The Blog of Burgher Jon

Mike Madison posted a few days ago on iconic Pittsburghers.  He borrowed the theme from the Post-Gazette article.  According to the Post-Gazette to be an iconic Pittsburgher you must be, “known by everyone, from the city to the suburbs. They often have quirky personality traits that border on the eccentric, and they’ve made their mark locally.”

The Post-Gazette lays down another rule, one I’m going to flatly ignore, “many older residents are not computer savvy, and the younger generation isn’t into print media.”  Using this rule the list ends up getting limited to sports stars and a TON of TV Stars.  Since I’m a blogger and between the ages of 20-40 I’m going to throw the rule out and make a list of icons for the generation X and Y.  These people can be primarily known for their role on the internet, but not exclusively.  They can be known for their role in print, but not exclusively.

I’m going to break this in to three parts.  Today, in Part One, I’m going to analyze the P-G’s list.  In Part Two (which will not likely be tomorrow) I’ll discuss Mike’s additions.  In Part Three I’ll throw in some additional people.

The highlights are that I selected John Fetterman, John McIntire, Andy Warhol, Mario Lemieux, Scott Paulsen, David Newell, Sally Wiggin, Beano Cook, Richard Mellon Scaife, August Wilson, Billy Hillgrove, Mike Lange, Patrice King Brown, Ken Rice and Franco Harris off the P-G’s list.  For more information on how I chose who to keep and the low down on who got left off, read more.

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Sauerkraut Recipe from Cooks.com

As I go through the week, I use twitter to send out little updates and links.  I realize that I do this quite a bit and that not all of you have Twitter, so with that in mind I’d like to take Sunday to do sort of a week in review.  I’ve selected the most useful of my tweets from the last week and placed them in to the categories that I use in this blog.  Please let me know if you find this useful or if you don’t like it.

Me

• I just unlocked the “Local” badge on @foursquare!http://4sq.com/bMFFrb
• Sometimes when you sit down and think about how to pitch/teach your startups message, you remember why you are so excited about what you do.

Personal Technology

• Finally got a chance to try @seesmic‘s client. Pretty nifty Twitter interface. http://tinyurl.com/3rc7ro
• iPad vs. Stone. Advantage iPad, barely. http://tinyurl.com/yjnv52x
• Interesting Insight… “Get real, geeks – The iPad is the Apple for Mum, not you” http://tinyurl.com/yajut5j
• Electric Car Company, Tesla to go public. Doesn’t expect to make a profit till 2012. http://tinyurl.com/yjbeq73

Pittsburgh

• Pittsburgh-Area New Housing Permits up in 4Q2009http://tinyurl.com/yzyvdqn
• Reports: PNC close to selling Global Investment Servicing to BNY Mellon http://tinyurl.com/yj7c9v2
• RT @techburgh: Hey, @Twitter, Pittsburgh really needs to be on your trending cities list. Can I get a RT ‘Burgers?
• Crazy Image of the flooding downtown (from the post-gazette)http://tinyurl.com/yle3qq6

Startups

• Roger Ehrenberg launches an interesting VC Fund focused around “Big Data” http://tinyurl.com/yjyaygy

Tech News

• NYT: Cell phone bans don’t reduce accidents.http://tinyurl.com/yf24j44

Other

• RT @nytimes: NYT NEWS ALERT: J.D. Salinger, Author of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Is Dead at 91

As I go through the week, I use twitter to send out little updates and links.  I realize that I do this quite a bit and that not all of you have Twitter, so with that in mind I’d like to take Sunday to do sort of a week in review.  I’ve selected the most useful of my tweets from the last week and placed them in to the categories that I use in this blog.  Please let me know if you find this useful or if you don’t like it.

Me

• On the day of my 4th long run, less then 100 days till the Pittsburgh Marathon! http://tinyurl.com/arm87q

Pittsburgh

• Pittsburgh law firms expanding ESCM in VA:http://tinyurl.com/ygxc3yt K&L G in Moscow, Tokyo:http://tinyurl.com/yk2p5pg

Sports

• Congratulations are in order for @Dejan_Kovacevic on his new moonlight post at Baseball America. http://tinyurl.com/yfnts8m

Startups

• Great post on how “Techies” and “Normals” adopt new technologies. http://tinyurl.com/s7jff
• What can Tim Burton teach you about being successful?http://tinyurl.com/yb4arpw

Tech News

• Skype now accounts for 12% of all international calling minutes.http://tinyurl.com/yda7wq5

Other

• RT @bobmayo: Jay Leno Criticizes NBC On ‘Tonight’ Cliffhanger – ..in1992 http://bit.ly/6qNA88

Bob Mayo posted an interesting answer to my question on the coverage of the BRESMA situation over on his blog, The Busman’s Holiday.  I’m posting my question and excerpts of his answer below.  His answer implies, to me, that the primary reasons main stream media stayed away from giving credit to the social media is not sinister at all.  It’s not that politicians asked them to let them claim all the glory.  It’s not that the mainstream media prefers not to allow the social media any coverage.  It’s simply that the main stream media was unaware of what happened behind the scenes in the Burghosphere.

Burgher Jon said…

I had noted the lack of any mention nationally or locally of MBB, Virginia or Bram. Do you have any speculation why they would be left out?

Was the effort of the governor truly seperate? The result of a call for help directly from the McCultrie’s to the governor?

Bob Mayo said…

Burgher Jon, I can’t speak for other reporters, but I know that by necessity my TV stories on Monday focused on the breaking news of the flight and it’s status, not the back story of the efforts of the previous days.

I quoted Mary Beth Buchanan’s statement — which Bram e-mailed on her behalf — in the live close to my 6pm story on Monday. Earlier that day, I’d tried to arrange to interview Buchanan, e-mailing her that morning. She e-mailed back that she would call me shortly but she didn’t do so, despite my followup attempt to reach her. Her written statement to all media followed later in the afternoon.

…

I think the statement from the McMutrie family that Virginia released on their behalf late last night addresses their view of the dovetailing of efforts on their behalf. I hope this answers your questions. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Bob

Let me tell you what I have learned from this little episode.  I learned that most reporters are well-intentioned people with degrees in journalism or PR from great universities.  These reporters (for logical reasons) are most comfortable getting their facts from publicists (with degrees in journalism or PR from great universities) working for various organizations, politicians and sports teams.  This necessarily limits their stories and gives them a certain tint.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Most bloggers don’t have access to the PR people from the organizations, politicians and sports teams and this lack of access limits their posts and gives them a certain tint.

This gap does raise a logical question though.  Wouldn’t it be ideal if there was a “reporter of the future” who had access to both the polished messages supplied by PR people and the raw opinions and “on the street” sentiments that bloggers produce.  I can think of 3 such reporters of the future, and I encourage you to follow all of them:

1. Bob Mayo – Yes, he’s a reporter on WTAE, but as I already mentioned he’s a blogger too.   He also follows many of the blogs (and bloggers on Twitter) that contribute to the Burghosphere.  This allows his news reports to be informed by the Burghosphere and his blog posts to be informed by research he’s done for WTAE.
2. Dejan Kovacevic – Dejan is the Post-Gazette beat writer for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He also runs a blog hosted on the Post-Gazette’s website.  On the blog he does things that he can’t in his daily Post-Gazette posts.  He shows personal photographs that he took at practice.  He mentions his opinions.  He talks about the informal feedback he’s getting through questions and comments.  He links to other Pirates’ blogs not supported by MSM.
3. Bram Reichbaum – Unfortunately the Pittsburgh Comet is winding down, but its still worth mentioning.  Bram got his start not as MSM, but as a blogger.  Thanks to a flexible work schedule and a good reputation though, he was able to do many of the functions of a reporter.  He interviewed political candidates, got press credentials to important events and had access to publicists.  This allowed him to inform his blog posts, with information traditionally reserved for MSM reporters.

Update (a slight restating):  I got a little note from Bob Mayo on twitter in response to this.  It made me a little concerned I’ve left the wrong impression.  I only meant to imply that the MSM (based on the coverage I’ve read) was largely unaware of the behind the scenes things that took place in the Burghosphere (mostly the actions of Virginia and Bram).  This is apparent when a Google News search of “BRESMA Virginia” returns only blog posts.  It has nothing to do with the coverage that occurred or didn’t while the plane was in the air.  I then wanted to make a further point that Bram, Bob Mayo, Dejan Kovacevik, and possibly Virginia Montanez have the unique position of having reporter like access and burghosphere mainlines.  Having both gives an interesting perspective that is worth reading (or in Bob’s case, watching).

Who are your people?  Bloggers.

I have been getting my news exclusively from blogs for about 2 years now.  I’ve found that when something absolutely critical is happening, someone tells me.  There’s no need to read the national news regularly.  The bloggers and tweeters of the wold comb through it and then post what’s interesting to me.  In fact, they usually post it real-time with commentary from someone outside the MSM that I respect (namely, the blogger).

If you haven’t already get an RSS Reeder.  The best, in my opinion is Google’s (www.google.com/reader).  Here are a few essential blogs to get you started.  I tried to limit myself to two per category that I read.  I have dozens of others, but I’ll wait and see if there’s interest in knowing the rest.  Or some lively debate on these.

• Pittsburgh Technology:
  • Pittsburgh Ventures – Alan Veeck of Meakem Becker Venture Capital posts semi-regularly about the world of IT in Pittsburgh.  His posts about Innovation Lab are especially interesting.
  • TECHBurger – Pittsburgh Technology Council’s blog.  A great way to keep up to date on the startup and small tech companies in Pittsburgh.  Especially helpful are the Sunday “Week that was…” posts.
• The Pirates:
  • Pittsburgh Baseball Club Blog – This may technically be cheating on my “blogs only” rule, as it’s the Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic.  In fairness though, Dejan, unlike other MSM bloggers, actually runs it like a blog.  His updates are real time and often supplemented with his own opinions, additional tidbits not in his coverage and reader Q&A.
  • Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke – If the title isn’t enough…  Pat is a fellow displaced Burgher in NC.
• Tech News:
  • A VC – Tech news is harder to narrow down to just a couple.  So instead I only chose one.  A VC is clearly the best in this space.  If you want more, comment about it and I’ll share the rest of my list.
• Pittsburgh:
  • Null Space – Simply the best blog in Pittsburgh.  Chris Briem finds some of the most interesting anomolies in anything data related.
  • Pittsblog – Mike Madison has become somewhat of a default expert on the Burgh.  His blog posts are a little rarer, but they are usually very well researched and insightful.