked if I read any blogs, which led to, “Well, how do you find them?”

I explained RSS feeds and how to find one or two blogs you like, and check out who they’re linking to or what they’re posting. Chances are, if you find a blog you like they’re looking at other blogs or sites you might like. Pretty soon you’ll be swimming in too many feeds to keep up on. (I am terribly behind in my feed-reading after not having the net and then going home for a family reunion.)

Yesterday, we started talking about the why of keeping a blog. For me, a big part is the people I “meet” or I guess the better term is interact with. I’m exposed to awesome projects and ideas on a daily basis by some of the industry thought leaders and several others who are, like me, toiling away doing the daily work and sharing their knowledge and experiences. I love watching how it all comes together. I love watching how one idea gets picked up, discussed and debated. How it bounces across my corner of the blogosphere until I myself feel compelled to weigh in and come to terms with my own, now much more informed, opinion.

He mentioned that a few years ago they had several interns who were keeping blogs and being very candid about their work experience, saying things like “I can’t believe So & So did that to my story,” and so forth. Apparently, everyone in the newsroom was reading the blogs and the interns had no idea until about a month in. Oops.

That’s why I was upfront and honest from day one. I told my editors about the blog before they hired me and after I was hired, I reiterated it. I have never sought to hide it, nor felt a reason or need to do so. But then, I’m not blogging about how horrible the people on my beat or in my newsroom are. (For the record, they aren’t horrible. I consider myself amazingly fortunate to have landed here.)

Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve given a lot of thought to what blogs role is, and I decided that I can best serve others by just relaying my experience and opinions for what they are. As with all new endeavors, I’ve shifted since I started. I try to focus on experiences that I think will help others understand what it’s like to be a brand new reporter starting out in this shifting world. It’s a snapshot of what it’s like to learn by the seat of your pants in an industry that’s making it up as they go along. I hope that I’m able to pass along some of the excitement I have at the opportunity to do that to others who stumble on this site.

I’ve had people ask me what my bosses think about this site. Truth is, I really don’t think they care. I think they like having a tech-savvy reporter who actually cares enough about her craft to keep a blog about it. But do I worry about my co-workers stumbling on my blog. Uh, no. One of them inevitably brings it up almost daily, though I don’t think any of them reads it regularly. Do I worry about my bosses reading too much into my posts? Again, I don’t think they read it regularly, and even if they did, they’re pretty down-to-earth, and I would feel more than comfortable sitting down with any of them to explain where I was coming from in any post they took out of context. Do I worry about my sources finding it? Not really because they’d almost surely be bored beyond belief with all the journalism minutiae.

Yes, there are times where I’d like to rant that I’d rather stick a needle in my eye than write one more charticle. But even when I do get the urge to rant about something unfair in the README memo or about a something that really upset me, I don’t. I count to 10 and ask if I’d really want my boss or source to stumble on that. Would I want my future boss to read that? I guess I self-censor myself. Nobody else says what I can or can’t say. And I think that’s the best kind of relationship between this blog and work.

So, I post this as a warning. And as an admonishment on my part. For, I made a seriously huge mistake this week, and I’m glad my boss took it in stride.

I have been working on this package about the state of superitendency in our region. Several of our superintendents are retiring this summer or have announced their intent to retire within the next year. More than two-thirds of our superintendents have 30+ years of experience in education (translation: it won’t be much longer).

As a part of my package, I wanted to see how long each of our local superintendents had been in his or her position. This involves calling out to 26 different school corporations. My everyday coverage usually encompasses three of them, with a bit more emphasis on one other. But for the most part, I don’t stray too far out of this county except to monitor the boards and make sure nothing crazy or important happens.

So, imagine my shock when I call one of the distant corporations Tuesday afternoon and am told by the secretary: “He’s no longer the superintendent. So & So replaced him — in April.”

I almost cried. It was all I could do to stifle my shock and stay composed enough to ask for the spelling of the new guy’s name and what happened (at least it was retirement, not something else crazy).

The problem, as if dropping the ball and completely missing a new superintendent in one of my districts wasn’t big enough, was my boss wasn’t having the best of days. And I was NOT going to break the news that I’d missed that story to him while the odds were stacked against me. I asked another reporter for her advice, and she concurred. Come in early the next day and catch him then.

The next morning, I rolled in about half an hour early. Sat down, turned on my computer, checked my e-mail and glared at the notebook with the superintendent story notes. Ugh. I knew I had to tell him, even though every ounce of me wanted not to know how disappointed he’d be.

I wanted to check and make sure I wasn’t catching him at a bad time, so I went to send the reporter a note via iChat, which is on each of our computers. It read: “Is (he) in a good mood today? Or is now a bad time to tell him about the new superintendent in (that district)?”

Two seconds after I hit send I look up and realize, to my absolute horror, that it said across the top: “Chat with (My Editor).”

I could have cried, and those tears would have been much worse than the ones about a missed story.

I jumped up immediately and dashed across the office to his desk, where he was sitting and as I approached reading my iChat to him.

Ugh. Talk about odds stacked against me. So I had to apologize profusely and truthfully not only for dropping the ball on the story but also for the misdirected im.

Luckily, I guess, though the discourse did involve at least one profanity and a pen being thrown at the desk a little harder than necessary, it softened the blow on the superintendent being named months ago without my notice. And, to be honest, my editor did get over it relatively quickly. Though, because another reporter made a similar mistake a few weeks ago in an im intended for me, I think he probably thinks we talk about him all the time. We really don’t. (I swear!) I was just trying to test the waters to make sure it wasn’t bad timing.

The point of relaying this is to warn you all. I am about as tech-savvy as they come, and it was a stupid mistake. But, as those of you on my facebook or twitter friends list know, “Meranda is never talking about her boss on iChat again — especially if it might accidentally be sent to him, oops.”

You’ve been warned. Though my co-workers all had a great laugh about it, I’ll bet that goes on my review. Eep.

I love my MacBook. I rarely leave home without it. It is my radio. It is my DVD player. It is my portal to friends scattered throughout the world.

And it’s going to need a new plug. ASAP.

I was sitting here with it plugged in because I’d all but drained the battery power earlier, and I noticed the screen flicker and dim. I thought, maybe I knocked the plug out. With the magnetic plug, I frequently seem to pull it out by accident. I checked the wall and it was still in, so then I checked where the plug goes into my computer, and I almost had a heart attack I couldn’t get it out of my computer fast enough.

My plug is melting. How does that happen?! Luckily, it seems I caught it early. It’s not frayed, no wires exposed or burn marks or anything. Nothing to compare to some of the photos I just found in a quick “macbook plug melting” Google search.

Those photos are enough to sufficiently freak me out, however. And as soon as I finish this post, I’m going to figure out a way to get Apple to replace it ASAP because this is not cool. No pun intended.

When I first got my MacBook last summer, I don’t think disappointed could possibly describe how I felt when it arrived, in their terms “dead on arrival.” It worked spectacularly, if you overlooked the fact that the combo drive wouldn’t read CDs. I couldn’t, so after waiting most of the summer to save every dollar I could afford to from my internship to purchase it, I had to send it back and wait another week for a new one to arrive. (And the delivery fiasco that resulted in me driving back to Findlay a week after leaving and then up to Toledo to pick it up was only the cherry on top.)

Since then, other than the occasional “mooing” from the fan and the fact that some of the plastic around the edge where my hands rests came loose, it’s been pretty indestructable. Until now. I can overlook a lot, but not a piece of equipment melting, especially when it is attached to a machine that took a whole summer of savings to afford.

I think I’ll just go easy on using it this week and take it to work and borrow one of our MacBook plugs there to charge during the day so I can get a few hours use each night.

UPDATE: I got a new plug. Apple was pretty reasonable. After explaining to the first woman what had happened, she sent me over to the safety department, which asked a bunch of questions about “How long did the incident last?” and “Was there any other property damaged?” Either way, they sent me out a new plug Monday (it was late Saturday when I called) and it arrived Tuesday. Seems to be working fine. Though I’m still a little creeped that my plug melted.

As anyone who reads my blog knows, I tend to skew verbose rather than succint in my postings. However, when I read this article I had a one word, three letter response that very adequately sums up my disbelief. That word was, “wow.”

The job posting was a head-scratcher: “We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA.”

A reporter half a world away covering local street-light contracts and sewer repairs? A reporter who has never gotten closer to Pasadena than the telecast of the Rose Bowl parade?

Outsourcing first claimed manufacturing jobs, then hit services such as technical support, airline reservations and tax preparation. Now comes the next frontier: local journalism.

The reasoning, from the site’s creator?

“I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications,” said the 51-year-old Pasadena native. “Whether you’re at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you’re still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview.”

I mean, wow. Does he miss the entire point or what? It is impossible to produce quality journalism if you never leave your office, and that is true even if your office is on the corner of Main Street.

How can you tell what stories are important to the average person if you never interact with them or share the same community with them? How do you gain someone’s trust when you can’t look them in the eye or shake their hand? How do you gain the trust of readers who know you haven’t driven down the street the city’s widening or walked the halls of the school the district’s closing? You can’t.

This is a very, very bad sign, and I hope a mere one-time accident.

According to a survey released today by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 15 percent of American adults have neither a cell phone nor Internet. Read the AP story or the more detailed Pew press release to see what I’m talking about.

From the AP article:

The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that adult Americans are broadly divided into three groups: 31 percent are elite technology users, 20 percent are moderate users and the remainder have little or no usage of the Internet or cell phones.

That “remainder” is, what, 49 percent? Half of Americans “have little or no usage of the Internet or cell phones”?! Am I missing something. There’s no way that’s right. A decade ago, yes. But in 2007? … Really?

The Pew study found 15 percent of all Americans have neither a cell phone nor an Internet connection. Another 15 percent use some technology and are satisfied with what it currently does for them, while 11 percent use it intermittently and find connectivity annoying.

(An aside, that paragraph only adds up to 41 percent. According to Pew release, there’s an additional 8 percent of the population considered “inexperienced experimenters” which makes up the difference between this number and the above “remainder.”)

I don’t know why this surprises me, but honestly, it just seems so ubiquitous. My guess would have been maybe 3-5 percent. I mean, everyone has a cell phone, right? And having a computer is kind of like a TV, just sort of expected. Of course not, but I think my age and the people I associate with has some bearing on my expectations for the “average American.” Much of my life, personal and professional, centers around using computers and cell phones. I mean, I would never go to an assignment without my phone, what if my editor needed to get a hold of me? what if there was breaking news that needed to be posted before I could get back? And I can’t remember the last time I went more than 24 hours without checking my e-mail, etc. I don’t even get my bills or bank statements through the mail any more, it’s all online, with reminders sent to my cell phone and e-mail (which I also check on my phone).

What’s not addressed but would totally interest the sociology-minor in me: Who are these people? The 49 percent with little or no use and specifically that 15 percent pretty much untouched by these modern conveniences, nay, necessities? And what opportunities may they be missing out on now, and especially in the future as these skills become more and more expected?

The point of the survey wasn’t really how many people have cell phones or Internet. It was designed to find out how much and in what ways people are using those devices. The press release breaks down what all the different categories are and how much of the population each represents. Basically there’s the people who not only have adopted the technology but use it for everything, those that use it only when necessary or who begrudgingly accept the need to use it, and then there’s that remainder, who feel burdened or left behind by the technology race.

I definitely fall in the elite user range, and specifically the “omnivore” category — fully embrace technology and express themselves creatively through blogs and personal Web pages — fits me, while most of my family and friends would be considered “connectors” — see the Internet and cell phones as communications tools.

There’s a quiz to find out what category you fall under. I correctly guessed my category, btw.

(more…)

I’ve heard some ridiculous things about people’s photos on facebook and myspace or other sites causing them to lose a job they have or otherwise would have received. I’ve even heard of police and school administrators using the sites to track underage drinking, on-campus violations, etc.

But THIS is the first time I’ve heard of a college denying a student her degree over an “unprofessional” photo. (There’s a picture posted there, and to be honest, compared to a lot of photos I’ve taken or even been in, that is really tame. You can’t even tell she’s drinking alcohol or that she’s drunk except, apparently, a silly caption. She’s also of legal drinking age.) To read the full story, go here. She was apparently given an English degree in lieu of her education degree and certificate.

PERSONALLY, I think it is more than fair for a company to use any means necessary to screen a candidate. Once you become an employee, for better or worse, you are representing that company. If you’re projecting an image that they don’t want to be associated with, then they’re better off knowing before they take the time and spend the money to bring you on. (Though, I still don’t think this image alone would or should be enough for anyone to rule out a candidate. Any company that takes itself that seriously is probably not the type of place you’d want to work.)

As for a college, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to judge a student based on their photos. Administrators are just being hypocrites for trying to ban students from using these sites or posting their photos. Whether or not they are posted or taken, colleges should and do know that students will drink and have parties. Forcing students to go underground isn’t going to change that; it’s just going to make it harder to enforce legitimate rules and push kids towards more dangerous behavior.

I blogged in detail about this earlier during my own job search: Managing your online identity

(I also posted this on a livejournal community of college students to see what they thought. If anything interesting pops up there, I’ll update it here.)

Friday morning the executive editor sent out an e-mail reminding the newsroom if we come across any objectionable posts in the story chats we should let her know immediately so they can be looked at and, if necessary, removed.

I don’t know if it was simply a reminder or if there’s been an upswing recently. I don’t monitor the comments as closely as most of my colleagues. I usually read the ones on my own stories and occasionally skim comments on others. Usually, I know if anything interesting is posted, someone will bring it to my attention. Case in point:

Around lunchtime yesterday, after that e-mail had gone out earlier in the day, the reporter opposite me says, “Meranda, someone posted a comment about tossed salad.” I laughed. It was on a story about a former football player being indicted on a few counts. He’ll be headed to jail for a bit. The comment was along the lines of “how does he like his tossed salad… I bet with bleu cheese.”

The EE wasn’t around, ME had someone in his office, and even our editor was MIA.

The post had been made around 11:30 a.m. and it was at least an hour after that. Plus, I told her, probably 99 percent of people would just be confused as to why someone was randomly writing about salads.

Finally, our editor returned. And she told him the same thing she told me, “someone posted a comment about tossed salad.” And he said what most people would say: “So what?” And I laughed again as she lowered her voice and explained.

Thing is, the poster wasn’t talking about leafy greens. (I’m not going to explain what it does mean, but if you’re curious, go to Urban Dictionary and look it up.) And she knew that upon seeing the comment, and I knew when she told me, which is why I laughed.

After explaining it to our editor, he headed to the ME’s office and we could hear his comment as he walked, “Those in the newsroom with dirty minds tell me we have a dirty comment posted …”

Thing is, the newsroom needs people with dirty minds. (My defense is I went to an inner-city public school. It’s pretty much unavoidable.) But seriously, without someone who knew what that meant, it would have sat there, possibly had other replies to it and been archived forever. While most people wouldn’t have known any better, those who did could take offense. Either way, it wasn’t promoting the dialogue and it wasn’t the type of comment you want on your site.

Yeah, we’re not going to know every slang term. And there are terms the older generation knows that would fly completely under my radar. That’s what’s good about having a mix. But like I said after the “those with dirty minds” comment, you need people who are going to know to flag those things.

Today, I took a brief departure from my 10-hour day of trying to do 10 stories and get on-the-record confirmation of the person who is about to be named superintendent in one of the districts I cover to look at an apartment.

When I moved to Lafayette, I had less than two weeks to find a place, move my stuff and start my job. Not a whole lot of time, especially when you’re dealing with places six hours apart and not a whole lot of money. So, I went for the simplest solution in a college town: I chose to sublease with college students.

As much fun as it’s been, I have to agree with what one of the editors I told my plan to said, “There’s a big difference between being 21 and being in college and being 21 and holding a full-time job.” Woah, was he right. This week for instance, I came home Wednesday night dead tired after working the night cops shift and ready for bed because I had to work at my normal morning hour the following day. Except, I didn’t get much sleep after I came home right in the middle of a party with, oh, probably 30 kids here. I locked myself in my room, put my iPod on and tried to fall asleep. This has become a semi-regular occurance. And I’d like to say my sleep deprivation doesn’t hurt my job, but it doesn’t help.

My editor laughed when he asked me the other day, “How’s life on Dodge Street?” And I said, “Life on Dodge Street is about to come to an end very quickly.” Apparently, “Everybody has the same idea when they first move here: go where the college kids are. It’s never a good idea.”

So basically, I’m in the market for an apartment. I looked online, at the local college student rental site and others. I looked on craigslist and I looked through the classifieds on my own newspaper’s site.

The apartment I saw today, I heard about on craigslist. Apparently, the landlord has been having a lot of luck with the site. So much that, he’s “going to repost the listings on craigslist, but I probably won’t be putting another ad in your paper.”

I said, “don’t tell me that.”

But, you know, and I hate to admit it more than anyone, I did find his listing through craiglist, though he apparently also ran it in the paper. I am turned off by many of the classifieds listed on the Web site just because they don’t tell me much of anything. Whereas on Craiglist I saw the photo, the map, the specs and more. I’ve come to expect that, and I’ve probably passed up some amazing places in the other listings that didn’t have those perks.

Personally, I think it has more to do with the audience he’s trying to reach: mostly students. Kids my age are much more likely to not only know what craigslist is but also how to use it and to not be afraid of it, the way older adults may be. I know a girl who found roommates in NYC — Harlem of all places — through craigslist and moved out there to sublease for the summer sight unseen. Now that’s more gutsy than most people I know, but hey, it happened.

I know there’s been a lot of hoopla about how craigslist isn’t killing newspapers. I’m not saying it is or isn’t. But it’s certainly putting a dent in those areas where newspapers traditionally dominated. And until newspapers figure out a way to do it better, they’re going to see more customers flocking to these sites. This landlord being the latest of the converts.