Stories, software and strategies to help nonprofits do the social web
Frankel says his service can render stories about crime stats, medical study results, surveys, financial announcements, or any other data-intensive subject matter. Hammond says the company is starting with athletics because only about 1% of U.S. sporting events are covered by reporters. Next year it plans to approach Little League about using the service. It's "certainly something I think we would consider," says Little League spokesman Steve Barr. "It sounds pretty innovative." The bottom line: Narrative Science...
April, 30 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
I used to think there was everything easy about writing. You just sit there and wiggle your fingers. (I wiggle mine slowly, which brings its own set of troubles.) Then I learned that Cormac McCarthy's $50 typewriter just sold for a quarter million dollars. Some of that money seems to have gone for mumbo-jumbo -- Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer who handled the auction for Mr. McCarthy, told The New York Times earlier this week: “When I grasped that some of the most complex, almost otherworldly fiction of the...
December, 5 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives. via nanowrimo.org And I'm giving it a try -- just for the spontaneous stupidity. Behind on my wordcount, though!
November, 7 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
How does 100% authorship change your business? In philanthropy, might it reduce the cult of the expert? Contests and competitions give rise to their own results-based expertise. Scaling, as always, becomes an issue, and people with scaling expertise even more valuable. Fundraising comes to look like what Kiva’s Matt Flannery calls “the larger trend toward more connected experiences.” At home, we are all walkathoning (or growing mustaches...
November, 5 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
We found that the number of published authors per year increased nearly tenfold every century for six centuries. By 2000, there were 1 million book authors per year. One million authors is a lot, but...
October, 23 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
What lives, lives underground. What dies, dies without struggle. via writersalmanac.publicradio.org
October, 3 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
It’s no secret that when you focus this intensely on the needs of your audience, they will become your committed, lifelong customers and fiercely loyal advocates for you. It’s a core underpinning of the Third Tribe concept — if you earn loyalty, you’ll receive loyalty. via copyblogger.com Dave Navarro writes about blogging -- how to escape writers' block by focusing on your audience. But it applies to nonprofit appeals & startups, too.
September, 16 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Valeria Maltoni at Conversation Agent has a terrific summary of the reasons newspapers are finding it so difficult to make the transition from print to online. In short, it's tough for businesses begun as monopolies to become agile. There is something unique however that happens with coverage on blogs that doesn't happen as much or as regularly with coverage in online news media properties - engagement. Because of the relationships bloggers have with their readers, the content at their sites may have a stronger...
August, 17 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
My first job was on the sports desk, but I didn’t want to write about sporting events. I wanted to write about people. I wrote about a losing boxer, a horse trainer, and the guy in the boxing ring who rang the bell between rounds. I was interested in fiction. I wanted to write like Fitzgerald. I collected his work—his short stories and journals. “Winter Dreams” is my favorite story of all time. The good nonfiction writers were writing about famous people, or topical people, or public people. No one was writing about...
July, 30 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
Startup thinking for the social sector. Code to help nonprofits do the social web. Plus photography.
(And reading aloud.)
More about Eric Johnson.
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