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As we continue to change our online presence from lecture to conversation, and as more of you prepare to become, for lack of a better term, citizen journalists, Tim Porter, a journalist and blogger who has the wherewithal to ponder Big Questions, raises some of them on Morph, a blog hosted by the American Press Institute. He directs them at newsrooms, and our newsroom certainly needs to think about them. But I think anyone who sees him- or herself contributing to news-as-conversation probably needs to be thinking about them as well. Some examples:

What is a "story"? What information should it contain? Which is the most important? How long must it be? How can it be presented in a form that is most useful to readers? What elements besides words are essential?

What is a "beat"? How, for example, should "education" be covered? How can we minimize institutional coverage in favor of stories about people and their concerns without abrogating our responsibility to, as one reporter once told me, "keep an eye on these scoundrels?" What skills are needed for good beat coverage? How do we ensure that our reporters have them and our editors permit the reporters to use them?

What is our role as a "watchdog"? How do we move from "gotcha" to context so the community believes we are on their side? How transparent should our reporting be? How much documentation can we provide that so we can not only underwrite our findings but also demystify our process?

Go read the whole thing. Then do some thinking about answers to the questions he raises ... and hit the comment link.

In honor of tonight's State of the Union address, here's a site with the text of every State of the Union speech back to 1913.

I'm delighted to announce that the N&R will host a public discussion featuring blogging guru and Scripting News editor Dave Winer, scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9, in the auditorium here at the News & Record, 200 East Market Street (parking available on the street in front of the building or in the Davie Street city garage). Admission is free. Dave will be discussing participating in a discussion about blogs and community journalism.

UPDATE: I repeat, admission is free -- but if you're planning to come, please e-mail and let me know so I'll know how many chairs to set up, how much to get in the way of refreshments, etc. Thanks!

Reminder: Our forum Wednesday evening with community-journalism guru Dave Winer is free and open to the public, but we need a head count. If you're coming, please e-mail me ASAP to let me know.

Thanks!

... in announcing the debut of Fast Forward, a blog about Triad transportation issues by reporters Eric Townsend in our Greensboro office and Amy Dominello in our High Point office. It left the starting line (how many bad metaphors can I pack into this post?) this past Wednesday.

Revved up about road rage? Curious about how bus routes get chosen? Drive on over.

Google has added to its repertoire a search of closed captioning on TV shows, with "hits" returning both caption text AND a video screen capture from the moment in the show at which the search phrase appears. It's not exhaustive -- co-worker Dick Barron and I found no hits on "Neil Neill McNeill" or "Cameron Kent" -- but it could well be helpful and/or entertaining.

Here's the hit list for the phrase "Shut up!".

(Info via Poynter.org)

... of President Bush's proposed FY2006 budget, that is. For an interesting roundup of responses to his budget proposals from a wide variety of interest groups, check out Policy Newslinks, where you can read reaction ranging from the American Hospital Association ("Applauds Bush's commitment to adequate Medicare funding") and the American Library Association ("Applauds Bush proposal to increase funding for libraries") to the National Farmers Union ("Rejects president's agricultural budget cuts") and Taxpayers for Common Sense ("Administration introduces 'budget of the living dead'"). Check 'em out. On the same page, you'll also find links to non-budget-related news releases from a variety of trade associations and other interest groups. This site is updated daily and is one helpful way of keeping tabs on what issues are bubbling up in Washington.

So we've been recreating this Web site as an online public square, you and I, for about a month now. This strikes me as a good time to stop and see what we've accomplished so far.

... Audio Activism has posted a podcast of last night's community forum at the N&R with blogging guru Dave Winer.

Just four days after Dave Winer's visit, I dragged myself into the office this morning (actually, I ditched church) for a quasi-public forum featuring Dan Gillmor, a well-known tech writer and the author of "We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People," whose work informs much of what the News & Record is trying to do with its Public Square project. Dan had asked us to 1) make the event open to the public but 2) keep the group manageably small, so JR invited a number of local bloggers and also threw it open to the entire news staff, a surprisingly large and diverse number of whom came.

It was an excellent discussion, and I think all of us, including Dan, left heartened that the N&R and the larger Greensboro blogging community are on the right track. I'm not sure if anyone was recording it, but if I find that a podcast is available, I'll link to it.

UPDATE: Right at the end of the discussion, Dan mentioned four things that, in combination, could replace "objectivity" as a tenet of journalism. For those who weren't taking notes, they were thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency, and he elaborates on those points here.

As JR announced today, you're now officially invited to contribute stories to the site:

Everyone can be a reporter, and we want your stories. Know about some news? Write it as a story and e-mail it to us. Know an interesting person or place? We'll publish a story about it online. Disagree with how we've presented a news event ... you attended or participated in? Rewrite our story the way you think it should read. E-mail all such submissions to Lex. ... They will be lightly edited for libel, veracity and grammar.

If you don't do much writing, approach your story as if you're just telling it to someone you know well over a cup of coffee or a beer. Don't try to write like professional journalists. We tried that, and all we've got to show for it is falling circulation. :-)

So, Greensboro and the Triad, we know you have stories. It's time to bring 'em.

We've gotten a couple of unrelated complaints in the past few days about our promptness, or lack thereof, in pursuing a story idea or tip. Since I'm not currently involved in the day-to-day or even week-to-week flow of reporting for the time being, I could've let 'em slide.

But in the interests of greater transparency, I'm not gonna do that.

Here's the thing: Readers with a story idea or tip sometimes act as if the reporter who would be responsible for pursuing it was just sitting around, drinking coffee and waiting for something to happen, when the tip came in. Maybe there's a newsroom that works like that, but I've never worked in one.

At the N&R, reporters tend to have ideas and stories-in-progress stacked up like airplanes trying to land at LAX at 5 p.m. Anyone who spends much time sitting around drinking coffee and waiting for something to happen tends to have a short and unhappy career with us. Our folks *have* to be productive, particularly with regard to centerpieces, the big stories with lots of photos or other art that anchor each section front every day. And they are. And yet, rare is the Monday on which one city editor or another doesn't have to send out a message to reporters, begging them to list coming stories on the budgets (story lists) for the coming week and weekend.

Working in opposition to this tendency is the fact that a lot of the tips we get are the kinds of stories that, although undeniably important, require more investment of time and energy than the average story. Ideally, reporters would always be working on their best stories. In the real world, editors often -- too often -- have to insist instead that they work on the stories they can finish quickly. (I include myself in that criticism; I've experienced it from both the reporting and writing ends.) And the N&R is far better than most papers its size at getting high-impact stories into the paper fairly quickly. (Former editor Tim Porter has some related thoughts here and here on this subject.

So what's my point? I have a few, actually.

Remember Mary Kay LeTourneau, the former teacher who served time in prison for having sex with a then-12-year-old pupil?

She has done her time, and she and the ex-pupil, now 22, are getting married.

Stuff like this is why I don't write fiction. If you wrote a novel with this storyline, no one would believe it.

Yup. Biz Buzz, a new blog by N&R staffers devoted to business news, is open for, um, business.

Since I knew a month ago that I couldn't be there I kind of let this sneak up on me, but there's a blogger meetup in Greensboro tonight. If you blog, or if you want to, come for good company and a discussion of blogging, podcasting and other cool stuff. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Green Bean, 341 S. Elm in downtown Greesnboro; details here.

The Atom Smasher Error-Message Generator -- because nobody should be too productive ...

The N&R's coverage of the St. James Homes II project has generated a lot of public response, so we've created a new forum to discuss the issue. If you need background, you'll find an archive of our coverage (and a link to the forum) here.

We've also created a new forum for discussing red-light cameras, whose future is in doubt after a ruling in a court case that originated in High Point.

Check these and our other forums out and share your thoughts.

Some newspapers get it. Some newspapers are trying to get it. And some newspapers are aching to be hit upside the head with a 10-foot clue stick.

UPDATE 2/17: Make it a 20-foot clue stick. With spikes.

I realize that the discussion occasionally gets a bit, well, intense in the comments on our letters-to-the-editor blog, but please, folks, let's try to stay focused on ideas rather than personalities. This is one area in which the N&R should not try to emulate such better-known publications as Newsweek, whose online chat with its reporter in Iraq, Rod Nordland, produced this gem:

Hopatcong, NJ: Do you, Masland and Dickey mean "------g Murderers" when you say "insurgents" and "fighters" in your STUPIDITY? I've grown sick and tired of you "politically incorrect" reporters. Why don't you have the gumption to call a spade a spade?

Rod Nordland: OK, you're an idiot. How's that?

Yes, I think we all can do better. Let's please try.

When I wasn't looking, our new racin' blog popped up: The Spotter, primarily written by assistant sports editor John Newsom with occasional contributions from motorsports writer Dustin Long and columnist Ed Hardin.

Business writer Dick Barron, who maintains a fairly intense side interest in Formula 1 racing, also might make an occasional cameo appearance (or, as he puts it, "assault (Newsom's) sensibilities") on that blog once the F1 season gets cranked up, starting in a few weeks.

Have you ever dreamed of being a humor blogger? Have you ever aspired to match (or, perhaps in a different dimension, exceed) the glee quotient of such superstars as Mr. Sun? Well, good news, campers. B. at Pish Tosh has published instructions on bringing the funny in the blogosphere. I mean, yeah, sure, she dresses it up all academic-like by calling it "The Rhetoric of Blogging," perhaps a conscious evocation of Wayne Booth's litcrit classic, "The Rhetoric of Fiction," but make no mistake: This is nothing more complicated or less valuable than a simple list of steps you can take toward online humor. (You probably should know that B. considers sex and bad words funny, but there are many other things that are dreamt of in her philosophy, as well.)

So, since the world has never, to my knowledge, suffered an excess of humor, hie thee hence, start bringing the funny and start letting us know where it is once you've brought it. You have your orders! Dismissed!

We're podcasting, baby!

GoTriad, currently both a weekly entertainment section of the N&R and a happenin' Web site, now branches out with GoRadio, a downloadable audio program in which GoTriad staffers Jeri Rowe and Nicole Ortega talk about upcoming events highlighted in this week's GoTriad section. Download it now, then listen to it on the drive home to start plotting planning your activities for the weekend.

We're kicking around ideas for other regular podcasts as well. If you have suggestions, hit me with 'em.

In the past several days, we've launched two new discussion forums, two new blogs and a podcast. And this was a week that started off with me thinking not much new would happen until our new Web publishing system arrived.

But the newsroom's main online guy, Mike Fuchs, fired up the forums without consulting me. And once Charlie and Stephen got the new blogs ready to go, they just notified those blogs' owners, who started posting; no one checked with me first.

I was involved with planning for the podcast -- it actually began almost two weeks ago -- although I spent way more time listening than talking during those discussions. And when Jeri and Nicole were ready to record it, they just did. And when it was ready to be posted, someone posted it. Again, without checking with me.

My immediate reaction was to think, "Hey, shouldn't they have checked with me? It's not supposed to work like this!"

But then I thought: No, it's supposed to work exactly like this -- ideas bubble up, they're acted on, and we move on to other things, all the while drawing more people in the newsroom into the effort. And very soon, we'll be drawing more people in the community into the effort, as well. We've already thrown some gates open, and there will be more.

If we had one, I would say that everything is proceeding according to plan.

If you're an elected official, or want to be, or work in government, and you're not already blogging, you'll want to come to the Blogging Teach-In on March 19. It's free. You can get your own blog up and running and get insights into blogging culture from some key Greensboro-area bloggers, leaders in the most vibrant local blog community in America.

The class is limited to 16 participants, but each participant will have an individual mentor.

Information and a registration link are here.

So join the conversation.

Two bloggers, that is.

The Committee to Protect Bloggers, a fledgling nonprofit modeled after the Committee to Protect Journalists but focusing specifically on bloggers, has designated tomorrow, Feb. 22, as Free Mojtaba and Arash Day to focus attention on two Iranian bloggers, one of whom is in prison and the other of whom has been released but still faces charges. (Additional info on the two is available via links in this CPB post.)

The group is asking bloggers worldwide to post about these two tomorrow to focus attention on their plight. Follow the link if you're so inclined.

Ever wondered how to destroy the Earth? I don't just mean wipe out human life or all life forms, I mean render the Earth something other than a planet (singularity, black hole, dust cloud, take your pick).

Sam actually has given this subject a great deal of thought. In fact, in true Consumer Reports fashion, he profiles and rates on a 0-to-10 likelihood scale several possible methods and lists some methods still awaiting assessment (e.g., the blunt-instrument method). He also debunks some purported methods that would not, in fact, work (e.g., gay marriage).

He begins and ends with warnings:

Todd at Monkeytime has a post up about Thompson, but I'm less interested in your reading that than I am in showing you the illustration.

OK, folks, you're not holding up your end of the bargain. Remember "news as conversation"? I look back over my most recent posts, and the eight or so there have garnered, among them, a grand total of two comments.

I'm puzzled. I've given you a wide variety of topics to munch on. (No variety gets much wider than the range that includes "destroying the Earth".) Is this thing on?

So c'mon, let's give it another try. I'll even offer up a Topic of Substance for today's discussion: torture and human rights. I believe I have the right to torture any human I want.

Discuss, please.

Pegasus suggests one you might not have thought of:

Now maybe I read too many comic books as a kid, but I remember the square-jawed goons were always looking over their shoulder to see if some nosy cub reporter was around the corner. 'Cos in an old-timey narrowly-drawn geographic beat system that newspapers used to employ, there was a fair chance they might be. ...

... it seems to me that if a hypothetical news organization had a crew of 50-70 professional reporters, stringers and Citizen Journalists roaming the city, armed with cell phones and cameras; investigating every neighborhood crime they could scoop and actively patrolling for neighborhood news -- our little burg [Dallas -- Lex] might not be in such dire need of saving. Because that, in and of itself, might be almost as much of a deterrent as a vigilant(e) group of volunteers.

... but you know his voice almost as well as your own.

Happy 87th Birthday to NBC announcer Dominick George "Don" Pardo.

(His face is here.)

If esoteric humor about how an esoteric subspeciality of newspaper journalists do their jobs doesn't appeal to you, go ahead and skip this post.

* * *

Ahem. In the unlikely event anyone's left ...

For those who don't know, "computer-assisted reporting" refers to database analysis, spreadsheets, mapping and other computer-related tools used by journalists to report and illustrate stories. It originated years ago when PCs in the newsroom were still pretty rare. In the 14 years I've been involved with it, it has gotten a lot more common, but it still has a bit of mystery to it for a lot of journalists. Accordingly, those who are familiar with it often commiserate over common problems -- story-idea reach that exceeds technical grasp, bureaucrats illegally withholding or grossly overcharging for government data, bosses who don't know anything about the methodology and don't care to learn, etc., etc.

All this is by way of background for the following ditty, penned by Neil Reisner of the Miami Daily Business Review on the occasion of his learning that a story required yet another electronic service his office doesn't have. It's sung to the tune of "If I Only Had a Heart" from "The Wizard of Oz":

I would whisk away the data
It really wouldn't matta
Wouldn't care about the cost
Oh the stories i'd be gettin'
I'd be beatin' all the bettin'
If I didn't have a boss.

Now that you've picked yourselves up off the floor, where you collapsed in a heap from laughing so hard you sprung a rib or three, we'll move on. Thanks.

Told you yesterday I hoped to have some Public Square-related news to report today, and I do.

The News & Record's YourNews has gone live. You can now write and submit your own news stories for publication on our site.

This link takes you to where readers' stories will appear. The first, a reflection on his recently completed Army tour in Iraq by Greensboro native Adam Williams, already is up.

And, yes, comments are enabled.

You can submit your stories here.

You can get more information on submission requirements here.

This setup likely will have to change once we install our new Web-publishing system in a few weeks, but this feature was too important to delay, so we're going ahead and launching it now.

So please join us.

I'm compiling a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions list) for people who are interested in submitting stories to YourNews but maybe have questions about what they should do or how they should do it. I can guess what some of those questions might be, but let's make this as helpful as possible: What are your questions? Post them in the comments below or e-mail me, and I'll get the question, and an answer, into the list.

I can answer one question right now: Yes, we plan to introduce a blog or other display of reader-submitted photos. Soon.

Simone Simon, star of the 1942 horror classic "Cat People," died yesterday in Paris at age 93. (Skip the 1982 remake; it's abominable.)

(Via Metafilter)

If you look at the News & Record home page, you'll see under the "Top News Updates" a little orange button reading "XML." This is a link to the RSS feed for breaking news on the site.

In plain English, you can use an RSS news reader -- either a program that runs on your computer or a Web-based one such as Bloglines.com -- to keep track of these and other feeds, which alert you to changes or updates to their sites. More information about how these feeds work and how you can use them is here.

We will be incorporating many more RSS feeds into the site after we've installed our new publishing software, to make it easier to track changes and updates to various features and other parts of the site. Places we'll probably add them include online section fronts (news, sports, Go Triad, etc.). For now, though, we have them on all our blogs as well as on our breaking-news list. If there's any particular feature or section of the site that you think needs an RSS feed, let us know.

A couple of people have e-mailed seeking instructions on how to write news stories for our Web site.

I hesitate to give specific directions because I don't want to stifle anyone's voice. In general, it's a good idea to make sure your article answers the traditional "5 W's" of journalism -- who, what, when, where and why (or how). You need not begin your article with them, however -- if you like, just tell the story the way you might tell it to a friend over a beer or a cup of coffee.

Questions of ethics are handled differently in different newsrooms, but many newspaper codes of ethics are modeled after one created by the Society of Professional Journalists. That code can be found here. The N&R has one, but I'm working from home today and can't lay my hands on it at the moment.

Please, keep the submissions coming and don't hesitate to e-mail if you have other questions.