RIP Storify

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The Storify logo appeared to be an “S” or was it begin and end single quotes? Storify is at an end.

For the past seven-plus years, I’ve made 34 Storify stories by combining posts from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to tell stories in different ways. At the time I started, it felt like a great possibility for storytelling in general (check out this Storify) and the future of journalism in particular.

Storify will come to an end on May 16, 2018—and so will access to all the stories people created over the years.

So here’s a look back before it leaves.

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#tbt What’s your blues name?

Just call me Bad Boy Jailhouse Washington, at least that’s my name according to a chart that’s floating around Facebook lately.

Here it is:

So what’s your blues name?

A short history of Twitter

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2006: The first tweet: just setting up my twttr

2007: Twitter finds users: Everyone at SXSW is doing it, and now #hashtags

2008: Barack Obama blows up Twitter: #YesWeCan

2009: Finding followers becomes a thing followuback #ff fun

2010: One of the most popular accounts becomes @shitmydadsays (it later becomes a short-live sitcom starring William Shatner)

2011: Political activism found a voice in #ArabSpring

2012: Clickbait tweets arrive and you won’t believe what happens next (remember seeing tweets like this? They’ve all but disappeared)

2013: Twitter adds photos, and the #Oreo Cookie Superbowl power outage may have been the greatest of the year

2014: Then came Ellen Degeneres and the famous #OscarSelfie

2015: #LoveWins

2016: Remember when people thought 2016 was the worst year EVAH!

2017: We don’t need 280 characters to say “WE’RE ALL DOOMED!!!”

#518Day in the News

Happy-518DayThank you to The Daily Gazette and Saratogian for highlighting the #518Day social media campaign slated for Thursday, May 18

What is #518Day? Learn more about it on this page.

 

Where I’ve Been: Part 1 — Making a Website

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Hello (again) world.

For the past eleven months I’ve been working on creating a new website at my day job at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College. Not that I’ve created it. The design firm Linked By Air (which is awesome) did the design and development work. Everyone on staff at the museum pitched in with ideas, research, and content. I just helped to shepherd the thing through. The site launched last month. You can find it at: http://skidmore.edu/tang.

My goals going in were (1) bigger images, (2) responsive design, and (3) social sharing.

Linked by Air sought to emphasize the museum as (1) a contemporary art museum, (2) a museum with a growing collection, (3) an institution that is a model for college teaching museums.

The “teaching museum” aspect, I find, often requires explanation. The first question I got from a journalist just last week went something like: Do you find that your mission as a “teaching museum” limits what you can exhibit?

The short answer is no. The longer answer involves explaining that the museum’s mission is central to the college’s liberal arts mission. I often say that the museum itself is the realization of the college’s liberal arts ideals. That realization manifests itself in many practical ways, through various levels of museum use by staff and faculty in all departments, including visits to exhibition or to select objects in the collection; “study exhibitions,” in which a class helps develop and research work in an exhibition; and interdisciplinary exhibitions curated by the museum and members of the college faculty.

So, yes, my last post was more than two months ago, but in that time I’ve been hunkered down (mostly — more tomorrow in Part 2) on the new website. How well the new site meets its goals, I’ll leave for you to discover. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Thank you, Internet, for today’s victory

The problem: Remote-car starter appears nonfunctional after having my dead battery replaced

The solution: The remote-car starter company’s FAQ

Time on task: 10 minutes to look things up on the Internet; less than a minute to implement

Lesson: This remains one of the best gifts from my wife

Pinterest updates terms of service

In recent weeks, lots of people have joined Pinterest. That includes the Times Union at http://www.pinterest.com/timesunion. But the sites terms of service had people scared about content ownership, copyrights and legal ramifications.

Now Pinterest has announced it is changing its TOS, especially by eliminating the part that said it could sell your content. That should make users happy.

Here’s the text of the email:

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