USF's Own Kate Elston is Studying in Argentina

And blogging with both fists.

Jamie Starling = Mary Tyler Moore

Hello All,

Some of you already know, but if not, I have moved to Minneapolis! I am now the National Accounts Representative to Amazon for a book distributor. I live on the third floor of a mansion that is being remodeled, and until I buy a car, stand out in below-zero weather for the bus.

Attached is a photo taken by one of my coworkers on Saturday. That's his car dashboard. Obviously I stayed indoors for the entire weekend!

The Syllabus for David Silver's Digital Journalism Course

Here's the link. I'm planning to read along during the semester, since David has provided links to his readings, and his overview appears to be excellent.

Might be fun to "talk" about some of the readings here. We'll see if anyone takes the lead, and -- lead taken -- if anyone follows up.

Going Face to Facebook with James Tedford, Former Foghorn Editor

Going face-to-Facebook.

From Gawker, of All Places: Before My Time, Of Course

Old school odes

To The Golden Age Of The Press

Things we miss about old-timey journalism: bourbon in every desk drawer, the sound of 400 Underwoods clacking away at the same time, teletype rolls cascading out into the hallway and the undivided attention of the American public. Things we don't miss? Alcoholic colleagues (Balk aside), carbon copy paper, the glass ceiling and mini-fridge-sized tape recorders. Would we go back to the golden age of newspapers, the days of afternoon editions, hearty circulation, fat expense accounts and the magic of the rewrite desk? Oh, probably, but we'd like to take our iPhones, if that's cool. With that, we announce the beginning of Old School Odes, in which we remember The Press The Way It Was.

For instance! Once upon a time in a faraway dead place called Life magazine in the 1940s, edit meetings were, well, much the way they are now. Dull meandering affairs where not a damn thing got done. One day, a young journalist named Scott Levitt, trapped in such a time-sucking summit, spoke up from the end of the table. "I have a report to make," he said. Then he pulled out a pistol and shot it into the ceiling. Corny, but effective, and of course, this being The Way It Was, everyone laughed.

At the risk of reinforcing the average j-schooler's distorted image of his future, we're inviting your own Old School Odes, which we'll post each Friday, because that is the day when we find ourselves wishing we were working next to Cary Grant instead of our server room, plucky though it is. We await your nostalgia.

USF's Own Toan Lam on Soaring Bay Area Rents

Franki Fitterer ('99) Writes

Blog is great. I'm still working in the Marketing and Communications dept at California Western School of Law. It's fun, but at times I feel like I'm doing 20 things at once since our staff is small. I like the media relations the best and I work with our Innocence Project to get press on their cases. I'm editor of our alumni magazine too. Still loving San Diego..."

A Day in the Life of USF

Brant Ward's photojournalism class has put together an audio slideshow. Are we good or are we good?

job: full-time reporter-blogger at TPMmuckraker.com

if i didn't already have a job, i'd beg, borrow, and steal to get this one. to me, talkingpointsmemo is one of the best and most important american outlets for journalism and blogging. apparently they're hiring a full-time reporter-blogger to work at TPMmuckraker.com. i predict millions will apply for this job - one of the applications could be yours.

For Final Day, the Ethics Class Created a Survey, Which We Sent to Alumni and 'Friends of the Class' Who Are in the Business

Since I am not a paying customer of Survey Monkey, only 10 questions are allowed per "page."

http://surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_Responses.aspx?sm=pE3mttJxzoCN0UDHt4jtoeUcHbGJa22ILnskEwTUTDs%3d

http://surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_Responses.aspx?sm=b5yatGGGjKkG8JsCckoxRlWi3MISWGP45H5kEiH7mAU%3d

http://surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_Responses.aspx?sm=hhZ0cWizjPWNJtRSB9iAE0rn7NaXVtGlsWrsUUfVuhE%3d

Full disclosure: The survey had too few people and those few from too great a variety of backgrounds to have “validity,” but some of the patterns in the answers are suggestive. I was interested that:

· so many people wouldn’t laugh at lame jokes in the service of a good interview – though one respondent when questioned more closely said she would “smile, of course”

· as I’ve always thought, “off the record” means different things to different people

· asking journalists what objectivity means is very nearly a party game

· some folk do feel that there are certain people and/or topics they would refuse to write about. I would have thought the more hateful the topic, the greater the challenge and, thus, the greater the appeal of the topic

· nobody respects sportswriting “the most”

· just how often does one have an ethical dilemma? Not that often…?

Now if we just had a bigger sample collected more “scientifically” – and if I were willing to pay Survey Monkey so that I could tease out correlations between (let us say) age and certain attitudes or current job category and certain attitudes – well, this would be more than cocktail chatter. But it is pretty good cocktail chatter.

Ethics class: You are cheeky monkeys, but I liked you very much. (Oh. I made the mistake of blind copying some of your sources and thus discovered I don’t have a full list of those I sent it to. Forward it to your “professional” sources if you wish.)

Those who filled out the surveys: I like you very much, too.