Friday, March 29, 2024

July 9, 2001– Newsletter #138

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Goodies to Go ™
July 9, 2001–Newsletter #138

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com

Please visit http://www.htmlgoodies.com
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Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors,

My wife just started a great new job and is going through
training for the position. I have written on the topic of an
employer setting boundaries regarding what an employee
can and cannot do with the Internet, but this is the first
time it came to reality for me. Her manual contains four
full pages on what is and what is not acceptable use of the
Internet. Whoever wrote these pages was thorough to the
point of it becoming tedious but in today’s climate I
guess that is what is required. Furthermore, she will be
tested over this material. How about that?


I think the most interesting rule is that one can observe
chat rooms and bulletin boards but cannot post. Huh.


Did you hear


July has arrived and none too soon for the IPO domino
tumble in June. According to Reuters, another 53 dot-
coms closed their doors in June bringing the past year-
and-a-half total to 555. The stats came from the company
Webmergers.com.


The free net concept has been dealt another blow.
USA.net will now charge for their email service. The
price is pretty good actually. If you change over to the
new service before July 31, your current email and saved
messages will simply be transferred over. Plus it’ll only
cost you $29.99 for a year. If you wait until after the end
of July there’s an increase in charge up to just a penny
under fifty bucks.


Hitachi has developed a really, really, really, really little
chip. It’s so small in fact that it could be woven into a
dollar bill to help catch fakes. The chip is called Mew
and is only .04mm on a side. It has 128k of ROM and
can actually transmit an RF signal up to a foot.
Unbelievable.


A study by a British manufacturing firm has concluded
that 25% of computer users have, at one time or another,
struck a part of their computer out of anger. I hate to
admit it, but I am part of that 25%. I’ve clocked my
monitor a couple of times.


Now onto today’s topic


I have what may be an odd question. At least it has been
odd to the few that I’ve run it past. Have you noticed an
Internet trend that seems to feel something is better if a
non-professional does that something?


Allow me to elaborate. I write little news blips at the top
of each of these newsletters. Often someone will take
exception to the facts of one of my stories. I have sources
for each of the facts I post. I would certainly not make
anything up. That would just be silly.


Well, now and again, someone will contact me and tell
me that a Web site disagrees with me. That Web site will
most likely have been put together by a single person
who feels or has good information that something is
true. Usually these are very conspiracy-minded sites.
The person who wrote to me will take what the Web site
said as gospel simply because it is not the mainstream
press. The thinking is that the mainstream is in the hip
pocket of politicians and this single person’s Web site is
somehow the ray of truth simply because the author is not
affiliated with any media.


I was hit with another dose of this thinking when I read
an article on Salon.com about FanCast.com. It’s a site
where amateurs will act as announcers for sporting
events. The owner, Adam Epstein, claims the site will
overthrow the ‘one size fits all’ sportscasting regime.


Hah?


Notice what happens? The thinking that because
information is coming from the Web unfiltered, it is
better, is simply not enough. The argument that the
information is better in some way is almost always
accompanied by a slight of the competition.


The unfiltered opinions of someone, in the know are
somehow better because the traditional news sources are
biased. Sporting events called by fans will be better
because the sports regime can give us little more than
Brent Musberger.


Hah?


Now, I understand that Mr. Epstein is attempting to get a
new site off the ground so a little bravado is expected.
He needs to set his site apart and he obviously feels that
bringing down what is already available is better than
bringing up what he is offering. That kind of thinking
has always makes me a little suspect. I use to see it in
radio advertising a great deal. Many radio stations would
push themselves by saying other stations were terrible
rather than stating that their station was great. That, in
my mind, brings the consumer choice down to we’re the
best of the worst listen to us.


I know a great many sports fans. These are fans to the
point where they become a tad annoying. I had a friend
who was such a fan of the Washington Redskins that I
would purchase the banner of the opposing team when he
threw a game party. I found it to be great fun. I wasn’t
invited back much.


This is the guy I can see being the voice of a Redskins
game on FanCast.com. Now, he is a non-professional
and a fantastic fan. He can quote stats and names and
history like nobody’s business. Would he do a great play
by play or color announce? I’ll bet he wouldas long as
you were also a Redskins fan.


I think this guy’s great and I think the world of him but I
can only imagine the one-sided broadcast he would
create. All penalties against the Redskins would be pure
blasphemy. All penalties against the opposing teams
would be the most brilliant call known to the game. I
would think it would almost be like the opposing team
never made the field.


Right now, I guarantee there are people reading this that
are livid. I guarantee they know a guy that would be
perfectly fair. They know a guy that would be able to
give perfect stats. They know a guy that would do better
than Brent Musberger. They know a guy.


Yes, the Web is a fantastic place because it is unfiltered.
The opinions of those on the Web come flying through
without any thought of editing or restraint. They are the
thoughts and feelings of true people, not the mainstream
media or sports regime. These are people who have the
real scoop. They have the unfettered truth. They are
those who are speaking the facts.


They speak the facts as long as one agrees with them.


Now, I have no doubt people will write to me with the
few stories of Web reported facts that did scoop the
mainstream press. There are examples out there. You
bet. Those are the examples that are remembered. What
about all the times they were wrong? Those aren’t
remembered quite as clearly.


I wrote this newsletter because I am putting together my
Broadcast Journalism syllabus for the upcoming year and
I know that somewhere along the way, a student will use
an Internet source in the know and report something the
mainstream press hasn’t touched on. Maybe that fantastic
story will pan out. Most likely it won’t.


I just want to have my thoughts together when I am hit
with the argument that simply because the facts came
through unfiltered that they must be better than what the
biased news media is feeding us.


The Internet is a great source of informationbut that
information isn’t necessarily better simply because it is
from the Internet.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


That’s that. Thanks for taking the time to read what I
wrote. It keeps the joy in the writing.


Joe Burns, Ph.D.


And Remember: Are you familiar with the RCA logo that
shows a dog peering into an old phonograph speaker?
That was a real dog. His name was Nipper and he was
part bull terrier and part fox terrier. Nipper’s owner’s
brother, Francis Barrud, created the painting that RCA
used for their logo. You see, the actual owner of the dog
had died and the dog began to follow Francis to work
where it would sit, just as you see it in the logo, listening
to the music. Barrud believed the dog was hoping to hear
his deceased owner’s voice. The thought led him to paint
the now famous scene and title it, His Master’s Voice.


The current Nipper was rescued from a pound and is
paid a salary. That salary is donated to preventing animal
research.

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