I’m currently rereading Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky, a must-read for any journalist who wants to remain employable/understand what the hell is happening to our profession. The book chronicles how Web 2.0 technologies are revolutionizing our world and the way we socialize with one another via these technologies.

As a journalist, it’s humbling to learn how journalism was conducted, produced and distributed long before computers. While technology has made our industry so efficient, it’s also the same beast that is hurting us today. As I watched the video before, I tried to imagine where we would be as an industry if we still had to use the Gutenberg printing press. Interesting thought. And for all you Radiohead lovers out there, enjoy the music…

KLUGE from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

I overheard the following comment the other day regarding social media: “Personally, I think those things are just fads.”

The comment came from a fellow journalist, and I couldn’t help but think that this person is a) living in an alternate reality, and b) may soon find themselves without a job.

This is a promo video I created for the new Chicago Home + Garden redesign (May/June 2009 Issue). New logo, new look, better magazine.

Frequenters of elizabethnicoleriley.com will notice that the site looks unusually bright and different from its previous look. I woke up this morning and realized that my site didn’t represent my personality, so I sought to change that. I hope you enjoy the update. And those of you who actually know me, I hope you think this new theme is an adequate representation of me, Elizabeth Nicole Riley.

Town Travis stole it from Current Supernews.

Over the last few weeks I’ve seen this commercial for the Knowledge Generation Bureau at least 10 times. Clearly their advertising strategy worked because I went to their site www.kgb.com and as far as I can tell they are just a sleeker version of Wikipedia but with less information. I tested out their search function and this is the message I got:
Who Unplugged the servers to charge their phone again?

Someone forgot to feed the running hamsters that power the site (we’re Green like that). Don’t worry. We’ve ordered more food. …