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Buzz, news, and trends

Part of the excitement of the Web is that every morning, there's something unexpected, some new twist on the old saws, a vibrating horrendous trend, or something so subtle you hardly know you had noticed it, until someone points it out.

Here are some sites, lists, and blogs that I like to browse, when I feel hemmed in by my own concerns, limited by the work I am doing right now.  What's happening out there?

The web's a complex interactive system, and it keeps on growing, defining its own life in ways we could never predict. Just to fit in, you have to browse randomly, picking up ideas like lint.

Comments?  Suggestions? If you pick up some really colorful lint, let us know.

A collaborative enterprise sharing good writing, and feisty discussions, guided by Ethan Casey, an editor who is tuned into the excitement and anxiety of writing for the Web. "Blue Ear is a global community of writers and readers who meet online in a daily edited discussion, sorted and archived in categories analogous to the sections of a newspaper. Blue Ear aspires to both the authority and the intimacy of the once-great British weekly paper The Observer, whose editor David Astor said, "I edit The Observer for myself and my friends."
http://www.blueear.com

No advice about writing, but plenty of buzz from the founder of Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Jarvis. A blog to keep you up with gossip throughout the media around the world, from the New York Times to Iranian bloggers.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/

A group weblog by folks who are wrestling with online content as journalists or publishers. Quick sketches of new trends, or new angles on old debates. I find that at least once a week I follow the links, and spend an hour or so just nosing around a story that someone has pointed out on Tidbits. About a dozen people send paragraph-long pieces to Steve Outing, who edits and posts them all. Hosted by Poynter, a resource for journalists, Tidbits appears on the Web, or in your mailbox.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31

A sister of Online Journalism Review. Plain presentation, but plenty of inside stories on writing, publishing, tv, radio in Japan. If you want to know what's next in consumer electronics, or wonder what content to put on cell phones, you'll learn more from these lively but serious articles than from a big consultancy. Founded by Michelle Nicolosi, hosted by USC in the US and the International University in Japan.
http://www.japanmediareview.com/home/section.php

The energetic Elizabeth Varley hosts this site for online content professionals in the United Kingdom. Email discussions, job listings, panels. Good ideas, even if you aren't a Brit.
http://www.onlinecontentuk.org/index.html

Lots of great info on your visitors.
http://www.pewinternet.org/

Jay Rosen's blog on "the ghost of democracy in the media machine." He's a journalism prof at NYU, but he writes as if he were on Slate-you'll get a kick out of his longish essays responding press trends, crises, and scandals. He says," We need to keep the press from being absorbed into The Media. This means keeping the word press, which is antiquated. But included under its modern umbrella should be all who do the serious work in journalism, regardless of the technology used. The people who will invent the next press in America--and who are doing it now online--continue an experiment at least 250 years old." Interesting cultural slice through the press, fighting clichés, and campaigning for new forms. No practical advice here, but plenty of backbone stiffening.
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/

The online site for the paper magazine offers insider articles about content, e-marketing, usability, standards, and operations.
http://www.publish.com/

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