Content farm spoof hits its mark

April 29, 2011 Editor Bit of fun content farmingpublishing

Content farming, as a web-based business model, is going through a tough time. Increased scrutiny from media critics and frustrated web users is targeting sites like Mahalo, which had to significantly decrease its staff after Google made its algorithm change, and the various online properties owned by Demand Media. Some people also include the Huffington Post amongst the web's most popular content farms, but others argue it's not, due to all the original content their unpaid bloggers — and, to be fair, their staff of full-time writers and editors — produce.

Sites like About.com, one of the most-cited examples of content farming, are ripe for parody, with articles like "What is Bromance?" and "Top 11 Conversation Killers for Atheists." And, so, here comes The Content Farm, a site put together by The Bureau Chiefs, the people behind the popular Fake AP Stylebook twitter account and the book Write More Good.

If you're curious about "How to Know If You Have Back Pain" or "How to Judge Other Parents," The Content Farm has answers. Prepare to waste some serious time on this site.

What can Storify do for freelancers?

April 28, 2011 Editor Journalism aggregationdigitalsocial mediastorify

In this post on tech blog GigaOM, Mathew Ingram discusses the recently launched application Storify, which gives users a simple way to collect content from their various social media feeds (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc.) and turn them into a single news feed.Ingram's post focuses on the threat that services like Storify pose to mainstream media…

A call for federal support for writers’ and arts workers’ benefits plans

April 27, 2011 Editor News actra fraternalbenefitsgetting paidsusan swanwriters' coalition benefits program

In the video above, Susan Swan, novelist, journalist, and former chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, discusses the Writers’ Coalition Benefits Program, which offers affordable drug, health, and dental care insurance to writers.The Writers' Coalition's latest initiative, coinciding with the federal election, is a campaign to get Ottawa to…

May Day event: Screenings of two silent films about labour

April 26, 2011 Editor Event eventfilmrevue cinemaunion organizing

What better way to mark May Day this year than with two classic silent films about labour struggles? At the Revue Cinema, Silent Toronto presents Sergei Eisenstein's Strike (1921), to be preceded by Charlie Chaplin's short film Work (1915); both films will feature live piano accompaniment by William O'Meara.The event is part of the Revue Cinema's…

Re-evaluating HuffPo’s unpaid bloggers

April 25, 2011 Editor News aoldigitalfreelancer ratesgetting paidhuffington posttrouble spots

On his Mixed Media blog at Forbes.com, Jeff Bercovici offers a new angle to consider in the recent lawsuit that unpaid writers have brought against the Huffington Post and AOL.Bercovici starts off by acknowledging that, in terms of ad revenue, US$105 million is too high a value for the bloggers' work, but he builds a good case for why their writing…

Just the facts: tips on identifying and fixing errors

April 21, 2011 Editor Advice accuracyadviceerrorsindustry standardssurvey

Sure, we all "regret the error," but how interested are we in rooting out inaccuracies from the stories we write each day and in preventing future mistakes? Jonathan Stray, journalist and computer guy, has written a comprehensive post on his blog about accuracy and error reporting in journalism, and he offers some interesting solutions to reverse…

Greek journalists — all of them — go on strike

April 20, 2011 Editor Journalism collective actiongreece

Since the Greek government undertook austerity measures to begin to deal with its cripping debt, strikes in the country have become a regular occurrence. While we over in North America are used to the idea of work stoppages in areas like education, garbage collection, postal services, and transit, the idea of the entire country's media going on…

Sun News Network: the Right stuff

April 19, 2011 Editor Bit of fun broadcastingsun news networktwitter

Yesterday, some unsuspecting late-afternoon channel surfers were likely puzzled by the sudden appearance of the Sun News Network on their screens. It sprang into action at 5 p.m. (after a half-hour preview), just in time to greet 9-to-5ers, still angry from their long commutes home and primed for the pundits' right-leaning rants.The long-term…

Arianna Huffington responds to lawsuit

April 14, 2011 Editor Journalism arianna huffingtonfreelancer rateshuffington posttrouble spots

In a post on her own site, Arianna Huffington takes time out from "aggregating adorable kitten videos" to discuss the $105 million lawsuit that Jonathan Tasini is pursuing against the Huffington Post and AOL on behalf of 9,000 unpaid HuffPo writers.Huffington's tone is entirely dismissive: "First, let's look at the merits of the case," she writes.…

A misguided tactic with its heart in the right place

April 13, 2011 Editor Compensation aolcollective actionhuffington postjonathan tasinilawsuittrouble spots

Writer and trade unionist Jonathan Tasini has fought and won battles on behalf of freelance journalists in the past. But his lawsuit against Arianna Huffington and AOL, launched yesterday, seems as likely to alienate current supporters of unpaid Huffington Post bloggers as it does to get more people on their side.Tasini is asking for US$105…