Sree Sreenivasan * @sree * sree@sree.net

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (Taken with...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:28:43 -0400

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (Taken with instagram)

halftheskymovement: Maya Angelou - American Author and...

Wed, 30 May 2012 20:44:16 -0400

halftheskymovement:

Maya Angelou - American Author and Poet

Photo courtesy : Christian Carrera

Audio

Wed, 30 May 2012 13:50:31 -0400

"As journalists, I believe, we explore what might be called the Periodic Table of Human Nature. Every..."

Mon, 28 May 2012 11:09:25 -0400

“As journalists, I believe, we explore what might be called the Periodic Table of Human Nature. Every life, whether celebrated or obscure, contains the same fundamental emotions, love or hate, ambition or indolence, exhilaration or despair. We just need to drill down deeply enough to discover them.”

- What follows is an excerpt from futurejournalismproject

Samuel G. Freedman, Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, in his book Letters to a Young Journalist. (It is absolutely worth a read.)

FJP: I often wonder about what spirituality and journalism might have in common, one answer to which is that they allow us to foster a similar sort of emotional fortitude.

Popova exercepts the book:

Spirituality is discovered in that space between paradox’s extremes, for there we confront our helplessness and powerlessness, our woundedness. In seeking to understand our limitations, we seek not only an easing of our pain but an understanding of what it means to hurt and what it means to be healed. Spirituality begins with the acceptance that our fractured being, our imperfection, simply is: There is no one to ‘blame’ for our errors — neither ourselves nor anyone nor anything else. Spirituality helps us first to see, and then to understand, and eventually to accept the imperfection that lies at the very core of our human be-ing.

To the cynic, that might sound a bit self-helpish but now see this, another favorite excerpt from Freedman:

To be witness, observer, and storyteller, and to develop and refine the skills of each, is to accept the burden of independent thought. It is to reject the easy comforts of our conventional wisdom or popular dogma. It is to welcome the dissonance of human events and render that dissonance with coherence and style. All of these exercises stretch the brain and all of them elevate the spirit.

I relate the two thoughts because I think welcoming the dissonance of human events requires us to welcome a fractured self first, which might help us to ask “spiritual questions.” Popova offers another excerpt:

Listening to stories and telling them helped our ancestors to live humanly — to be human. But somewhere along the way our ability to tell (and to listen to) stories was lost. As life speeded up, as the possibility of both communication and annihilation became ever more instantaneous, people came to have less tolerance for that which comes only over time. The demand for perfection and the craving for ever more control over a world that paradoxically seemed ever more out of control eventually bred impatience with story. As time went by, the art of storytelling fell by the wayside, and those who went before us gradually lost part of what had been the human heritage— the ability to ask the most basic questions, the spiritual questions.

That’s a little Monday morning food for thought, and an insight into what’s drawn me to journalism—a space it seems, that allows for a very continuous, multihued deepening of one’s humanity. —Jihii

Bonus: If you didn’t check out our #whyJournalism survey results from a while back, you can do so here.

Hey, LinkedIn connection-requesters!

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:12:24 -0400

Tip for @LinkedIn bios: Don’t call yourself a “digital media visionary” or “thought leader” * Those are labels others give you.

— Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) May 25, 2012

Applies to Twitter bios, too!

Digital Is the Place to Reach US Asiansemarketer.com Asians are...

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:44:47 -0400

Digital Is the Place to Reach US Asians
emarketer.com

Asians are the fastest-growing racial group in the US, with their numbers having reached 17.3 million as of 2010. But “groups” would be a more accurate term, as US Asians are split among highly distinct ethnicities.
“No one country of…

Some noteworthy stats here.

One of the consistently inspiring sights on Earth.

Sun, 13 May 2012 11:35:22 -0400

One of the consistently inspiring sights on Earth.

Smart, timely ad: “It’s OK, the Internet will be...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:22:43 -0400

Smart, timely ad: “It’s OK, the Internet will be just fine without you.”

@ColumbiaJourn Admitted Students Weekend #cuj13

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:23:48 -0400

Profile of the Data Journalist: The Daily Visualizer

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:54:14 -0400

Profile of the Data Journalist: The Daily Visualizer:

Alex Howard, oreilly.com

Around the globe, the bond between data and journalism is growing stronger. In an age of big data, the growing importance of data journalism lies in the ability of its practitioners to provide context, clarity and, perhaps most…

Q&A with a data visualizing journalist.

Knight News Challenge: 50 Projects Move to Next Round

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:42:40 -0400

Knight News Challenge: 50 Projects Move to Next Round:

futurejournalismproject:

newschallenge:

We just finished selecting the 51 proposals that will go to the next round of the Knight News Challenge on networks. (You can see 50 of them listed below; one was a closed entry we don’t have permission from the applicant to share.)

FJP: Congratulations to all involved and good luck!

futurejournalismproject: You forgot bloated and annoying. If...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:37:57 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

You forgot bloated and annoying.

If reblogging, add your favorite descriptors.

Via Slate.

I try to work only in Google Docs.

What happens when you win the Masters

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:58:26 -0400

Up early can’t sleep, don’t want to miss any part of being a dad & going to get a new cell phone number! It’s crazy how people get ur number
— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 9, 2012

@RebNorman' Words to live by

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:13:17 -0400

“We do some jobs for money and some for the honor and privilege of doing the work. If we get to do both, we’re lucky.” - @rebnorman
— Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) February 24, 2012

Norm Green, storyteller and filmmaker.

I used TimelineMovieMaker.com to create a video of my Facebook...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 05:52:54 -0400

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

I used TimelineMovieMaker.com to create a video of my Facebook Timeline. Then, I used Screenr.com to record it.

@NickKristof is the most generous person on Earth

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:52:00 -0400

Good piece on Pinterest by the great social media maven @Sree cnet.co/xPLHIn I’m playing with Pinterest, too.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) March 17, 2012

In my social media workshops, I talk about the importance of being generous to others and not constantly pointing to yourself and your work. I learned the value of generosity - again - earlier today.

As someone who devotes so many of his NYT columns saying nice things about folks around the world, it’s not surprising @NickKristof is also generous on social media. Here’s one tiny example.

And below is a screen grab of what happened within minutes of his tweet - amazing. Throughout the day, new followers arrived, thanks to Nick. [The tweet above is a newish embedded tweet, which means you can click on the link or reply, RT, favorite, etc directly on it - here are the official instructions.]

360-degree Photosynth of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:56:00 -0400

Terrific free Microsoft app on iPhone ~~and Android~~. Shot at 10:15 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Search PhotoSynth in the App Store. Looks great on the phone. To view it here on a browser, Microsoft may make your install Silverlight.

Let me know what you think: sree@sree.net

Audio

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:08:45 -0400

For a couple of years now, I’ve been working with Greg...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:36:53 -0500

For a couple of years now, I’ve been working with Greg Galant and Lee Semel, founders of the Shorty Awards, on their contest (see the list of my fellow judges). I’ve also been handing out their Short Tweet Guide to hundreds of folks. Now, they’ve kindly given me my own version. It’s a biz-card-sized guide on glossy paper that you can put in your wallet or purse. Feedback, tips, etc, welcome (sree at sree.net). If I don’t meet you in person, you can print and make your own card.

To see this in a bigger size, please click here:
https://skitch.com/e-sreenet/88fcd/png-image-1018-x-579-pixels

monkeysforhelping: I did pretty poorly on this quiz. - @Sree

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:28:41 -0500

monkeysforhelping:

I did pretty poorly on this quiz. - @Sree

Sree Sreenivasan * @sree * sree@sree.net

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge (Taken with...

halftheskymovement: Maya Angelou - American Author and...

Audio

"As journalists, I believe, we explore what might be called the Periodic Table of Human Nature. Every..."

Hey, LinkedIn connection-requesters!

Digital Is the Place to Reach US Asiansemarketer.com Asians are...

One of the consistently inspiring sights on Earth.

Smart, timely ad: “It’s OK, the Internet will be...

@ColumbiaJourn Admitted Students Weekend #cuj13

OK, I’m coming

Faculty Panel

Talk by alum Josh Elliott (@JoshElliottABC), “Good Morning America” news anchor, ABC News

Tips, thoughts, advice

General comments

Talkin’ Twitter

#cuj12 talks to #cuj13

Profile of the Data Journalist: The Daily Visualizer

Knight News Challenge: 50 Projects Move to Next Round

futurejournalismproject: You forgot bloated and annoying. If...

What happens when you win the Masters

@RebNorman' Words to live by

I used TimelineMovieMaker.com to create a video of my Facebook...

@NickKristof is the most generous person on Earth

360-degree Photosynth of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate

Audio

For a couple of years now, I’ve been working with Greg...

monkeysforhelping: I did pretty poorly on this quiz. - @Sree