New York Times Text Messages

A couple of weeks ago, during the presidential elections, I logged on to the New York Times' text messaging feature, and requested that the latest news be texted to me.

I expected to get an immediate update as soon as the presidential candidate had been announced, instead I received three text messages back to back shortly after signing up.

The first message read, "Live Blogging Election Night", the second message read, "Covering the Coverage" and the third read, "Polls  Begin Closing in Final Hours of Epic Campaign".

Following these three text messages, I never received the big news of who had become our new president, instead I had to surf the internet to find out which of the two candidates had won.

As a matter of fact, three weeks later, I have yet to receive another text message from the New York Times, maybe they just forgot about me.

The Fight Against Global Warming Faces a New Enemy

All over the world, the threat to jobs, profits and government tax revenues posed by the financial crisis has cast doubt on commitments to cap emissions or phase out polluting factories.

According to the New York Times, the on-line article, Economic Slump May Limit Moves on Clean Energy, states that the combat in global warming and the plans to wean businesses and consumers from utilizing fossil fuels, may have come to a stand still, due to a poor global economy and plunging prices of coal and oil. 

However, according to the NY Times, President Barack Obama and the European Union have vowed to stick to their commitments to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and invest in new green technologies.

However, even with the input of the new US President and that of European Union, the financial crisis has rippled across the nation, affecting other powerfull nations such as Europe and Asia.

It's unlikely that other leaders will join to support Obama's and the European Union's cause to combat global warming.

Miami Herald's Fun Approach in this Season's Event Calendar

The Miami Herald featured an interestingly different if not fun way of utilizing a graphic to share this seasons special events and must be places.

The featured graphic, The Season, targets one special event per month, such as the Miami Book Fair International in November and Art Basel in December.

The graphic introduces the reader what there is to see and where to be seen in the next upcoming months. Each graphic is accompanied with a small synopsis of what to wear during these events, as well as several photographs of suggested attire.

Also included in the graphic is a small synopsis of the event and its history, as well as a basic itinerary of each event.

The graphic is definitely more engaging than some boring timeline or a list of events listed under each month. The only kink with the graphic is the loading time for it to materialize on the user's screen.

However, it's frustrating that the graphics on the Miami Herald do not give the user the option of sharing it's content with others, in-contrast to their shareable videos or photo slideshows.

City of Coral Gables Agrees on the University of Miami to Pay Impact Fees

In a unanimous vote by Coral Gables Commissioners, the University of Miami has been added to the impact-fee ordinance that was passed in 2007.

Due to the planned expansion of the school, UM has been included in Coral Gables' program to mitigate traffic issues and increase cost of providing service due to growth.

According to Miami Herald's article, University of Miami to start paying Gables for increased burden, the City of Coral Gables had tied up UM's campus area development plan for two years while it tried to negotiate an agreement that would give UM more leeway to build in its inner core and provide the city with an impact fee to reduce the institution's impact on adjacent neighborhoods.

The article also stated that the University of Miami will have to start paying to fund road and infrastructure improvements, once the plan has been approved.

The Miami Herald Reviews the Blackberry Storm

                                                    

The above video is part of the Miami Herald's 60-second reviews featuring Bridget Carey's brief synopsis of Verizon's BlackBerry Storm cell phone.

Her short videos give insight into the newest little gadget that lands on the market.  She makes sure to state the perks of the gadget as well as the kinks.

For instance, Carey states that the Storm's touch screen is easy to use and understand, since one has to apply pressure on the screen as if clicking a real button, thus making an accidental selection almost impossible.  

However, some of the Sorm's flaws include the occasional longer processing time to open a command and that it does not have as big as a selection of applications as the IPhone or the Teen Mobile G1.

Traffic Light Cameras in South Florida

Traffic light cameras are slowly infiltrating South Florida, and with that the fear that Big Brother will be watching.  While it is said that these cameras will increase intersection safety, some believe that the true purpose of these cameras, is to generate revenue for cities.

According to the article, Red-light cameras may get green light in Hollywood, featured in the Miami Herald, roughly half a dozen South Florida cities have installed red-light camera systems, and others including Fort lauderdale and Miami are considering them.

In Hollywood, city commissioners are thinking of endorsing these cameras that would allow police to fine violators $125 for ignoring red lights at some of the selected intersections. However, at the price of $50,000 per intersection, are these red-light cameras worth the cost, when most cities are already facing budget cuts?

While the use of these cameras could influence drivers to stop at red-lights, thus eliminating accidents caused by red-light runners and freeing police officers to focus on other more important tasks, the Big Brother privacy concern remains an important issue.

In reality the use of these cameras might be no different than the government having tabs on your whereabouts through your cell phone, you would drive down the streets, knowing that someone was watching you and monitoring everyplace you would go.

The New York Times Utilizes Immediacy

In the center of the home page of the New York Times, the top story is King.

The top story is always accompanied with an image of some sort and a larger and friendly to the eye headline.  

But even the top story gets old, and online the King often lasts less than an hour, only to be replaced with another more timely if not relevant top story.

So what happens to the King, the top story you glanced at earlier?  What if you wanted another glimpse and now its gone, lost in the whirlwind of search engines and databases.

Well, the NY Times is not so quick to see their latest King's head role, instead the top story that once was King, is simply moved below the new top story.  It is still easily accessible to the reader without much stress and searching.

Additionally, the NY Times always posts the time that the story was released on the home page, making it easily accessible for the reader to determine which is the latest news and how long the top story actually sat on its so called throne. 

New York Times Headlines

The New York Times web site's use of headlines is very similar to that of traditional print headlines.  They are often witty, have an underlying meaning or are simply used as a phrase to summarizing the story using some key words that the reader can easily identify.

However, none of the headlines would do well in a search engine, since there are no specific key words, with the exception of names which are used in stories centered upon a specific person.

In addition, the headlines which serve as links to the full story are exactly the same when the new page comes up.  This is one of the most important aspects when using headlines on the web.  

It is frustrating for the reader to click on a specific headline, only to end up with a page that has a different headline.  Even though the story might be the same, a reader who simply glances over the headline might think they were sent to the wrong page and return to the home page to either restart their search or exit the site entirely.

Thus, headlines are a key component of on-line journalism. They can either make or break the reader.

New York Times Multimedia

The New York Times hosts some of the best multimedia packages, but whether it's a video, a sound-slide, audio or some type of interactive chart or graph they all have one thing in common.

All of the multimedia packages that are featured on the NY Times web page are available for the reader to share.  In fact, they give you various choices from which to share their featured media. 

There are three tabs to chose from: E-mail, Save or Share. The Share tab is the most useful since it allows the reader to establish a direct connection to the multimedia package that can be shared with others.

The Share tab allows you to use Linkedin, Digg, Facebook, Mixx, Yahoo! Buzz, and Permalink as doorways from which to share their media.

The New York Times Home Page Layout

The overall layout of the New York Times' home page is a whirlwind of headlines and links that create a sense of chaos and visual exhaustion.  While the usage of white space dominates the overall page, giving it the illusion of a clean and balanced layout there is just too much information on the page.

The sections that are clearly defined and easy to view is the main story, the video box and a bar which includes various topics called Inside NYTimes.com.  The main story is easy to view as it is boxed in and accompanied by an image and lager headline.  The video box is also boxed in and accompanied by a larger image making it easy to view for the reader.

The side bar however, is a jumble of titles of sections, that make it hard for the reader to find what they are looking for.  And the advertising which is mainly located on the right side of the page is split up by various boxes such as the stock market results, which make it more difficult to distinguish one from the other.

The New York Times Home Page

For the last two months, this blog has received daily RSS feeds from The New York Times, linking mainly to their home page and latest news stories.

Having viewed and skimmed through their home page on a weekly if not daily basis, I have gathered that they follow some of the key concepts that define journalism.  Indeed, the home page displays fairness, attribution, accuracy, relevance, as well as newness.

One of the main factors found in journalism is fairness, which includes reporting both sides of the story and remaining unbiased throughout the process.  Until the last day in which the election results finally came in, the NY Times has done a good job of posting stories on both presidential candidates and in reporting both the good and the ugly of each candidate.  The home page constantly updated their main photograph, primarily switching between Obama and McCain.

Another important factor to consider is attribution, in which not only the facts are reported, but also the source of these facts and where they came from.  The NY Times for instance, always lists the author's by line at the beginning of each story, and concludes with the names of the individuals that contributed to the overall story.

Accuracy goes hand in hand with attribution in the sense that the facts that were indeed attained are in fact accurate.  From what I have read most of the posted articles are indeed accurate, but more importantly, when there has been a mistake, they make it their priority to update the story with a corrected version.  

Relevance, was in fact the keyword for the topics that were chosen to compliment the Presidential Election.  And while the home page was centered around Obama vs. McCain, they made sure to squeeze in some other international news breaking stories throughout the day.

Finally, newness is what ensures that the reader keeps coming back to visit the home page. When there is a subject of interest, the reader expects to be updated throughout the day with any new information, wether it's a new photograph, the addition of some multimedia package or simply a new headline.  if there is nothing new, then the reader will look elsewhere on the world wide web.  Just today, as the NY Times covered the Obama visit to the White House, a new photograph was up every time I went on the home page.

Poll feed to the Miami Herald at St. Michael's Church

Tuesday morning, voters found short and quick moving lines as they arrived at precincts 548 and 562 at St. Michael’s Church in Little Havana.

“I got here at 6:20 a.m. just in case, but once the polls opened at 7 a.m. I only had to wait fifteen minutes,” Miami Dade Student and first-time voter Odel Mosquera said. “It definitely was not as bad as the lines during early voting.”

Within the first hour, Precinct 548’s line increased to 110 people, whereas Precinct 562 only had a line of 55 waiting to vote. Officials were letting in five at a time, as both lines were moving into the same building.

“This was my first time voting, and it went faster than what I expected. Hopefully there won’t be any problems with the machines,” Mosquera said. “Inside, all booths were occupied, and they would just rotate you out when someone finished.”

Not all voters however, found the waiting time to be short. Voters, who had waited in the wrong precinct line, were sent back to make a new line at their correct precinct number. Others left without casting their ballot.

“I arrived right at 7 a.m. and waited the entire line, only to be told that I had been in the wrong line and that I had to make the other line for my precinct,” Berta Lopez, 58 said. “I had to start all over again, and did not get out until 9 a.m.”

Many voters arrived not knowing which precinct they belonged to, and while some where helped others were sent away.

“I came in asking what precinct I belonged to, since I was taking my elderly mother who is 87 years old to wait in the line and I wanted to make sure we would not have to wait twice,” Ada Ramirez, 62 said. “They told me that I had to wait the line before they could help me.”

Ramirez, who decides to take the matter into her own hands, calls the 311 helpline to find out what precinct she belongs to. Having found her precinct number, Ramirez decides to help fellow voters also unaware of their precinct number only to be faced with another obstacle.

“When I called again, the lines were busy, and I couldn’t help the others,” Ramirez said.

In addition to the confusion between the two facing precinct lines, no signage was posted to indicate which precinct number they represented.

“I didn’t know that there were going to be two precincts at this site,” Juan E. Elias, 60 said. “I didn’t even know what line I was waiting in.”

Each line only had one worker to help direct the flow of people, and when they were questioned as to why there was no signage posted, the response was that they were not given enough. The clerk in attendance refused to comment.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 8

Two hours after opening, the lines of both precincts have diminished to half the size since this morning.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 7

The line for precinct 562 on the other hand only had a line of about 55 waiting to be let in.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 6

Forty minutes after opening the line increased to 110 people at precinct 548.  Officials letting in 5 at a time.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 5

Official have taken some who were unaware of their precinct number into the building to find out.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 4

Voters who waited in the wrong line, were sent to make a new line on the other side with the other precinct.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 3

Voters are upset and confused, not knowing to which of the two precincts they belong to.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 2

Officials expect a 15 to 20 minute wait for each of the two lines outside the precincts.  l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

St. Michael's Church Precincts 548 and 562 Polling Update: Miami Herald Tweet 1

At precincts 548 and 562 at St. Michael's Church, the doors opened promptly at 7 a.m. l:2987 W Flagler Street, Miami.

Where McCain and Obama Stand Graphic

The Miami Herald posted another informative visual graphic on their website by the name of Where the Candidates Stand, which brings to light some of the key issues of both candidates and where they stand.

The interactive graphic consists of two half's.  The fist half is a compilation of graphic images which represent some of the key issues.  In the second half of the graphic there are the two images of the Presidential Candidates above a box, which fills with information as soon as the user clicks on one of the graphics.

The key issues to pick from include, taxes, defense, veterans, immigration, trade, environment, Cuba, Middle East, Russia, Iraq, Iran, social security, health insurance, deficit, education, energy and agriculture.

This graphic is simple, quick and a visual source of information for any user who wants to get a quick overview of the key issues and how both candidates stand when faced with each of thes issues.  It also easily distinguishes the differences between both candidates in a chart-like graphic.

Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain Timeline

One of the multimedia projects put together by the Miami Herald is that of a graphic titled The Lives Of The Candidates.  The graphic consists of a timeline used to document some of the achievements of the two up-running Presidential Candidates: John McCain and Barack Obama.

It is an informative and visual piece, which gives easy access to some of the history involving both candidates.  The user can easily navigate over the year of interest, and read a blurb of that years description accompanied with a relating photograph.

Only through the timeline does one visually realize the rather large 25-year age difference between both candidates.  It also stated that McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at the bottom of his class, whereas Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.

This small biographical timeline is a perfect source of information, for someone who has not read up on any information on either candidate, and does not have the time to read through a lengthy article before casting his/her vote.