Earlier today one of our community members raised a question that immediately reminded me of a drafted post sitting in my to-do pile. So I dusted this sucker off and refreshed it with some new information for all to read.
“You guys never put my submissions up at all. It would seem as though a plan were afoot to force only designated providers – while the promise is held as Bullshit.”
This isn’t a anything new; in general people get a little confused when it comes to what gets featured on Current.com. It’s not uncommon to find out that people either don’t understand, or worse, their misunderstanding leads them to believe that there is a secret agenda conspiring against them behind-the-scenes.
Trust me, this is just not the case.
Our editorial team is relatively small on Current.com, especially in comparison with some of the more editorially driven sites out there. We see Current.com as a joint partnership between our internal team, and the community that frequents the site. While we produce content for TV, the amount of content we produce for the web is fairly small in comparison with what our community produces on a daily basis.
It’s an exciting time around these parts. For those of you who regularly read our posts, there are two things that may hold true:
You’re well acquainted with my weekly Around the Blogs posts where I recap some of the posts on our other Current blogs: News, Movies, Music, Green, Tech, and Comedy.
You’re growing tired of the rather bland layout of our blogs. Admittedly, these were a patchwork effort when they launched, but now that we’re picking up a little steam…
Join me, for a very special “BEHOLD! A STYLISH NEW BLOG LAYOUT!” edition of Around the Blogs. Here’s a round-up of recent posts from our blogs, but do yourself a favor and check out the new layout for each blog. Let us know what you think!
Have you embedded Embedded yet? Don’t look at me like that. Seriously, if you have a website, blog, MySpace account, or any other home on the Internet that takes video embeds, now is your time. Current Music is looking for help raising awareness for their upcoming special, Embedded.
This is where you come in, I’ll let Shana’s words do the talking:
When you log in (hey, we have Facebook Connect login BTW) and visit Embed Embedded on Current each week, you’ll find a different video clip to embed. The code to the video on the Embed Embedded page is unique to you. The user with the most views on their video will become the top embed user for the week, and will be showered with praise in the Current Music blog. So what are you waiting for? Start embedding your unique embed code, help us spread the word, and get the opportunity to score some exclusive Embedded swag.
“Der Spiegel has a great story of a Palestinian couple, he in Gaza and she in the West Bank, who came together despite the blockade and travel restrictions. How? The bride crawled through a smugglers’ tunnel out of Egypt.”
“Crazy accusations from a regime known for its bending of the truth? Perhaps. But Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker wrote a controversial article last year disclosing the Bush Administrations secret plans to go to war with Iran, and also pointing out a rise in clandestine activities by the US in the Islamic Republic. Additionally, at a talk in Minnesota in March, Hersh went into a little more detail. While he made headlines with a claim that the Bush Administration had “an executive assassination ring”, he also described secret US efforts to capture an Iranian nuclear scientist inside of Iran and use that person to make the case that Iran was secretly building a bomb. So perhaps not such a crazy claim.”
A couple of quick tidbits from the Current Movies blog, as John is wrapping up his coverage of the New York Film Festival.
This week he took a look at Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Broken Embraces and reports back from the press conference featuring both Almodovar and Penélope Cruz. Take a look, it features some of Lichman’s finest doodles.
“On one hand, it is every bit as brutal and bleak as Caché–almost to a startling degree to some fellow viewers sitting around the first few rows. But on the other hand, If you want proof the Cannes Film Festival is a joke, then look no further than this Children of the Corn remake that won.”
As for the original Fame, it combined the surging hormones of high school and the ache of young artists into a wonderfully frizzy, perspiring, autumn-colored postcard from a New York that’s not around anymore.
New York in 1980 – Graffiti on the subway, no AIDS ransacking the performing arts and not one, but TWO Howard Johnson’s in Times Square. The original’s where a supposedly street-smart Irene Cara meets a sleazy predator. (It’s also where my parents went on their first date).
If you’re like me, and you like to daydream that you’re a serious, emotional teenage dancer (yes, say it with me, dancer!) who lives life at the dance studio, you’ll probably love it. The leg-warmers, the artfully mismatched outfits, the boobs. This look wasn’t invented by American Apparel, ya know.
Today, I witnessed a trauma, a trauma that happens every day in Bayview-Hunters Point. I’m not talking about Uganda, but 94124. San Francisco, one of the liberal hubs of the universe. A Superfund toxic site, a modern-day ghetto where the normal pedestrian has to travel miles to get to a grocery store with “healthy” produce — AKA fresh vegetables.
“But is “extreme frugality” the latest emerging trend? Have we come to a place where we understand that (gasp) resources are limited: and the limited resources in our wallet could be the best metaphor to understand the limited resources on the planet?”
Additionally, John finally screens Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, the film that compelled Cannes audiences to collectively question, “Why?” Additionally, Von Trier went on record with this film, proclaim that “I am the best filmmaker in the world.” Check out John’s review here.
Leah spent some time chatting with Colin Beavan (you may know him as No Impact Man from his Twitter account, blog, and the trailer of his new movie), and discusses the dedication it takes for someone like No Impact Man to commit to a lifestyle change of this extreme magnitude. All in the name of “green.” It’s quite remarkable.
An added bonus this week, our friends in Vanguard are ramping up their blogging efforts, and to kick things off they’ve posted a couple gems for you to take a look at. First up, Vanguard correspondent Laura Ling shared her thoughts on Vanguard’s mission during a live event in Italy. As an added treat, the full broadcast of the Italy event is embedded on the post, so if you’ve ever wanted to hear Mariana van Zeller speak Italian, make sure to watch beyond the intro.
Speaking of Mariana, her piece “The Oxycontin Express” is going to be our season premiere for Vanguard on October 14th, and as an added bonus the team was invited to tape an episode of Dr. Phil and discuss both her documentary and the prevalence of prescription drugs. Darren posted some photos from the visit to Dr. Phil, so go check it out. The Dr. Phil episode with Mariana will air on the same day as our Vanguard season premiere, October 14th.
Holy cow. If you haven’t been reading Andrew Fitzgerald’s latest posts over on the Current News blog, you’ve been missing out. Don’t panic, we’ll get you caught up.
US military personnel watch as Afghan insurgents set up a deadly IED and then accidentally trigger it themselves. I think this video is pretty rare: I imagine not many insurgents are caught on camera setting up their IEDs.
To top things off, Andrew hit the ground running today with two new posts: The first regards Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter made famous for throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush, and the implications of his reception post-release. Next up Andrew revisits the Kibera slums, which are now beginning to be dismantled in Kenya. Several years ago, Vanguard’s Christof Putzel produced a peice on the Kibera slums, take a look:
Over on the Current Music blog, Shana Naomi Krochmal unleashes word of two new punk rock docs. Check out the details, and peruse a list of classic punk rock doc faves culled from the Current Music community!
From the “Get this now” files, Peter Grumbine has not 1, but 2 offerings this week:
If you don’t know Mutantes, it would be easy to say something like they’re the Brazilian Beatles or the Brazilian version of the guys from Buena Vista Social Club, but they’re not; they’re Os Mutantes.
The Mutantes were a big part of the Tropicalia movement in Brazil during the ’60s. Imagine what you know about the psychedelic ’60s in America and the UK, and then combine that with Carnival, and you can basically suss up the sound of that movement. Put simply, it’s fucking wild.
In case you don’t know the story, years ago, Rodrigo y Gabriela were in some badass metal bands in Mexico, but they grew tired of the limited scene and potential there. A lady from Mexico who had moved to Ireland was back in Mexico and ran into them. After talking about their situation, she invited them to come stay with her in Ireland, a country where artists were treated better. Ah fate, at last!
Ever since Sarah Lane took Final Cut Pro classes, she’s been cutting together some awesome tech videos and posting them on the Current Tech blog. Here’s a taste of flickr’s new iPhone app, plus a list of some of the others she’s cooked up:
I recently learned while checking out an article reporting on the Frankfurt Auto Show: I should start using condoms to lower my carbon footprint. The facts are coming out, if you want a car that has a small carbon footprint (we’ll skip over the argument that you wouldn’t have a car) than you should have a small car. A very small car. The kind of car that would make you get out of it if you wanted to…discuss… the birds and the bees. The kind of car that doesn’t need to carry a large family.
Funny man Josh Heller is in a “tribute” mood this week, and he has three Current Comedy blog posts to place on the alter of the Internet gods (that means you, dear readers):
Last, but not least, a special taste of what is to come on infoMania this week. Here’s a hint: it involves Sarah Haskins and backpacks. Think you know the answer? Better click to make sure.
There’s a lot going on out there in the world of Current.com, so let’s take a quick look at some of the recent blog posts from our online producer team:
Current Movies
Over on the Current Movies blog, John Lichman offers up news that Nic Cage has decided to bow out of Green Hornet, and takes a look at the new teaser trailer from Up in the Air. Here’s a snippet:
Biopiracy is the patenting of indigenous bio-diversity related knowledge. For purposes of this writing, the patenting of natural traits found in plants, which is now described as epidemic. While the rewarding of patents should be based on inventiveness and original creativity, it has become a license for corporations to steal such indigenous traits endemic to nature already naturally cultivated by indigenous farmers for centuries. This is done to make fast cash and to take advantage of the climate crisis and food shortages which ironically are also exacerbated through monoculture industrial methods of what I like to call ‘strip farming.’ Such methods have stripped soil nutrients and carbon essential for sustainability of the land and our climate balance.
Hello currenteers! Today we are featuring a guest post by our very own Science channel curator, DeliaTheArtist.
Without further ado, here we go:
Hello Current Family!
DeliaTheArist here, happy to welcome the new assemblage of Current.com curators! By now you’ve seen your section of the Current universe, messed around with featuring articles and told your friends how cool you are- but what’s next? How can you take your Curating to the next level? Here are some Tips and Tricks from me and other curators to help you make the best of your experience!
Something one of our new curators, Nettle, noticed is that the flow of information can be slow at first in your group. People are aware of the homepage topics like “News“ and “Green“, but may not realize there is an Otaku section or a place for their Soccer related info. One way to get more stories into your group is to look around Current.com for already posted stories that relate to your section but haven’t been tagged for it. For example, many articles in the Arts and Style section may also pertain to our new Design or Architecture groups; posts that are found in the popular Movies section may also be appropriate for Pop Culture and Indie Film, bands seen in Music may also fit into Underground Music. You can find out more about tagging right here on the Current.com blog!
You’re tagging up a storm and featuring community member’s stories- but is the community aware that you are doing so? One solution is to respond right onto the thread that you’ve featured the story in your section- however I personally find this method to be just a little cheesy. TravG73, curator of the Random group, has another idea- send a message to the user personally to tell them their story has been featured and you appreciate their contribution. Most likely that person will add you as a connection and continue to add interesting stories to your group!
Can’t think of what to say? Feel free to modify this example for your own purposes:
“Hello! Your story, [STORY NAME HERE] is awesome, and it’s being featured in [YOUR GROUP NAME HERE] today- thank you so much for your great contribution!”
Another aspect of raising awareness for your group is promotion. I know some of you don’t want to hear this, but get on Twitter! You may think Twitter is lame, but the fact of the matter is Twitter is an amazing promotional tool. The main problems people usually have with Twitter stem from the fact that they don’t have many followers or don’t know who to follow- but as a Current.com curator you need not worry about that. There is a well established community of Current Staff, curators and community members already on Twitter, waiting to follow you and help promote your passions!
Since you are a way amazing curator of a Current.com group, you have some leverage that you may not have previously – instead of just posting interesting news, why not WRITE the news too? Ask notable people in your group’s field for interviews, stories and sources and mention that it’s for Current.com! Discovery Science Channel made me their “Geek of the Week” when I told them about my work with the Current.com Science section and I’ve been steadily interviewing people in the Science field after a fellow curator, Mike_Johnston, hooked me up with my first source. Current89 just got the green light to interview a former Congressional Candidate from his state for his US Politics section. Make moves, make news!
I hope these ideas help you make the best out of your new position as a Current.com curator. Current is all about community- your fellow curators are here to help! If you have any questions, comments or collaboration ideas, holler at me on Current or at DeliaTheArtist [at] gmail.com.
– Delia
Thanks DeliaTheArtist! I’m certain that many of our new curators will find these tips useful. Just to add a few extra ones in: aside from Twitter, you can use tools like Facebook, forums, and blogs to make people aware of your channel. Facebook groups is chock full of potential contacts, and it’s very likely that there are forums out there on the Internets dedicated to your topic of interest.
Also, if you do decide to go the Twitter route (why not?), you can also use tools like WeFollow, a Twitter directory that is categorized by topic. Check it out!
i know, i know…it’s been SOOOO long since our last feature release. all jokes aside, the second part of our feature release doubleheader just rolled out, and it introduces a brand new concept to current.com called “bundles.”
Q: what is a bundle?
A: a bundle is a group of stories packaged together based on their relationship to one another. these stories usually come from different sources, but are all related based on keywords and other similarities.
Q: why are you calling these “baby-bundles” then?
A: well, the bundling concept is still in the infancy stage — hence, the use of the word “baby.” we have much, much bigger plans for these once they reach the “adult” stage, but we are not quite there yet in this release. so let’s get into some of the details.
Q: where can i find these baby-bundles?
A: each homepage channel on current.com (news, music, movies, tech, green, gaming, comedy, and art & style) has a new module in the right rail of the channel homepage. this module is titled, “real-time news” and it includes a cloud of trending terms and links to the most recently created bundles for that channel.
Q: how do baby-bundles work?
A: for our first iteration, we’ve deploying a team of current bots (e.g. current_news_bot, current_tech_bot, current_movies_bot, etc.) to scour the web for stories to turn into baby-bundles. these baby-bundles are created specifically for the current.com community to engage with and discuss. baby-bundles are similar to individual items on current.com — you can comment, vote, and share them with others.
Q: what can i do with a baby-bundle?
A: when someone comments and/or votes on a bundle for the first time, the bot associated with the bundle’s channel will place the bundle in that channel’s stream. by voting and commenting, you tell our bots which bundles are interesting enough to place in the channel. so, if you see a bundle in the music section that looks like something the current.com/music community would be interested in, vote and comment! the bundle will automatically be added to the current music channel, where others can vote and comment on it as well.
Q: can i create my own baby-bundles?
A: baby-bundles? no. full-blown “adult” bundles? yes! as i mentioned, this is just the early stages for bundles, but we plan to roll out the ability for our community to bundle stories together when we get closer to releasing the fully matured bundles.
Q: what do the trend links mean?
A: these are terms that we recognize as trending within our bundles creation flow. clicking on these links will take you to the bundles that directly reflect those trends.
so, take our new baby-bundles for a test drive and let us know what you think. we’ll be tweaking the process for bundle creation over the next few weeks, so any feedback you have will be very helpful. you can ask questions or offer suggestions over on our Get Satisfaction page.
in the meantime, here are a few bundles that caught my eye:
