Good news about the news

With lively news and thoughtful commentary from south of the 49th parallel, The Atlantic is always worth a stop on a curious Canadian's online odyssey.

My current favourite Atlantic item is How to Save the News by James Fallows, also in the June 2010 edition of The Atlantic magazine.

His thesis: Google knows that people will use its search engine only if it brings them interesting or useful information. Since the source of much of this stuff -- "the news" -- is traditional news media, it is in Google's interest to support and develop those media.

Google's goal, Fallows writes, is "a reinvented business model to sustain professional newsgathering." Well, lots of people are trying to create one.

But here's a change.

Rather than ignoring or trying to destroy traditional news media, Google's model would incorporate old-fashioned, high-cost news gathering such as (in Canada, which Fallows ignores, since being American means never having to say you're sorry) knowledgeable, long-term coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada.

It would also include, on the same site, immediate, exciting, unedited amateur-created video from hot spots such as Bangkok during the Thai military attacks on Red Shirt protesters.

Who would pay for this? Subscribers in some cases, advertisers in others, or some shifting blend of the two. Let a thousand business models bloom.

Today's media-rich but often wisdom-depleted online world faces a central problem. In Fallows's words, "The internet is a great way to get news but often a poor way to read it."

There's a device for that, of course: a Google device (coming soon ... really) that would re-create the serendipity of leafing through a magazine, discovering the beautiful colour ads and surrendering to the other content that you did not know you would be interested in.

Sounds like Google propaganda? Maybe. You need to keep your bullshit detector cranked up.

But what I love about this piece is its unusual and optimistic view of the news business -- a business, after all, that has adapted to every new technology since smoke-blackened sticks on cave walls.

Spoiler! How to Save the News contains more than 140 characters. You'll have to spend a bit of time reading it.

But your investment of time and thinking will pay off. You can tweet about it.

And the winner is ...

To find the screwup in the For Better or For Worse comic strip in my previous blog, check out the last panel.

The sound of a door whose hinges need oiling is not usually spelled the same way as "a tributary of a river; a stream or brook" (Canadian Oxford Dictionary, second edition, 2004).

Congratulations to commenter Wade (CreComm '09) and to several students in my editing class.

Spot the Screwup

Here's an example of an assignment in my Editing Print and Online Media class.

Can you spot a screwup in the For Better or For Worse comic strip of May 17, 2010?

Come back for the answer after class on May 18.

Regret the Error

Until late June I plan to post short items relevant to my Intersession course Editing Print and Online Media.

To start, here is Regret the Error, a wonderful site that could be called Edit Fail.

It displays some of my favourite content from newspapers and other publications: corrections.

It's Intersession time!

On May 11 a small but select group of students will begin taking my Intersession course Editing Print and Online Media.

In the newsroom at the Princess Street campus of Red River College in Winnipeg we will work on improving our skills at organizing and editing material for ... yes, print and online media.

You can register for the course until the day it begins. There are no prerequisites other than a good understanding of English, so you do not need to be a Creative Communications student to join us.

The students who have registered so far have completed the first year of CreComm. As part of that curriculum they have created the blogs that are listed on the right side of this page.

One of their assignments will be to blog at least weekly on a topic related to the course, so you will be able to follow the public part of our learning.

Another assignment is Spot the Screwup. Students look for mistakes online, on billboards, on bus boards, in all kinds of print media. Then they fix them.

It's a dishearteningly easy assignment. Guess that means there will always be jobs for editors.

Thinking like the government

Drivers in Manitoba renew our licences annually and get a new picture taken every four years.

The annual renewal date arrives four months after the driver’s birthday. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s better than everyone renewing licences and government-run insurance on Feb. 28, Soviet-style, as we had to do until a few years ago.

So six weeks ago I trotted down to my friendly neighbourhood insurance office, for that is where you go to renew licence and insurance in Manitoba.

Signed the papers, confirmed the payments.

Asked whether I had to take a new picture. No, they said. You’ll get your new licence within a month. Great.

Three weeks later I received voice mail from another insurance agency, whose door I had not darkened for at least three years and which is unconnected with the one I have been dealing with. You need a new picture for your driver’s licence.

Bombarded with solicitations from around the world, I did what any rational Canadian would do. I deleted the message and forgot about it.

OK, maybe I uttered an epithet about call centres.

Six weeks after my application, no new licence. The temporary one is expiring.

Head down to friendly neighbourhood insurance office. Explain problem. Get two workers puzzling over computer.

You need to take a picture. The other agency left you a message.

Why would they leave me a message? Why didn’t you? That I would have paid attention to.

Dunno.

Take off glasses. Remove smile. Assume neutral expression. Take picture. Sign in three places. Receive another temporary licence.

Wait three weeks, they promise.

At least the government isn’t charging me more money.

Just my time.

A 46-point plan

Help! I'm drowning in red tape!

Or I would be, if I were a student applying for a summer job with Canada's federal government.

First, there's the acronym FSWEP.

That's the Federal Student Work Experience Program. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Then there's the helpful guide for university student applicants published by Parks Canada. The opportunities in this department sound exciting, and I'm sure they will be well paid.

But a 46-point guide?

My favourite point is 45: "YOU'RE FINISHED!"

That's a snare and a delusion. There is indeed a Number 46. It refers you back to the beginning of the process.

Check it out.

Parks Canada

Riding Mountain National Park of Canada

Guide for university student applicants.

Applying for employment at Riding Mountain National Park through the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP).

1. Go online to http://jobs.gc.ca.

2. Click on “English”.

3. Click on “Students” on the left hand side.

4. Click on “Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP)”, the second bullet point.

5. Click on “Apply on-line”, the fifth bullet point.

6. Click on “FSWEP Campaign 2009-2010”

7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Apply Online”.

8. You are now on a page called “Login to your File”. Since you haven’t got one, click on “Create Account”.

9. Fill in the personal information requested. (The PRI is for internal usage; you can leave it blank.)

10. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Continue”.

11. Fill in your home address information. To be screened in for Riding Mountain National Park indicate that your Area of Residence is in “Central & Northern Manitoba”.

12. At the bottom of the page, click on “Continue”.

13. Fill in your work address or other address information. If you don’t have a secondary address, leave everything blank.

14. At the bottom of the page, click on “Continue”.

15. Select a password and a security question and click on “Continue”.

16. Write down your Applicant Number and password (it will allow you to access your file again at a later date) then click on “Continue”.

17. Select “I confirm” and click on “Continue”.

18. Click on “View My Jobs File”.

19. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you’ll see your My Jobs file. You’ll have to complete all sections marked by a red X before submitting.

20. To do that, start by clicking on “FSWEP Criteria”.

21. Answer the questions on that page and click on “Save”. Complete both dates, when you will be available for full time work and when available for part time work.Note that many of our jobs will have a “part time” component to them either at the beginning of the term or at the end. We strongly encourage you to select a date for which you will be available for part time work or your application will be screened out of our job searches which have a part time component to them.

22. Click on “Résumé”.

23. Copy your résumé and paste it into the box provided. (Don’t worry too much about the formatting; the content is what we need to see.)

24. Click on “Save”.

25. Click on “Work Location”.

26. Select “Manitoba” and click on “Continue”.

27. Select the areas of work in Manitoba that you’d be interested in. Riding Mountain National Park is listed as such

28. Click on “Save and Continue”.

29. Click on “Back”. This will bring you back to your My Jobs file.

30. Click on “Education”.

31. Select your highest level of education, whether you’ve completed it or not. (Ex. If you are currently finishing your first year of university, click on “University”.)

32. Click on “Add”.

33. Fill in the information requested. Under “Academic Level”, select “University Credits” if you are in university but do not yet have a degree.

34. At the bottom of the page, click on “Continue”.

35. Select your Specialization Groups and click on “Continue”.

36. You are now on a long page of specialisations. Don’t be intimidated! Just pick (at most) four specializations that match your strengths. If you pick more than four, the system will ask you to get rid of some until you have only four. Please note that we do not screen by Specialization when selecting candidates.

37. Click on “Save”.

38. Click on “Back”. This will bring you back to your My Jobs file.

39. Click on “Languages”.

40. Fill in the requested information about your language proficiency. Click on “Save”.

41. Your file is now complete! IF YOU CHOOSE, you can complete the final three sections, “Employment Equity”, “Skills” and “Departmental Programs”.

42. If you do not want to complete these extra sections (or, after you are done with them), click on “Submit Application”. This is very important! Nobody will ever see your application unless you click on “Submit Application”!

43. Click on “I Agree”.

44. Click on “Continue”.

45. YOU’RE FINISHED! If you would like to review your file, you can click on “View”.

46. You can always access your file and make changes by using your username and password, selected at the beginning of the process.