Judith Towend at journalism.co.uk talks about Ruby in the Pub, a meeting of developers and journalists. "The evening was also a meeting of cultures; as journalists explained their various work brick walls and developers explained the differences between various coding languages and platforms." It's really important for journalists and developers to work together. I've spent a lot of my career with feet in both camps, being a working journalist while testing new technology on the fly. It has been a rare position. There are misunderstandings in both camps, but hopefully, this type of cultural exchange can change that.

Most useful for me was hearing about the projects developers are implementing in their respective organisations and the tools they are using.

Kevin: As a journalist, I found that engaging users around journalism was as much of an art as a science. It took an understanding on how online communities operate that isn't always intuitive or easily explained, especially to those not familiar with online community dynamics. I'm not sure that I agree with all of these points, especially the issue about being effective and having 95% of people hating you. I think that it confuses and inadequately explains what it means to be effective and what it means to have impact. However, there is a lot of good food for thought.

Kevin: The Huffington Post takes another step in its journey to become a social media site by adding badges. It's really a recognition of the different roles that users play on the site, and it adds yet another bit of social functionality that if common on social networking sites. However, the focus of the HuffPo's social functionality is definitely around the concept of interaction around media as the social objects.

Kevin: A good brief overview from my former colleague Alf Hermida about whether some of the new foundation-funded journalism institutions in the US need new ethics. I think this is more about new institutions than the traditional definition of new media. However, it's a good look at whether new rules should apply in terms of transparency for these foundation-funded organisations and other new kinds of journalism organisations as they are launched.