Blog Archives

And the Point Would Be...

Troy K. Schneider — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:54:25 +0000

For several weeks now, I've been mulling whether to launch a blog -- and if so, why.

After all, there's no one topic that so interests me right now that I feel like I absolutely to start writing about it on a near-constant basis. And frankly, the idea of adding yet another "the kids and the dog did the funniest thing today..." blog to the web is just more self-absorption than I could bear. (Then again, I do have an eponymous website, so clearly there's at least some narcissism at work.)

In any case, I obviously decided to pull the trigger, or there wouldn't be this post. So here's a quick outline -- for my own benefit as much as anything else -- on why I decided it's worth the effort.

"Owning the Brand"
In my day job, a big part of what I do is work to raise New America's profile -- not in the typical P.R. sense, but rather making sure my colleagues and their ideas are visibly in the online mix, wherever the debate or discussion is taking place. And a significant part of that work involves planting the New America flag in an ever-growing range of online sites, services and networks: YouTube, Fora.tv, Twitter, Viddler, and others.

It's not that New America needs to be text-messaging updates out to interested Twitterers everywhere, necessarily -- though it's far too early to know for sure how that service will play out. But it is important that, if anyone's going to stake out the policy & ideas space there (not to mention lay claim to http://twitter.com/NewAmerica!), it should be us. Think of it as the Web2.0 equivalent of buying up all the variations of your company's domain name, minus all the annual fees.

And as the world goes increasingly online, this becomes as important for individuals as it does for organizations. When some other Troy Schneider let their ownership of this URL lapse, I jumped at the chance to lock it up. And while I'm even less sure of the value Twitter/FaceBook/LinkedIn/etc. offer to me than I am for NewAmerica, I'm certain that I'd rather define the "Troy Schneider" space myself than leave it to others.

Granted, this is more important for those of us who write, perform or otherwise participate in public life than it is for lots of people. And yes, there's more than a bit of ego at work too. But in a world where everyone can publish, and vitually everything is searchable, there are really only two compelling reasons NOT to "build your own brand":

You're simply not interested. (In which case, more power to you!)
You're actively trying to stay off the radar. (Good luck with that...)

Since I'm clearly not zen enough for reason #1, and don't think I'm wanted by creditors or the law...

Keeping Up on the Latest/Greatest Online
One of the best things about changing jobs last year was that it gave me the chance (the mandate, actually) to re-immerse myself in the world of what's interesting and innovative online. It's a topic I love, but had largely lost track of the last couple years at Atlantic Media, where our specific needs and business models left little time for open-ended exploring and experiments.

There's only so much one can learn by observing, however, and there are lots of interesting ideas out there that aren't fleshed out or stable enough to try on the various New America sites. So this site is intended to be something of a personal sandbox, and the blog is on some level a forcing mechanism to keep me constantly tinkering.

Organize My Thoughts and Re-Impose Some Writing Discipline
As this ramble makes clear, my writing could use some discipline these days. There's information overload on the input side -- I feel like I'm learning cool new things every day -- but very little on the output side. And if you can't articulate and explain your thoughts, then you probably don't fully understand the matter at hand.

The best way for me to wrap my head around something is to write about it. And I just don't do that very much anymore. Partly it's with good reason -- two kids don't leave a ton of free time -- but mainly it's that there are no deadlines to focus the mind. (There are two freelance articles I agreed to do months ago, but neither is due for months to come. And so I haven't done much actual writing yet on either of them...) Hopefully, the self-imposed pressure to keep this site from getting embarrassingly outdated will get me back into the quick-and-concise routine.

Provide a Home for Random Info I've Been Meaning to Share
I really do plan to avoid the "my-kids-are-SO-cute" line of posts, but this is sure to be an eclectic place. I'm fascinated by alternative-fuel cars and converting old diesels to run on vegetable oil. I'm convinced that Drupal is the best web publishing platform out there, and a fascinating example of open-source community. I finally learned, after 12 years and at least that many dead batteries, how to hack together a headlight-warning-buzzer for late model Honda Civics. There are books worth touting, video clips you should see, and friends' blogs and sites that deserve the online love. Not to mention Danelectro basses, Dodge M-37s, Guatemalan history, and next year's Indiana basketball team, among other things.

So in other words, there's plenty to talk about -- some of it, hopefully, interesting to an audience beyond yours truly. Now I just need to get started.

Three and a Half Signs the Old-Media Cluetrain is Picking Up Passengers

Troy K. Schneider — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:17:10 +0000

In this era of buyouts, shrinking circulations and general mainstream-media malaise, it's easy to poke fun and point fingers. But there are lots of smart people fighting the good fight, and finding new ways to weave their print and broadcast businesses into the Interweb. To wit:

The Wall Street Journal's new Blackberry application. Not only does it help the WSJ hit their core audience where it lives -- ie, on their Crackberries -- but it also provides a subscription-free side door into "nasty walled garden that is WSJ.com." That free access is supposedly temporary, and the Journal has done better than most with online subscriptions, but I'm betting they'll find real value in this expanded mobile audience.
Speaking of walled gardens with their gates temporarily opened, NationalJournal.com is once again free to the world during the Democratic and GOP conventions

This is not exactly new -- we did the same in 2000 and 2004, when I was editor of the site -- and it's a necessity as much as a strategy, given how many important subscribers are let in based on their office IP address, rather than a password. Still, it's a great chance to be reminded why Washington insiders pay thousands of dollars for NJ, Hotline & CongressDaily -- and for the NJ team to dive headfirst into the "link economy."

As someone who'll happily be staying as far away from Denver and the Twin Cities as possible, I'll be taking full advantage -- you should do the same.
WUSA9 followed me on Twitter last week -- along with nearly 1700 other DC-area Twitter-ers, apparently. I didn't return the favor, as I'm about as interested in local-news-headline tweets as I imagine WUSA is in my dog-walking updates, but a couple hundred of the local Twitterati have.

As the mystery WUSA staffer manning their Twitter account told me when I asked, they decided that letting locals "know once that we were here was sufficient," and an appropriate Twitter outreach. I agree -- followers whose own feeds have nothing but "get rich with my system" tweets annoy the crap out of me, but I think WUSA is being smart.

And as I noted when first experimenting with Twitter, it can be a tremendously valuable breaking-news tool if done right. I may have to go back and start following WUSA9 after all...

And finally, WashingtonPost.com is protecting its brand (and page views) by purchasing and forwarding typo versions of its URL. Or some of them, at least -- www.washintonpost.com redirects, but some other squatter owns www.washingtopost.com.

With domain names running less than $10/year, this is branding and traffic-building 101 (hence the "half" in this post's title). But I can tell you from years of sloppy-typing experience, not enough media outlets are making this minimal investment.

None of the above is rocket science, but they're all good steps. And traditional media outlets are going to need a whole lot more of them.

Fun with Firearms: Two Stats to Watch in DC

Troy K. Schneider — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:30:00 +0000

As the District of Columbia starts registering handguns in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling against the city's outright ban, there are two numbers that could very revealing:

How many D.C. residents step forward during the 180-day amnesty period to register handguns they already owned. In other words, just how handgun-free were "law-abiding" residents during the ban?
How high will the District's suicide rate spike over the next couple years?

On the latter question... I've always had a quasi-libertarian aversion to outright bans on gun ownership, simply on the grounds of property rights. Registration, background checks and even steep licensing fees are cool by me, but responsible adults should be able to own what they want.

The recent NYT Magazine article on suicide and impulse, however, has me re-thinking that view. At the very least, it reinforces the long-held position that there's no place for guns in *our* house. (And we live in Virginia, where I could buy one a month!)

As for my neighbors across the river -- I hope the District proves to be an exception to the suicide/gun-ownership connection, but I'm not holding my breath.

From Our Department of Gleeful Pessimism...

Troy K. Schneider — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:50:31 +0000

Just curious -- is there ANY media outlet that Brad DeLong believes is NOT in a death spiral?

Waffles We Can Believe In

Troy K. Schneider — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:56:25 +0000

I like Barack Obama. I've been impressed by his campaign, and will more than likely vote for him in November. But I'm not impressed by his FISA position -- and besides, this is just funny:

image via TechCrunch

New America is Hiring...

Troy K. Schneider — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:33:45 +0000

... if you're a top-notch communications pro, that is.

The New America Foundation -- the innovative, media-savvy and now post-post-partisan think tank that, incidentally, keeps me occupied during business hours -- is expanding its media and communications operations.

That has lots of good implications, but the most obvious ones are these two newly created positions:

Manager, Events and Outreach

Manager, Media Relations

Read the full listings for all the details, but if you've got 4-8 years of communications experience in the Beltway/public policy world, a feel for the ways the media landscape is changing, and like what New America is all about, we'd like to talk.

The caveat: You'd be working for me. But other than that, it's really a pretty good gig.

So tell your friends. Alert the media. Just be sure to follow the application instructions -- resumes sent directly to my inbox won't help your cause, I can assure you...

The Best Excuse for Speaking on Background that I've Heard in a LONG Time...

Troy K. Schneider — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:27:46 +0000

From Michael Gerson's op-ed in today's Washington Post:

One Pentagon source (who didn't want to be identified for fear of sounding like a suck-up) calls [Defense Secretary Robert] Gates "extraordinarily quick and extraordinarily even" and praises his "sense of humor and candor behind closed doors."

Washington journalism is lousy with unattributed sources, and I mean that in several senses of the word. There are plenty of background quotes that constitute genuine whistleblowing, and occasional there really is an insite that's worth the grant of anonymity. More often, though, the "source with knowledge of the situation" is grinding an axe, floating a trial balloon, or trying to sound more important than he or she actually is. And sometimes, the reports are just plain lazy.

So while it's entirely possible that Gerson's source had other, less laudable reasons for remaining anonymous -- it wouldn't seem so impressive, for example, if Gates' admirer turned out out to be a public affairs officer for his office -- I'm choosing to take the explanation at face value. At the very least, Gerson and his source both get points for creativity. And I'm not just saying that to suck up.

New to the Blogosphere: EconomistMom.com

Troy K. Schneider — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:05:41 +0000

Diane Lim Rogers -- formerly of the House Budget Committee, now Chief Economist for the Concord Coalition -- has just launched EconomistMom.com. The site officially debuts (fittingly) on Mother's Day, with an op-ed that's running in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Diane is a new friend and I've been helping her get up to speed online, so I'm a bit biased, but I think EconomistMom.com is on its way to being a great blog. The push for fiscal responsibility -- already being made by CRFB, New America's Fiscal Policy Program, the blogging trio at Capital Gains & Games and others -- needs as many strong voices as it can get. And the challenge of striking a good work-life balance is something that looms ever larger for me these days, so Diane's approach -- carving out a niche "where analytical rigor meets a mother's intuition" -- is doubly appealing.

Check out her first two posts, and I think you'll agree.

Review of 'Wired Shut,' by Tarleton Gillespie

Troy K. Schneider — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:23:49 +0000

At long last, my review of Tarleton Gillespie's book on copyright in the digital era -- Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture -- is done and published in the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies. (Just to be clear, though: The 9-month lag time was due almost entirely to my procrastination, not to RCCR or my editor, David Silver.)

I'll post the review to the articles archive soon, but for now you can find it here -- and see Gillespie's response here.

Is the Paycheck Really Worth It, Isiah?

Troy K. Schneider — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:05:43 +0000

News item, courtesy of NYTimes.com:

The Isiah Thomas era officially ended Friday, and a major Knicks rebuilding project is now underway. Donnie Walsh, who two weeks ago replaced Thomas as the team president, removed Thomas as head coach, but said he will remain with the team, but will have no title and no direct reports.

I know he's under contract and all, but man -- wonder if Isiah gets to keep his stapler...