Inspirational Rapidian reporter Roberta King is in the Catalyst Radio studio this week. We hear what inspires her, what she covers and why she has set an ambitious goal of publishing 50 articles before the end of 2011.
For a sampling of Roberta's work, she recommends the following:
The song this week is "Mercy" off of A Different Tune by Upper Penninsual Michigander Lindsay Lou.
ANALYSIS
Site used to turn up duplicate copy on different platforms
Recently launched Website Churnalism.com gives users a text field to paste copy from news articles. It then scours past submissions and news sites to see if that same copy appears elsewhere.
[More: MediaShift Idea Lab]
Google cracks down on content farms
The major search engine announced last month that it's making a significant change to the algorithm it uses to pull up search results. The change affects more than 10% of Websites by reranking the relevancy of the site to users based on content rather than incoming links and key terms loaded into the Website.
[More: Sistrix, Google]
Social media usage has additional implications in the legal arena
Earlier this year, a conference was convened to discuss the effects of social media on the legal system. Both judicial officers and jurors have been known to use social media from time-to-time during court proceedings, and updates can imply bias or leak information that is inappropriate.
[More: GigaOm]
CALENDAR
[ENTERTAINMENT] Planetarium lights the way for the equinox
Tonight, the Public Museum will be acknowledging the vernal equinox with three laser light shows at the Planetarium set to music from Led Zeppelin, Rush and Radiohead. More information at the GRMuseum Website.
[More]
[HEALTH + EDUCATION] Womyn's empowered health workshop
1-4 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at The Bloom Collective (671 Davis NW)
The workshop will share information on alternative practices and philosophies around the issues of women's healthcare as well as provide a safe space for women to share health wisdom with each other.[More]
[YOUTH + LITERATURE] Creator of "Arthur" to visit GRPL
4 p.m. on Monday, March 21 at Grand Rapids Public Museum (111 Library NE)
This year marks Arthur's 35th birthday. Arthur is a beloved aardvark that came about in stories Marc Brown would tell his son. He later penned a book series that was adapted for the hit PBS children's show of the same name. Brown has set aside 35 days to travel to 35 schools and libraries celebrating Arthur's impact. The event is free.
[More: Atrium blog]
[PROPERTY + EDUCATION] Kent County Land Bank forum
3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at the Dominican Center (2025 E. Fulton)
Land Banks are a relatively new tool for strategic community and economic development efforts and to revitalize neighborhoods and communities damaged by the foreclosure crisis. Our Kent County Land Bank Authority was created in November 2009 and recently adopted by-laws, policies and procedures. The next step is for our land bank to become operational.
[More]
March Rapidian social
5:30 p.m. at Stella's (53 Commerce SW) on Thursday, March 24
It's time for the monthly Rapidian social. This month, we're heading to Stella's to take advantage of specials. Both Holly and Denise will be hanging out and ready to chat about the hot news topics of the day.
[More]
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