Of interactive narratives and home pages

One of my primary web design goals recently has been to convert my static Web 1.0 homepage at www.brettoppegaard.com into a Web 2.0 portal of interactive excitement (or at least to take a few steps in that direction). It has become a significant journey of personal, professional and technical growth.
It felt right to start where I did, essentially a summary page of what I offer online. But as I look around the Web, and I think about why anyone would bother to come to my pages, I think the homepage should be more interesting and informative and even a little bit of fun for users. So my concept has been developing along with my increased interest in the rise of mobile technology. I'm not an avid cellular phone user, but it seems absolutely clear to me that as cell phones -- particularly those like the touch pad iPhones, which don't require typing or even reading -- give virtually everyone easy access to the power of the Internet, the Web will soon be making another major leap in the market and become as Mark Weiser, former Chief Technology Officer of Xerox-PARC, once predicted, "ubiquitous." To pay homage to the power of the phone in our lives today, and where I think it's going in the future, I've designed my page around the phone metaphor, letting it dial into my space in various ways. I also think this would translate well to people who access my site via phone. I will post that soon, I hope. I want to continue to develop it through various buttons and gizmos, of course. In addition, I want to incorporate my continuing interest in storytelling and narrative construction, particularly interactive narratives. But this is at least the first step.
For direction, I look to Mark Stephen Meadows again and his passage on Ralph Koster, who served as the lead designer of Ultima Online, and who early on identified two distinct paths of interactive narrative. The first he called "impositional," the style of story design in which the creators maintain most of the control, giving users limited choices in which to complete a few different branching narrative arcs. The other style he calls "expressive." That is more like architecture, designed for use but also exploration. In that, the story creator sets up a framework and the user does the rest, including reaching self-determined goals and following user-controlled direction and pace.
Just as my homepage had to go from static to the next phase, I think it's properly evolutionary for me to aim for gaining some impositional experience first before reaching for the brass ring of expressive. Also, I'm not sure the purpose of my site, at least as I'm envisioning it now, responds as well to the expressive style as it does to the impositional outlook of: I'm going to give you some freedom to move around here and see different things. But I'm not trying to create an environment like a weak facsimile of "The Sims," either.
Speaking of "The Sims," video games and movie/DVD web sites right now are so far ahead of everyone else, I often find myself in awe of what they are accomplishing, particularly in comparison to the baby steps being taken by the news media, which could have just as much to gain, if not more, by the increased interest people have in information.
When a company like IonStorm, for example, calls its game, "Deus Ex Machina," or "God From the Machine," I begin to feel that I'm taking part in an almost spiritual awakening of humanity in our potential for intelligence and connection and worldwide partnerships, only at the same time realizing that most of the best ideas seem to be coming from the entertainment industry and most energy funneled in that direction, creating just more and more distractions and ways for people to escape reality. In the meantime, "real" news is withering under the spotlight in which Paris Hilton's hijinks compete head to head with local city council agendas, bringing to mind Neil Postman's prophetic book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." I'm quickly stepping off the soapbox, though, and getting back to the matter at hand, the homepage.
Another inspiration to me has been author Scott McCloud's, www.scottmccloud.com, use of the metaphor of a monitor as a window, into which we can see limitless possibilities, such as a comic on a rotating cube or covering a globe. I hope that before I'm done I can create something uniquely digital, not just something remediated, something that takes full advantage of these incredible tools we now have available in new and innovative ways.
During this redesign process, learning about the possibilities, I've also been immersed in the potential of the tools and how much work it can be to get oriented with those. I'll say, it's not like picking up a hammer and looking for something to strike. I recently bought Adobe's Creative Suite 4 (design edition), which includes Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Illustrator and InDesign. I also bought a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements. While I've dabbled in all of these before, or similar programs, the little quirks in each has taken a significant amount of time to learn, at least to use in the now more ambitious directions I'm taking. I began just by browsing the many, many free training videos on YouTube and around the web, and I have to say that I quickly learned you get what you pay for. Oy! Many of them are really terrible. Thankfully, though, Adobe gave me a 30-day membership to Lynda.com, and I've been impressed with the design and care and layout of that site. Extremely simple to navigate, and I have learned an incredible amount in a very short time period (although many of those hours have been stolen from my allotted few still assigned to sleep; I was up until 4 a.m. yesterday, paying for it today). My main emphasis recently has been on Flash and its ActionScript 3.0. I guess I naively thought that software today had become primarily point and click, but this one still needs a significant amount of coding. The possibilities, though, are amazing. I also have been delving into the world of public domain media -- images and sound and video -- to help supplement what I have, and I've been impressed with the growing amount of content available for such use. Which brings me to a couple of questions for you. What are your favorite places to get online software training (particularly if that can be had at no cost)? And where do you prowl around for public domain media? Please share any sites I should be visiting. Thanks!

Jakob Nielsen's column

Ran across this column today, and its backlog, which covers many interesting issues in web usability and design. It's put together by Dr. Jakob Nielsen, who calls it "Alertbox," and from what I've read so far, it appears to be aimed at a general audience, yet with enough detail to keep more techie readers engaged as well.

Searching for a metaphor

With my home page redesign due in less than a month, I seriously need to figure out how I'm going to reach my goal of making an interactive site out of what essentially is an online portfolio, blog and student hub for the classes I teach. How boring is that! ... So I'm turning again to Meadows in “Pause & Effect,” who describes the key stages of interaction: 1. Observation, 2. Exploration, 3. Modification and 4. Reciprocal change. He then later layers on the parallel storytelling stages of: 1. Fascination, 2. Captivation, 3. Investment and 4. Interest. With this site, I want visitors to get to know me (at least to a certain degree), and I want them to see what I've done and what I can do in this medium and others, including writing, publishing and teaching. For them to be even close to “fascinated,” though, I'm going to have to develop a much stronger entry point at www.brettoppegaard.com. Something abstract, yet something that sets an appropriate tone for what I'm going to deliver. Inspired by Meadows' look at perspective, I'm going to attempt to create an interactive portrait, so that the first thing someone sees at my home page is me looking right back at them. Only it won't really be me, exactly, more of a dynamic representation of me, or parts of me, that would encourage a visitor to explore and peer past this facade I've created and go inside my online space. While Meadows states most designers concern themselves only with outside-the-skull interactivity, (how long the page takes to load, etc.), I think my hesitation lies heavily on the inside-the-skull interaction, or what is this going to mean to the people who come to this site. If prospective employers look, what will they think? If my friends look, what reaction will they have? If strangers come by, how will they respond? It's almost a target audience issue, more than anything else. Since I'm asking this site to do a variety of things, and appeal to a variety of people, I'm having trouble visualizing an entry point that will satisfy (and intrigue) them all. I think it would be so much easier if I had a site set up just for prospective employers, and another one just for friends, and another just for my teaching, and another just for other interests I might have. Maybe that's my true solution, to turn brettoppegaard.com into nothing but a portal that sends people to different pages (while I can send them there directly, too, when I choose, and bypass the entry point), and then the work of consistency and focus can be left to those pages as they are designed for their uses. The input / output that Meadows describes, creating an interaction cycle, becomes difficult the more ways I'm pulling people, who probably won't be interested in more than one section of this site. I'm really struggling with that overlay, I suppose. Maybe it's the metaphor. Maybe it should be doors, like Meadows shows, and someone rings the doorbell of one door, and it opens to the portfolio. And maybe the next door opens to teaching. I'm starting to like that idea more and more. That would give me some input / output at the beginning, doors that people could open and shut or go into. I'll explore that idea as well in the next couple of weeks. And maybe think of similar metaphors. Like C.S. Lewis' wardrobe. Hmmm, I think I might be on to something. What else can be used as a portal? A pool of water, a hole, a cave, a closet, a phone line. How about a series of phones that are ringing, and the user can choose to answer one. Or just pick one up, like the Bat Phone, or the Red Phone, or whatever. With the way mobile computing is going, I think the phone will become even a stronger metaphor in years to come. There certainly are a lot of buttons on a phone, and these buttons could do a lot of things, input-output wise. Can I technically pull that off? That's a big question. And I'm not even in the ballpark yet of Meadows idea of an open system, versus a closed system, or, in other words, one that the user can change and improve. How about a ringing phone? The user clicks on the phone to answer it. That starts the adventure ... I'm going to work on that. Questions: To what degree does a person need to be a full-time web designer with years of programming experience to create a compelling and interactive page? Is it more about concept than coding, like someone shooting a fabulous movie entirely on a hand-held?

Another comic site to try, Pixton.com

FYI, my last post, related to comic-producing web sites, such as ComicLife, generated this response from Clive, creator of Pixton.com:

"I stumbled across your blog today and thought you might be interested in hearing about an innovative Web 2.0 learning tool.

Pixton.com is a website where you create comics without having to draw. It is a global community where people of all ages share, remix, and publish their ideas, opinions and stories. Read comics in over 40 languages, with our automatic translation by Google.

You can design every aspect of your character, and move it into any pose you want. All you have to do is click-and-drag to change or reposition any part of it - the creative and artistic possibilities are endless. Our language filtering system helps make Pixton a fun and safe place for all - from 6 to 106! Sign-up is free.

We also have a version specifically for educators. Pixton for Schools is a private virtual classroom for teachers and students (30-day free trial).

We welcome you and your colleagues to try Pixton and tell us what you think."

So I'm going to check it out. If you do, too, let me know how it works (or doesn't) for you,

- Brett

Where my homepage is headed (hopefully)

I'm working on a redesign of my homepage, BrettOppegaard.com that I hope eventually will make this entire site more engaging and dynamic for users (is anyone really out there?). It all starts at the homepage, I think, and if I can create an exciting entry point, like a great lede on a story, then the rest will follow naturally.

To begin with, I want to remove the artifice of third person and gradually transform the site into first person. Yes, it's true. There really aren't hundreds of people on staff working on this site day and night. The team actually consists of just me and the two cats who come in and out of my office to eat, drink and add to the environment's aroma.

But I want to have a concept to build the site around, to help guide the artistic decisions (doesn't that sound lofty?). Since my specialty as a writer is nonfiction narrative, and I've become a disciple of Mark Stephen Meadows now, after reading his book "Pause & Effect," a narrative approach feels completely natural. Yet my purpose for this site primarily is as a portfolio and student hub for the classes I teach. Can I really create a narrative based on that? That's the sort of fuzzy goal on the horizon. But I'm flummoxed by that as an end goal. Where does the path begin?

How about looking at some artist (including musician) sites that I think are well constructed, or at least interesting. It seems like they would have a similar dilemma in building an audience (and having an online purpose).

I found a list of the "top" rock band web sites at Modernrock.com, and there are many, many fascinating ideas at work on these pages.

Meadows states that our eyes naturally gravitate first to movement, then light, then color, and I'm really engaged by sites that open with a bit of film or something that seems to turn the page alive. I'm assuming these are done in Flash, but I'll have to look closer to figure out the technical aspects.

Here are a few that made me think "Wow!"

* The stark style and simplicity of this one, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers feels similar in tone to what I want to accomplish. I'd like it even better if that home page had the negative strips scrolling through the images. I want to have just a few choices on the home page, to get people where they want to go, basically either to my portfolio, my blog or to my classroom hubs (and someday to my great American novel page; Ha!).

* I don't care at all for this band, White Stripes, but this site really grabbed my attention (after getting past the memorial intro). I'm starting to think, too, that some music would be cool to have. Note to self: What kind of "creative commons" music is out there that would be a suitable soundtrack for my site?

* The Killers, who I don't know anything about, show how effective just a little bit of movement can be on a home page.

* I've seen the floating category titles on a few sites, like this one from Audio Slave. In some ways, that's kind of annoying, to have to chase a link. I don't think I want to do that. Here's another site that does it, too, but better BlenderBox.

* I like the huge photographs on this site by System of a Down. But I don't have any photos of my content (or ideas of taking anything) that are anywhere near that dramatic.

* Check out U2's studio. Effective use of a great photo.

OK, I'm getting tired of looking at white text on black backgrounds now. So let's look at a few sites related to artists.

Found a list of the recent winners of the Webbys, which pick the best web sites of the year, and really became fascinated with the construction of these: Mi Fu makes calligraphy look exciting, Edward Hopper brings action to ordinary paintings and Richard Serra demonstrates how menus can be installed in unusual ways.

Here's a really high quality film intro type of site, from Coca-Cola.

This one by Checkland Kindleysidesis so clean and pure, with the most delicate of movement, I'm in awe.

This menu screen from The Sims made me think I better start checking out what the video game industry is producing. But that's for another blog post.

Movement, and sound, yes, I want those. I definitely prefer a very simple homepage, too. With just a few options to start. And then those can unfurl from there.

Maybe a comic is the answer? Meadows mentions how powerful the abstraction of a character in comic form can be, noting successful sites such as Banja and Comic Chat. I used ComicLife to create my family's annual Christmas card this year, and the response was as enthusiastic as I've ever received. But should I, would I, become a cartoon? I'm not sure I can see that perspective integrating with my information sharing goals.

Meadows also states that the face gives off more information than anything else, and indicates the greatest amount of response. I've thought a wild collage that incorporates a portrait of me with more interesting imagery could be cool. The different parts also could serve as the menu tabs. I like that idea. Still needs a narrative frame and point of view, but there's something to that one, I think. But, as Meadows emphasizes, I need the metaphor to build upon, "the consistent relationship of symbols." That's what's holding me back.

To take it to the next step, the ultimate step, interactivity, is beyond my cone of vision right now. Maybe next week.

- Brett

Seminar on selling

Took a little adventure today. Know those come-on letters you get in the mail every so often that say, "Hear our short seminar, and we'll give you lunch and a gift, etc., with no obligation"? Every time I had received anything like that before I had recycled those without even opening the letter, but recently a company called Stores Online Express sent me one that promised to teach me about making millions on the Internet while I sleep. Actually, it only promised to teach me how to sell things better on the Internet (and quit my day job and live out my dreams ...), which I interpreted more broadly as making millions, particularly while I'm napping. Since I'm taking a class on online publishing, I thought it might be interesting to attend this sort of thing, and I've always wanted to go through the selling gauntlet (yeah, right), to see out of curiosity how I respond to the really hard sale by seasoned pros. I figured with the class as my conscience, I'd keep my wallet in my pocket.

Anyway, the seminar was held at one of the Vancouver area's finest hotels and conference centers, The Heathman Lodge, and lunch was included. So I figured I really couldn't lose. The opening slideshow of the seminar displayed a variety of figures and stats that were fascinating, only the slides moved so fast, I couldn't write down all of the info, including sources, which were listed on most of them.

Here's a few that caught my attention:

Top online activities: 1. Email, 2. Obtaining news, 3. Making a purchase. I was encouraged to read that of all of the Internet activity, news consumption was that high on the list. Maybe there is a future for media after all.

How long did it take for each medium to reach its first 1 million users? Radio = 50 years, television and others were listed, too, and then the Internet = Four years. There probably has never been a medium more quickly spread and adopted in all of human history, although I need to get more confirmation on this than these shabby notes, including a source.

Internet users in the world: 578 million in Asia, 384 million in Europe and North America was third, with a number I didn't catch, somewhere in the 200 million range, I think. I thought America would be way ahead on that one.

Market share of search engines: Google = 50 percent, Yahoo = 24 percent, MSN was third down in the low teens, I think. On this one, I really thought Google would have more of a market share in the 70s or higher. It seems like Internet searching can be communicated as Googling, or as Google this or that. Who Yahoos anymore? Probably the same people who email through AOL.

In short, the bulk of the seminar related to marketing web sites. The No. 1 problem with any site, I was told, is that no one knows about it, or people can't find it, or it's buried on page 36 of a Google search. Search Engine Optimization was stressed over and over again, and I think that's an important area to emphasize. Of course, Stores Online Express will help you with that service, for only $24.95 a month. Ha!

One other idea that was mentioned briefly, but I would like to know more about, is the concept of geo-targeting, or focusing on your local market. Yes, we all know that the web can reach anyone in the world. But what if you really don't need it to do that? What if you just want to reach the people that you can serve within a 30-minute drive or so? That's a concept I haven't heard many people talking about before. I think as the web gets more and more full of material (like it's not big enough as it is) that people will need more guidance to explore the vastness of the information. This sort of approach could be fruitful. I'll look into it more soon and post if I find anything of interest.

One great quote I gleaned from that opening slideshow, too, with no source noted, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've got." This was something different for me, for sure. And that was a good thing.

- Brett

A look into the future (from the past)

This is surreal to watch in retrospect: Newspapers of the future

Superintendent's Blog in progress

I met recently with the Camas School District superintendent, Mike Nerland, and the district's public information officer, Doreen McKercher, to discuss how I could help them with their Web site needs. Nerland has been wanting to start "a superintendent's blog," as this idea is gaining traction in his field as an effective and efficient way to communicate with constituents.

McKercher has been reading about blogging in the public relations field as well, and the two of them have been talking about doing this sort of project for a few weeks. Both expressed during our discussion the desire to have a blog that was easy for them to use and maintain as well as one that is easy for patrons to navigate.

From that point of view, I suggested that instead of using a more complex content management system, such as Drupal or NVU, we would use a standard template system from one of the leaders in the blogging field, Google's Blogger or WordPress, and also look into a similar online system that I ran across called Edublogs.org, a blogging system designed specifically for educators. In turn, I offered to create a detailed instruction manual for operation and maintenance, whichever direction we go.

I also offered to create three prototypes, one from each system, under these domain names:

camas.edublogs.org
camasschools.blogspot.com
camasschools.wordpress.com

They asked for a clean, simple and professional look to the blog. So even though this is going to be the "superintendent's blog," the intent clearly is for a formal presentation, not a window into his personal whims and interests. The hope, too, they said, is to make this the portal for the rest of the school district, which maintains a variety of sites of differing styles and quality level. The hope is that this could become the front porch of the district.

There are 3,200 households within the district and about 18,000 residents in this town, a close suburb to Portland, Ore.

We had some initial discussions about Internet 1.0 content, versus Internet 2.0 and beyond, and the district officials expressed hope that the interactive outreach could be moderated to keep discussions at a high level and about related topics.

In short, Nerland and McKercher want the blog to at least do a couple of basic things: Allow Nerland to communicate to people in the district and give people an online way to connect with him. We also talked about ways in which he could make this portal more personal and help users feel more comfortable in engaging with him and his ideas.

Those are all things that need to be worked out, I suppose. At this point, though, I'd say they are comfortable with the 1.0 sharing of information, and we'll have to keep talking about more 2.0 concepts. I'll keep you updated on those developments.

To begin with, I plan to set up the pages with a few standard elements:

* Superintendent bio
* Blog
* Contact information
* Links to other Camas School District sites
* RSS feed
* Archives

From there, we have a variety of options to consider. They would like to try a podcast, incorporating it as a "storytelling" moment for the superintendent, about someone interesting he has met in the district, or some new program, or whatever. They would like to post documents, press releases and project information and budgets and the like. They would like to post slideshows of appearances Nerland makes at various school events. We'll see how much we can get done.

Question: Any of you out there have any opinions on which of the three systems (Blogger, WordPress and Edublogs) works best for this sort of thing? And why?

- Brett

Obama - Communication, Transparency and Participation

The George W. Bush debacle finally has ended (although we'll be feeling the hangover for years, I'm sure). President Obama already has taken many important symbolic steps to restoring the honor and integrity of our nation, including promising to close the Guantanamo Bay "detention center." One other announcement that should be celebrated is this blog posting by Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House:

Change has come to the White House

In that missive, Obama promises a government in the future that offers timely and in-depth information about legislation and administration of our country. Through modern technology, he also commits to creating a new level of participation through such devices and the most open and transparent administration in history. Hurray!

I also read recently Wired magazine's piece on Obama and the ways in which he embraces technology (Wired magazine's piece on Obama), which raised many insights into the challenges Obama faces in implementing this grand plan of openness.

That starts with the federal government's 24,000 independent web sites, many of which are out of date or abandoned, the do-nothing bureaucrats that generally inhabit many of our public institutions and the red tape (even if that initially was well-intentioned) that has become obsolete as the Internet has evolved and rules of public discourse have changed. In short, this is going to be as daunting of a task as turning around the economy, especially after eight years of driving hard the opposite direction. It's a bit like looking up at the peak of Mount Everest. But, especially from my perspective as a journalist, this is a critical and fundamental shift that will be difficult at first but pay massive dividends to democracy in the long run.

If the country's true goal was autocracy or disenchantment of everyone but the wealthy and elite, as it appeared to be the past eight years, this would not be a priority. If the goal is to become the world's beacon of democracy -- what we claim we want -- there is no higher calling than doing public business in the public's eye and letting the will of the people dictate our direction and let an open-source form of government blossom. It will be messy, of course, but fantastically worthwhile. Can you imagine this idea Obama has that the public could go online and comment on public legislation before it goes through the political pipeline? Wow!

That said, I'm not sure exactly how this Web. 2.0 approach will work with government. It's tedious enough with our representatives trying to get things done, let alone someone having to sift through in that process 14,000 variations of "ths law totlly suks!!!" It still will be just a slice of the population engaged. But that slice is bigger than what was involved before. Once the growing pains are overcome, I think we will be much better off with this approach.

One key statement I heard from Obama recently was that even though public disclosure of information may legally be withheld, by technicalities in the law, even under the Freedom of Information Act, he wants public servants to instead err on the side of disclosure and only keep things confidential that absolutely must be protected, say in the name of national security. This is a major mind shift for most of the public servants I have interacted with over the years, who seem to protect public information like it's a form of job security.

If only the newspaper industry wasn't imploding right now, I'd forecast a renaissance of investigative journalism under such a mandate. As it is, I'm afraid this new window might just open (and maybe close) without people reaping the many benefits ... or even noticing. Certainly those with pet issues will take advantage of these opportunities, and if the government kept closing down its information pipelines, I fear that democracy in this country might exist only in name. But maybe with this new approach by the government, new media can take advantage and go beyond the current state of celebrity gossip and weather coverage and establish that watchdog journalism can live in the 21st century. For the sake of us all, I hope so.

Questions I have: Will this new push by Obama for transparency and an open government get support and be well-received? Or will this extremely important philosophical shift in our federal government get lost amid the bailouts and gas prices and wars and collapsing economy? Is transparency an attainable goal at the federal level? All it takes is one insecure bureaucrat somewhere in the line to shut things down. I'd make it a termination-level offense for failure to properly administer a FOIA request. That might get some attention.

"Pause and Effect" and Texas Tech

My doctoral studies at Texas Tech University officially have begun, and that's especially good news for the blog here at brettoppegaard.com. My first class is focused on online publishing, under the direction of Dr. Rich Rice, and one of my regular assignments is to make blog posts. So here they come.
We are reading “Pause and Effect” by Mark Stephen Meadows, and I have to say, once I started this book, I couldn't wait until the next chance I had to read more. The writing is clear and straightforward, and the design is fascinating. If I can use this word in an academic environment, I'd call it breezy. Yet full of interesting and complex ideas. Meadows maintains that in the context of storytelling, perspective is the only thing that exists. Which makes me think back to Tom Wolfe's four classic techniques of narrative writing: 1. Scene by scene construction. 2. Status life (details in the writing that serve as symbols of status) 3. Extended dialogue, and 4. Point of view.

Point of view is particularly difficult to use in nonfiction writing, I think, because of the inability to really get inside someone else's head, making the writer always wonder if truth really is being conveyed. It's also hard to stay focused on that point of view when telling a story, because there are so many other interesting perspectives pulling the writer in different directions as the action unfolds. Yet, I've found that switching point of view, or at least very much, can be extremely disorienting to readers and cause meaning and details to get lost in that haze. So a stable point of view, in my opinion, is important at least as a reference point.
Meadows makes the assertion that the development of the modern story-making technologies -- and the idea that all of us now have stories to tell and can freely tell them, at any moment, to everyone -- gives power to the concept of interactive narrative. And that style of storytelling gives power to the reader as much or more than the author, at least in the best case scenario. Instead of Wolfe's four building blocks, Meadows says the plot of interactive narrative gets constructed on foreground, background, context and decision. The reader decides what to do, and how to do it, in that setting, and the more freedom (combined with some sense of purpose, I would hope) that's left with the reader of an interactive narrative, the more engaged they feel. The more engaged and invested, the more attention will be paid to the narrative. The more attention, the higher the reputation is built. All of this building toward the ultimate satisfaction, whatever that is, in the minds of everyone involved. Whether that means selling more stories, or breaking free from a mundane life, or teaching and learning, the abstractness of this approach is a fabulous goal. But it also seems to me that an interactive narrative must have purpose, not a purpose, but purpose in general, or why bother? We tell stories for a reason. Or, better yet, for reasons. And maybe the reader makes up their own reasons, too, but something has to be gained from the endeavor. Meadows notes that there are no plots to a Microsoft Excel document, and that makes them a very weak form of narrative (company starts, company doesn't make money, company closes), or maybe not even a narrative at all (Wolfe, I suspect, would retch at the thought of such a thing being classified as narrative).
Which brings us back to Meadows contention that all storytelling is perspective. I recall the anecdote of a city editor who once took his cub reporter to a large window in their skyscraper office, which overlooked the cityscape. The editor waved his hand out over the scene and said, “There are a million stories out there ... and most of them are crap. Go out and find the great ones!” Or something like that. Interactive narrative, like any other kind of narrative, has to have something compelling about it to succeed, I believe. It can't be just hoop jumping, of course. But it also can't just be pretty. It can't just be expansive. Even "The Sims" and "EverQuest" have significant storyline moments that exist, and perspectives to follow, without which I doubt either would have been successful. The balance has to come from meshing the aspects of interactive narrative, providing the environment and context but also some story engine inside of it that makes the exploration worthwhile.

Questions this raises: What role, if any, does perspective and storytelling have on portfolio-like home pages or classroom blogs? Can these ideas, which I agree are at the highest level of storytelling techniques, be used in every case? I've had this argument many times about nonfiction journalism, and I think narrative techniques can be used in just about every situation. That makes me think this is the case here, too, but I just haven't been able to get my mind around that yet. Anyone found any examples of a professional home page that reads like a story? That's what I'd like to do.

Redesigns coming

Motivated by my online publishing class at Texas Tech, I'm planning to redesign at least one and maybe more of the pages here at brettoppegaard.com, starting with the home page. As the changes come, let me know what you think. And while you are at it, let me know what else is working or not working for you on this site.

- Brett, brett@brettoppegaard.com

History of the Internet

No Al Gore but a lot of interesting detail, shown in a simple graphic way, about what happened to get us this far. ...

History of the Internet

American Film Institute's Top 100

For about the past two years, I've been steadily watching films off the 2007 American Film Institute list of the Top 100 U.S. movies, and I've finally seen them all. The last one for me, by the way, was "Bringing Up Baby," a romantic comedy from the late 1930s starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. "Baby," it turns out, is a little leopard that distracts the audience while Hepburn desperately tries to woo Grant. Forgive the lame segue, but this film-watching process has felt a bit like birthing, at least in its duration. Most of the movies were at least worthwhile, though, and I highly recommend this sort of list approach to anyone, like me, who can't ever seem to find anything to watch at the video store. I discovered many fantastic films on the list that I probably never would have seen otherwise. Those include: "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "Raging Bull," "Network," "Some Like It Hot" and "Gone With the Wind."

My least favorites: "The Searchers," "High Noon," "Dr. Strangelove," "A Night at the Opera" and "Annie Hall."

On my list, the No. 1: "The Wizard of Oz."

Although I love many of the films on this list -- including "Citizen Kane," "The Godfather," "Star Wars," "The Sound of Music," "West Side Story," "Cabaret," "The Sixth Sense," "Pulp Fiction," "Toy Story" and the ones listed above -- "The Wizard of Oz" best captures in my mind the mysterious magic of film making, when the process of character and plot development perfectly complements the imagery and the journey of the viewer to a very special place.

Next, I'm going to look back at the original list, from 1997, and see what films were dropped off in 2007. I'll view those efforts, too, and consider what changes I would make to the overall list, then report back.

Tempted to write in dialect phonetically?

Read this piece by Roy Peter Clark of Poynter first:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&aid=144098

Tom Robbins at the Seattle PI

If you didn't catch the Seattle PI series involving collaboration with a dozen top Northwest writers, such as Robbins, here's a funny snippet from it:



And here's a link to the entire 2007 series:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/writers/

Discussion with Anne Lamott

Just read Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." Many inspiring passages. Also found this lengthy video discussion with her.

Lewis Black on writing a book

If you think you could (or should) write a book, listen to this first, then decide if you still have the courage. Ha!

Six-Word Journalism Mottos

Ran across this clever little contest for short journalism mottos, hosted by the Poynter Institute. Here are the Top 10:

* Doing more with less since 1690. Ken Fuson, Des Moines Register
* We'll always have Paris ... or Britney -- Jim McPherson, Whitworth University
* It's how I change the world. -- Nick Escobar, The Elgin (Ill.) CourierNews
* Get it right, write it tight. -- Margaret McDonald, McDonald Wordsmith Communications
* They'll miss us when we're gone. -- Scott Powers, Patrick McGeehan, Matthew Jones, John Davenport
* Feed the lapdog, euthanize the watchdog -- Roy Peter Clark
* Who, what, when, where, why, Web -- Greg Phillips, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
* Facts, schmacts ... how is my hair? -- Kathy Sweeney, anchor/investigative reporter, Heartland News
* Dirty commie latte-sipping liberal scum -- Ryan Kelly, Christopher Newport University
* Please stop griping, now start typing. -- Jeff Unger, University of Illinois


And the honorable mentions:

* We're sorry about all the trees -- Ken Fuson
* We checked: Our mother still loves us -- Ken Fuson
* Stop the presses! Oh, you did. -- Jim McPherson
* Information you can trust until tomorrow -- Jim McPherson
* No news is not good news -- J. David Knepper and Leah Etling
* Black and white, but not green enough -- Robert Timmons
* How many inches is the truth? -- Casey Bartels
* Got stry – will txt u asap -- Lynn McMahon
* Seek the truth, not the money -- Angele' Anderfuren
* Not tonight, dear. I'm on deadline -- Christopher Ortiz
* We don't make this shit up -- Deb Sutton
* Writers' block is on Fleet Street -- Anand Raj
* Dead wood floats. So can we -- Ray Martinez
* A journalist's work is never done -- Randy Rogers
* If we go, who will know? -- Steve Riley
* History's first version, updated every minute -- Rebecca Jones
* Five Double You and One Age (Quinque Bi Tu Et Unum Aetas) -- Sebastian Moraga
* We break stuff. Like the news -- Ryan Kelly
* Critical thinking? We outsourced to India -- Dennis Alchemist
* It beats working for a living -- Jim Naughton
* Speak truth to power, or else -- Peter Gates
* Journalistic bias? There’s no stinking bias! -- Tim Owens
* Journalism lives where the truth lies -- Daneja Kirkland
* But this IS my day job! -- Mike Gruss
* We won't bore you with context -- Lois M. Collins
* News now: We'll fix it later -- Lois M. Collins
* Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy! No, seriously. Accuracy! -- Tim Schulte
* Every silver lining has a cloud -- David Vossbrink
* Must be readable on the crapper! -- Michael Sweeney
* Eye on the ball; ear on the ground -- Peter Dannenberg
* Mainstream media: We’re your grandfather’s blog -- Jim McPherson
* Filling the space between the ads -- Jim McPherson
* Write the truth between the lines -- Lynn McMahon
* Ding dong, the print is dead -- Russel Nichols
* There's a period key. Use it. -- Dan Close
* Journalism: Sizing down, so bottom's up! -- Matthew Cate
* Pyramids to blogosphere, and everywhere in between -- Bill West

What to look for in an agent

Harold Underdown, the author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books," has posted an impressive new section on his web site about literary agents:

Underdown about agents

A model for future journalists

Tom French, one of America's most interesting and accomplished journalists, takes readers/viewers behind the scenes of a zoo in ways that should inspire practitioners about the potential future of journalism:

Tom French's zoo

Kurt Vonnegut's advice on writing short

One of my favorite authors, giving great writing suggestions.

Joyce Carol Oates on creating characters

Insights from Oates about finding your characters.

Journalism of yesteryear

Some fascinating images and hilariously dated ideas about the craft.

Helping people find your site on the Web

Here's a great resource about search-engine optimization:

SEO book

What can the new journalism do?

How about embedding information at specific places using bar codes and cell phones?

San Francisco already is doing this

Imagine being in a city, walking down a row of restaurants, and being able to instantly access reviews from the last 10 customers of each place. That's news you can use.

How Web 2.0 began to change everything

Wonder what Web 2.0 is? How we've come so far so fast in terms of information delivery? This short video provides an entertaining overview.

The Information R/evolution

A quirky video overview of the changes to information delivery in recent years:

A new story form?

The Internet is going to bring us many interesting new forms of nonfiction storytelling, if we pay attention to the possibilities. Here is one intriguing model being developed through blogs by Josh Benton, a Nieman fellow.

23 great places to look for writing gigs

Here are some great resources, via:

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/23-places-to-find-freelance-writing-jobs-and-freelance-blogging-jobs/

23 Places to find freelance writing jobs and freelance blogging jobs

I don’t do this too often, but every now and then I offer up a list of places to search for freelance writing jobs. Today, I’m expanding that to include freelance blogging jobs. I hope that now that you know where I look, you won’t abandon us here!

Behold:

23 places to find freelance writing jobs and freelance blogging jobs.

1. Freelance Writing Jobs - We are the number one freelance writer community online. How cool is that?
2. About Freelance Writing - Anne Wayman’s awesome resource includes leads three times a week. I’ve been talking to Anne about trading some guests posts and collaborating on some things. She’s good people and looks out for writers. Also visit her blog The Golden Pencil.
3. Problogger - Darren Rowse’s blog about blogging features a job board filled with blogging gigs. I found a few great gigs here.
4. Performancing - In addition to checking out our job board, check out some great articles and forum posts about blogging.
5. Craigslist - Don’t laugh. Craigslist is an amazing resource. I found one of my biggest corporate clients on Craigslist. Just be sure to keep a wary eye out for scams and people who want something for nothing.
6. Indeed - Try this job search engine to narrow down your search. Better yet, use the Indeed search box in the sidebar to the right.
7. Writers Weekly - I found my first freelance writing gig through Angela Hoy’s list at Writer’s Weekly.
8. Freelance Writing - Though this is a haven for extremely low paying jobs, you might find a gem or two.
9. Blogger Jobs - A blog listing blogging jobs and bloggers looking for jobs.
10. Poe War - A daily stop for freelance writing and blogging jobs and advice.
11. BlogHer -I found my gig with Oxygen Media here. Occasionally you’ll find some very cool stuff.
12. Gawker - A very cool list of “New Media” opportunities. Many of these jobs pay very well.
13. Media Bistro - If the big magazines and newspapers are hiring freelancers, you’ll find it here.
14. WAHM - Lists several telecommuting jobs, including freelance writing and blogging jobs, a few times a week.
15. Freelance Switch - Jobs for all sorts of freelancers including writers, bloggers and web stuff.
16. Telecommuting-Writing Jobs - One of the regulars, Amy Derby, has created a resource for telecommuters including freelance writing jobs.
17. Sunoasis Jobs -A regularly updated job lis. I haven’t had any luck here, but you might!
18. Absolute Write - Occasionally lists jobs in their forum.
19. Journalism Jobs - Plenty of freelance writing jobs.
20. All Freelance Writing Jobs - Lists freelance writing jobs a few times a week.
21. Writer Find - Sometimes has decent jobs.
22. Freelance Blogging Jobs - A great list of blogging gigs.
23. Freelancing for Blogs - This is a new one for me, but I’ll be checking it out more often.

I hope you’ll still come back!!

A response you don't want from an editor

This David Mitchell and Robert Webb comedy sketch illustrates the writer-editor tango, in a painfully comical way.