Hi all,

### Textbook
Last class, I didn't mention any specific chapters to read, but you should
read the introduction and chapter 1.


### Syllabus
There's been an addition to the syllabus. Tom Giebel will lead the class on
April 5th. He taught the Online Publishing class the last two years, and
was a colleague of mine at PC Magazine. He is now working at a small
startup downtown.

The subject of the April 5th class will be 'A Day in the Life of an
Internet Startup'. Tom will give a glimpse into the financial and technical
issues of starting an e-business. Think about questions you might have
about the experience of working at a startup. Even if you never work in
that kind of environment, there are lessons for everyone in the Internet
industry (that means you!).


### CyberTimes
I hope you all got a chance to see the business section of the Monday Times.
The story that has the most application to our class is the one at the
bottom of the first page, "Covering the Campaigns for the Citizen-Browser".

It's obvious that the Web means media can be less 'mediated' and more
'immediate', that is it can get from the source to the reader more quickly,
with less processing.
Readers can respond directly to writers more easily on the Web than in print.
There is a suggestion in the article that these readers can sometimes the
place of traditional editors in that they can correct or chastise the
writer as needed.

Is this a more 'real' or 'authentic' way of distributing information?
It seems like the line between gossip and news is blurring, and not just online.
Is this inevitable? Is the Web the culprit?
Can we take online journalism seriously?

We'll talk about this in class.


### Write me!
Feel free to ask me any questions via email, I check all the time.
Especially appropriate questions are ones about the most recent class.
If you feel I didn't cover something thoroughly enough, let me know and
I'll cover it in this weekly 'newsletter'. Speak up! If you don't
understand something in class, it's almost certain that some other students
didn't either, and you'll all benefit by getting the clearer answer.


### Tip of the Week
Also, here's an online tip that I found useful. Get a second, freemail
address (yahoo, hotmail, etc.) and use that as your junk-mail email
address.
Whenever you register for something online, use the junk-mail address
instead of your regular one. That way, all the junk mail that you're
inadvertantly signing up for won't clutter up your everyday email in-box.


And lastly, Matrese, don't forget that RocketBook!