In favor of the "amateur"

By Mike Orren

A few weeks ago, I was in Scottsdale, AZ to speak at a conference focused on online business models. I got there a little early to sit in on a keynote by Andrew Keen, thinking that I'd launch an offensive during the Q&A. Keen is the author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture. You probably don't need to read all the refutations of this tome of logical fallacies, ad-hominem arguments and factual errors to know that I'm pretty firmly in the other camp.

I wound up keeping my yap shut because it was pretty clear that the audience was on my side and I certainly wasn't going to change Keen's mind about anything. But a few things have rattled across my transom in the last couple days that brought the pro-am argument back to mind:

First, well-respected sports journo Buzz Bissinger (Friday Night Lights) teed off on the sports blogosphere with an assist from Bob Costas and came off looking like a colicky relic.

Then, our friend Terry Heaton (see you Tuesday, Terry!) wrote about a nice deconstruction of the Keen argument.

Then, I found myself chastising a young journalist who was appalled that an advertising agency would start a local news site when its hometown newspaper folded.

And then, as I was catching up on my PegNews reading, I came across this nice comment on Ron Dempesmeier's Asia concert review and this detailed review of Gaslight by Mark-Brian Sonna.

I don't believe that any other local media outlet had a review of Asia. And if they did, I doubt that their staff reviewers, even if they had space to do so, would have been passionate enough about the band to come up with as thorough a review as Ron did. And clearly, someone appreciated it.

And although you can hardly call them amateurs, there's nuance that working performer-directors like Mark-Brian and John Garcia bring to their extended reviews of local shows that almost no "professional" critic could. Similarly, I'd proudly put Mark Stepneski's Stars coverage next to any "mainstream" report -- if anything, the lack of space limitations may give him an unfair edge.

By no means am I suggesting that professional journalism isn't important or relevant. I even buy the argument that with the ease of publishing myriad (and potentially incorrect) items all over the Interwebs, it's more important than ever.

But we also need to remember the roots of the word "amateur." The original use of the word referred less to a lack of professionalism than to the "ama" -- Love, enthusiasm, passion. And what professional journalist doesn't achieve more when he's passionate about the work? (I'm really pleased with the enthusiasm that led our young team to work through the night on suburban election results.) Perhaps instead of worrying so much about the lack of professionalism among amateurs, we should focus on how to instill more old-school amateurism in professionals during challenging times for their business.

May 11, 2008

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Hung Gibson West End gig rescheduled

By Mike Orren

For anyone who was planning to catch Hung Gibson's performance (and our filming) in the West End this afternoon, we've stuck our heads out the window and decided that the weather is likely enough to be uncooperative that we're going to cancel tonight's performance and reschedule for May 21.

We're doing these every Wednesday through June and will announce next week's performer today or tomorrow.

May 7, 2008

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Favoriting contest: Urban Street Bazaar

By Mike Orren

Our friends at the Bishop Arts District are putting down a cool event on Saturday: The Urban Street Bazaar. Local handmade products sold by real local people are the main attraction, but there's also a car show, a Project Make fashion show, live music, street entertainers and a kids' area.

The event is free, but as a media sponsor we're trying to help drum up attention. So, our friends at Make have offered up two $50 gift certificates good towards their classes.

You know the drill: Favorite the event page for the Urban Street Bazaar to enter (requires free, painless registration). We'll draw the winners on Friday.

May 7, 2008

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Favoriting contest: Raphaels

By Mike Orren

After the belated Cinco de Mayo potluck we just had here at PegNews HQ, it's hard for me to thing about Mexican food, but we do, finally, have a contest with some love for our Denton County users. Our friends (and advertisers) at Raphael's are offering up a $50 dinner tab (excluding alcohol) to one lucky user. Enter to win by marking Raphael's as a favorite here on PegNews (requires free, easy registation for a user account).

We'll draw a winner from those who have favorited by this Monday morning.

May 6, 2008

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Favoriting contest: Beatles tribute night at Oak Point Amphitheater

By Mike Orren

Our friends (and advertisers) at Oak Point Amphitheater have given us ten (10!) free pair of tickets to their upcoming Beatles tribute night, featuring American English and Beatlegras. The show is a week from Friday (May 16).

First ten registered users to mark the show as a favorite get a free pair of ducats.

All you need is love... and free tickets.

May 6, 2008

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Spring bundle of joy (WARNING: cute baby animal photo!)

By John Meyer

Anne was sitting up on the porch having a smoke today on a break from her gardening activities, while I relaxed in a lawn chair reading a book and sipping a G & T. Since I had just finished hauling a dozen bags of magical compost/topsoil/whatever to the vicinity of her new bed in the side yard, I was feeling not at all guilty about kicking back for a bit.

"John!", she stage whispered suddenly, then motioned at me to hurry up to where she stood looking down at a sheltered area in a corner of our wood-fenced property. Intrigued (and furthermore out of gin), I moseyed on over.

Well, I just about keeled over from an overdose of "Awww!" when I got a close look at this little guy, nosing around in the dead leaf and tree bark litter. Since he seemed to be going nowhere fast, I went and grabbed a camera.

Some consider opossums to be nasty, ugly creatures, and there's a case to be made for this when they get older (and bigger, and ornerier) - but as for this little fella, he looked more like a roly poly cross between a cartoon mouse and a hedgehog than anything else I could think of. I mean, come on - those eyes! Awww!

In addition, there are numerous baby birds exercising their wings in and around our (bird-friendly) back yard. The almost constant high-pitched peeping of a juvenile downy woodpecker had been keeping me company out by my lawn chair for the past hour as he attempted to extract peanuts from a nearby feeder, flashing in between visits by the much larger "baldy" jays (who are so young their head feathers haven't yet fully grown out; they look a bit like mini-vultures).

It's enough to cause an old curmudgeon to rethink his cynicism. At least until the next news cycle.

May 4, 2008

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Amazing Vietnam Vets Memorial web database and visual

By Mike Orren

A couple weeks ago I spoke on a panel about using databases as content. Joining me (among others) was Chris Willis, the VP of Social Media for Footnote. (Some of you may remember Chris as the head of design at Belo Interactive in the late ninties/early aughties. He's also the co-author of We Media, an early influence of ours.)

Footnote is a digital archive and database of historical documents ranging from The Smithsonian Collection to stuff people have in shoeboxes in their attic. AND it allows users to freely annotate and comment on the documents.

Chris showed me their latest project, which absolutely blew my mind -- and made me really understand the value of all their work. They've created an interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial that allows you to browse, search and comment on all 58,320 names. And we're talking deep data like rank, specialty, religion, regiment, place of death and much more.

There are lots of search capabilities. For instance, here's the roster of people from Dallas. Here's all Texans.

The browse is equally amazing. They've managed to create a fast-loading Flash implementation of a full-size, high-resolution image of the wall. You have to see it to believe it.

April 30, 2008

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Interwebs not just for the whippersnappers

By Mike Orren

We often get a bum rap for being "just for the kids" due to our lack of traditional media distribution.

Always thrilled to get a message like this, which came from one of our advertisers this morning re: their Cinco de Mayo event:

"By the way, a Seniors Center in White Settlement saw the event listed and is bringing a busload of people from White Settlement to the West End for the event. An unexpected demographic, but welcome all the same. Cudos!!!!!!"

Rock on.

April 29, 2008

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Something's missing...

By Mike Orren

... on the homepage? Anybody notice what it is? Anybody care?

(Hint: One of our external features was breaking and we took it down for a bit. I wonder if she it will be missed?)

April 29, 2008

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Favoriting contest (speed round): Mayfest 2008

By Mike Orren

This weekend (if'n you count Thursday through Sunday as the weekend, like we do), Mayfest will be making its annual appearance in celebration of the Trinity River.

This is a fest that manages to mix local acts like Doug Burr, the Drams, the Killdares and Ken Turetzky with regional and national draws like the Gin Blossoms (yup, back around), The Gourds, The Derailers, Ian Moore and Kelly Willis. There's also lots o' stuff for the kids.

As a sponsor, we've got 14 tickets to give away, in pairs of two, to the first seven people who post a comment below indicating which band they're most interested in seeing. The first four who post and win will also get parking passes.

Note: Please make sure that the email address on your user account (required to post comment -- free and easy!) works if you want to win.

April 28, 2008

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