Hi folks...the tech folks have been investigating some problems with
hit counters showing broken
images, primarily with newly-created
Journals. It should be resolved
now.
If your Journal is showing a broken image, try revisiting your Journal
while you're logged in. If it doesn't show up, try removing
the counter and re-adding it. To do this:
1. In your Journal, click the blue "Edit Journal"
button at the top of the page.
2. In the section marked "Customize Your Journal's
Appearance", click the link that says "Change the
layout or features."
3. Uncheck the box next to "Hit Counter"
4. Hit Save to save your changes. When you view your
Journal, the hit counter should be gone.
5. Then, hit "Edit Journal" again and add your counter back
in.
If that doesn't fix your Journal, leave a comment or send me an
e-mail.
Thanks -- Joe
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Rambling About Katrina and Citizen Journalism
One of the recurring themes that's been going around and that's been
intensified by the Hurricane Katrina coverage is
the
concept of citizen journalism.
This is the idea that regular folks (*gasp*) can inform the public
debate and populate the shared information space by using blogs,
photos
and other forms of digital media (including audio and
video).
Before
the Web, citizen journalism existed, but was largely the stuff of
newsletters, grassroots advocacy action alerts and letters
to
the editor. Big media
incorporated it, but mostly as a supplement to regular coverage --
"man
on the street" interviews, call-in shows, and the like.
The
emergence of the Web, with its lower technological and economic
barriers to entry, has turned the traditional content model
upside-down. (Or at least
sideways.)
Now, it can be tempting to dive into the
metaphor of the big old-media dinosaur fighting a
losing battle against the small, fast new-media
mammal...though
I think it's a pretty safe bet that the future lies in some sort of
convergence between the two, with big media adapting by bringing to
bear its ability to bring in eyeballs and advertising
dollars.
Anyway, because there are so many
individual voices involved, one of the main
challenges with citizen journalism is figuring out how to
get
particular voices heard; at one end of the spectrum is a
centralized, top-down model,
where a traditional media presence acts like an editorial filter to
direct the conversation and to focus people's attention on a
particular
item.
At the other end is a kind of controlled chaos,
where
there's no distinct centralized authority, when people rely on
technology and a shared set of norms to self-regulate what goes in and
what rises to the top.
Keep in mind, no matter
where
you go on the spectrum,
we rely heavily on technology to help filter the noise, pick out nodes
of interest, spot trends and all that good
stuff.
Now, at the risk of getting too attached to
a
particular metaphor, think of a football stadium
full of people: If you step back and try to take it all in, most of
the time you get a dull roar.
However, if you have the right tools, you can zoom in to hear what a
particular group, or maybe even an individual, is saying. Also, every
once in a while, a synchronized chant will
spontaneously self-organize. Sometimes, there's a marching
band. And every once in a while, a streaker
will run out onto the field. (Let's ignore the
riots for now.)
Okay,
that's a silly metaphor -- I'll leave you to think
about which part means what (I'm not quite sure myself).
What
does all this mean? For now, it means keeping track of efforts,
both
big and small, to harness the power of thousands and millions of
voices
on the Web.
Here are some examples
of citizen journalism that are going on right now, using Katrina as a
focal point:
* CNN is highlighting people's hurricane photos and e-mailed comments.
*
BBC
News's offering is similar, though seems a bit
more substantial.
*
MSNBC's citizen
journalism piece is similar.
*
NOLA.com's (the Web site of the New Orleans
Times-Picayune) Caught on Camera feature and
WWLTV's Weather
Photos page are probably a little closer to the
action (since, well, they are).
Somewhere in the mix
is something like
AOL
News's
new Daily Pulse Blog, where reader comments
are used to get feedback and help shape
the rest of the coverage, and where reader comments also become part
of
the coverage.
The
advantage of these approaches, of course, is access to a constant flow
of information from many, many sources -- but with a level
of
moderation to manage the risk of
shenanigans -- the dissemination of
incorrect or deliberately manipulative information. Plus, it brings an
audience.
The downside is that you're relying on
the
intermediation (the lens or filter) of a particular
media organization.
Of
course, we're also seeing traditional media outlets using blogs as
another way to keep updated information flowing out to news
consumers:
* Sun-Sentinel Hurricane Blog
*
WDSU's Katrina Blog
* NOLA.com's
Blog
In
these cases, larger news organizations are using blogs for many of the
same reasons an individual would: speed of publishing, the
ability to follow the development of a story (as the new stuff goes on
top); the ability to easily incorporate links, photos, audio and video;
plus,
the ability to spread via feeds and take
comments.
Even
though an established news organization has the
advantages of
professional reporting, editorial, design and publishing staffs,
access
to newswires and photobanks, etc., there's plenty of room on
the playing field for highly motivated individuals or
groups to do
something similar -- putting together stories from a variety of sources
and
wrap it up, complete with your own editorial voice or choice. One
example would be a group blog like New Orleans
MetroBlogging, which is normally a local-interest blog
that's
mobilized around this topic of intense
relevance.
Finally,
the stuff that's really breaking the mold and shaking things up, is
the
stuff that's completely new, that just wouldn't be
possible without the enabling technologies that
allow like-minded
individuals to converge.
Flickr (just like we saw in the London bombings),
is
a completely self-directed photo sharing
community, where users tag photos according to content (and where we
see traditional media trying to replicate their model); similarly,
the
open-source news source WikiNews is trying to do to news what
WikiPedia
is doing -- creating a collaborative space where any
individual
can contribute, albeit subject to the norms of the community and the
watchful eye of other similarly-minded
individuals.
It remains to be seen what's gonna work, where, when (and how). Who
knows, maybe I'm wrong and big media just won't get it. For example,
the L.A. Times tried an experiment in June with a
group editorial page
(or wikitorial), using the WikiPedia model -- it lasted two days, when
they pulled it down due to (presumably) trolls
posting inappropriate
content. (For some of your daily dose of irony, check out the WikiNews
article about it.). Flawed concept or poor implementation? We
shall see.
Wow,
this has been a pretty long and wide-ranging post. I was actually just
looking for a way to bundle up some other hurricane
blog links.
Talk to you later. -- Joe
intensified by the Hurricane Katrina coverage is
the
concept of citizen journalism.
This is the idea that regular folks (*gasp*) can inform the public
debate and populate the shared information space by using blogs,
photos
and other forms of digital media (including audio and
video).
Before
the Web, citizen journalism existed, but was largely the stuff of
newsletters, grassroots advocacy action alerts and letters
to
the editor. Big media
incorporated it, but mostly as a supplement to regular coverage --
"man
on the street" interviews, call-in shows, and the like.
The
emergence of the Web, with its lower technological and economic
barriers to entry, has turned the traditional content model
upside-down. (Or at least
sideways.)
Now, it can be tempting to dive into the
metaphor of the big old-media dinosaur fighting a
losing battle against the small, fast new-media
mammal...though
I think it's a pretty safe bet that the future lies in some sort of
convergence between the two, with big media adapting by bringing to
bear its ability to bring in eyeballs and advertising
dollars.
Anyway, because there are so many
individual voices involved, one of the main
challenges with citizen journalism is figuring out how to
get
particular voices heard; at one end of the spectrum is a
centralized, top-down model,
where a traditional media presence acts like an editorial filter to
direct the conversation and to focus people's attention on a
particular
item.
At the other end is a kind of controlled chaos,
where
there's no distinct centralized authority, when people rely on
technology and a shared set of norms to self-regulate what goes in and
what rises to the top.
Keep in mind, no matter
where
you go on the spectrum,
we rely heavily on technology to help filter the noise, pick out nodes
of interest, spot trends and all that good
stuff.
Now, at the risk of getting too attached to
a
particular metaphor, think of a football stadium
full of people: If you step back and try to take it all in, most of
the time you get a dull roar.
However, if you have the right tools, you can zoom in to hear what a
particular group, or maybe even an individual, is saying. Also, every
once in a while, a synchronized chant will
spontaneously self-organize. Sometimes, there's a marching
band. And every once in a while, a streaker
will run out onto the field. (Let's ignore the
riots for now.)
Okay,
that's a silly metaphor -- I'll leave you to think
about which part means what (I'm not quite sure myself).
What
does all this mean? For now, it means keeping track of efforts,
both
big and small, to harness the power of thousands and millions of
voices
on the Web.
Here are some examples
of citizen journalism that are going on right now, using Katrina as a
focal point:
* CNN is highlighting people's hurricane photos and e-mailed comments.
*
BBC
News's offering is similar, though seems a bit
more substantial.
*
MSNBC's citizen
journalism piece is similar.
*
NOLA.com's (the Web site of the New Orleans
Times-Picayune) Caught on Camera feature and
WWLTV's Weather
Photos page are probably a little closer to the
action (since, well, they are).
Somewhere in the mix
is something like
AOL
News's
new Daily Pulse Blog, where reader comments
are used to get feedback and help shape
the rest of the coverage, and where reader comments also become part
of
the coverage.
The
advantage of these approaches, of course, is access to a constant flow
of information from many, many sources -- but with a level
of
moderation to manage the risk of
shenanigans -- the dissemination of
incorrect or deliberately manipulative information. Plus, it brings an
audience.
The downside is that you're relying on
the
intermediation (the lens or filter) of a particular
media organization.
Of
course, we're also seeing traditional media outlets using blogs as
another way to keep updated information flowing out to news
consumers:
* Sun-Sentinel Hurricane Blog
*
WDSU's Katrina Blog
* NOLA.com's
Blog
In
these cases, larger news organizations are using blogs for many of the
same reasons an individual would: speed of publishing, the
ability to follow the development of a story (as the new stuff goes on
top); the ability to easily incorporate links, photos, audio and video;
plus,
the ability to spread via feeds and take
comments.
Even
though an established news organization has the
advantages of
professional reporting, editorial, design and publishing staffs,
access
to newswires and photobanks, etc., there's plenty of room on
the playing field for highly motivated individuals or
groups to do
something similar -- putting together stories from a variety of sources
and
wrap it up, complete with your own editorial voice or choice. One
example would be a group blog like New Orleans
MetroBlogging, which is normally a local-interest blog
that's
mobilized around this topic of intense
relevance.
Finally,
the stuff that's really breaking the mold and shaking things up, is
the
stuff that's completely new, that just wouldn't be
possible without the enabling technologies that
allow like-minded
individuals to converge.
Flickr (just like we saw in the London bombings),
is
a completely self-directed photo sharing
community, where users tag photos according to content (and where we
see traditional media trying to replicate their model); similarly,
the
open-source news source WikiNews is trying to do to news what
WikiPedia
is doing -- creating a collaborative space where any
individual
can contribute, albeit subject to the norms of the community and the
watchful eye of other similarly-minded
individuals.
It remains to be seen what's gonna work, where, when (and how). Who
knows, maybe I'm wrong and big media just won't get it. For example,
the L.A. Times tried an experiment in June with a
group editorial page
(or wikitorial), using the WikiPedia model -- it lasted two days, when
they pulled it down due to (presumably) trolls
posting inappropriate
content. (For some of your daily dose of irony, check out the WikiNews
article about it.). Flawed concept or poor implementation? We
shall see.
Wow,
this has been a pretty long and wide-ranging post. I was actually just
looking for a way to bundle up some other hurricane
blog links.
Talk to you later. -- Joe
Hurricane Katrina: Blog Update
Hi folks...here are some more AOL Journals, AIM Blogs and other blogs
of people who've been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
(You can get more info in the AOL
News article.)
I've
tried to highlight folks who have been directly affected by the storm;
for more blogs about Katrina, try your own searches on AOL
Journals, Feedster
and Technorati.
Also,
here are links to the Network
for Good Katrina page and the American Red Cross main
page.
* AOL
News's Daily Pulse - Compiling Member Reports and
Comments
* Storms
Whisper and Oceans Scream - Worrying About Celia
*
Dancing
in the Rain - Dad and Panda in New Orleans
* Midlife
Matters - Welcome to Tulane
* My
Everyday Life - Helen Watches the News
* By
the Way - Scalzi's Links & Resources
* Happiness:
Yep, STILL a Choice - Report From Louisiana (While He Has
Power)
* Sports Bar
& Buffet - Lew Bundles Up Storm Dispatches
*
Our
Lives - Louise Posts Katrina Damage Photos
* Bert's
World - More Florida Aftereffects
* Southern
Comfort - Riding It Out in Biloxi
* Thoughts,
Advice & Frustration - Humbled in South
Florida
* Samsays
- Memories of a Typhoon
* Jen's
Journal - Updating on Battery Power
* Life
Is Always Interesting When Your Name Is Bond - High Water
Photos
* Just
Me - Mom & Dad in Alabama
Thanks -- Joe.
of people who've been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
(You can get more info in the AOL
News article.)
I've
tried to highlight folks who have been directly affected by the storm;
for more blogs about Katrina, try your own searches on AOL
Journals, Feedster
and Technorati.
Also,
here are links to the Network
for Good Katrina page and the American Red Cross main
page.
* AOL
News's Daily Pulse - Compiling Member Reports and
Comments
* Storms
Whisper and Oceans Scream - Worrying About Celia
*
Dancing
in the Rain - Dad and Panda in New Orleans
* Midlife
Matters - Welcome to Tulane
* My
Everyday Life - Helen Watches the News
* By
the Way - Scalzi's Links & Resources
* Happiness:
Yep, STILL a Choice - Report From Louisiana (While He Has
Power)
* Sports Bar
& Buffet - Lew Bundles Up Storm Dispatches
*
Our
Lives - Louise Posts Katrina Damage Photos
* Bert's
World - More Florida Aftereffects
* Southern
Comfort - Riding It Out in Biloxi
* Thoughts,
Advice & Frustration - Humbled in South
Florida
* Samsays
- Memories of a Typhoon
* Jen's
Journal - Updating on Battery Power
* Life
Is Always Interesting When Your Name Is Bond - High Water
Photos
* Just
Me - Mom & Dad in Alabama
Thanks -- Joe.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Storm Stories: Blogging Hurricane Katrina
Hi folks...before the rest of us set off on our weekends, I thought
I'd
do a quick listing of some AOL Journals & AIM Blogs by people
who've been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
As of this
writing, Katrina is in the Gulf of Mexico after hitting South Florida,
causing 6 deaths and a lot of flooding; Katrina is headed for another
projected landfall near the Florida Panhandle around Monday. (You can
see more details in the AOL
News story.)
I did a quick Journals search
on the phrase "Hurricane
Katrina",
plus found some other blogs. It's a mixed bag -- some folks got hit,
some folks got missed and other folks are waiting to see what happens
next.
Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone
affected by the storm.
* Kassy's
Journal
* Dear
Diary
* The Tension's
Blog
* Bert's
World
* Donna's
First Blog
* Ramanand
Family
* Joy's
Journal
* Up
Against Myself
* XX
Roxy Mama XX
* Making
a Home
* Journey
to Our Empress Salome
* Palm
Beach Post Hurricane Blog
* Random
Reality
* My
Life as I Know It
* My
Journey
* Day
by Day Happenings
* My First
Year as a Nurse - RN
* Pandora's
Journal
* Sandy
Toes & Always on the Go
* One
Life to Live!
* Booker's
Journal
* Don't
Make Me Repeat Myself...
* Diary
of a Native Floridian
* Call
Me Grits!
* Martellazos
For
more blogs about Katrina, check out these searches on Feedster
and Technorati.
Stay
safe and have a good weekend. Thanks. -- Joe
I'd
do a quick listing of some AOL Journals & AIM Blogs by people
who've been affected by Hurricane Katrina.
As of this
writing, Katrina is in the Gulf of Mexico after hitting South Florida,
causing 6 deaths and a lot of flooding; Katrina is headed for another
projected landfall near the Florida Panhandle around Monday. (You can
see more details in the AOL
News story.)
I did a quick Journals search
on the phrase "Hurricane
Katrina",
plus found some other blogs. It's a mixed bag -- some folks got hit,
some folks got missed and other folks are waiting to see what happens
next.
Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone
affected by the storm.
* Kassy's
Journal
* Dear
Diary
* The Tension's
Blog
* Bert's
World
* Donna's
First Blog
* Ramanand
Family
* Joy's
Journal
* Up
Against Myself
* XX
Roxy Mama XX
* Making
a Home
* Journey
to Our Empress Salome
* Palm
Beach Post Hurricane Blog
* Random
Reality
* My
Life as I Know It
* My
Journey
* Day
by Day Happenings
* My First
Year as a Nurse - RN
* Pandora's
Journal
* Sandy
Toes & Always on the Go
* One
Life to Live!
* Booker's
Journal
* Don't
Make Me Repeat Myself...
* Diary
of a Native Floridian
* Call
Me Grits!
* Martellazos
For
more blogs about Katrina, check out these searches on Feedster
and Technorati.
Stay
safe and have a good weekend. Thanks. -- Joe
New Guest Editor's Picks for 8/26 & More
Hi everybody. As posted in the Journals Message Board, our new Guest Editor's Picks are up on the Journals Main Page:
* Detached and Indifferent Expressions
* A Fallen Angel Under a Dark Moon
* The Inside of Being a SAHM
* Journally Yours
* I Have Tea
* Something New
In
other news, it's been a little more quiet than last week. Thankfully.
Which is not to say that we're slacking over here -- we're just not
running around putting out fires related to the database transition.
Oh,
that reminds me: I had a request from some folks a while back to get a
picture of the machines that host Journals. It was kind of a
non-starter, because the admins take the physical security of the
hardware very seriously, so access is limited. (Think 'Mission: Impossible' or 'Alias'-limited.)
After the database migration, I was hoping to get a photo of one of the
old machines after they decommissioned it. Alas, it was not to be.
However, I was able to find an artist's depiction.
Talk to you later folks. Have a good weekend. Thanks. -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
* Detached and Indifferent Expressions
* A Fallen Angel Under a Dark Moon
* The Inside of Being a SAHM
* Journally Yours
* I Have Tea
* Something New
In
other news, it's been a little more quiet than last week. Thankfully.
Which is not to say that we're slacking over here -- we're just not
running around putting out fires related to the database transition.
Oh,
that reminds me: I had a request from some folks a while back to get a
picture of the machines that host Journals. It was kind of a
non-starter, because the admins take the physical security of the
hardware very seriously, so access is limited. (Think 'Mission: Impossible' or 'Alias'-limited.)
After the database migration, I was hoping to get a photo of one of the
old machines after they decommissioned it. Alas, it was not to be.
However, I was able to find an artist's depiction.
Talk to you later folks. Have a good weekend. Thanks. -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Heads-Up: Brief Journals Outage Planned for 8/24
Hi folks -- just got word from the tech folks about a quick (30 minute)
outage planned for tomorrow, Wednesday 8/24, starting at 4AM EDT and
going until 4:30 AM. During this time, you won't be able to
access your Journals, instead getting the blue "Journals Are
Unavailable" screen.
The tech folks will be taking down the database connections so they can
tweak the memory sizing and realign the warp core. (Okay, not
that last part.) This has to be done to make sure that the Journals
Search picks up all the new entries and blogs. Thanks -- Joe
outage planned for tomorrow, Wednesday 8/24, starting at 4AM EDT and
going until 4:30 AM. During this time, you won't be able to
access your Journals, instead getting the blue "Journals Are
Unavailable" screen.
The tech folks will be taking down the database connections so they can
tweak the memory sizing and realign the warp core. (Okay, not
that last part.) This has to be done to make sure that the Journals
Search picks up all the new entries and blogs. Thanks -- Joe
Monday, August 22, 2005
Brief Journals Burp
Hi folks -- we had a brief Journals outage a little after 1pm. It only
lasted a few minutes, and it should be fine now.
The database folks are
doing some work to make sure that Journals and entries are showing up
properly in the Journals search results after the switchover.
Rumors
that the outage was created so I would have something to blog about are
completely false.
Sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks. --
Joe
lasted a few minutes, and it should be fine now.
The database folks are
doing some work to make sure that Journals and entries are showing up
properly in the Journals search results after the switchover.
Rumors
that the outage was created so I would have something to blog about are
completely false.
Sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks. --
Joe
Monday Status Report
Hi folks...quick Monday morning update -- the Journals database migration went smoothly this morning. The planned outage went as scheduled from 4AM to 5:45AM (so we ended 15 minutes early). Kudos to the tech folks.
Also, the database admins are running a script to make sure that no one
is still experiencing the "Journals Are Unavailable" problem that we
encountered last week; that should be completed later today.
In the meantime, please let me know via comment or e-mail if you are having any problems with Journals.
Changing gears, congratulations to all on the AOL Journals Second Anniversary. I stopped by the chat last night for a bit; hope you all had fun.
Talk to you later.-- Joe
Also, the database admins are running a script to make sure that no one
is still experiencing the "Journals Are Unavailable" problem that we
encountered last week; that should be completed later today.
In the meantime, please let me know via comment or e-mail if you are having any problems with Journals.
Changing gears, congratulations to all on the AOL Journals Second Anniversary. I stopped by the chat last night for a bit; hope you all had fun.
Talk to you later.-- Joe
Friday, August 19, 2005
New Guest Editor's Picks for 8/19
Hi everybody. As posted in the Journals Message Board, our new Guest Editor's Picks are up on the Journals Main Page:
* One-Way Passage
* A Pennies Worth
* Coming to Terms With Middle Age
* Lotus Martinis
* Superhero Journal
* Mark's Daily Journal
Mary looked for good Journals that she knew about, but hadn't yet seen featured as Editor's or Guest Editor's picks.
Don't
forget, Sunday is the AOL Journals second anniversary, and there is
also a Journals outage scheduled for 4AM-6AM on Monday, 8/22.
(These events are not related.)
That's about it for right now...have a good weekend everyone, and I'll talk to you later. -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
* One-Way Passage
* A Pennies Worth
* Coming to Terms With Middle Age
* Lotus Martinis
* Superhero Journal
* Mark's Daily Journal
Mary looked for good Journals that she knew about, but hadn't yet seen featured as Editor's or Guest Editor's picks.
Don't
forget, Sunday is the AOL Journals second anniversary, and there is
also a Journals outage scheduled for 4AM-6AM on Monday, 8/22.
(These events are not related.)
That's about it for right now...have a good weekend everyone, and I'll talk to you later. -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
Thursday, August 18, 2005
8/18 Status Update, Scheduled Outages and Anniversary Time
Hi everybody...here's a status update. The Journals database seems to have settled down today; I haven't seen any flurries of e-mail or heard any screams of anguish. This is not to say that there aren't gremlins still roaming around, but we seem to be mostly better (but please let us know if you have any problems creating Journals or entries).
Also, Myrtle, the Journals display widget on the Journals main page, is back to displaying only one of each Journal that you own, not two.
Now that things have stabilized, we're going to have two scheduled outages coming up; the first is going to be in the early morning hours of Friday, 8/19, starting at 4AM EDT and scheduled to last until 6AM. Journals will not be available at this time -- you'll get the standard blue "not available" screen. This is a regular maintenance outage, where they replace the hamsters in the servers, etc.
The second scheduled outage will be on Monday, 8/22, also starting at 4AM EDT and also scheduled to last until 6AM. Now, I realize that this will bump up against some of the Journals 2nd Anniversary stuff that's going on, but this is an important update and we can't delay it, so sorry for the inconvenience.
Speaking of the the Journals Anniversary, AOL J-Lander Viviansullinwank is linking to some of the planned festivities, so check out her blog. And of course, in blogger John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment, he's asking you to pick your best Journal entry from the past year and share with the rest of the class.
While you're at it, at your request, we've updated the Journals Anniversary Graphic that was created last year; feel free to grab it and display it on your own Journals:
That's it for right now -- talk to you later. Thanks. -- Joe
Also, Myrtle, the Journals display widget on the Journals main page, is back to displaying only one of each Journal that you own, not two.
Now that things have stabilized, we're going to have two scheduled outages coming up; the first is going to be in the early morning hours of Friday, 8/19, starting at 4AM EDT and scheduled to last until 6AM. Journals will not be available at this time -- you'll get the standard blue "not available" screen. This is a regular maintenance outage, where they replace the hamsters in the servers, etc.
The second scheduled outage will be on Monday, 8/22, also starting at 4AM EDT and also scheduled to last until 6AM. Now, I realize that this will bump up against some of the Journals 2nd Anniversary stuff that's going on, but this is an important update and we can't delay it, so sorry for the inconvenience.
Speaking of the the Journals Anniversary, AOL J-Lander Viviansullinwank is linking to some of the planned festivities, so check out her blog. And of course, in blogger John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment, he's asking you to pick your best Journal entry from the past year and share with the rest of the class.
While you're at it, at your request, we've updated the Journals Anniversary Graphic that was created last year; feel free to grab it and display it on your own Journals:
That's it for right now -- talk to you later. Thanks. -- Joe
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
8/17 Status Report
Hi folks...the tech folks are still working on the Journals database,
though it's mostly behind-the-scenes stuff, so you shouldn't be
affected. (Except for Myrtle, the Journals main page display widget,
who as previous noted, is still twice as much fun as before.)
Last night, however, we were seeing some problems associated with
creating new Journals and entries, so the tech folks took down some of
the database switchers last night for about twenty minutes so they
could perform a "dump-and-load" on the database.
This happened at about 10:30PM EDT last night, and fixed the
problem.
Once all this database stuff gets sorted out, we will probably have a
scheduled Journals outage to get everything up on the new
hosts.
Not sure yet what day it will happen, but it will be in the early
morning hours (starting about 3AM). I will post more information when
I
get it.
We're not aware of any major issues right now; please drop me a line if
you're having trouble. Thanks. -- Joe
though it's mostly behind-the-scenes stuff, so you shouldn't be
affected. (Except for Myrtle, the Journals main page display widget,
who as previous noted, is still twice as much fun as before.)
Last night, however, we were seeing some problems associated with
creating new Journals and entries, so the tech folks took down some of
the database switchers last night for about twenty minutes so they
could perform a "dump-and-load" on the database.
This happened at about 10:30PM EDT last night, and fixed the
problem.
Once all this database stuff gets sorted out, we will probably have a
scheduled Journals outage to get everything up on the new
hosts.
Not sure yet what day it will happen, but it will be in the early
morning hours (starting about 3AM). I will post more information when
I
get it.
We're not aware of any major issues right now; please drop me a line if
you're having trouble. Thanks. -- Joe
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Double Your Blog Pleasure?
Hi folks. Tech folks are still working through some database quirks,
though there don't appear to be any member-facing impacts. Except for
one. There seems to be a little problem with our friend
Myrtle, the Journals display widget that's on the
Journals Main
Page:
As you can see, Myrtle appears to be displaying your list of
Journals twice.
There doesn't appear to be any other impact right now; the tech folks
are working on fixing it.
(I've have gotten a report or two of random Journal glitches, but
nothing widespread -- drop me a line if you have any
problems.)
Thanks -- Joe
though there don't appear to be any member-facing impacts. Except for
one. There seems to be a little problem with our friend
Myrtle, the Journals display widget that's on the
Journals Main
Page:
As you can see, Myrtle appears to be displaying your list of
Journals twice.
There doesn't appear to be any other impact right now; the tech folks
are working on fixing it.
(I've have gotten a report or two of random Journal glitches, but
nothing widespread -- drop me a line if you have any
problems.)
Thanks -- Joe
Monday, August 15, 2005
(Updated) Cleared, 8/15 Journals Problems
Hi folks...we should be better now. Most of the problems with truncated
or missing entries and sidebar information should be fixed.
Please note: Some of you who posted during the time when we first
started having problems (around 4AM ET) to when the fix went in (about
10AM ET) may still be missing those entries; those are being restored;
I will let you know when I get more info on that.
Please check your blog (refresh and clear your browser's cache if necessary) and see if you are still having problems.
I will provide more information in this entry when I get it.
Update: 8/15, 8:03PM: Okay folks, we had two separate (but
possibly related) problems today, one in the morning and one in the
afternoon. Not your typical Monday:
1. This morning, starting around 4AM, the tech folks were moving
the Journals database to some new servers (or hosts). This happens
periodically to replace or add new equipment, etc. It's typically done
in the early morning hours, when the fewest users are online to be
affected.
There was a problem with the database after the move; this caused a few
days of Journal entries to not show up, and for older entries to get
cut off at 101 characters. It also caused sidebar links (like
Favorite Sites) to not show up.
The tech folks fixed things at around 10AM, though posts made in the
intervening 6-hour period needed to be restored. (I am not certain if
this has happened yet.)
2. Then, at around 4PM today, there was another problem with
some database keys. (I am not well-versed in database workings, so
please excuse the generalization.) This started causing problems
for everybody, to the point where everyone was getting an error
message. This was fixed about 30 minutes later.
The tech folks are monitoring the database and related systems; if you
see any flakiness, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
For the afternoon outage, I was listening in on the conference call,
where the different tech folks huddle up to work the problem. Most of
it was over my head, but it was pretty interesting to hear all the
different teams working together to diagnose and solve the problem.
Thanks, sorry for the inconvenience. -- Joe
or missing entries and sidebar information should be fixed.
Please note: Some of you who posted during the time when we first
started having problems (around 4AM ET) to when the fix went in (about
10AM ET) may still be missing those entries; those are being restored;
I will let you know when I get more info on that.
Please check your blog (refresh and clear your browser's cache if necessary) and see if you are still having problems.
I will provide more information in this entry when I get it.
Update: 8/15, 8:03PM: Okay folks, we had two separate (but
possibly related) problems today, one in the morning and one in the
afternoon. Not your typical Monday:
1. This morning, starting around 4AM, the tech folks were moving
the Journals database to some new servers (or hosts). This happens
periodically to replace or add new equipment, etc. It's typically done
in the early morning hours, when the fewest users are online to be
affected.
There was a problem with the database after the move; this caused a few
days of Journal entries to not show up, and for older entries to get
cut off at 101 characters. It also caused sidebar links (like
Favorite Sites) to not show up.
The tech folks fixed things at around 10AM, though posts made in the
intervening 6-hour period needed to be restored. (I am not certain if
this has happened yet.)
2. Then, at around 4PM today, there was another problem with
some database keys. (I am not well-versed in database workings, so
please excuse the generalization.) This started causing problems
for everybody, to the point where everyone was getting an error
message. This was fixed about 30 minutes later.
The tech folks are monitoring the database and related systems; if you
see any flakiness, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
For the afternoon outage, I was listening in on the conference call,
where the different tech folks huddle up to work the problem. Most of
it was over my head, but it was pretty interesting to hear all the
different teams working together to diagnose and solve the problem.
Thanks, sorry for the inconvenience. -- Joe
Journals Problems, 8/15
Hi folks...just wanted to let you know that the tech folks know about the Journals problems this morning (truncated/missing entries & sidebar info) and are working on it.
I will update this entry as we get more information. (Update: See the above entry.)
Thanks. -- Joe
I will update this entry as we get more information. (Update: See the above entry.)
Thanks. -- Joe
Friday, August 12, 2005
Today, Last Week
Hey everybody...okay, so as I mentioned earlier, the Today Show did a story (which aired this morning) about one of our Sports Bloggers Live regulars, Alex the Sports Phenom.
Now, they also sent over a film crew to AOL HQ last Friday, to get some "B-Roll" footage (look, I've gone all show biz and stuff) of Mr. Sports Blogger hisself, Jamie (known far and wide as Mr. Irrelevant.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Jamie is a media-whore
or anything like that, but I do note that he wasn't supposed to be back
into the office until Monday, since he was still technically on his honeymoon.
Anyway,
I took a few snaps of the encounter, as unobtrusively as I could. I
couldn't use the flash, so the pics are a bit blurry.
It's pretty interesting.
Okay, somewhat interesting.
Remotely interesting?
Congrats to all involved.
(You can take the makeup off now, Jamie.)
Have a good weekend, everybody. -- Joe
Now, they also sent over a film crew to AOL HQ last Friday, to get some "B-Roll" footage (look, I've gone all show biz and stuff) of Mr. Sports Blogger hisself, Jamie (known far and wide as Mr. Irrelevant.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Jamie is a media-whore
or anything like that, but I do note that he wasn't supposed to be back
into the office until Monday, since he was still technically on his honeymoon.
Anyway,
I took a few snaps of the encounter, as unobtrusively as I could. I
couldn't use the flash, so the pics are a bit blurry.
It's pretty interesting.
Okay, somewhat interesting.
Remotely interesting?
Congrats to all involved.
(You can take the makeup off now, Jamie.)
Have a good weekend, everybody. -- Joe
New Guest Editor's Picks for 8/12
Hi everybody. As posted in the Journals Message Board, our new Guest Editor's Picks are up on the Journals Main Page:
* (sometimes)photoblog
* The Bloggerati
* Through the Eyes of the Beholder
* Hide's House
* Jottings From the Sticks
* Photo Friday
Betty chose a theme of photo blogs and more. As most of us know, photos and blogs are like peanut butter and chocolate: two great tastes that taste great together.
In other news, the Today Show story on Alex, the Sports Phenom,
aired this morning. I will post an entry in a little bit, with some
photos from when the camera crews stopped by last week to shoot some
footage. Thanks -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
* (sometimes)photoblog
* The Bloggerati
* Through the Eyes of the Beholder
* Hide's House
* Jottings From the Sticks
* Photo Friday
Betty chose a theme of photo blogs and more. As most of us know, photos and blogs are like peanut butter and chocolate: two great tastes that taste great together.
In other news, the Today Show story on Alex, the Sports Phenom,
aired this morning. I will post an entry in a little bit, with some
photos from when the camera crews stopped by last week to shoot some
footage. Thanks -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Cleared: Journals Outage, 8/9 (Updated 8/11)
Hi folks...as most of you are aware, we had a Journals outage this morning. What happened is that when a Journal owner went to go view or edit their own Journal, they couldn't see it. (At first, it was a big blank space; later, you might have gotten a server error of some type.)
I posted info in a Journals Message Board entry: Your Journal didn't go anywhere -- you could see other people's Journals, and you could even see your own (in most cases), if you used an external Web browser that wasn't signed in (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Safari, etc.)
The problem should be resolved now. I will edit this Journal entry when the tech folks tell me what happened.
[Edited, 8/11: Okay, so the tech folks say that the Journals Edit servers, which let you, as Journal owners, edit your Journals, were temporarily "misplaced" because of a configuration change.
This meant that the edit servers were still there, but the other machines didn't know where they "went," so the functions that are reserved for Journals owners weren't available. This explains why you weren't able to see your Journals, but you could still see other people's Journals.
From start to finish, the whole outage was just under 2 hours, though the core of the outage, where everyone was affected, was probably about an hour -- the rest of the time, the changes caused by the initial problem, and later the fix, were gradually flowing through the system.]
Generally speaking, if there's a Journals outage, you can go to the Journals Message Boards for more info. Obviously, if there's a outage, I can't use this blog to tell you about it [Another 8/11 Edit: I am working on some kind of status widget for the Journals main page, where you can go for more information when something happens -- I will let you know when that goes up.]....Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks -- Joe
I posted info in a Journals Message Board entry: Your Journal didn't go anywhere -- you could see other people's Journals, and you could even see your own (in most cases), if you used an external Web browser that wasn't signed in (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, Safari, etc.)
The problem should be resolved now. I will edit this Journal entry when the tech folks tell me what happened.
[Edited, 8/11: Okay, so the tech folks say that the Journals Edit servers, which let you, as Journal owners, edit your Journals, were temporarily "misplaced" because of a configuration change.
This meant that the edit servers were still there, but the other machines didn't know where they "went," so the functions that are reserved for Journals owners weren't available. This explains why you weren't able to see your Journals, but you could still see other people's Journals.
From start to finish, the whole outage was just under 2 hours, though the core of the outage, where everyone was affected, was probably about an hour -- the rest of the time, the changes caused by the initial problem, and later the fix, were gradually flowing through the system.]
Generally speaking, if there's a Journals outage, you can go to the Journals Message Boards for more info. Obviously, if there's a outage, I can't use this blog to tell you about it [Another 8/11 Edit: I am working on some kind of status widget for the Journals main page, where you can go for more information when something happens -- I will let you know when that goes up.]....Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks -- Joe
Friday, August 5, 2005
New Guest Editor's Picks for 8/5
Hi everybody. As posted in the Journals Message Board, our new Guest Editor for this week (and her picks) are up on the Journals Main Page:
Assuming the Guest Editor duties this week is Stacey; her blog is High Above Courtside, and here is her her blog entry, where she talks about her top picks and more:
* Help Shari Kurzrok
* I Think You're Wild When You Flash That Fragile Smile
* Pfft
* Halo's Recipes
* Calling the Shots
* Dad's Tomato Garden
Like
I wrote in the message boards, Stacey is a sports blogger, but covers a
broad range of interests in her blog picks, so I unilaterally decided
that the theme of her picks was "smurfy", since that's also one of her nicknames.
On a somber note, looking through the message boards, I saw that one of Stacey's featured bloggers, the young Beth, keeper of I Think You're Wild When You Flash That Fragile Smile, lost her father this week; our deepest condolences go out to her.
That's
about it for this week. As always, there's a bunch of stuff in the
pipeline, but a lot of it has nebulous dates so I'll get into things
specifically when I have more to convey. Oh, and that includes a run-in
with the mainstream media that happened this afternoon.
Thanks, and have a great weekeknd. -- Joe
Tag: Guest Editor's Picks
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
A New Tool for Feeding Your Friends
Hi folks. There's a new feature in beta that I'm interested in getting
your thoughts on. It's not explicitly part of AOL Journals, but it is
Journals-related; it's the new My AOL beta:
On the surface, it looks like a pretty standard news customization page. However, the key difference is that it is built on feeds. And guess what? Your blogs, and the blogs of your friends, also use feeds.
Which means you can use this tool to manage not just news headlines,
but as a one-stop shop to view the feeds of all your friends' blogs --
without having to download a separate program.
Right now, it's
very news-centric, but we're trying to see how it can be used to keep
you connected with your friends' blogs. So it would be useful if you
play around with it and tell us what you think.
First, let me back up a step.
A
feed is just a generic term for an information broadcast. For example,
a newspaper might get a news feed off the Associated Press wire, which
they would then format as needed and print in the newspaper.
Blogs, including AOL Journals, also have feeds associated with them. Two of the most common feeds used by blogs include Atom and RSS
(or Really Simple Syndication). Blog feeds are a way to label content,
like saying "this is the headline, this part is the body, here are the
comments" etc.
Typically, you subscribe to a blog's feed by using a feed reader program
(of which there are dozens). The point of using a feed reader is that
you can organize different feeds from blogs and Web sites of all kinds,
and present the information in the way that you want.
This saves a lot of clicking.
It
kind of acts like a Journals Alert, but it's a little more unified
experience. Say you want to watch 7 Journals -- instead of subscribing
to 7 different Alerts, if you used a feed reader, you would have all 7
Journals (plus whatever other blogs or news providers you wanted) in a
single view, with the new stuff flagged, so you could browse easily,
and then get more information on the stuff you're interested in.
So, now, here's how you might use the My AOL beta with AOL Journals.
1. Go to the My AOL beta. (Keep this page handy.)
2.
Then, go to a Journal that you want to subscribe to. Scroll all the way
to the bottom, where you should see a link that says "Get the Feed
(Atom/RSS)"
3. Click "Get the Feed (Atom/RSS)", and a window will pop up:
4. With your mouse, copy either the Atom or RSS feed (either of the bolded URLs -- it doesn't matter). For example, for Magic Smoke, the RSS feed URL would be: http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/rss.xml
5.Go back to the My AOL beta page. Find at the bottom, where it says
"Add a Feed", then paste the feed URL you just copied in the box and
press Add:
6. It will let you give it a title and category (the default category is "Miscellaneous"); click "Add Feed" when you're done.
7. From there, if you click "Miscellaneous" in the sidebar, it should
expand and you should see the feed you just added. Click the name of
the feed, and it should show up in the middle of the page.
After
that, you should see a listing of the first 5 blog headlines, along
with the time it was posted. If you click the headline, it will expand
and show you the entry, and if you click the more link, it will take
you to the blog.
Like I said, right now it's missing some
features and it's very news-centric; for example, it will
show you embedded photos, but not comments.
Also, be warned that it's a
beta product, and that currently, the preferences are stored in a
cookie on your Web browser (so if you clear your cookies, you will lose
your customizations) -- they're working on a more portable version that
will save your preferences so that you can access away from your
computer, etc.
Anyway, please give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks -- Joe
your thoughts on. It's not explicitly part of AOL Journals, but it is
Journals-related; it's the new My AOL beta:
On the surface, it looks like a pretty standard news customization page. However, the key difference is that it is built on feeds. And guess what? Your blogs, and the blogs of your friends, also use feeds.
Which means you can use this tool to manage not just news headlines,
but as a one-stop shop to view the feeds of all your friends' blogs --
without having to download a separate program.
Right now, it's
very news-centric, but we're trying to see how it can be used to keep
you connected with your friends' blogs. So it would be useful if you
play around with it and tell us what you think.
First, let me back up a step.
A
feed is just a generic term for an information broadcast. For example,
a newspaper might get a news feed off the Associated Press wire, which
they would then format as needed and print in the newspaper.
Blogs, including AOL Journals, also have feeds associated with them. Two of the most common feeds used by blogs include Atom and RSS
(or Really Simple Syndication). Blog feeds are a way to label content,
like saying "this is the headline, this part is the body, here are the
comments" etc.
Typically, you subscribe to a blog's feed by using a feed reader program
(of which there are dozens). The point of using a feed reader is that
you can organize different feeds from blogs and Web sites of all kinds,
and present the information in the way that you want.
This saves a lot of clicking.
It
kind of acts like a Journals Alert, but it's a little more unified
experience. Say you want to watch 7 Journals -- instead of subscribing
to 7 different Alerts, if you used a feed reader, you would have all 7
Journals (plus whatever other blogs or news providers you wanted) in a
single view, with the new stuff flagged, so you could browse easily,
and then get more information on the stuff you're interested in.
So, now, here's how you might use the My AOL beta with AOL Journals.
1. Go to the My AOL beta. (Keep this page handy.)
2.
Then, go to a Journal that you want to subscribe to. Scroll all the way
to the bottom, where you should see a link that says "Get the Feed
(Atom/RSS)"
3. Click "Get the Feed (Atom/RSS)", and a window will pop up:
4. With your mouse, copy either the Atom or RSS feed (either of the bolded URLs -- it doesn't matter). For example, for Magic Smoke, the RSS feed URL would be: http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/rss.xml
5.Go back to the My AOL beta page. Find at the bottom, where it says
"Add a Feed", then paste the feed URL you just copied in the box and
press Add:
6. It will let you give it a title and category (the default category is "Miscellaneous"); click "Add Feed" when you're done.
7. From there, if you click "Miscellaneous" in the sidebar, it should
expand and you should see the feed you just added. Click the name of
the feed, and it should show up in the middle of the page.
After
that, you should see a listing of the first 5 blog headlines, along
with the time it was posted. If you click the headline, it will expand
and show you the entry, and if you click the more link, it will take
you to the blog.
Like I said, right now it's missing some
features and it's very news-centric; for example, it will
show you embedded photos, but not comments.
Also, be warned that it's a
beta product, and that currently, the preferences are stored in a
cookie on your Web browser (so if you clear your cookies, you will lose
your customizations) -- they're working on a more portable version that
will save your preferences so that you can access away from your
computer, etc.
Anyway, please give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks -- Joe
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