What should a Branded Explainer have?

1. Flexibility.

The Branded Explainer should be able to take on different forms to suit different content and different platforms.

As ProPublica has demonstrated in their past stories, they tried to provide context to a story through three ways: "story so far", timeline, "related apps& feature". So we can see that there should not be one unique way of doing branded explainer, it should be a congregation of various means of explanation.

And this product of "Branded Explainer" should have the flexibility to implement all the possible means of explanation.

Another thing is that the Branded Explainer should be able to be applied to different platforms. So that the value of this product would not be limited by the platforms.

2. Proximity

A story, especially an on going event, is in constant need of update. So the Branded Explainer should have the ability to address the changing story in order to provide proximity to the story.

That is to say the Branded Explainer should never be a static component attached to a story, it should have the ability to update through the time. Only in this way, can the Branded Explainer be useful to help readers gain adequate background knowledge of the event.

3. Customization

The major reason for a Branded Explainer is to address the need that different readers have different knowledge of a certain event. So when we are developing the Branded Explainer, we should also bear in mind that the Branded Explainer itself should be able to be customized by different users. While they have different knowledge of a story, they also need different Branded Explainer. Otherwise a too detailed Branded Explainer would be a waste of time for users have already acquired certain amount of knowledge of the story and is just lack a part of the rest.

So either through collecting each user's reading history or other means, the Branded Explainer should be able to have the ability to be customized.

4. Localization

A localized version of Branded Explainer would always be more interesting to the local readers. Even for a news story, if you feel the closeness to the Branded Explainer it would definitely work better. So if the Branded Explainer can be localized to cater to different users in different places, it would not only more effective, there might be a new way for revenue too.

5 More Ethic Codes in the World of New Media

1.

“Do link back to Flickr when you post your Flickr content elsewhere.
The Flickr service makes it possible to post content hosted on Flickr to outside web sites. However, pages on other web sites that display content hosted on flickr.com must provide a link from each photo or video back to its page on Flickr.”

──Flickr

Flickr has become one of the most popular website for people to share their photos. It's almost like Facebook's cousin in photography.

Unlike the traditional media, Flickr runs on content submitted by users. So Flickr's ethic codes are divided into "what to do" and "what not to do".

One of the unique ethic code for Flickr is that they emphasize that you should always link back to Flickr when you post your Flickr content elsewhere.

Posting and linking content from one site to another has never been easier. While the content still belong to the users who uploaded them in the first place, Flickr is the medium where those content stored and ultimately has become of a part of the whole package. So while users use the site, they should also follow this particular ethic code.

2.

Provide Context to Your Argument

──Yahoo! Personal Blog Guidelines: 1.0

Blogging is definitely the representative of new media. While most bloggers choose this medium because they are in control of what they say, they still are bound by some of the ethics. Like in the instance of Yahoo!, they paid special attention to the context of your argument.

Many readers might have no time to do a whole investigation into what you write about online, so the things you've written which lack adequate context to give the whole picture would easily mislead your readers.

3.

Be a Good Blogger

── American Red Cross

Online Communications Guidelines

Nowadays, many nonprofit organizations have incorporated new media into their daily operation. Like the American Red Cross, they have a set of special guidelines for online communications.

Among them, I found this "Be a good blogger" code especially interesting. What the Red Cross meant by being a blogger is that they want you to write interesting posts, and post regularly and show a unique personality. This is quite different from the traditional sense of a press ethic.

4.

Rec­og­nize that every­thing you write or receive on a social media site is pub­lic. Any­one with access to the web can get access to your activ­ity on social media sites. And regard­less of how care­ful you are in try­ing to keep them sep­a­rate, in your online activ­ity, your pro­fes­sional life and your per­sonal life overlap.

──NPR News’ social media policy

What the traditional press ethics told us is to draw a clear line of your work and personal life. However, with the introduction of social media, more and more private life of journalists are exposed to the public. And readers or listeners will link journalist's personal life and their working persona closely. So that's why NPR stressed that their journalists should watch out what they say on social media.

Actually this is one of the point that I have some question about. While journalists try to be objective in writing an article, they still have a life of their own. If journalists have to worry about what they say on social media will also affect their image and their organization's image, would it be too much burden and almost mission impossible?

5.

Avoid rais­ing ques­tions about your free­dom from bias

──Reuters’ social media guidelines

While journalists have long been taught that they should show no bias in their reporting, it's hard to conceal it with the introduction of social media. Because the main purpose of social media is to show who you are from what you put out on the internet.

So it's another big question for journalist living in the professional world and in the world of social media.

5 More Press Ethics

The first class I took when I was a journalism freshman in college was (no surprise) Press Ethics. And I always believe that grasping press ethics is not something hard as long as you would pause and examine the way you report the whole event. However, more often than not, we don't have the luxury of pausing and examining our work before we hastily finish a piece right before the deadline, and send it off to the press.

Is it just because we don't have the time? I think it's more than that. The press ethics we learned over the years from text book seem to be so dry so it's hard for them to leave a deep impression on our mind. That's why I like it so much when someone can put it in just plain English and give that to us.

1. If you don’t want to talk about it with your family at the dinner table, and you don’t want to read about it on the front page of the Boston Globe(the author is from Boston), it’s not ethical.

We learned all those codes of ethics telling us to seek truth, minimize harm, but the sentence above perfectly summarized it. Most of the time, journalists only look at an issue from the point of view of a journalist (which is totally legitimate). But by solely doing that we sometimes forget the issue of ethics. Is what we write about ethical from the point of the view of the interviewee? If we can ask ourselves in the way mentioned in this code of ethics, we could all have a easier way to determine what's ethical.

2. 不以批评报道相威胁或以表扬报道相引诱，为个人和小团体谋利。 (From the Codes of Ethics for Chinese Journalists and Editors)

(Don't threaten the subject with criticizing report, and don't lure the subject with favorable covering in order to gain personal benefits.)

What journalists should do as agents of people is giving voices to the weak and unheard. But it's because of the powerful they have (and at the same time, the relatively low income), some of the journalists would seek personal benefits from their subjects. This sometimes turned journalism into a tool for blackmailing or a tool for advertising. This is something we should all avoid to do if we want to be credible journalists.

3.You must take a somewhat adversarial role simply to get the story. You must cross certain boundaries that in much of civic and cultural life we do not cross.

This might not seem to be a real code of ethics, but I think this is what we should think about when we are out there in the field conducting an interview. I often feel a bit uncomfortable asking people "the tough question", or about their personal life, which can be important to the story. But the "moral" side of me always stops me from doing that. I would think this might not be an ethical thing to do prying into the private life of people. But as this code suggested, we sometimes have to cross certain boundaries we don't cross outside the journalistic situation.

4.No travel writer, whether on assignment or not, may accept free or discounted services of any sort from any element of the travel industry. This includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, tour operators, airlines, railways, cruise lines, rental car companies and tourist attractions...

I enjoy reading a well written travel story. But more and more scandals of journalists being paid by the organizers or the promoters of the trip really get me wonder "can I trust what I read?"

This code above is from NYT to their travel writers. It all seems reasonable when we read it. But nowadays, the expenses of trips are more often than not much higher than what journalists are paid by the newspaper. And offers from travel agencies and tourist destinations keep arriving at the journalist's mailbox. In this situation, I really can't help but asking "does the rule still apply?"

5. Don't be a jerk.

Simple, and to the point. I really like my professor Jay Rosen's summarization of press ethics. No matter how much we talk about press ethics, you would still break it if you don't think twice before you do anything. I mean, the ethics are simple to understand, and to follow that, you just need to remember to ask yourself "am I doing the right thing?"

The Brighter Side

it's foggy outside, i thought it was only 5 or 6 in the morning when i woke up, but it was already 8. the dull weather outside was surprisingly not as cold as i imagined. and the cab ride back was smooth, i dozed off for a while.

i have checked out from the bottomless sea of expectation long time ago. but it is hard to stay floating on the surface, with the occasional tides rocking the boat.

the tea is cold again, but i drank it anyway. can't make out the taste of vanilla any more.

what's the meaning of doing all this? maybe there's no meaning at all, but we all need a way to get by don't we?

for you, you have your rigid rule to follow every day; for me, i've only got the randomness that's messing with my head!

i could be cruel, but i chose not to.

the fish is much bigger than the time i brought it back several months ago. time passes, and the fish's strength to live really exceeded my expectation. or, did i have an expectation?

i wish i could also pick up a stone and throw towards the cloudy sky to let the sun come through...

Melon Tasting

one useful site for melon lover's : http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruitmel.html

Almighty Inner Me, You Got Me...

Tried myself, and saw from others,

what you can do and can't do is always gonna be a part of your destiny,

though you take conventions for nothing,

you can't escape the inner torment,

cuz once you break down that,

you're not yourself anymore,

this made me hesitate,

whenever there's a chance for dream,

can i take that?

or i should be aware of the fact that it will get back at me somehow, somewhere, 

the news didn't surprise me that much,

cuz what you have gone through is what i've had personal experience,

bloody, thou art blood,

however, i did feel sorry, and defeated,

again and again by the almighty inner me,

when i would pray and think,

i think and pray,

heaven hath my empty words,

whilst my invention,

hearing not my tongue,

anchors on ... who? 

i've got no idea

最近怎么经常被电击。。。

刚才在脚不小心触到墙边的暖气隔板
只觉脚趾一阵颤。。。
又触电了。。。
前些天被电脑和手机轮番电击。。。
手机刚举到耳边
只觉耳边一阵白光
接下来就是手机被我扔到了九霄云外。。。

唉。。。注意用电安全

well, maybe a sign for me to lead an unplugged life