Thursday, December 31, 2015

The most popular 'Yesterday, Internet, Today!' posts of 2015

1. Lingering ghosts of unanswered questions, March 20, 2015.


2. No words (and other topics) Aug. 21, 2015.




4. "Nothing you can do about this" March 24, 2015.


5. "Stupid, explained" Oct. 19, 2015




7. "Suspended in the middle" June 24, 2015




9. "Here comes the rain again" July 30, 2015.''


10. "No peas" July 2, 2015. 


Yesterday, Internet, Today! is a free newsletter, not in listicle format, that's growing so now I can't really stop it. Thanks, Obama.






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How to make a slideshow with Pinterest and Flickr with Storify

In 2012, I wrote a tutorial on how to make a slideshow with Pinterest and Instagram with Storify. It has remained the most popular post this year, again, in this humble blog, even though it's old and it no longer works.
That's been bugging me for a while.
So I felt like I had to figure out another way. And I did. It works in that it gives you what you want: A slideshow display of your pins.

Here's how.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

On the Internet, nobody knows ...


The year is ending, the snow is melting and the fog is the question.
Online, the takes and viral posts of outrageous Fortune
will rise and fall and rise again in an endless Sea of troubles.
Is it better to go to sleep
or to feed the beast? Or to say we end
here and now, in the endless outrage of a thousand Natural shocks
that come and go?

Hamlet was indecisive, but we don't have to be. 

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Kingston flurries



What follows is a test of 360 and virtual reality publishing so that you can see it in all your devices.
My test, using the current weather as the excuse, consists of taking images and photos with a Ricoh Theta S, embedding 360-degree and virtual reality photos and videos, along with regular images, to see if it can be added to regular sites and even ~monetized~.
My setup is simple. I'm using Scribblelive live blogging/feed platform to add the content and test what works and what doesn't. You can let me know what works for you.
I'll also be using a Homido Mini virtual reality viewer and will review that later. So far it's impressive for its size and it's the most portable one you can find.
Do let me know what works for you and what doesn't.

Monday, December 28, 2015

The calm before the New Year


The quiet, dreamy period between Christmas and New Year is one of contemplation, as many of us come off from over-indulgence and/or over-stimulation, sliding into an almost trance-like ritual of assessing the specter of the year that passed and planning for the next. It can get foggy, like in some of the unusually warm days we've just experienced. But it also signals a potential rebirth and reset.
It's a good time.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Yesterday's Internet Awakens


Where is my mind? It's been on ~your lights~ and some nascent projects and a war of stars I have yet to see, as of late. But I haven't forgotten the internets of yesterday, today, as we come around the very unlikely anniversary of this very feature and/or blog section and/or newsletter, depending on where and how you get it.

And as we approach the end of the year, looking back at what we've done and looking ahead at things to come, we pause to reflect while we circle back to our rituals filled with food, merriment and terrible year-end news listicles.
And stepping back, you can see how everything is connected.
Like string lights tied to trees.
It's a bright sight, if you let it shine.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Christmas won. Turn the lights on.


Someone complained the other day that the upcoming Freeman Holiday Lights tour something something War on Christmas, and as much as I would like to engage in this Christmas tradition and/or debate in futility, I simply don't have the time this year. Because I'm making a holiday lights map!
Did you know that I've been adding Easter Eggs to it for at least five years? Yes, there have been cats.

Short hot take: The War on Christmas was over before it ever began, and Christmas won, by a landslide. Look around you. You can't escape it even if you wanted to.

WAR OVER.


So let's skip the unnecessary outrage, at least for a bit, and enjoy the holidays. And because you're nice you get to see the map as I work on it. Don't tell my boss.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Here's all the other things the Ulster County Sheriff is saying about guns



Fourteen thousand shares later— as of this writing, and counting— Ulster County sheriff Paul Van Blarcum still has ~opinions~ and so does everyone after he posted this VERY HOT TAKE.


So let's see what else the Democrat (the sheriff is elected) is saying to other media:

* "The people who are doing the gun violence aren’t using registered guns.” Daily Freeman;

* "people are getting slaughtered and nobody has a gun" Times Herald-Record;

* "when stuff hits the fan it'd be nice to know that there's somebody there that's going to stand up." WAMC;
* He said he’s “not trying to drum up a militia of any sort.” AP.


Do I have a hot take about guns? Of course I do. And so did you when I wrote that.

Note: I'm only collecting original reporting, there's a bunch of agreggations and reposts out there that simply have the Facebook post and some description, but they add nothing more, so no soup for you CBS Patch Washington Times etc.  
Related tangent: How is any of this a Business Insider story? Clicks, that's what.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

DFM chat on engagement projects for the holidays


Journalists, Digital First Media peeps, at least one twitter cat and  anyone who wants to are going to be taking part on our Twitter chat Wednesday at noon, Eastern Time, to talk about all things journalism.

Today with are talking about engagement projects for the holidays! Sure, you've got your holiday lights tours, but how are you doing it? What are you using? What other things are you doing to engage with your communities? What tools make things easier to accomplish this?

If you want to chime in, post a comment in the container or a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below.

Thanks for coming!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Not all ~content~



Have an idea and tell someone about it;

savor the look you'll get; 

and then do it, anyway.





Not a particular novel idea, but one worth trying anyway.

Case in point: I've been wanting to do this for over a month:




And I'm doing it.

Your turn.