Aram wrote an interesting article on his blog, Read, Write and View, about my situation at wikipedia and a similar situation that happened between Allen Stern (of Centerworks) and Jeff Goldberg (of Social Median.

I have received similar reactions to my post since I mentioned it- the idea that since people are going to steal it anyways, you might as well try to get some credit from it.

And as I mentioned first, I understand this. I understand that I need to allow my work to go beyond the traditional news mold and disseminate on the Internet. There is a reason I’m starting this website up after all- I firmly believe that for the news media to survive, we have to move forward and let go of a lot of our past assumptions about how our work should get out there.

I would like to have control over my work is distributed but I can’t. Period. Unless I choose not to put any of my work up online, which would be very detrimental to me, people are going to take it and do what they want to with it. I just would really like to know about it when it happens.

Aram has informed me that he really thinks my photo on wikipedia could help me get a job later- that wikipedia standards for photos are fairly high and it would an impress an ideal employer. I’m uncertain about that- though a new media person over at UWire or elsewhere might understand it and think it’s cool, I really don’t think an old media employer like some of the newspapers I’m trying to get hired at would -get it-. Yes, I am trying to transition to new media, but in the mean time, if I want to get paid for my work, I have to continue to try to get jobs at “old media” places.

I am a bit shaken up today- The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy. That’s a huge media group that is so in debt it can’t handle it anymore. I mean- I’ve known for a while that newspapers are dying, but this really sunk it in.

I’ll definitely write about this more later, but I seriously need to finish up a project for class.

I love getting packages in the mail- today I got a big box from my church back home of candy and popcorn and assorted treats to get me through exams. Possibly the coolest feeling in the world.