Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Photo of my news sources
EVERY SUMMER I LOOK AT what and how I consume information. Back in 2004, I cut back on paper copy. Today, I'm culling apps.
I wonder how far removed from the real world my online world is. Every summer, I spend time talking over the fence to neighbours, knowing most of them do not hang out on Twitter. If I did a survey of the 74 homes in our housing estate, I'm sure half of them would be on Facebook. But I think I'd discover 15 homes without broadband connectivity.
I look at how much I read, write and listen online and know I'm not hearing the street outside. For that, I have the sidewalk, the local pub and the local newspaper. The summertime weather will pull me away from making written content online and reintroduce me to a longer listening pattern with Audioboo and Phone Casts.
I think it's fascinating living in a time when local newspapers are in decline. It's fascinating because I know those who do not use internet connections read local papers for sourcing information. If the local papers fold, what picks up the slack?
The answer is local radio, something I get on my iTouch through TuneIn Radio. And because I have national news on my Kindle and iTouch, I'll occasionally get a local story through those sources as well as well-written stories in RSS feeds from people I trust.
I hope the summer months also give me some head space to reconnect to the Sunday newsrounds I normally do. Our energetic one-year-old starts his day at 5am, the time I normally go looking for Sunday papers down the street. I haven't worked out how to entertain him while simultaneously reading two broadsheets.
Bernie Goldbach curates info about news.
Steve Outing -- "Heady Days for Bloggers" on Poynter, May 26, 2004.
Steve Rubel -- "Going on a blog-on news diet for a week" on his blog, May 25, 2004.
