Kirk McDonald: Sorry, College Grads, I Probably Won’t Hire You - WSJ.com
This is great advice. I know it’s great advice because I’ve heard it half a bazillion times in the past year. I’d love to teach my journalism students some of these skills, but first I have to learn them.
If you know what McDonald means by “the grammar and logic of computer languages” (I do not), I could use your help. Got any specific recommendations? Where should I start?
(via kimlisagor)
Hi, Kim, awesome question. I disagree a little with what McDonald is saying here, specifically that knowing a little bit about programing makes one better prepared to allocate resources (I’d say the exact opposite is just as likely true) or that dabbling dilettantism for its own sake is necessarily a good thing.
However! I’m certainly a proponent of code literacy and that journalists should learn more about all aspects of the business, whether it’s how the CMS works or how ads are sold.
The highest bang/buck ratio for your students would be to learn HTML and CSS. They are going to be publishing on the web, they need to know what that means and why the CMS is throwing in stray tags or why copying and pasting from Word is probably going to get screwed up. Here’s what I’d consider a basic level of understanding:
A more intermediate to advanced level of understand would include:
There are certainly plenty of things I’ve left out or forgotten but this should keep just about anyone busy for the summer.
As for programming (btw, the difference between markup, styling, and programming is another good thing to figure out), it’s tempting to think Javascript is a good language to start with. It’s ubiquitous, native to the web, and looks good on a resume, especially alongside its more comely cousin jQuery.
There are a few problems with Javascript as a starter programming language. First, you really need to understand how web pages and browsers work to really get what Javascript is doing, otherwise, it just feels like magic; a pretty intimate understanding of the DOM really helps. Javascript, as a language, has a few truly bad parts that are easy to avoid if you understand programming concepts more broadly but can be hard to get over if you’re learning the fundamentals of programming at the same time.
I’d recommend starting with a high-level, interpreted language like Python or Ruby first. They’ll run on any computer, are easy to start with, you can see the results of your programs immediately, and they don’t require anything more than a text editor. My personal preference is Python.
These days, there’s no shortage of places, many of them free and online, to learn all of this stuff. And, true to Sturgeon’s Law, most of it is crap. There are a few bright spots, some of them requiring a little bit of money.
I hope this helps. Happy to add more or answer any questions I can.
Your pal in nerdy journalism,
Jim
(via jimray)
I just wanted to second Jim’s recommendations. I will add that our own newsroom has had a lot of success running its own Django (a web framework built on Python, originally for newsrooms) server for data-intensive projects. I’ve heard similar stories from other publications as well.
(via jimray)
Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nemoy in a car advert together alone would be great, but with added Vulcan death grip and The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins it’s extra special.
this is a thing of beauty.
I…wha…how can this exist?
My brain exploded.
And… this wins the internet today.
Please mark the time of death: At 2:16 in this video, I died. Seriously, dead.
In other words, when you point out that Cook’s tenure has seen a collapse of Apple’s stock price, it’s silly not to mention that it was a fall from the unbelievable highs that he also presided over.
That would be silly not to mention. I guess that’s why Wingfield mentioned it:
Apple’s shares have been pummeled by investors, losing more than 43 percent of their value since last September. Apple’s stock is still up about 6 percent since Aug. 24, 2011, when Mr. Cook got the top job. It’s up even more than that if you consider Mr. Cook’s true start date as early 2011, when he filled in for his predecessor, Steve Jobs, during Mr. Jobs’s medical leave of absence.
The issue with paying a fee for no ads is that I imagine it’s not cost effective to Tumblr to do so. And by that I mean they can’t just all of a sudden charge 5 bucks a month, (although that’s doable, but can you imagine the outrage with that?) but anything less than that would not counter the lost advertising money in page views, I mean think of how many times we refresh tumblr? Page views per ad would go down for those who pay to not see them, but for the rest who don’t pay, Tumblr will get a lower advertising rate that could possibly outweigh all the money people pay.
The other reason subscriptions drive down advertising rates is because advertisers pay less when all they are reaching are the users that aren’t willing to pay for things.
In our work I think we have a tendency to try to establish ownership over certain aspects so we can feel like we have control. We talk about “my projects” and “my systems”. We adorn our cubicles and offices with personal knick-knacks. We feel like we own the aspects of our job that we maintain. And when that control is taken from us, we get mad. We feel like we’ve lost something that belonged to us.
Except, we haven’t, because it didn’t.
I’ve rebooted my old blog and I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t, but it’s at least nice having a new coat of paint on the old place.
Dear Tumblrites,
I need your vote! The first chapter of my book has been published on Jukepop Serials. But in order for me to parlay that into any sort of clout with the publishing industry, I have to show that I was able to generate interest.
You don’t have to read the chapter. All you have…
Signal boost. C’mon, go vote. Like you were going to do anything else on April 15.
Who would win?
FB shoots a web but not before Wonka douses the doggie with love potion. 30 seconds later, Willy’s on the ground, trussed up like a turkey, with a ridiculous little dog licking his face and no idea why.
What I’m saying is everybody wins. EVERYBODY WINS.
Hey everyone!
We’re doing a contest to give away TEN copies of SUPERFIGHT!
SUPERFIGHT! Is a party game played with cards that’s all about deciding who would win in a fight. Think Apples to Apples meets Cards Against Humanity.
Then, after they meet, they fight to the death.
It just launched this week on Kickstarter! Come help make it happen!
To enter for your chance to win, just reblog this post!
The ten winners will be chosen at random from the rebloggers at 7 PM PST on Wednesday, March 6th.
If you are chosen and you already backed the project at $25 or above, you will be upgraded to the DELUXE NUMBERED COLLECTOR’S EDITION of SUPERFIGHT! The game comes in a custom-made wooden box with ALL of the expansion packs, AND a custom-made FIGHT LOG to keep track of the funniest matches!
Enter as many times as you like by reblogging as many times as you like, (but PLEASE go easy on your followers)(do as I say, not as I do).
Good luck!
House call on Flickr.