Keeping Up With The Times

May 29th, 2008 Heather Kovar

Technology is helping the New York Times bring you back in time.

You can digitally browse any issue from Volume 1, Number 1 of The New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851, through The New York Times of December 30, 1922 using the paper’s new TimesMachine. 

The service may also be looked upon as an incentive to subscribe to hard copy, because only New York Times home delivery subscribers have unlimited access. All users can see a sample of TimesMachine.

Find out how producers converted all the data by reading The Times’ OPEN blog by Derek Gottfrid.

Or just watch the interview below with Gottfrid by Scoble. (It was the Scobleizer blog where I first read of TimesMachine.)

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Celebrating 60

May 29th, 2008 Heather Kovar

Harry S. Truman was President. The Cleveland Indians won the World Series. Idlewild International Airport (now JFK) was dedicated. Marvin the Martian made his cartoon debut. The New York Press Club was born.

The year was 1948.

Also celebrating the 60-year mark in 2008 include Samuel L. Jackson, Billy Crystal, Al Gore, Howard Dean, Kathy Bates, Olivia-Newton John, Richard Simmons, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gary Trudeau.

Coming up on September 22nd, the New York Press Club is holding it’s 60th Anniversary Gala. Special guest, NBC News anchorman Brian Williams will keynote the event.

The time and place is still yet to be announced, so check back soon for updates. I am also compiling pictures and stories from the club over the years.

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SpotCrime

May 27th, 2008 Heather Kovar

Reporters might want to check out the website SpotCrime.
I’m not sure how it could be used in research or reporting, but at the very least you can check out trends of crime in various cities.

I found SpotCrime through Thrillist.com.

The site generates emails to keep you up to date on hip events in several major cities.

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Noisy Worship

May 27th, 2008 Heather Kovar

Just the other morning I was sitting in my apartment hearing church bells play a familiar song. As I was trying to figure out what song it was, I began wondering where the church is!
I figure it’s the one a little more than a block away.

It’s no surprise the front page story in today’s am New York caught my eye. The headline: “FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE Noise complaints against houses of worship skyrocking.”

I do a segment called “What’s Bugging You.” People in Connecticut write to me and I cover stories over their aggravations. I have to say over a period of five years, no one has submitted a church-related complaint. I’m actually glad, because it seems church-related issues are difficult to tread.

Yet according to am New York, noise complaints over houses of worship are up more than any other grievance.

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Twitter

May 5th, 2008 Heather Kovar

I’ve recently linked my Twitter account to my Facebook page and am about to connect Twitter to one of my blogs.

As a twit, I follow updates of friends and various news professionals, as well as the updates of CNN and AP.

 A colleague asked me today, “What is twitter?” Just a few days ago, a male friend of mine said he had signed up for a twitter account because his friend asked him to, but that it just seems too “geeky.”

 You can post and view updates in a few key strokes via computer, or by your cell phone out on assignment. Just as I’m wondering if my recent tinkering with twitter could be seen as troublesome, I read an article by Graeme Newell on TVSpy’s Shoptalk. The web marketing specialist for 602 Communications explains how journalists could be using twitter to connect with their audience, however how small or geeky it may be.

Newell calls it the “ultimate in mobility blogging” writing : 

“So what do you Twitter? Your research, your front-line experiences, and your opinions. Link your audience to ALL the web sites used to research your story. Talk about the blind alleys you ran down, and tell how you got the story back on track. Post the most interesting facts you uncovered during the day. Comment about your hunches on where the story is going. ”

He also says it’s okay to post updates about what you had for lunch or that you are ready for happy hour.  

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