So easy a horse can do it

Putting out a newspaper, or at the very least a leaflet is not all that difficult. Historically anybody who could learn the tools and afford to buy them could do it independently. Although more commonly an individual would pay a printer to put out whatever it is he (and often it was a man) wanted to publish.

This trend continued, presses were big and complicated but eventually, like all technology they got smaller. Smaller presses accompanied by an easier process meant that putting out a flyer or a leaflet became easy. So easy in fact even a horse could do it.

Wait, what ?! (never !?)

Style is hard and it can take years to master. By “style” I do not mean a personal voice that reflects on the page how you sound in your own head (although that is equally if not more difficult) I am referring in this case to the other kind of style. Proper “style,” the way a publication consistently presents itself on the page.

Facebook turns the page on news

Facebook last week announced another new app, this one is a news curator called Pages.

The app, designed to supplement the myriad of Facebook and Facebook-owned apps (Instagram anyone?) curates in one place news articles shared by the sites users and does so outside the newsfeed. 

Journalists and code

<p>This week brought to light a sore subject among some: newsrooms and code, the technological and verbal underpinning of computers, the Internet and the Web. An article <em>The Atlantic</em> took one clear position that beat reporters just do not need the skill,  that it is a waste of time for journalists to learn code.</p>

Breaking outside the fence

I wrote earlier about the resurgence of walled gardens in the form of white picket fences. When I first published those ideas in August 2011 very little had been done on the topic, now nearly a year later there has been an uptick in conversation about the topic (although sadly my phrase has not yet been adopted).