Puttin' on the Gaz

• Tweeps soothe a frustrated customer

  I guess I was showing some travel fatigue the other day in Barnaul. As our interpreter translated for a Russian speaker, I felt a vibration from my iPhone and looked down at a text message from Mimi, sitting about four feet away on the other side of the interpreter. “U ok?” [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 12:52pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Huge demand for mobile content on the go

  If you have any doubts about the need for a mobile-first strategy, check out these numbers from a Frank N. Magid & Associates study: Nearly 90 percent of mobile device owners are interested in live news and weather programming on the go. 46 percent find the idea of watching live TV programming [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 11:41am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Mobile-First Strategy

  In a comment on my most recent (and rather lengthy) blog post on mobile-first strategy, Chuck Peters suggested a table of contents. So I have combined three blog posts on the topic into one pdf with a table of contents: Mobile First Strategy [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 9:55am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• How news organizations need to change to pursue a mobile-first strategy

  Number of comments: 10
  To read all three of my mobile-first posts as a pdf with a table of contents: Mobile First Strategy I used to watch the crowds in airport lounges when I traveled, studying how people read newspapers. Even with circulation declining, you could see people reading newspapers intently. Especially after 2001, people [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 10:07pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Crowdsourcing on Twitter: My tweeps help me start geotagging

  Number of comments: 1
  Twitter is an excellent crowdsourcing tool. An email from Jim Cremer, who’s team-teaching a class with me at the University of Iowa next semester, asked if I could geotag my tweets. Our course will teach students how to develop iPhone applications and Jim wanted to show a current course something about [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 1:41pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Some Siberian success at community engagement

  Number of comments: 2
  Read this post in Russian, translated by Google. Читать этот пост на русском языке, перевод Google. I occasionally get invited abroad to teach about journalism, innovation or both. I enjoy the learning as much as the teaching. I spent three days last week in Barnaul, Siberia, presenting workshops on interactive databases and my [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 12:42pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• A salute to my Siberian interpreters

  Number of comments: 1
  Teaching through an interpreter is something like telling a story on Twitter. You have to learn to make each point briefly. I like to think I develop some rhythm and momentum in my speaking style when I’m leading a workshop in English. In the same way, I enjoyed the rhythm and momentum [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 9:23am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• An enchanting walk in the Siberian winter

  Number of comments: 1
  We have experienced the Siberian winter. When I first received an invitation to visit Siberia in December, Mimi and I had the same reaction: Siberia in December? Really? What about June? But on reflection, I was pretty glad the invitation was for December. If you’re going to a place known for its [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 6:35am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• News organizations should learn from Google example

  Number of comments: 1
  Here’s why I get so angry when smart and influential people in journalism and media operations about charging for content or seeking government subsidies or trying to protect and control their content: We keep falling further behind. Everything you do takes time and energy and communicates priorities. You can mouth lip [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 7:37pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• C3 overview for Siberian journalists

  Number of comments: 2
  Читайте C3 обзор на русском языке, перевод Google. (Link to Russian translation.) I will be discussing my Complete Community Connection business model Friday at a conference of the Press Development Institute-Siberia. This is the one-page handout. I am publishing it online, so I can use the Russian translation linked above for the [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 7:21pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Journalism in Siberia: familiar challenges

  Number of comments: 3
  I’m a world away from American journalists, speaking through a Russian interpreter, but this still sounds somehow familiar: When I talk about new tools, new storytelling techniques and new business models, journalists ask whether this is still journalism. When I talk about new ways to present content, journalists ask how we will [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 5:54pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• A historic front page with the lead story missing

  I love an old front page, especially a historic one. As much as I spend my time trying to lead, prod and catch up in the digital world, nothing makes me stop and read like a yellowing front page with a historic story or photograph or both. I display historic front [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 10:58am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Heading to Siberia soon to talk about C3 and learn about a distant land

  For much of my life, Siberia was this cold, distant land where the Soviet Union sent its dissidents to work in gulags. And I presume Russians, if they thought of Iowa at all, thought of our state as a flat place where we grow lots of corn (Soviet Premier Nikita [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 8:04am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Los Angeles Times shows its fear of social media

  Number of comments: 9
  I can’t keep blogging every time a major newspaper releases fear-driven social media guidelines. But once again, I can’t resist. The Los Angeles Times is the latest major news organization to apparently tell its staff to beware the dangers of social media. I don’t have time to critique this in the [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 12:50pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Curriculum advice for journalism schools

  Number of comments: 10
  I haven’t spent this much time talking to journalism professors and students since I graduated from Texas Christian University (let’s just say some time ago). I visited TCU last week to present seminars on the Complete Community Connection and journalism ethics in the digital age. And since I was sticking around [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:29am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Is my new theme easier to read?

  Number of comments: 2
  Martin Langeveld tweeted that my previous theme was difficult to read, so I changed themes. If you have problems reading this one, please let me know. I explained my choice of the Bryce Canyon photo earlier. [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 12:44pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• News organizations need mobile-first strategy

  Number of comments: 10
  News organizations are belatedly, reluctantly and often awkwardly pursuing “web-first” strategies. As we fight these web battles, I am increasingly coming to believe that “web first” is what the military would call fighting the last war. News organizations need a mobile-first strategy. “Web first” was a tremendously difficult concept for journalists [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:09pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Melanie White joins conversation on digital storytelling

  Number of comments: 2
  I have blogged three times recently about the questions about whether and how storytelling will survive and thrive as journalism grows more digital (I say yes). Katharine Hansen has joined that conversation with an interesting take (linking to one of my earlier posts on the topic) that I call to your [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:12am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Follow the liveblog of my ethics seminar at TCU today

  Number of comments: 1
  Andrew Chavez will be liveblogging again today during my ethics seminar, Upholding and Updating Ethical Standards, at Texas Christian University. The American Press Institute seminar is supported by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. We will have four 90 minute sessions, starting at 10 a.m., addressing ethics [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:53am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Follow my C3 seminar at TCU today

  Number of comments: 1
  Andrew Chavez will be liveblogging my seminar on the Complete Community connection today at Texas Christian University, my alma mater. Follow along if you’re interested. Or check out the slides. [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:56am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• What do you like best about your favorite mobile applications

  Number of comments: 3
  I hope you can help me with a course I am team-teaching next semester at the University of Iowa on creating iPhone applications. Before I ask for your help, I should note that I know nothing about the technical side of the class. Jim Cremer, chair of the Computer Science Department, [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 7:16am EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Interesting reading on Fort Hood coverage, mobile revenue, rural journalism, staff cuts

  I was unable last week to watch the unfolding coverage through Twitter and media web sites of the Fort Hood shooting. I was traveling Thursday and teaching Friday, and simply couldn’t follow all the developments as the “facts” of the story kept changing. While I’d love to comment on the story and the [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:09pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Alex Howard presents storytelling as a feast

  Number of comments: 1
  Alex Howard has weighed in on the storytelling discussion that I recounted here yesterday. He likens tweets to amuse-bouche, blog posts to appetizers (which, he notes, can be light or heavy), long-form narrative to the entree and links to dessert. Dan Conover suggested video or comments as side dishes. I added [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 6:49pm EST
  by Steve Buttry

• Dan Conover, Joel Achenbach and Deborah Potter on storytelling

  Number of comments: 3
  I recommend three pieces on narrative journalism to your attention. I addressed the future of storytelling in a recent post, Storytellers are challenged, not limited, by Twitter and other digital tools. That post, if you missed it before, might provide some helpful context for this one. Joel Achenbach, an outstanding writer for [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 1:09pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Five reasons government shouldn’t subsidize journalism

  Number of comments: 10
  This madness has to stop. Intelligent people have to stop thinking that government funding is the solution to the economic challenges facing newspapers. I love newspapers. I hope they survive and thrive (again) for the rest of my life and beyond. If that delivery system fails, I hope healthy new business and [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 9:28am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• C3 overview for high school journalists

  Number of comments: 2
  I will be discussing my Complete Community Connection business model Thursday at the Iowa High School Press Association in Iowa City. This is the one-page handout. For more, read the full C3 Blueprint (38 pages as a pdf). Here are the slides for my presentation. The business models that have supported newspapers (and broadcasting) for [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 9:09pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Twitter tips for high school journalists

  Number of comments: 2
  I’ll be leading a Twitter workshop Thursday for the Iowa High School Press Association in Iowa City. Here is the one-page handout for that workshop, a shortened, student version of my Twitter tips for journalists. Here are the slides for the presentation to high school students. Twitter is not as popular among high school [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 2:54pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Follow live digital coverage of APME convention this week

  I encourage editors to follow live coverage of the Associated Press Managing Editors convention starting today in St. Louis. The digital-only coverage of APME09 by University of Missouri students might help you in four ways: If you’re attending the convention, it will enhance your understanding of the events and issues. If you’re not [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 8:14am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Tweeps offer advice for my Twitter class

  For my Getting Started with Twitter course tonight, I asked some of my tweeps today for advice. “How do you use Twitter for business, work, fun? Your best advice?” I asked on Twitter (of course). The answers came quickly: Jon Konchar, a Cedar Rapids  business broker, tweeted: Twitter is a gr8t tool to follow local/natl [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:33pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Trying out Twitter for fun and business

  Number of comments: 1
  I’ll be teaching Getting Started with Twitter this Tuesday and Thursday at Kirkwood Community College. This post is designed to supplement the course. It is an updated, adapted version of earlier tip sheets I have done, most recently the Getting started in Twitter tips I provided in August for my Using Social Media for Business [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:27pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Commentary on Downie and Schudson’s “The Reconstruction of American Journalism”

  Number of comments: 4
  While I am critical of the Columbia University report, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, I am pleased that it has stirred debate about the future of journalism. Here are the most interesting takes I have seen on the report by Columbia journalism professor Michael Schudson and former Washington Post executive editor [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 1:22pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Michael Schudson discusses government’s historic role supporting journalism

  Number of comments: 3
  Michael Schudson accepted my invitation to continue our discussion about The Reconstruction of American Journalism. I  blogged critically Monday about his report with former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. Schudson responded Thursday and I replied today . I recommend reading the other links, if you haven’t yet, before reading this. Schudson [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• I respond to Michael Schudson’s defense of “Reconstructing Journalism” report

  Number of comments: 4
  This is my response to Michael Schudson’s response to my criticism of his report with former Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., The Reconstruction of American Journalism. I recommend reading the other links, if you haven’t yet, before reading this. Schudson is a journalism professor at Columbia University. While I encourage [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 11:06pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Columbia’s Michael Schudson responds to criticsim of “Reconstructuring Journalism” report

  Number of comments: 6
  Thanks to Columbia University journalism professor Michael Schudson, who responded to my Monday post criticizing his report with Leonard Downie Jr., The Reconstruction of American Journalism. I will respond to his comments later but wanted to post this immediately upon receiving it: A response to your thoughtful post: First, this was no [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 6:11pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Help with my lesson plan for Getting Started with Twitter

  Number of comments: 4
  I will be teaching Getting Started with Twitter at Kirkwood Community College next week (still room in the course if you want to register or to refer friends). I will probably edit and update the getting-started tips I used in September for my Using Social Media for Business course. This course differs from that one [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 9:54am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Newsroom horror stories

  Number of comments: 2
  Thanks to Anthony Capps, entertainment editor at the Iowa State Daily, who found an eight-year-old training handout that apparently I never posted online. It was for a 2001 workshop I did for interns at the Omaha World-Herald on horrible mistakes and the lessons from them. I asked colleagues at the World-Herald [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 11:46am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• American media need innovation, not subsidy

  Number of comments: 10
  Update: Michael Schudson has responded to this post. Whatever else it is, The Reconstruction of American Journalism is not comprehensive. Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post, and Michael Schudson, authors of the Columbia University report, described their work in the Post today as a “comprehensive report.” They recommend [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 1:45pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• A proposal for government steps to bail out journalism

  This post is now out of date: I just posted my response to this report: American media need innovation, not subsidy. I will be blogging later today on a report released by Columbia University titled The Reconstruction of American Journalism. From a summary in the Washington Post by the report’s authors, former [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 9:08am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Storytellers are challenged, not limited, by Twitter and other digital tools

  Number of comments: 2
  When I read Philip Lee’s ignorant anti-Twitter rant, Notes on the triviality of Twitter, my first reaction was that I needed to write another anti-anti-Twitter-rant rant. But I’m getting tired of those rants (maybe you are, too). I previously noted how Leonard Pitts, Edward Wasserman and Paul Farhi wrote foolish things [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 11:14am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Time for journalists to update views on Wikipedia

  Number of comments: 10
  Journalists pride ourselves in being accurate and on being current with the latest news. So let’s update our inaccurate views of Wikipedia. A 10,000 Words post by Mark S. Luckie today offers lots of good advice for reporters on pleasing their editors, including this piece: Fact-check your stories. Any editor worth their salt [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 4:33pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Let’s #beatcancer

  Number of comments: 3
  I don’t engage in a lot of Twitter memes. But I gladly joined the #beatcancer meme today. As a two-time cancer survivor (colon in 1999, basal cell in 2005), I know that cancer is not a sure death sentence. But I also visited my father three weeks before his death from prostate [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 3:40pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• The key to social media ethics: good judgment

  Number of comments: 5
  When I lead seminars on digital journalism ethics, I start with some time-tested guidelines: The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, Bob Steele’s similar Guiding Principles for the Journalist and Bob’s 10 questions to guide ethical decisions. My point is simple: Social media, blogs and other digital information present new [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 3:01pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Objectivity and neutrality aren’t the only ways to protect journalists’ credibility

  Number of comments: 4
  Journalists have never been able to keep our opinions and biases out of our work. Nor should we. Our job is to report the important, interesting and relevant news of the nation, the world or our communities. And, if we’re honest, we have to admit that important, interesting and relevant are [...]
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  Posted: October 04, 2009, 1:35pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• My new blog theme

  Number of comments: 2
  After settling for the default WordPress blog theme for way too long, I have (with help from Jamie Kelly) mastered the rather simple steps of personalizing the blog and customizing some things I didn’t like about the appearance. I welcome your feedback on the appearance and ease of use. I chose [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• My video contribution to National Summit on Arts Journalism

  Number of comments: 1
  The video of my explanation of the Complete Community Connection was just shown on the National Summit on Arts Journalism. Excellent production by Anastasia Shepherd and Gabriel Peters-Lazaro: [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 11:55am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• The National Summit on Arts Journalism features C3

  I’ll be watching and joining the National Center for Arts Journalism today. It will feature a video interview of me about C3: Live Video streaming by Ustream [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 11:09am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Washington Post social media guidelines don’t trust staff members’ judgment

  Number of comments: 6
  When I blogged last night about the Washington Post’s guidelines on staff use of social media, I expressed some hesitation because I had not read the full guidelines. Having read the guidelines now, thanks to Staci Kramer of paidcontent.org, I reiterate my principal points: The Post’s top editors need to start using [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 2:54pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Washington Post social media guidelines published

  Number of comments: 3
  Staci Kramer of paidcontent.org has published the Washington Post guidelines on staff use of social media. I recommend reading her commentary on the guidelines. I will be commenting on the full guidelines later today, expanding on my comments yesterday, which were based on partial reporting on the guidelines. But for now, [...]
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  Posted: September 27, 2009, 10:48am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Washington Post needs social media conversation, not restrictions

  Number of comments: 10
  When you’re choosing tools to help journalists make ethical decisions, conversations work better than rules. Washington Post co-managing editor Raju Narisetti probably wasn’t exercising good judgment recently when he tweeted opinions* about health care and term limits. But he really exercised bad judgment when he closed his Twitter account. And it appears [...]
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  Posted: September 26, 2009, 10:29pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Elevate your journalism career

  Number of comments: 5
  I will be meeting this evening with some journalism students at the University of Kentucky. As I pulled together career advice to share with them, I thought I should share it on my blog as well. Whether you are a student or a professional journalist, I recommend checking out Joe Grimm’s Jobs [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2009, 2:00pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Midwest Newspaper Summit provides diverse views on challenges and future

  The Midwest Newspaper Summit confirmed my view that the Complete Community Connection offers the best path to a prosperous future for news media companies. I heard some good ideas discussed at the meeting, and the best possibilities for generating new revenues were ideas at the heart of the C3 approach. The summit, [...]
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  Posted: September 19, 2009, 6:09pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Resources for journalism ethics

  Number of comments: 1
  I will be leading a discussion on journalism ethics in November for the American Society of News Editors and the Reynolds Journalism Institute. It will be part of the ASNE Ethics and Values Forum. ASNE Ethics and Values Chair Mike Fancher is compiling a reading list for participants and asked me [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 4:16pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Nieman Reports examines journalism and social media

  This is another quick post to call attention to work that I might comment on later. Nieman Reports has published views from lots of people in the news business on the role of social media in journalism (and some other topics). I was a contributor. I haven’t had a chance [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 8:30am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Midwest Newspaper Summit

  I was pleased to participate in Thursday’s Midwest Newspaper Summit in Dubuque. Sometime this weekend, I will blog some reflections on the various presentations and panels from the summit. But for now, I want to praise Jo Martin and Jennifer Asa of the Iowa Newspaper Foundation for planning and presenting a strong program. [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 7:46am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Healing starts for Scouts in moving ceremony

  Thanks to all who have expressed sympathy — here in the blog and by email and through Facebook and Twitter — for my family’s loss in last week’s death of my 16-year-old nephew Patrick. Given the interest, I am sharing, with permission, an email and photograph from one of Patrick’s [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 9:55pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• My eulogy for Patrick Devlin

  Number of comments: 6
  I was honored to be asked by Patrick Devlin’s parents to deliver the eulogy at Patrick’s funeral today. I have written before here about Patrick’s struggle with leukemia and his father’s use of CaringBridge to share the struggle with family, friends and caring strangers around the world. I am Steve Buttry, [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 4:07pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Social media share Patrick’s emotional story

  Number of comments: 9
  Some people who don’t use social media see it as self-indulgent and trivial. They haven’t experienced the way that people have reached out through Twitter, Facebook and blogs to comfort my family after the death Wednesday of my nephew Patrick. They haven’t experienced how his father, John, shared the story of Patrick’s [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 5:58am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• My LinkedIn connections offer advice for social media business course

  Number of comments: 1
  I have continued using social media to gather advice on using social media for business. I gathered this advice from some people in this area who are connections of mine on LinkedIn. I used the LinkedIn question-and-answer function to email them this question: How has LinkedIn been helpful to you in [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 3:40pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Twitter scoops Google, AP on earthquake

  Number of comments: 3
  I woke up in the middle of the night and was having trouble getting back to sleep, so I checked Twitter. “Earthquake” was a trending topic, so I clicked. Hundreds of tweets reported an earthquake in Indonesia, causing buildings to sway in Jakarta. Twitter was reporting location, near Java, and magnitude, [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 4:39am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• 10 tips on using social media for business

  Whatever your business or profession and whatever social tools you are using, these tips apply in most social media situations: Decide what your goal is in using each social media tool and reassess from time to time how well the tool is serving that goal. Social media work most flexibly when you [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 1:25pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Riveting Twitter narrative of robotic surgery at St. Luke’s

  Number of comments: 4
  If you still think Twitter’s all about what-I’m-having-for-breakfast, you probably weren’t following the @StLukesCR Twitter feed this morning and early afternoon: That was the fourth 0f 126 tweets in a live twittercast of a robotic surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids Monday by Sarah Corizzo, media relations specialist/writer for [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 10:08pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• News companies need to help local businesses pursue mobile opportunities

  When I try out a new app for my iPhone, I think of opportunities the news business missed years ago. More importantly, I think of opportunities we need to pursue today. Many years ago, before the development of the World Wide Web, I was an editor at the Kansas City Star. Some critics [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 8:50am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Getting started in Twitter

  Number of comments: 1
  I’ll be teaching Using Social Media for Business three evenings this week, Tuesday through Thursday at Kirkwood Community College (the Marion center). I think you can still register for the course. The first night, we’ll have a brief overview of why social media are an important development in digital communication and [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 7:42am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• My local tweeps share social media advice for businesses

  Number of comments: 4
  In the spirit of social media, I asked my tweeps for their advice on using social media for business. I’m teaching a course, Using Social Media for Business, starting Tuesday evening at Kirkwood Community College. I think you can still register for the course. I know a lot about using social [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 7:09am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Another view on Newspapers’ “Original Sin,” from Howard Owens

  Number of comments: 3
  Howard Owens has weighed in with his view on what the newspaper industry’s “Original Sin” was in the early days of the Internet: Alan Mutter says we screwed up by failing to charge for content. I say not only was that not a mistake, but many newspapers did try to charge [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 1:01pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Resources for journalism educators on digital ethics, new business models, journalism

  Number of comments: 1
  I was privileged yesterday to be panelist for a discussion about the future of journalism education. I am pleased that journalism educators are considering the important issues for the future of journalism and the news business and hopeful that this means they will be teaching the right issues and skills [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 11:43am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chris O’Brien responds about data and newspaper readership

  Number of comments: 1
  A recent post that I wrote included some hearty debate in the comments between Tim O’Brien of the New York Times and me (with several other people weighing in). That debate for a couple weeks didn’t include the person whose post launched the discussion, Chris O’Brien (no relation to Tim [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 8:17am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Remembering the Register’s Carter-Kennedy debate

  Being the spouse of a young editor at a morning newspaper doesn’t carry a lot of perks, unless you like being alone in the evening. I thought I had delivered a perk to Mimi in 1980 when I was an editor on the city desk of The Des Moines Register. The Register was going [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 11:35am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• C3 picks up key endorsement

  OK, I couldn’t resist, when @OliviaMitchell tweeted about a web site that lets you have Albert Einstein write your message, I had to give it a try: [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 10:31am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Social media help old friends connect in person

  I was busy enough in June that I didn’t take time to blog about an interesting social-media experience. But when a similar thing happened this week, I decided it was time to take note. I can’t recall how I first learned about TripIt, though it probably was from Mark Briggs, who [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 8:21am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Join a live chat about transforming the news business

  I am pleased to be involved this week in a discussion of ways to transform the news business. Nothing could be more important for our industry now and I will be discussing this topic Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern time (1 p.m. Central) in a live chat hosted by the American [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 9:00am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Yes! New Business Models embrace new relationships

  I am excited about the New Business Models for News project. Not that I think they got it right. My first two comments on their site after they released their models and spreadsheets of financial figures for the first three years were critical. But what they do have right is the [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2009, 7:57am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Newspapers blow a huge opportunity to use data to provide answers

  Number of comments: 5
  Journalists love stories. Give us a good anecdote and we know what our lead is going to be. We’re not as comfortable with data. We know a good story is hiding in there somewhere, but most of us don’t know how to find it. And too many of us — [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 11:24am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Newspapers’ Original Sin: Not failing to charge but failing to innovate

  Number of comments: 10
  A mistaken matter-of-fact statement in an Associated Press story launched Chris O’Brien on an insightful blog post that had little to do with the original story. In the same way, a statement in Chris’s post launched me on this post, which will start out in a different direction from his blog. The [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 10:24am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Video: Social Media Revolution

  Number of comments: 5
  I used to get regular comments on this blog from people taking me to task for my embrace of social media, particularly Twitter. I haven’t heard from that crowd much lately. Don’t know if that means I’ve won them over. Probably means they’ve given up on reading me. But if [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 8:58am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• AP contradiction: Move forward but restore

  Number of comments: 6
  When I read the Associated Press “Protect, Point, Pay” plan, I think of the Hummer. General Motors thought it was moving forward when it trotted out the massive sport-utility version of a military vehicle. The Hummer represented a lot of smart work by a lot of engineers and GM sold a [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 8:29am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Does AP plan “protect” its members?

  Number of comments: 1
  The Associated Press is giving me an uneasy feeling again. I want to read the full AP “Plan for Reclaiming Content Online” for myself before I draw firm conclusions. I first read of it at the Eastern Iowa Airport this afternoon on the Nieman Journalism Lab blog entry by Zach Seward. [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 6:40pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Help me plan a social-media class for Kirkwood

  Number of comments: 3
  I am crowd-sourcing my plans for two social media courses I will be teaching next month. I will be teaching two continuing education courses at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids: Using Social Media in Business and Online Social Networks for 50+ (Kirkwood offers a series of computer courses geared for [...]
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  Posted: August 05, 2009, 9:02am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Accuracy is more important than ever for journalists

  Number of comments: 2
  Accuracy has always been right at the top of the list of journalism values and priorities. Except when I saw friends lose their jobs (and sometimes, had to deliver that news myself) or had to write about horrible tragedies, the sickest feelings I have had in this business were when I [...]
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  Posted: August 03, 2009, 3:00pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• AP should serve industry interests by shifting from content focus to business solutions

  Number of comments: 5
  For all of my career and far beyond, the Associated Press has existed to serve the interests of the newspaper industry. For most of that time, AP has served our interests well. When our readers needed us to provide national and world news, stock tables and coverage of sports beyond our own [...]
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  Posted: July 31, 2009, 1:32pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• A breaking news story in Boston covered by Twitter

  Number of comments: 7
  A tweet from @NiemanLab just called my attention to a Universal Hub blog post about a man hit by a trolley. As @NiemanLab noted, this was a breaking news report based solely on Twitter. From the report, I can read and link to eyewitness reports from Mark Epstein (@epstemar), who identifies [...]
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  Posted: July 30, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Let’s focus on innovation, not protection

  Number of comments: 4
  One of the first lessons I learned in chess was that the best defense is a good offense. In team sports, a defense can keep the other team from scoring and win a championship. But chess has two points: you try to keep your king alive and you try to capture [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 5:27pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• A new approach to advertising at AnnArbor.com

  Number of comments: 1
  One of my favorites in my collection historic newspapers is the one that tells of the death of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Jan. 23, 1973. It’s not that I celebrated LBJ’s demise, but I’m interested that the tragedy obscured the most significant news of the previous day: the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision [...]
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  Posted: July 27, 2009, 11:19am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Newspapers demand: “Gimme another ball”

  Number of comments: 10
  I hesitate to write again about newspapers’ insistence on finding a way to make paid content work online. I’ve written that we can’t cling to the past, that we never made our money by charging for content, that we already know paid content doesn’t work and that people will find other [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2009, 4:34pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• A tough month of cancer news

  Number of comments: 3
  Thanks to all who have prayed and expressed concern and support for my nephew Patrick, whose battle against leukemia I wrote about in February and again in March after his bone-marrow transplant. I wish I had an encouraging update, but tests this week confirmed that Patrick’s leukemia has relapsed. He and his parents [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2009, 3:00pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Can we recapture Apollo 11’s sense of purpose?

  Number of comments: 2
  I thought I would have more to say on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. Hanging on my office wall is a frame made for me by my son Joe to display newspapers from my collection of historic front pages. As I displayed the front page from the [...]
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  Posted: July 20, 2009, 7:59am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chuck Peters answers comments about my status

  Number of comments: 2
  Chuck Peters responded this morning to a couple of comments on his blog, stating that I had been “marginalized” or “relegated to a lower-level room running out the clock on his contract.” I have already described my current role at Gazette Communications. I welcome people to state their opinions, either on [...]
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  Posted: July 19, 2009, 10:43am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Buttry’s Big Idea: Change the relationships

  Number of comments: 2
  Here is the one-page summary of C3 that I gave colleagues at the Poynter/McCormick Big Ideas Conference today. The central point of my Blueprint for the Complete Community Connection is that media companies need to change our relationships. We need new relationships with our communities and with businesses. Here’s how [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2009, 2:03pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Follow the Big Ideas Conference at Poynter

  Number of comments: 2
  I’m at the Poynter Institute through Wednesday for the Big Ideas Conference. I’m one of 29 people in the media sharing innovative ideas. You can follow on the liveblog (I’m one of the livebloggers this afternoon and Wednesday afternoon) or on Twitter, with the hashtag #BigIdeas. [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2009, 11:47am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chaplain Frank Arnold’s war diary continued: “Visited Nazi extermination camp”

  Number of comments: 1
  This is the World War II diary of Army Chaplain Frank M. Arnold II, my uncle. I have published three earlier sets of excerpts. Uncle Frank used ellipses a lot. I am not using every entry here, but if I use an entry, I use it all. The ellipses are [...]
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  Posted: July 12, 2009, 8:59am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Mississippi Gulf Coast recovering slowly

  Number of comments: 1
  Here is a draft of a story I wrote for this Sunday’s Gazette, based on some reporting I did when I was in Biloxi last month and some follow-up reporting by telephone after returning to Cedar Rapids. For more on the recovery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, check the coverage in the [...]
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  Posted: July 11, 2009, 11:36am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Your digital profile tells people a lot

  Number of comments: 1
  I have commiserated and shared advice recently with some friends who lost their jobs as the newspaper industry contracts. Other people who still have jobs are in the same situation I often find myself: trying to develop relationships with potential sources, partners, clients or vendors. My first advice in either situation: [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2009, 10:16am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Twitter tips for journalists

  Number of comments: 1
  This is my handout for a workshop for Gazette staffers today. If you already read Leading your staff into the Twitterverse, some of this will look familiar. That was geared for top newsroom leaders. This is geared for front-line journalists. But much of the advice is the same. I also [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 1:49pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chaplain Frank Arnold’s war diary, continued: “16 below. What a day to ride in a jeep!”

  Number of comments: 1
  This is the fourth installment of excerpts from the World War II diary of Army Chaplain Frank M. Arnold, my uncle. My notes and translations (using Google) are in italics. Earlier installments told of assignments in the U.S. and England, of his first few weeks of combat in France and [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 10:21pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chaplain Frank Arnold’s war diary continues: “This is the day Satan hath made”

  Number of comments: 3
  Chaplain Frank M. Arnold, my uncle, kept a diary during World War II. I wrote in two previous posts about his preparation in the United States and England and then about his first few weeks in France, starting in July 1944. My notes and translations from Google are in italics. [...]
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  Posted: July 07, 2009, 7:51am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chaplain Frank Arnold’s war diary, continued: “indescribable hell”

  Number of comments: 6
  This continues my excerpts from the World War II diary of my uncle, Frank M. Arnold II, an Army chaplain, pictured here about a decade after the war with son Frankie, daughter Jean and wife Florence, right. The first installment told of his time in the United States, Scotland and England [...]
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  Posted: July 06, 2009, 8:20am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Chaplain Frank Arnold’s World War II diary

  Number of comments: 9
  We laid my Uncle Frank to rest 44 years ago. But he was alive in my living room this weekend, speaking from the pages of a diary he wrote as an Army chaplain during World War II. Frank Mitchell Arnold II was a hero in my family: idolized by my mother, [...]
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  Posted: July 04, 2009, 8:27pm EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Tweeting wisdom of the ages

  Number of comments: 6
  Brevity is the soul of wit. Shakespeare wrote that. And no one said it was shallow because he said it in fewer than 140 characters (27, to be precise). When people who don’t understand Twitter whine about it, a common implication is that you can’t say much in 140 characters. So everything [...]
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  Posted: June 29, 2009, 8:47am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Tweetworthy wisdom from the holy books

  Number of comments: 1
  This is related to my post, Tweeting wisdom of the ages, attempting to debunk the notion that something less than 140 characters must be shallow. These are quotations from the Bible and holy books of other faiths that would fit in tweets: Each  of the Beatitudes fits into a tweet, a great series of tweets [...]
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  Posted: June 29, 2009, 8:43am EDT
  by Steve Buttry

• Aesop’s wisdom in tweets

  Number of comments: 1
  This is related to my post, Tweeting wisdom of the ages, attempting to debunk the notion that something less than 140 characters must be shallow. These are quotations from Aesop that would fit in tweets: A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth. After all is said and done, [...]
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  Posted: June 29, 2009, 8:42am EDT
  by Steve Buttry