Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-05-25

  • .@tomcoburn in WaPo op-ed: "Not realistic to expect six members to pull the Senate out of its dysfunction and lethargy." http://ow.ly/4XQKG #
  • Twitter's OAuth/xAuth change sounds like tech gobbledygook, but you really should be paying attention http://ow.ly/4YAsO #
  • Until Rolls-Royce solves this problem, no WAY i'm setting foot again on a jumbo jet http://ow.ly/4YPO8 #
  • 13 lucky people not only get to sit on the SoCal beach all day, they get paid $100k and up to do so http://ow.ly/4ZtyK #planbwatch #
  • RT @jacobwe: Slate's looking for a part-time copy editor in NY or DC. If it's you, send a cover letter and résumé to slatecejob@gmail.com #
  • Michael Cavna (@comicriffs) scores an extremely rare interview w/ Bill Watterson, of "Calvin and Hobbes" http://ow.ly/4ZCrC #
  • I had never heard of a Feltron Report until stumbling across this. Now I'm captivated http://ow.ly/4ZDwa #design #infographics #
  • One in every six American children now has a developmental disability, the CDC reports http://ow.ly/517Ge #specialneeds #
  • Most unexpected choice RT @rockvillepatch: Rockville city mgr: Ellwood Thompson's Local Market is the pick for Town Square grocery. #rkv #
  • NATO launches biggest airstrike yet against #Gaddafi @michaelbirnbaum reports from #Tripoli http://ow.ly/51fYt #
  • NATO confirms airstrike on #Tripoli says it struck a "vehicle storage facility" adjacent to #Gaddafi compound http://ow.ly/51gko #Libya #
  • Fall-back: Harold Camping says he screwed up the apocalypse math; Judgment Day is actually 10/21. http://ow.ly/51hNR #
  • AP has it wrong? MT @mtracey Camping said the End did come Saturday, but only "spiritually." Salvation no longer available for nonbelievers. #
  • RT @onfaith: AP's story is not an accurate characterization of what Camping said. @mtracey's summary is most accurate. #
  • Good posting by @danielbachhuber on ways to create a more functional newsroom http://ow.ly/527pq (h/t @greglinch) #
  • Interesting WaPo-Pew poll finding: More Americans worried about rise in US debt than the risk of default http://ow.ly/52bbV #
  • Jane #Corwin wins court order impounding absentee ballots; a tight race in #NY26 may not be settled for days http://ow.ly/52e8g #
  • Great read to end a crazy night — @rollingstone on Elvis Costello's spin-the-song concert. I wanna hear "Purple Rain"! http://ow.ly/52jnb #
  • OT in the Stanley Cup playoffs: one of the best things in sport. Canucks-Sharks, 2nd OT, coming up on Versus. #
  • Ugh, that's a tough goal for the Sharks to go out on. #

Envisioning a more functional newsroom

Daniel Bachhuber makes a couple of great points about the newsroom that ought to be.

  1. Find a better tool for collaboration than e-mail. Maybe it’s Basecamp, maybe it’s a Google Doc. But it’s certainly not e-mail, which is drowning people’s effectiveness in unnecessary and often unactionable interruptions.
  2. Create a system where every support request leads to a documented solution. If one person is asking for help in solving a technical issue, the odds are high that others are struggling with the same problem but are too shy to announce their problem. Newsrooms then need to make that documentation publicly available, and to announce its existence, so that colleagues can solve their own issues.