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Assorted Bob Media Bob Uncategorized

I’m leaving KnoxVegas …

After 12 great years in Tennessee, Lara and I are packing up and leaving Knoxville to move to Las Vegas.

Why?

Mainly because I’ve landed a job with Greenspun Corp. that was too great an opportunity to pass up. I’ll be working as executive vice president of Greenspun Media Group, which includes their interactive division (the amazing Rob Curley and Co.) and their local media assets. I’ll be landing there in mid-July, but I’m already itching to start scheming.

What about Radiant Markets?

When Lara was laid off from her job at Scripps Networks Interactive, it became clear I couldn’t spend a year building a startup and not taking salary. So I started casting around for a “regular” job that could accommodate the entrepreneurial, startup spirit I’ve been enjoying since Wes Jackson and I launched Radiant last fall. Greenspun Media Group was the perfect opportunity. Wes will continue with Radiant Markets after I head to the desert. Perhaps the greatest thing I’ve gained since leaving my job with Scripps a year-and-half-ago has been the opportunity to work closely with Wes. He’s one of my best friends and his business acumen is second to none.

How can I leave Tennessee?

To be honest, it won’t

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Assorted Bob Media Bob Uncategorized

Meet a mule skinner

mule_skinner1

Tom Jester passed along this photo of Arthur Bullington, a mule skinner in Cocke County, Tennessee. I’m assuming the photo is by photographer Don Dudenbostel, whose work never fails to stop me in my tracks. This is yet another example of the way Tom and Don are documenting disappearing Appalachian lifestyles. They also knew and recorded infamous

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Media Bob Uncategorized Web Bob

The mean streets of online comments …

I had the pleasure of moderating a roundtable on online comments a few weeks ago, and Jack Lail has posted a note on Knoxnews.com about the roundtable that gives an excellent summary and links to related info. Kudos to APME for funding this. It’s much needed. I was an early advocate of comments on newspaper sites and I’ve been really disappointed in how the potential for community never really lived up to its potential. I think discussions like this roundtable go a long way toward helping newspapers figure out their role in online community and how best to facilitate it.