Comment / Question: Looks like each new blog entry gets just a little longer than previous one. This a trend you plan to continue? No. "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." --Mark Twain Have you heard about the UEN Rubric Tool? p.s. Found while looking for something else: English Idioms - Sayings and Slang

Publishing Online Transcripts

Back in June 1999, UEN and KUED began collaborating to publish an online transcript of the Governor’s Monthly News Conference. To be honest about it my first attraction to the idea was just to be able to pull it off technically. Then a fiscal benefit emerged. And benefits to media, staff, educators, students, stakeholders, and the general public.

Technically? So what’s so tricky about publishing an online transcript of a half-hour TV program? Don’t you just have someone transcribe the tape and the dump the transcript into a web page? Well, yes and no.

We have occasionally transcribed the tape in-house, but it is a tedious process and the person doing it has to set aside everything else for pretty much the rest of the day. Instead we “use the right tool for the job.” Voice-recognition software? Not yet, though it’s much more practical now than it was three years ago. Instead we send an audio feed from the 10 a.m. taping via telephone hybrid (a Gentner box) to a court reporter at her home. With a headset on her ears and her fingers on a stenographer’s keyboard she generates text at rates exceeding 100 words per minute.

We also send a second audio feed to an automated despostion system which works like a voice-mail with hours-long message capacity. She then checks her on-the-fly transcription against the digital recording in the automated system. We get the transcript via e-mail, match reporter names with reporter questions, check the document against the video tape, generate html and post to the web. On a good day the whole process takes about four hours.

Fiscal benefit? It is less expensive for us to produce the transcript than to buy an underwriting announcement on the program, so we get the value of being associated with the broadcast at a relatively low cost.

Media benefit? Print reporters can readily access extensive direct quotations of the Governor’s responses, and broadcast reporters can see their “sound bites” in a written form which speeds the editing process and provides context. And reporters do use it. On more than one occasion we’ve had media inquires asking, “Is the transcript ready yet?”

Benefits to staff, educators, students, stakeholders, and the general public? The immediacy and accessibility of the web, the objectivity of a full transcript, and the historical / research value of a permanent archive.

"The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787

Comment / Question: Interesting. This is the first I had heard of "Blogging". Are you certain this isn't some perverse act first done on television by "Monty Python? Actually, this may solve a business need I have.

p.s. Found while looking for something else: Recording Technology History

Comment / Question: I still can't quite figure out what "blogging" is, even after looking at the website. At your convenience, I need an explanation. Blogger.com puts it this way: “A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically—like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly—from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction. "Blog posts are like instant messages to the web. Many blogs are personal, "what's on my mind" type musings. Others are collaborative efforts based on a specific topic or area of mutual interest. Some blogs are for play. Some are for work. Some are both. ((<---That’s true of the RU-Blog, so far, anyway.)) "Blogs are also excellent team/department/company/family communication tools. They help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than email or discussion forums. Use a private blog on an intranet to allow team members to post related links, files, quotes, or commentary. Set up a family blog where relatives can share personal news. A blog can help keep everyone in the loop, promote cohesiveness and group culture, and provide an informal "voice" of a project or department to outsiders.” Today’s recommended UEN link: Heart Curricula A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
--Herm Albright p.s. Found while looking for something else: The McGurk Effect – What you see has a profound influence on what you hear. Online Demo.

In a former life, I occasionally hosted some radio talk shows (KSL’s Public Pulse and KALL’s Vital Issues–-both now defunct). When scheduled to moderate a program, I quickly became more alert to what was going on in the world. My curiosity intensified. I’d frequently ask myself: "How does this relate to what we're discussing tonight?" There wasn't a web to surf then, but I scanned newspapers and magazines for pieces of the puzzle, asked more questions of my colleagues, thought about things a little more deeply. In just two days of blogging I've noticed a return of that urgency. Perhaps it's not just deadline pressure, but also related to the explorer in all of us--the desire to discover, to test ourselves, to strive to see what's just beyond our vision. “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.” --Joan Didion Coming up this month on KULC & KUED: Marbury v. Madison. The case that changed the Supreme Court and established the doctrine of judicial review. First Comment on the RU-BLOG: "Bravo! Good thoughts. I look forward to reading more. I also look forward to the piece on Brian Wilson, although I've just glanced at it so far. p.s. Found while looking for something else: Campus Weather Forecast

Seems to me that blogging is often about growing. So this quotation felt like a good fit for my first entry: "If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children."
--Confucius UEN is all about educating children. And supporting teachers, administrators, technical staff, parents, library patrons, students of all ages, even people watching TV late at night (and wondering if there's something on the tube a little more enlightening than an infomercial.) These three words say much about our intent: Connect - Create - Collaborate. Thanks to Jim and Pete for encouraging me to blog! p.s. Found while looking for something else: What Brian Wilson was doing musically with Don't Worry Baby.