I've been selected! - along with 14 colleagues out of a pool of hundreds! - by Journal Register Company, the parent company of the Freeman - for the IdeaLab! And also to horribly misuse exclamation marks!
From the blog of JRC CEO John Paton:
For the next 12 months these colleagues will be charged with experimenting with the latest technology and tools to help our Company think differently about what we do and how we do it. To do that, we are equipping them with the latest tools – iPhones, iPads and Netbooks (or they can substitute that list with Droids or other non-Apple products).
We are also providing them with 10 hours of paid free time per week to experiment and because we know they will do many more hours than that we are also providing a $500 per month stipend.
In short, we want to transform the way we do news - for the better - and we want you to be a part of it. One of the ideas is to open a two-way street for tips and concerns and allowed you to tell us what are the uncovered stories that are on your minds. And we intend to follow up.
But that's just one idea that we're kicking around. And I'd like to hear from you.
You can do it here (the blog is open for unmoderated comments) on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ivanlajara, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/IvanLajaraPage, via e-mail at ilajara@freemanonline.com or by this thing I found called a telephone, (845) 331-5000, extension 502.
I've got some more ideas, and in the coming days I'll be bouncing some of those with you, at which point you can remind me that I'm crazy and suggest better ones.
Let's do this.
