A few months ago, I was collaborating new media models with both journalists and developers at a Knight-Mozilla News Challenge event in Seattle called hacks/hackers. About halfway through our brainstorm, a brave Seattle Times journalist spoke up and asked:

“But wait, what about the elephant in the room?”

(blank stares)

“You know…monetization.”

(frustrated stares).

Oh, yeah, that.

Indeed, monetization is the question everyone is asking about regarding the future of journalism, and no one really seems to have an answer for yet either. How on earth are we as journalists supposed to earn money for our content when online advertising revenue is dropping and people are so used to getting news content for free?

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The following infographic is truly amazing. The backstory: during the summer, NPR polled their listeners to find the 100 greatest sci-fi and fantasy novels of all time. The lovely people at SF Signal then took that list and created the most amazing interactive flowchart ever.

It’s amazing because what could just have remained a simple list (and seriously, who has time to go through 100 books these days?), has become almost a game. The questions that guide the reader through the chart are witty, and help one navigate through the choices to find likely reading candidates. They also provide entertainment for those people (me) who may already have read some (most) of the list (did I mention that I’m a geek?).

There’s even a non-pictorial version of the flowchart, which takes you through the questions using a questionnaire model.

This flowchart goes to show that a really useful infographic doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be designed in Illustrator, by a graphic arts major. All that a good infographic needs to do is to present the relevant information in a visual format that helps the reader to make better sense of the data. SF Signal elevates the lowly flowchart into a thing of geek beauty.

You didn’t really think Steve Jobs mania was over did you? The news that came out today from Silicon Valley may be a sign that it’s only just begun. In the wake of the computing pioneer’s death last month there’s been no shortage of material about Jobs coming forward including a high profile biography, a 60 Minutes special, and a host of online moratoriums from all over the globe. That all made sense. But a sign that posthumous fame is really working occurs when folks come out of seemingly nowhere with substandard material and are ready to make a buck.

It’s come out today that a lost Steve Jobs interview from 1995 was not only “discovered” in London recently but is now slated to show in major motion theaters across select cities in the United States. Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview is scheduled to debut in various Landmark Theater’s starting the third week of November. The footage is from an interview Jobs did with did with Robert Cringely for a public TV series called “Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires.” I’ve watched most of it throughout the day and there are some high points for sure. You can see Jobs’ more combative, cranky side come out as he talks about being fired from Apple and his rant against Microsoft. You see his human side most importantly. You see him sneeze, ask to stop and answer questions again, and you get beyond what Jobs was like while unveiling a new product and see what he’s really like reminiscing about the rise of Apple, even before Apple became the beast we know it to be today.

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Are you ready to supercharge your company’s story telling strategy? Creating viral buzz for your startup, is easier than you think if you know the industry’s inside secrets. So clean off your whiteboard, grab a marker and get ready to go “backstage” to learn the Top 5 Buzz Tips from Seattle’s tech media elite.

On October 13^th, the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest hosted the program, “Pitch, Don’t Spin – How to Create Buzz Around your Start-up” featuring a panel of five seasoned news experts: John Cook, Co-founder, GeekWire, Brier Dudley, Technology Columnist, Seattle Times, Leslie Helm, Editor, Seattle Business Magazine, Mike Davidson, Vice President, Social News, msnbc.com and CEO, Newsvine and Curt Woodward, Senior Editor, Xconomy.

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It’s Friday, which means that it’s time for another Viral Video of the Week. Hooray!

This week, I’ve selected a commercial video which has gone gangbusters. It was released only a month ago, and has seen more than ten million hits–and those are only the views on the primary YouTube upload. Wowzer.

Obviously, someone at Sony is doing something right. Not only are people watching this video, but they’re talking about it–arguing about it, even  (read the comments).  All this spells advertising gold.

Well played, Sony.

With the rise of online video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Viddler, the almighty video view count has become increasingly more important as a way of ranking success. Success of not only the producer, but also those paid to promote or “syndicate” online videos. While some of us might be uploading videos we think will quickly become the next YouTube sensation, we shouldn’t be disappointed when we only get 100 views and others with similar videos have thousands – they’re likely paying for them.

Online video syndication services have been around for several years and are helping many businesses, advertising agencies and producers transition from paid television ads to paid online video ads. While many of these services provide legitimate ways of attracting consumers to the videos, others have developed ways of short-cutting the process to quickly increase view counts and other forms of engagement.

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So here I am again, with another infographic. I mean seriously: how could we pass up an infographic on social media? It’s such an integral part of the MCDM, that we just had to give this one props…

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Earlier this week Klout, the current “hottest thing” in social media metrics, changed its algorithm. The change sparked a firestorm, mostly from the people who saw their Klout scores drop, for some as much as 20 points. I, however, am not complaining, because I’m still considered an “influencer in cupcake” (no, seriously–isn’t that the coolest title ever?–I think I’ll have business cards made up…).

What’s that? You don’t know what Klout is? Well, have we got a video for you… fair warning: there is one swear word toward the end of the video.