Elizabeth N. Riley

Someone’s watching you. (Taken with instagram)

Planted some herbs this weekend. Don’t they look cute in the windowsill? (Taken with instagram)

calumet412:

In 1915, Chicago L and streetcar workers went on strike. People had to find alternative ways to get home from the Loop.

Downtown Abbey photos meshed with Beyonce lyrics. So happy right now!

downtonabbeyonce:

Thanks to CBC Live for submitting this piece of hilarity and featuring Downton Abbeyoncé on their site!

twinfawns:

Net by design collective Numen consists of multiple layers of flexible nets suspended in the air. The flat layers of the net are subsequently connected to one another on counterpoints thus forming a “floating landscape” open for visitors to climb in and explore. The result is an op-art social sculpture (or a community hammock) relating to topics of instability, levitation and regression. 

Inspired by @aranyatomseth, I decided to post some snowy pics of my own. (Taken with instagram)

ourmaninchicago:

chicagobusiness:

Which companies are doing social media right?: Here’s our list of Chicago’s 10 most social companies, whose efforts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other channels have changed the way they do business.

Photo: Rick Wion, director of social media at McDonald’s Corp., says the chain’s nearly 12 million Facebook fans “want entertainment.” Credit: Erik Unger

This is really misleading. It’s not a list of “Chicago’s 10 most social companies” it’s a list of Chicago’s 10 most social companies roughly based on a list of 25,000 of the country’s biggest brands. Look at the methodology listed in the piece:

“Using data and analysis provided by Austin, Texas-based Dachis Group’s Social Business Index, Crain’s ranked the 10 Chicago-area companies doing the best job of leveraging social media to reach customers and boost brand recognition.

Covering more than 25,000 companies, Dachis’ index uses natural language processing, semantic analysis, machine learning and cluster analysis to determine how effectively companies are maximizing their social efforts across a number of platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Dachis combined data from the index and Crain’s 2011 lists of Chicago’s largest public and privately held companies to score the top 10, as of Nov. 15.”

About the index: The Social Business Index is seeded with the Global 2000, the world’s most valuable brands, and the largest companies by advertising spending. Subsidiaries of companies are measured under the parent company.

Emphasis is mine.

So it’s a top 10 list based on another list of 25,000 national companies with some of Crain’s local data thrown in for some variety. But in both cases it’s only looking at the “largest” companies and in the case of the Social Business Index it’s basing the companies’ size on advertising spending.

No surprise that you end up with a list of big brands and very few smaller companies.

I’m not saying these companies aren’t engaging in smart social media practices. Just that other companies in Chicago might be “more social” than the ones on this list but the methodology meant they were out of the running.

God, do I love menacing kittens! Half Acre’s Big Hugs release party is tomorrow at 8 p.m. In honor of the fête, here’s my Q&A with the label’s designer, Phineas X. Jones.

Exercise 2 of Learn Python the Hard Way complete!

Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor (to create python file)

What I learned:

• In exercise 1, I typed “#” to ignore print string
• In exercise 2, I typed “#” to create comments (not for ignoring a print string)
• Octothorpes (aka pound signs) tell the terminal to ignore certain lines
  
• Place a pound symbol before any line and that line will not appear when the script is run

Refreshers:

• To run a python file/script, type: “python” “[file name]”

Visual:

.py file - example 2

terminal example

aldoushuxtable:

Meet Rahm Swanson.

My first post since moving from marketing to the Web team. From the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex to Stanley Tigerman’s The Titanic, a brief look at postmodernism’s influence on the Midwest.

Exercise 1 of Learn Python the Hard Way complete!

Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor (to create python file)

What I learned:

• Python files end in .py
• To run a python script, type: “python” “[file name]”
  
• In python, there are data types called “strings”
• One of which can be a “print string”
• To create a print string, you must type “print” before the characters that follow
• This line must be enclosed with quotes, either “” or ” (haven’t figured out the differences between the two yet, if any)
• To make your script only print one line of the python file, type “#” before “print” on the lines you want the Terminal to pass over
• This “#” symbol is also called an octothorpe

Visual:

.py file - example 1

.py file - example 2 (w/octothorpe)

terminal example

Follow me along my journey as I attempt Zed A. Shaw’s Learn Python the Hard Way. I’ll be blogging each exercise here to help me retain what I’ve learned. Here it goes…

Exercise 0 complete!

Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor

What I learned:

• To make a directory (fancy word for folder), type the following: “mkdir” “[name of the directory you want to create]”
• To change directories, type the following: “cd” “[name of directory you want to be in]”
•  To list all the files within a directory, type the following: “ls”

Visual:

terminal example

I’m not leaving Chicago magazine, but I’ve taken on the newly created position of Digital Engagement Editor, working for @ourmaninchicago.

Per Scott:

Her responsibilities will be tied to our editorial and audience development needs in the digital space…. Many of the tasks and projects Elizabeth worked on in her previous position will be expanded in this one: She will be the full-time manager of our conversation in social media (Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare), look for opportunities to expand into new platforms and develop new research on how our audiences use our current digital channels. She’ll also do more outreach to blogs and other online publications and work with Esther [Chicagomag.com editor] to create new site content that complements the magazine and reflects the digital conversation happening throughout Chicago.

I’m particularly excited about forging new content relationships with other publications throughout Chicago and beyond. If that’s you, please send me an email at enriley@chicagomag.com. Would love to chat.

I read Matthew Ingram’s GigaOM piece from yesterday on the train this morning and was left with a few contrasting thoughts:

Sure, media companies shouldn’t hold up Facebook apps as the be-all, end-all. But accusing the The Washington Post and The Guardian of “putting so many eggs into a basket” is off base. They tried something new and that’s awesome. That doesn’t mean they’re pinning their future entirely on Facebook. Experimentation is innovation.

Igram even said it himself:

And Washington Post publisher Graham is quite right that reaching out to readers wherever they are and trying to engage them around your content is a good idea. Experimentation is also a good idea, especially for newspapers — which aren’t typically known for that kind of thing.

Ingram continues:

But if all you are doing is creating widgets for people who live inside a specific walled garden, then I think you are missing the boat.

I see his point, but who ever said this was the only thing The Washington Post and The Guardian were doing?

Not Igram. In the same article where he bitches about The Gaurdian’s Facebook app, Ingram goes on to say:

But The Guardian has taken by far the most dramatic steps of any newspaper in rethinking what its business consists of, with what the paper called its “open platform” project, which launched last year. Instead of spending all its time trying to put walls or sandbags around its content and control where it appeared, the Guardian released an open API that allowed outside developers to make use of its content — provided they agreed to either pay for the data, or form an advertising partnership with the paper. Instead of doing a deal just with one platform vendor like Facebook, they made it possible for anyone to become a partner.

Why can’t we appreciate the idea for what it was, an experiment, while recognizing that further analysis should be done down the line to assess long-term success. It’s only been a week, after all.

This is brilliant. Thank you, Jessica :)

ohyesjess:

• I JUST WENT ON AN AWESOME DATE, OH YEAH.
• Man, it feels weird to sleep alone all of a sudden.
• Stop it, dude, it was one date. Remember to keep your cool.
• Nope, still hasn’t texted. It’s OK, I’m sure he’s just busy.
• Oh! I should tell him about this one thing I learned about after he left…

Can Rahm Emanuel Fix Chicago’s Problems? - Chicago magazine

So which one of you is going to be the first to make the Rahm-as-Batman meme?

(via ourmaninchicago)

Here’s a post I conjured up for Social Media Week Chicago. How to like-gate your fan page without looking like an e-marketing asshole.

His letter to Medill alums this morning at 9:05 a.m.

Dear Colleagues and Members of the Medill Community,

Six years ago, President Bienen and Provost Dumas asked if I would lead the implementation of a new strategy for Medill.  In the years that followed, we have joined together to deepen the quality of our curricula, provide our students with the best educational opportunities in the country and strengthen and diversify our offerings and resources.

Now, I’m writing to tell you that I have shared with President Schapiro and Provost Linzer my decision to step down as Medill’s Dean on August 31, 2012. I do so knowing we have a faculty, staff and curricula no other school can match.

When I became dean, journalism and marketing communications were being roiled by a digital tsunami, and soon thereafter, by one of the worst economic downturns in a century.  In the midst of these difficult circumstances, we adopted unprecedented curricular change. Northwestern supported our plan with the addition of more faculty and staff with new skills, knowledge, and experience than at any time in Medill’s history.

It has been quite an odyssey. Together we’ve accomplished far more than was envisioned in our Medill 2020 plan. Along the way, we’ve faced and overcome major challenges, as well as some controversies; when you undertake seismic change, both are inevitable.

What counts is the progress we’ve made, the foundation for the future that we’ve built, and the validation of what we’ve done from external sources — including leaders of the industries we serve and the unprecedented evaluation last spring from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Our faculty and curricula lead the country. Despite the tough economy, employers here and abroad seek out our graduates, and Northwestern University Qatar, our undergraduate school in Doha, is about to graduate its first class.

You are terrific colleagues. I treasure the opportunity to have worked with you, and I’m excited about completing the big projects we have before us this coming year.

When I step down, I will focus on an initiative that is also close to my heart — examining how the media can determine if people are truly informed by the content they provide, and seeking out new ways for the news media to remain viable.  I’ll have more to share about this work in the future.  

I will also spend more time with my wonderful wife, Meryl. As busy as we’ve both been in our careers – and as much as she has been central to all that I’ve done in my professional life – now, more than ever, we cherish having more personal time together.

Warm regards,

John

By now, we’ve all heard about the new “Netflix for magazines” concept from Next Issue Media, a joint venture between publishers Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc., Meredith, and News Corp. For a monthly fee, consumers can have access to multiple magazine titles in digital form. The idea sounds intriguing, and I commend NIM for trying to innovate, but I also have some doubts about the product’s future success. I’m definitely filing NIM under the wait-and-see category, and here’s why:

Pros:

• As a magazine lover, I love the physical act of browsing a newsstand, reading all the cover lines, and casually flipping through a magazine’s pages to see if it’s worth the investment. But with book stores and newsstands shuttering every day, that experience is harder to find. If NIM can replicate even part of this, I’d be happy. NIM CEO Morgan Guenther on the newsstand experience:

“It’s like if I walked into Barnes & Noble and wanted to browse magazines, and I was led into a room with you windows where I can read Fortune.” Guenther says. “And then I say, ‘Okay, I want to read Wired,’ and they send me to another room. When I walk in, there’s a big sign on the front door saying, ‘Here are your instructions for reading the magazine.’” (via TechCrunch)

• The functionality of digital magazines vary depending on the vendor. Navigation and usability are the same across all NIM titles, so users won’t have to learn how to interact with each publication.
  
  
• Unlike print, readers can try out different publications without having to commit to just one.

Cons:

• Subscriptions to Netflix ($7.99 a month for streaming only) and Hulu ($7.99 a month for a PLUS account) grant you access to thousands of movies and TV shows. At launch, NIM is only offering access to 32 publications, with more coming at the end of the year. Some have viewed the pricing structure as a bargain, but personally, I’d want access to more titles to make the $9.99 (monthly and biweekly titles) and $14.99 (includes weekly titles) price tags worth it. I’m also not sure I’d consume enough to justify paying $180 a year, and I’m a huge magazine lover. If the average print subscription is, say, $9.99 a year, you’d need to consume 18 titles a month to make up for the annual price tag.
  
  
• For now, NIM is only available on Android tablets running Honeycomb.
  
  
• Do readers want exact replicas of print magazines in digital form? According to Ad Age, while digital magazine subscriptions increased by 125 percent in the last year, they only account for 1 percent of total paid and verified circulation. These PDF-looking digital editions with “flippy” pages are too easy. Instead of discovering how users interact with tablet/mobile devices, magazine publishers keep trying to fit an exact print experience into a digital devices. Although somewhat old, this video from Bonnier’s R&D team is a good example of how magazine’s should be approaching digital: by thinking through user experience first. 

Wondering how Cosmo’s strategy for negatively impacting women differs on the iPad.