This post is the first in a regular series of profiles on digital media careers.

Content Strategist is a new position for many organizations and an attractive career option for copywriters, editors, content managers, journalists, freelance writers, and other digital media professionals with a passion for content—and an appreciation of a paycheck that matches their talents.

Digital agencies have long had content strategists on staff, but a variety of organizations are seeing the need to add someone to their team to be in charge of “the practice of planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content,” as Kristina Halvorson defines the job in Content Strategy for the Web, the book that popularized the term.

Because few people have been employed as content strategists, employers are open to considering job seekers looking to break into the field.

“All of the people in content strategy that I know have fallen into it through different routes,” says Vanessa Casavant, Content Strategist for Electronic Media at AdoptUSKids. “I came into it through journalism. I realized that it wasn’t the best career outlet for me and the outlook of having a job in journalism wasn’t that good. But I really enjoy the part of telling stories and finding the story within the story.” Read more…

2010 was stuffed with technological innovation and gadgets that bedazzle (and break your budget.)

For 2011, I recommend the following five technologies. Some may be familiar, some may be new to you, but all are worth a try.

1. Landline phones

Mobile phones are great on the go, but their voice feature is suboptimal: reception can be spotty, calls get dropped, and noise distortion can turn a conversation into an exercise in misunderstanding.

With close to hundred percent uptime, landline phones are attractive to consumers who are willing to trade portability and location-based check-ins for reliability and sound quality.

Landline phones are a must-buy for entrepreneurs and business professionals. A call on your mobile or on your landline—it can mean the difference between losing and winning a business deal.

Cost: Landline phones are inexpensive ($5 and up), but plans can set you back an extra $40 in addition to your mobile plan. Qwest is a leader in landline phone connections.

Phone features vary by brand and model. A cordless phone provides limited portability within the home, but security experts recommend having at least one corded phone in the home for emergency situations, when electricity may not be available to recharge battery-operated phones.

2. E-mail

Texts, tweets, and status updates: who needs another communication channel? Read more…

Every day you go online, you encounter little annoyances, even things that infuriate you. An entrepreneur won’t just chafe at these irritations, said Posterous co-founder Garry Tan at last weekend’s StartupDay, but turn frustration into innovation—creating a new product isn’t just a labor of love, it’s also a labor of hate.

“You’ve got to connect with what you hate, what you can’t stand. You’re starting up a company because you want to fix it,” Tan said.

At Posterous, Tan set out to build a blogging platform that would skip the annoying step of having to create yet another login. Users can create posts by simply emailing text and photos to the service, which automatically uploads and formats the content.

Tan’s talk on the three steps of a “product-driven state of mind” was a highlight of StartupDay 2010, hosted by Seattle 2.0, an organization dedicated to providing resources for tech entrepreneurs and startups.

Hate the problem is the first step towards creating great products, according to Tan, but completely fixing the problem is not necessarily the best second step. It’s counterproductive to be too perfectionist at the beginning, Tan warned. More important than creating a perfect product is creating any product at all. The second step is to ship the solution, Tan argued, even an imperfect one, because “until you can interact with the product, it doesn’t exist.” And what doesn’t exist, you can’t improve. Read more…

On April 16, 2010, the Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) program will be hosting TEDx Seattle at the Pacific Science Center. This regional event, independent from but endorsed by TED, aims to “bring together great minds in creativity, scholarship, and entrepreneurship to discuss the possibilities and prospects of social development enhanced through information technologies.” The theme of the conference is “Convening Community Through Social Technologies: Stories from Puget Sound to Cape Town.”

A limited number of tickets are now available. To apply for one, go to http://tedxseattle.com/attend/. Attendees will be selected by lottery and notified on or about March 24.

Confirmed speakers at TEDx Seattle include award-winning science fiction author Greg Bear, Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh, acclaimed photographer Amanda Koster, and Fiona Lee, the Africa Project Manager for Google.

“My passion is to create visuals and sound scenes that take you on the spot with a band or an era.”—Michele Myers

MCDM’s Emerging series continues with an interview with Michele Myers, Producer of KEXP documentaries. KEXP’s current ten-part radio documentary, Blues For Hard Times, features UW Music History professor Larry Starr. Past documentary series, from Portraits of Post-Punk to Pop Goes Electronic to Civil Rights Songs, have covered a wide range of musical genres.

The interview with Michele Myers will be streamed on the MCDM Livestream Channel. Tune in on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 12:00 P.M. (PST).

About KEXP

KEXP Documentaries

The other day I received an email appeal from Free Press, “a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media,” to urge the FCC to end unreasonable penalties for switching cell phone providers or cancelling service.

Free Press’ mobile phone campaigns fly under a “Free My Phone” banner and feature a cell phone angelically equipped with white wings. For this specific campaign, though, the phone has been retouched with an angry facial expression and the indecorous exclamation “ETF, WTF?” The ETF stands for the “early termination fees” charged by cell phone carriers. And you know what the WTF stands for.

Free Press is fuming that “carriers still force us to pay outrageous penalties — up to $350 — if we cancel our phone service or switch carriers. There’s one question on everyone’s mind: WTF?” (Not everyone may phrase it that way, but it’s certainly a good question why termination fees are so high. After all, if you want to cancel your cable service, providers don’t hit you with exorbitant fees.)

Apparently, the FCC is asking the same question (though, perhaps, without the “WTF?”) Read more…

To support disaster relief efforts after this morning’s magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile, the Mobile Giving Foundation has announced the following text donation campaigns:

Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 (Habitat for Humanity)

Text the word “CHILE”  to 20222 to donate $10 (World Vision)

Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 (Salvation Army)

Text the word “YOUTH” to 20222 to donate $10 (UNICEF)

100% of your donation goes to the recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on your carrier bill, standard rates may apply. Additional campaigns will be announced here.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/todosnuestrosmuertos/

Related on Flipthemedia.com: Startup City: Mobile Giving Foundation