Notorious content farmers Demand Media (read up on them here) issued a press release recently, announcing they are creating new roles for feature writers, through their "content creation studio," that will provide content for their online properties eHow.com, typeF.com and Livestrong.com. These features will "incorporate original reporting,…
[caption id="attachment_953" align="aligncenter" width="544" caption="Screengrab from the This covers archive."][/caption]Whether you've read it, written for it, or, gasp, have done neither, This Magazine's collection of 45 years' worth of cover designs is worth browsing. From the very first This Magazine is About Schools in April 1966 up to its…
This is the first in a series of posts by the Born Freelancer that will share personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments.Sooner or later it's a question that will confront every freelancer lying awake at 3 a.m.: "Why oh why didn't I become an…
Not long ago, Mark Danner and Gerry Marzorati had an exciting conversation at the Berkeley School of Journalism, in which they tossed around the idea of creating a "hive" for long-form journalists. Now, a short time later, that call is being taken up by digital-publishing innovators, both in the U.S. and in Canada, who are aiming to change the…
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression presents Access Denied, a panel discussion on the state of access to information in Canada, on May 10. Hosted by Anna Maria Tremonti, of CBC Radio’s The Current, the event's panellists include the Canadian Press's Ottawa deputy bureau chief, Dean Beeby; former Information Commissioner John Reid; and Paula…
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…
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…
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…
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…
