Category: Internet/WWW

Video, vexing and victorious: Olympics, CNN

Weren’t those Olympic opening ceremonies amazing? I sure thought so – YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Got to watch on my sister-in-law Diane’s new flat/wide-screen TV and … that surely helped make them truly awesome, to use a much-overused term of the day.

And there’s a comfortable familiarity to the way our network, NBC, covers the games – the great John Williams music, Bob Costas at ease talking to President Bush or Bela Karolyi, etc.

Before I dive into the unfortunate part of this message, let me point to a nice new addition to our Website – CNN videos, a frequently updated selection available right below the video player, in what’s known as a ‘widget’ – something added to our and our sister stations’ Websites. Click one, and the screen darkens a bit and the pop-up viewer plays the piece in wide-screen format (something we intend to move to for our own online videos in coming months, by the way).

The best thing about the CNN video addition – at least, to my work-addled eyes – is that much like our wide variety of AP news, it’s automated, which means it’s fresh and up to date, 24 hours a day, days and nights and weekends. If we can get the same thing at some point from MSNBC, then the only manual posting I’ll need to do will be our local video content. Yay!

But, alas, things aren’t going quite so swimmingly for Central Oregonians wanting to watch live streaming video or other “enhanced” video coverage of the Beijing Olympics.

I’m going to try to word this carefully here, because I know just enough to be dangerous, but basically it boils down to the fact that NBC wants to partner (read: contract) with local “TV providers,” on providing not just all that extra online video – 2,000 hours worth at the Olympics – but also on-air via the cable systems, with Video on Demand, special Olympics channels, etc. And they want to extend those contracts through the 2012 Olympics.

But there’s this big umbrella cable-operators organization that wants to instead negotiate a deal for everyone. So while NBC-Universal has been trying to work out deals with individual cable operators, some want to wait for the big package, national agreement. And those, alas, at this time include our very own BendBroadband.

I learned that the eve of the Olympics, as I wrote my Friday piece, fired up the fancy Microsoft Silverlight-powered NBC Olympics player, and hit… a message, asking for my ZIP code and which “TV provider” I have. I said BendBroadband, and it said, “We’re sorry,” and explained basically what I just explained above.

I got, um, a bit upset. Fired off some notes, both to NBC folks I know and on Websites like Lost Remote, asking what the heck was going on? I heard today – on a Sunday! – from an NBC-Universal VP who explained what I’ve said and agreed it wouldn’t hurt for folks to make their cable provider aware of their… dissatisfaction with paying for that great speedy cable-modem service, and then being unable to view one of the most unprecedented offerings of Web content ever seen, because of a contract squabble.

He said they are continuing to negotiate, and hope to get the issue resolved beore the Olympics ends.

I sure hope so. In the meantime, I’m not sure that fibbing about your “TV provider” works – I have gingerly tried, and given up. There’s still lots of NBCOlympics.com material to enjoy, including some video, if a bit… delayed. But the four-screen window of live events, etc. has to wait for the negotiators to negotiate.

(By the way, we’re not alone in this mess – I was told today the uncovered areas include about 3 MILLION customers, and MediaWeek has reported on Cablevision folks in the Northeast stuck in the same boat we are.)

Just wanted you to know it’s not KTVZ’s doing or fault, any more than the 15-hour delay to prime time of certain marquee sports coverage (and the Opening/Closing Ceremonies, etc.) I can understand NBC driving folks to the TV, even in these Net-enabled times, because… hey, they spent quite a bundle on the TV rights, and then charged quite a bundle for the commercials, so… like I always say, “Information wants to be free, but I want a raise.”

But to promote these 2,000 hours of online streaming video, and then throw a caveat/asterisk/roadblock in like this is, well, more than a bit bothersome.

I won’t put BendBroadband’s link/phone number here, but chances are, you know them already. Maybe you can help convince their powers that be that we want and deserve that live streaming video, and we do promise to watch the TV too. I believe the two are complementary, not robbing each other of viewers.

UPDATE: I should have known, my pal Jake over at UtterlyBoring wrote about the Olympics video issue back on Thursday and suggested the work-around of using another ZIP code and provider to see the stuff. Why we should have to fib to see the added video, sigh…

Two Internet tools – or is one really a weapon?

Remember the old college theme-paper directive: “Compare and contrast”?

The Net is full of interesting comparisons and contrasts. Take two Websites, one neat one I’ve known about for months, the other new to me – and quite worrisome.

First there’s www.caringbridge.org. It’s a place where the critically ill or those caring for them or about them can create free Websites to keep everyone far and wide up to date on their conditions. Take, for example, the page created for Bend concrete finisher J.R. Litehiser, citically burned in a SE Portland house explosion in late July. I’ve never met the man, and signed up for purely professional reasons (as we told people about his injuries weeks ago), but getting the daily updates, reading of his daily struggles, his will to survive and the support of his loving wife come through loud and clear.

What a neat service – and totally free. Something we can point out to some of those who call us at the station, asking (or pleading with) us to do a story on someone with a rare disease, etc. Granted, our on-air audience is different, but this is another way to reach out to folks (and let them know of fund-raising efforts as well), and not have to wait for the media to do its thing.

Now, the yin to my yang. A New York Times article today pointed me to www.criminalsearches.com – a fairly self-explanatory name for a Website that lets you plug in ANYONE’s name, and come back with their bare-bones criminal history. (It really helps if you know their birthdate, especially if the name is very common at all.)

So imagine all the uses, or abuses, beyond the likely ones by prospective employers, parents checking on their children’s teachers, etc. – it boggles the mind. A freaky parlor game, for one. And it’s clear the records linger there for more than a decade, at least.

Its easy to say criminal records should be public records – but what if they’re wrong, for example? I can only imagine the hassle of trying to get a court clerk somewhere to correct a long-ago record.

But it also allows you see what’s on file about you – and isn’t that a good thing? I sure can see both sides of this argument – small businesses that in the past couldn’t afford to spend much time/$ looking into a job applicant now can do so easily – and if they find something of concern, track it back to the court of record.

So what do you think – Big Brother run amok, or “find a need and fill it” free enterprise at its best?

That darn Internet – every time you find a great new tool, you also find a worrisome new weapon. Only nature, I suppose.

How to say the things unsaid

So we keep hearing from people insisting that we, the press, MUST tell them why a local man, somewhat prominent, died.

We have heard, UNofficially, that It was suicide. Whatever the cause, unless we were to get a police release on the matter, we wouldn’t report it – and quite possibly, even if we did get official word, we still wouldn’t.

 We as a rule don’t report suicides, unless they are of an elected official, someone very prominent, or happen in a very public place or fashion (such as triggering a widespread search, etc.)

Some understand totally. Others are frustrated that we don’t report every tragic private thing that happens, even if it would pain a family grievously to no positive purpose. Will we try to find a way to tackle the topic of suicide, or of depression (easier), in these tough times? Yes. But not by dragging anyone in pain into the spotlight. Some believe that’s they “have a right” to know everything and anything, and we have a “duty” to tell them. Bull.

It’s like the ones who whine – yes, I use that word purposely – and call our deletion of their comments on the Website – the ones with unsubstantiated criminal allegations, unfounded rumors or foul language – “censorship,” and a denial of their “free speech” rights.

Double-bull. There are SO many places on the Web – craigslist rants and raves, for one – where anyone can say anything, under cloak of anonymity, to get their jollies. Go there. Please. Let us try to have a civil conversation about issues that matter, not flames and “you’re stupid!” and 5th-grade temper tantrums.

Please.

Oh, and about suicide – one of the few “Leave it to Barney” pieces I’ve written and been unable to do happened to include this fact – my mother jumped off a building and killed herself when I was 9 years old. (I seem to recall I was doing the piece after a story that cited statistics to show there are FAR more suicides than homicides in Oregon, and yet, we hear little about them, because … it is the ultimate taboo.)

Over years of online and face-to-face chats, I know that my revelation about my mother is the ultimate conversation stopper, because suicide is THE ultimate taboo. Better to talk of evil child abuse than suicide – who to get angry at? The loved one, colleague, etc. is gone, usually leaving only pain and “why?”s behind.

My usual pick-me-up after dropping that bomb is to say, “So I could be a LOT more screwed up than I am.” The laughter dissolves the awkward silence, and life goes on.

Other things that don’t fit into the little LITB on-air segment include the fact that, when I and my two older brothers moved to New Orleans from Philadelphia, after our mother’s suicide, to live with our dad and stepmother, she had to go to a notary public and swear out an affidavit that we were white.

Remember, this was 1965, in Louisana, no doubt going through the desegregation roiling tide. But still… we were, and are, about as “white” as they come. Not so long ago, either.

So please, come read our news articles, and then post comments with interesting points about the important issues they raise and your views about them. Help us drown out the noise with some strong signals. I’d appreciate it, and I think we’ll all be better for it. Otherwise, this experiment just may end one day.

Thanks.

117K page-view day!

Busiest I think in KTVZ.COM history!

Nope, not that tragic plane crash with the dramatic photos that perhaps I should have “locked up” with the kind sender, or something. And no, not a wildfire or other dramatic development.

It was the 5-day-old story of the Redmond woman with a 140-pound tumor. Picked up by MSNBC, AOL, etc. And CNN’s pickup of the story who believes the guy who found her lost dog, sold it on craigslist.

Viral Web, it’s a great thing. Catching the virus isn’t easy, but when you do….;-)

Love that CNN.com link

On a rough day of ups and downs I won’t bore you with, the biggest up was the boost to our Web page views from CNN.com’s link to our story about the Bend 14-year-old surfer whose severed arm was reattached.

And we, in turn, owe KGW in Portland for helping rush video to us of the family’s news conference.

You’d better bet I’ll be keeping the Web desk at CNN aware of interesting, even wacky news from the High Desert. It’s nice to roll out the welcome mat!;-)

Community comes together in grief, online

I do think we’re developing something of a community at KTVZ.COM with the article comments.

When the news is slow, most of the “regulars” just snipe at each other, give me grief over typos, others come to my defense, etc., etc.

But in a time of tragedy, like this week’s drowning of a popular, dare I say beloved ER doctor, and … wow.

An outpouring of human emotions – support, prayers, remembrances and salutes – and while I do appreciate the page views (heh), I moreso appreciate how this has become a place to share when there’s really no other public way to do so. And I appreciate every single one of the folks taking the time to make those posts.

I’ll probably do my Friday on-air piece about this wonderful phenomenon, which almost wipes out the icky taste of those who like to hijack discussions, dump on each other, make outlandish accusations, etc.

THIS is why I pushed so hard for comments, despite the risks – not to babysit or referee, but to just sit back and watch a community sharing its views and feelings – be they grief, joy, frustration, what have you.

Thanks to all. It’s a great feeling, and I so appreciate the wonderful use of our little corner of cyberspace.

Frustration and aggravation

Testing 1-2-3 – is this thing on?

Well, yes and noooo.

You see, for reasons I won’t dive too deeply into, our Internet address got a bit, um, munged up overnight. And while the problem was fixed this morning, A Certain Cable Company – I mean, Broadband company’s servers are sticking to the bad nasty address for KTVZ.COM like glue.

So a sizable chunk of our online audience can’t see us, and I heard from a few – not a ton, but a few – today asking “what’s going on?” I sure wish I could fix it, or that our own techs could, but apparently it’s in the servers at this certain Cabl – I mean, Broadband company that our remaining issues lie.

And of course, technology frustrates you as well, perhaps even daily. Such is life in the 21st Century. 😉

IE, Opera and Firefox: The race continues

I can’t remember when was the last time I downloaded and installed two new browswers in a day – has to be several if not many years. But with my ‘stay-cation’ trundling along, I figured, no time like the present – especially with the world record being sought today on Firefox 3‘s release. So I also grabbed Opera 9.5, and put them both to the test on my favorite site in the whole wide world.

BOTH loaded KTVZ.COM faster than Internet Explorer 7 does. Each had an issue – some ads are missing (horror!) in Opera and I had to download the latest Adobe Flash Player to make the Top Stories area work right in Firefox 3. (Unlike in IE, where it just shows a snazzy automation when done, you have to shut down Firefox to finish updating the Adobe Flash Player in it – what’s up with that???)

Anyway, each has little whizzy new features, like the beefed up address-bar search capabilities in Firefox. I’ll try to play with more of each browser’s features in coming days, but face it – many of us have to work with our browsers, and for example, the Website’s content management system is only IE-friendly, not to mention the lack of a preview pane in Outlook Web Access when you use non-Microsoft browsers.

Sigh. Still, with IE8 due later this year, it’s nice to see competition still pushing our main “window to the Web” forward, even if they are features many of us will rarely use. And you can’t beat the price! 😉

Signal-to-noise ratio in article comments

OK, time to try doing what I said I’d do here – expound at length on something of interest (to me, anyway), then boil it down for the on-air version.

We’ve had more than 4,000 article comments since we began the first version in early February – about 1,000 a month – postable comments, that is. Another, oh, 1,000 or so un-postable – some that make me nervous to think I might live near or interact with these folks;-)

So that’s sort of a 3-to-1 signal to noise ratio, in terms of wheat to problematic chaff – except for the fact I probably don’t hold to as firm a line as I should.

NOBODY reads Terms of Service – who has time, interest? – but they are there – and for our Website, they ban : “Posting or transmitting any unlawful, fraudulent, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable or harmful information of any kind.”

Man, I could probably eliminate 95 percent of the posts, if I defined those labels rigorously. But it’d sure be a boring discussion – except of course that I’d be spending too much of my time explaining why this or that comment got deleted.

Our posts are anonymous – though folks can give their real names if they want, and some do. On the other hand, The Bulletin recently started having article comments – but only by paid subscribers – and the most they’ve had on any one story is… three. I do understand the tradeoffs involved.

But in talking to my big brother David today, it reminded me of the whole pluses-minuses thing to forums – for him, it’s viiting stocks/finance ones, for my boss at the station, it’s cars. Somewhere there’s folks already arguing about/discussing/offering advice on whatever subject you’re interested in.

And if the moderator doesn’t allow flamewars to burn out or hijack a previously interesting, thoughtful discussion, great – but I’m sure they get grief from the few screeching “censorship” or “freedom of the press.” Which is silly, because on the Internet, there’s always a place you can talk/argue about whatever it is you want to say. Whether anyone will be listening is another matter entirely.

So if the interesting or at least neutral posts outweigh the “you idiot!” etc. distractions, the signal-to-noise ratio is acceptable. And I’ve found just enough supportive, enlightening or at least not scarily negative posts to keep the thing going. Corporations are just not used to providing platforms for people to dump on them – fairly or unfairly. But my argument is, better in your forum then in a place you can’t monitor or weigh in on. And as I’ve said, folks come to our defense quite often without us lifting a finger.

So the typical routine on the more negative comment threads – and I can almost predict which stories they come about on – is the following sequence: Attack. Defend. Attack the Defenders. Defend the Attackers. Someone pleads “can’t we get along?” And eventually the argument loses steam and folks move on, except for an occasional add-on by someone late to the gathering.

I’ve been slammed for “deleting comments I don’t agree with,” when all that happened was a new version of a story came along and the old one is moved out (but linked to). I’d rather keep updating the same story, to keep the comment threads intact, BUT search engines like Google News don’t re-index existing story URLs, so that’s a point in favor of new stories, rather than updated ones.

Life’s full of tradeoffs. Fortunately, our current comment system from JS-Kit does provide for my favorite kind of community regulation – self-regulation. It allows folks to vote on whether they like a post or not (believe they slide up or down as a result), or mark posts as offensive (if, under the default settings, five folks make such a marking, a post VANISHES).

I know far bigger media outlets than ours have often abandoned comment systems for how they are abused. But USA Today is hanging tough, and several others as well. It just seems worth it, to me.

The BarneyBlog and High Desert Forum Network

As I mentioned on-air and probably here, I’ve done a few blogs/Websites over the years – heck, I built, in Microsoft Publisher (with an art assist from Greg Cross), The Bulletin’s first Website, back in the ’90s – go ahead, check out the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine if you care!

So it could be considered part of the Barney Blog/Website and High Desert Forum Network!

Oy. Let me explain.

I’ve started a few blogs in the past, and they mostly still exist. Plus, I’m anxious to add a non-article-specific forum to KTVZ.COM – probably nuts, considering how the comments alone get scarily abusive and potentially litigious at times – but I have this intense, perhaps insane desire to get communications going among Central Oregonians. Hopefully sane, thoughtful Central Oregonians (and visitors who care about our issues) who wish to discuss issues, not spend their lives either glued to the TV or firing off flames back and forth in an article comment thread.

Yeah, nuts. I should be committed;-)

Anyway, let’s take a trip through history:

The Computing FOOL: Circa late ’90s – Ah yes, Microsoft Publisher – for the time, it was sure fun. And creating Websites back when you had to know FTP, etc. I haven’t figured out how to get in there and change it – and I don’t want to, it’s a fun little time-capsule of pre-Y2K nervousness and – well, I’ve moved since that messy desk picture was taken, but it’s replicated in my current abode. (This thing was playing music until past year or so, that file musta gotten lost or something.

Please Release Me!: Then I found a super neat Website creation site – not a blog creation, but full-blown Website – called Squarespace. I still pay $5 a mo. for the thing, for two reasons: 1) It’s about the easiest way I’d seen to then, and really still, to create full Websites, not just linear blogs – and 2) It’s home to my Grand Idea for a book/consultancy/speaking tour/$$$-generating movement – to help people in government, public business anybody realize that they don’t have to play the old PR game and beg for time/space from Old Media – they can communicate with and build relationships directly with their customers/voters/etc. Barack Obama knows it, and so do a lot of smart folks. But everyday folks who have lives to lead need a helping hand and kick in the tush, hence… the idea for Please Release Me.

If I could clone myself, that’d be one of my top clones’ missions – and just might get enough attention and money to let the Real Me retire;-) (Or at least hire some great help and stop working so hard;-)

Barney’s BendBlog: Circa 2001-02 or so – This was before Blogger got bought by Google, and as with everything else I’ve done like this, it’s suffered from neglect as I pursue by workday passion, KTVZ.COM. But suffice it to say I can talk more…freely there than in a blog like this that I’m using within the station’s Website. Depressingly, I found that Blogger does allow World Now’s new Video Player Widget to embed its code into the site – and that WordPress, from what I can see, doesn’t (oh, I’m sure if I run it through some third-party program, no thank you very much;-)

I also had the truly frustrating – and it’ll sound familiar to you – experience of getting stuck without the password for the Blogger site, and getting stuck in some sorta vortex trying to get it sent to me and straightened out. (Honestly, I think the world could blow up some day because the person in charge of The Button hits it out of frustration because they can’t remember the damn password!)

So I invite you to visit any/all of these semi-moribund Websites/blogs, leave a comment or 3, and suggest which if any deserve further attention from Yours Truly. (I especially like the Squarespace one, believing there’s a true calling for PR 2.0 (I believe that’s been used) or whatever the “Truly Public Relations/New PR” mantra could bring.)

Now, as for the forums. As I said, I’ve been trying out various pieces of software – oh, and before I forget, the article comments’ tiny typeface WILL get larger in a week or two, yay! – but there’s no real way to try these without trying them on the public.

WorldNow also has announced a partnership with KickApps, a social software creator, but we’re not sure how much will come of that. Still, I’ve used forum software it’s powered, Yuku, to create the High Desert Forum. I like the look, but again, how can you tell if something will be useful until you have it? So please, try to sign up, make posts, etc.

And if you wish, compare it to some earlier tries, such as this one created in Forumotion, or this one, powered by ActiveBoard, or this one, through ExcoBoard, or this one, through ZetaBoards.

Yep, as Chicago once sang, “I’ve been searchin’ so long… to find an answer.”

And who knows what other free/easy/good-looking forum software is out there I haven’t tried? (Maybe you? Please let me know!)

I believe in the Internet’s ability to have us talk to each other, and communicate in ways we never could. The comments on articles – now I don’t know how many, but surely close to 10,000 in 4-5 months – have been infuriating, frightening, depressing – and entertaining, enlightening and hope-inspiring of a true community dialogue.

So please, kick the tires of my “network” – if they break, well, no $ lost, just a bit of time – let me/us know which you like and why, and if you think I’m nuts or if it’s a grand idea.

Sure, there’s the Social Networking software of Facebook and MySpace and many others offering similar platforms. We may well use one or some of those tools as well. But I believe the good old fashioned, somewhat ’90s-style forum software is a great foundation as well – and these too are branching into blogs, embedded video, etc.

 So, do you agree? Is there a place, with controls over those who would hijack discussions and create flame wars, to really talk about the issues – in, dare I say, respectful fashion that involves listening and an open mind, not just venting to flap one’s digital gums?

I’d like to think so.;-)