Welcome to an experiment in social technology.

Fayetteville City Council

Why the Council should have the final say on a second motorcycle rally

You may or may not have heard, but there could be a second motorcycle rally this year in Fayetteville. Organizers are calling it Bikes, Babes, and Bling, and the event is planned for Independence Day weekend.

UPDATE: The City Council vote has been called off. Details inside.

Read more of this post.
City Council: First meeting in January

One year down, three more to go. I've enjoyed my first year on the Council, and I'm looking forward to being more active this year, now that I've learned the ropes.

Here's what's coming up...

Read more of this post.
January's Cause of the Month: Move your money to a local bank

Three years ago, I walked into a Bank of America branch and closed my account. When they asked me why, I told them I was fed up with escalating fees, the sterile feeling I got from doing business with them, and that I wanted my money to be used to support more local jobs.

Read more of this post.
Dislosure: My blog will be profitable at the end of 2010

It's been a year (or close enough) since I published this website, and it's had its share of false starts. One of my New Year's resolutions is to finally buckle down and start using the Internet the way I've always meant to.

That means creating content. I've gotten pretty good at sharing things, but I've failed to get in the habit of creating original content regularly. That's all about to change. Right? Right!

Read more of this post.
Sometimes, asking a thought-provoking question is enough to get you on TV

Are bloggers more trustworthy than journalists? That's the question I asked via my Amplify account, and it intrigued Brad Reed, a news anchor for Fox24, enough that he asked me to join him during his newshour to talk about it.

It was originally going to be just an interview with me, but I suggested turning it into a roundtable with Christopher Spencer of Ozarks Unbound and Bret Schulte from the University of Arkansas journalism program. I'm glad that Brad took my suggestion, because I don't think we could have asked for a better six minutes of air time.

Read more of this post.
Podcast: Kyle Kellams explains how NPR expands their news service without using a subscription model, and other topics

In this podcast, I interview Kyle Kellams from our local NPR affiliate about the future of news. We cover a broad range of topics, and if you're interested in the changes happening to journalism, you'll enjoy this interview.

Read more of this post.
What's your blogging vice?

In general, I try to make sure my posts don't just share links, that's what I use my Amplify account for.

But this one was so inspirational to me, I felt like I should share it, even if I don't have much to add.

Read more of this post.
I'm one.

I've seen this video before, but I keep going back to it every couple of months. It may have a few inaccuracies (I have not fact-checked it, and I'm skeptical of some of the claims), but it's so powerful to me that I can't help but be inspired.

What gets me every time is the simple fact that there are 90 million people in my generation. That's 20 million more than the baby boomers, and we'll all be voting age by 2016. With each passing election, we gain more and more political power.

Read more of this post.
The Five Stages of Social Media Grief

I found this list on Scott Monty's website a few weeks ago, and I really liked it. He's the new media guru for Ford Motors, and he's adapted the grief model from psychology to social media.

It's really quite clever, and it reminds me of the social media resolution I brought to the Council near the beginning of the year. In the weeks after introducing the resolution, I watched the public go through each of these stages, until finally the resolution was passed and we entered stage 5: acceptance.

Read more of this post.
Reality check: the new era began a while ago

Today, each of the NWA Newspapers ran a story about the merger signaling “a new era” for news in our corner of the state. They even said “This region shall have the strongest, healthiest, newspapers in these United States. This 'blessed spot' will have more of what so many other regions are losing or have already lost.”

Blessed spot? That's the funniest thing I've heard...

Since when does having a conglomerate media powerhouse make us unique?

Read more of this post.
NYT Publisher Compares Print Media to the Titanic

In an article at New York Magazine, the publisher of the New York Times compared print journalism to the Titanic.

Doomed not by what you might guess, but doomed by the invention of the airplane 12 years earlier.

What does he think that means for the future of print?

Read more of this post.
Fayetteville Flyer to Begin Editorializing Again

The Fayetteville Flyer, a local website which is taking over the weekly market and has been providing quality coverage of City Council meetings now for several months, is returning to their roots.

They are going to start editorializing again. And it's about time! If there is one thing I've missed about the Flyer it is the opinions.

Read more of this post.
UA Journalism Dept to Host Forum on the "Future of the News"

Well, it's about time! It will certainly be a show to watch with Matthew Waite, the designed for Politifact squaring off against Conan Gallaty from the Demozette.

Of course, one has to wonder how biased the panel will be considering it contains no independent journalists.

Read more of this post.
ArkBizJournal: Connect Arkansas Gets $2 Million to Map Broadband Access in State - ArkansasBusiness.com

The Arkansas Business Journal has a report that a grant for $2 million has been awarded to Connect Arkansas to fund the creation of a map for broadband development in Arkansas.

That's pretty important, considering Arkansas ranks 49th for broadband access.

Read more of this post.
Under the Dome: Public option escape hatch?

I've been wondering how the "opt-out" public option would work, and Steve Harrelson, Arkansas' House Majority Leader, has posted an explanation on his own blog.

Read more of this post.