ReviewMe Review
By Donovan | November 11, 2006
The following is a paid review:
Bloggers are the new voice of advertising and ReviewMe is tapping into this fact by offering Bloggers the opportunity to earn money by writing about services and products. Unlike it’s main competitor PayPerPost, ReviewMe sets itself apart with two key distinctions; Reviewers must state that it is a paid post; the ad need not be a positive review. It is for those reasons that I have decided to write for ReviewMe on Become the Media.
ReviewMe arrived on my radar screen by way of the ubiquitous TechCrunch, an avalanche of coverage on Web 2.0 sites and services. Always on the lookout for a way to make money on the internet while maintaining my integrity, I saw the potential of ReviewMe right away. The fact that ReviewMe was giving away $25,000 as a grand opening incentive led to my immediate membership and this resulting article. You see, $30 of that $25K is going to be mine as soon as I pass the 200 word mark in this post.
Here’s a summary of how it works. I am a blogger. I sign up as a Reviewer at ReviewMe. Then, after logging in, I can choose to accept new review offers by Advertisers. For instance, immediately after signing up, I was offered the opportunity to review ReviewMe. For my efforts, I would make $30. I was given 48 hours after accepting the offer to create this post and I need to make sure that I login to their site and provide the URL so that I can properly sign off on the task.
The ReviewMe site is pleasant to look at, it’s well organized and becoming a paid Blogger is drop dead easy. I’m excited about this new model of advertising. The bottom line for me is that I believe in the up-front requirement to state that this post is an advertisement and that I’m being paid to write it. However, if I were forced to only write a good review, then I wouldn’t participate. That’s why you won’t find me blogging for PayPerPost. You will see many more posts on Become the Media that are paid advertisements for ReviewMe, however.
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The Polling Place Photo Project
By Donovan | November 2, 2006
Jeffrey Zeldman: “The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that seeks to empower citizens to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action. By documenting their local voting experience on November 7, voters can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.”
The Polling Place Photo Project is part of Design for Democracy, an initiative of AIGA, the professional association for design.
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Wordpress equates to structure
By Donovan | May 3, 2006
Become the Media and all of my sites are powered by Wordpress. Wordpress is a content management system that separates my writing from the site’s design. That’s good because it allows me to add content and not worry about all the extraneous, design related details. For instance, if I want to change the appearance of a site, I simply choose a new theme (or create one) and then apply it. All my content is immediately updated with the new look.
Many people I run into create their web pages in an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. That’s fine if you are a designer or are creating a site with only a few pages. However, Dreamweaver is not a content management system. It has some nifty tricks up it’s sleeve to help you make your site but in the end, I recommend using Dreamweaver sparingly. Try moving your site into a CMS like Wordpress and many of the details you are currently struggling with will most likely disappear.
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OPML Editor (The Missing Manual)
By Donovan | March 20, 2006
I’ve been working on a new site called OPML Editor (The Missing Manual). (This URL will most certainly change.) This started out as a place for me to organize my thoughts on the OPML Editor and experiment with the world of wikis, and is turning into something that I may wish to push here on Become the Media.
This site is not meant to compete with any other OPML Editor related sites out there. It’s a wiki and my intention is for this site to coexist, not compete with those sites. As a wiki, it is different in its intention and should be considered an adjunct to any other docs available.
I’ve chosen Instiki as the wiki system. It’s light-weight, easy to install and fun to use. This is my first wiki and I hope you enjoy it. And help me write it. 
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OPML Community Server on Become the Media
By Donovan | February 25, 2006
I’m considering offering an OPML Community Server here on Become the Media.
When I registered this domain, my intention at the time was to run a Frontier/Manila server and offer free weblogs in the form of pcook.becomethemedia.org like a number of other services offered at the time, including my very own Manila hosting service Web Surf Hawaii.
However, a Frontier license was $800 a year and hosting other’s people’s stuff is serious business. For Become the Media to really blossom into something interesting, initially affordable to me, and beyond simple weblog hosting, I needed some unique reason as well as a solid plan behind it to make sure it would work and be well received.
Regarding the OPML Community server, Dave Winer says..
I’m kind of trying to drive things that way, so that at some point the idea will occur to a business-person, hey I could offer these people a service and make some money. It hasn’t happened yet, but I hope it will someday, hopefully soon.
I see running an OPML Community Server, and other offerings, as two things.
1. A way to build community.
2. A way to make money.
I’ve got to make a living and online communities are what interest me most. At this point, I’m just brainstorming but I’d like to come up with a way to offer a compelling community space for OPML Editors who want more out of a host than just a place to upload their files. I can imagine that once you become a member of the Become the Media community, you get OPML Editor weblog hosting, a campfire, perhaps an email address and other community minded tools. I think a well designed, instantly usable space for communities to gather, thrive, and then depart if desired, would be an interesting and exciting place to gather.
If an OPML Community Server were offered on Become the Media, would you be interested in hosting your OPML site here? What else, besides a place to point your OPML Editor to, would you want or expect? I’m looking for feedback so I can best consider a path to follow.
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Radio UserLand: The Missing Manual - Closing the Book
By Donovan | February 3, 2006
Before Radio UserLand was called Radio UserLand, it was called Pike. I’ve been a Radio user since the day it was born and I’ve enjoyed the power and flexibility it has afforded me over the last four or five years.
It’s been my pleasure to create this manual and I’ve learned much more about Radio than I ever would have had I not determined to create this weblog.
It’s been especially gratifying to get feedback from people. Trying to help out where I can, either here or in the Radio forums, is something I enjoy.
However, with Steve Kirk’s announcement today that he is no longer UserLand’s Radio product manager, I see the writing on the wall. I’ve seen it for some time actually. UserLand is obviously focused on Manila, not Radio. The day UserLand hired Steve Kirks was the day I started the manual. And today, I am ending the manual. Radio was like the unfortunate child that showed so much promise but was unfortunately abandoned due to it’s father’s health crisis. The father tried to give Radio to a good home but the new parent’s were more interested in Radio’s big brother, Manila. Radio stumbled along with a minimum of updates and attempts by Steve Kirks to drum up a developer community to bring Radio in league with many of its weblogging brethren did little to achieve many of the items on the community’s wish list.
Steve did a great job! Don’t get me wrong. Steve single handedly moved Radio forward at a time when it could have easily remained frozen in time. Rather, Steve led improvement in commenting, trackbacks, code bugs, aggregator functionality, user support, and more. Despite his attempts though, I got the impression that UserLand was content to keep Radio hobbling along just enough. That’s fine but I’m interested in platforms that are moving forward, not remaining stagnant or tended to “just enough.”
Thanks to all my readers. It’s been a wonderful experience. I wish you well with your Radio UserLand weblogging. Radio is still the little desktop publishing engine that could so keep on using it for your blog if you like it! I, however, have moved on and now it’s time to officially close the doors here. I will leave the site standing, yet frozen. There will be no more updates to this blog.
If you would like to follow my other endeavors, I invite you read my personal weblog, Donovan’s Brain, a WordPress powered site. I’m also available for web site development.. see my business site, Getting Sites Built. Become the Media (home of this manual) is going to become more active this year so keep tuned in to that site. And finally, I’m experimenting with thoughtStreams using the OPML Editor, which has been lots of fun. Check it out.
Thanks for reading! - Your Host, Donovan Watts.
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Search Terms for this Site
By Donovan | January 11, 2006
It’s nice to see the top results are exactly what I’d hope for.
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Try Basecamp for your next project
By Donovan | December 14, 2005
I’ve been using Basecamp to manage my client web site projects and it’s fantastic! Not only does it allow me to collaborate with my contractors, but it allows my clients to see what is going on behind the scenes as we build their site.
Since getting totally organized on Basecamp, I’ve suggested the service to others and they’ve found out how great it is as well. Now, whenever someone signs up because of my praise, I’ll get credit as an affiliate. Give Basecamp a try, click the graphic below.
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iceplant radio podcast featuring Adam Curry and Dave Winer
By Donovan | November 11, 2004
This year I went to Bloggercon at Stanford. My main mission: Attend the Podcasting session led by Adam Curry and walk away with at least one audio interview. Well, good thing I decided to take a breather after the session and eat an apple. That’s when Adam Curry walked by. I grabbed my mini disc, plugged in the microphone and donned my headphones. Adam was kind enough to record a lead in for [iceplant radio](http://www.iceplant.org/ “iceplant radio”) and I recorded our conversation. Dave Winer, having left the Information Overload session, walked by and Adam roped him into our conversation. [Listen in!](http://www.iceplant.org/gems/ir-2004-11-10.mp3 “Listen”)
Thanks to my sweetie and recording engineer, Aimee Pomerleau, for helping me with the post production. Also, thanks to [Wired Magazine](http://creativecommons.org/wired/ “Wired”) and Thievery Corporation for the music for this show, which is made available under a Creative Commons license.
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How To Podcast In Three (Relatively) Easy Steps
By Donovan | November 10, 2004
This new site explains how to podcast. There’s an easy way and a hard way. Guess which way is the easy way? With Radio UserLand!
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