Charles Apple

After six years of volunteer posting in the VisualEditors bulletin boards and blogs, I’m closing down this blog today. (more…)

My distinguished colleague and webmaster tells me we’re nearing a crisis point with server space here at the blog.

By its very nature, this blog chews up a lot of bandwidth. I can’t very well write about visual journalism without showing you the work that’s being done out there. I try to keep my jpegs as small as possible — we run images only 400 pixels wide here, which is pretty tiny — except when I do the “click to enlarge” thing. Which I do from time to time in order to give you readable views or show you detail work you might not be able to see.

From time to time, I also give you PDFs you can download. In order to lighten the burden on the blog servers, I post those at my FTP server. As the load there has increased, I’ve been wondering when they’d come knocking to ask me to upgrade to a more expensive level of service.

That’s pretty much were we are now with the main blog server, evidently. I’m filling up the space with my little JPEGs. And the little Google ads you see here don’t begin to cover the expense.

All this brings up a question I’ve been pondering for some time now: What do we do with this blog?

I never really intended to become a blogger in the first place. I kind of fell into this role when my buddy Robb Montgomery created a bulletin board for visual journalists back in 2004. I was so excited that I spammed my address book with invitations to join and then I went crazy posting news items and links and comments in hopes of stirring up conversation. Just so folks would have a reason to keep coming back.

Eventually, that task evolved into this blog. Then, Mark Friesen ended his wonderful NewsDesigner blog and SND’s numerous attempts at ramping up posting at its own site have fallen flat, leaving me as arguably the most visible visual journalism blogger around.

That’s not a role I’ve ever felt comfortable with. Nor did I ever want that. Yet, that’s where we are today.

And, y’know, I’m happy to serve the visual journalism community. If I can best serve as your blogger, then that’s what I’ll do. And that’s OK.

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Blogging over the years:

Clockwise from upper left: Orlando, August 2006; Manila, April 2007; Boston, October 2007 and Johannesburg, October 2009.
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But we’ve outgrown yet another infrastructure, as the servers are filling up. A few months ago. Robb suggested I begin posting all my images at Flickr and then link back to them. I’ve never really used Flickr that particular way. All those extra clicks seem like a lot of trouble — especially given the number of images I post on some days.

Also, I wonder about posting images I don’t own on a site like Flickr. Posting pages and photos and graphics in my blog — with accompanying commentary and attribution — is one thing. Posting them to Flickr — which has its own set of technical requirements and user agreements — is another thing entirely.

So that seems unworkable.

Also, Robb was discussing the possibility of reconfiguring VisualEditors again and he seemed to have hopes for the blog in those plans. One night in the VizEds chat, he even appointed a committee to help brainstorm ideas and work up solutions. I never heard back on that, so I can only assume nothing was decided. And even if it were, that wouldn’t address the issue of server space.

I tossed the question out to Twitter, where some of the sharper, more tech-savvy folks seem to reside. The only reply so far:

Upgrade servers?

Well, yeah, ideally. But that costs money. Neither I nor the VizEds nonprofit can afford bigger servers. And I’m quite reluctant to embark on a fundraiser like NewsPageDesigner did a few years ago.

So what does that leave me? The options, as I see them…

1. Stop posting so many JPGs. Which defeats the purpose of having a visual journalism blog. So that’s out.
   
2. Post my JPGs at Flickr and then hotlink ‘em back here. Unworkable because of a) manpower issues — I post a lot of pages. And I just can’t possibly spend more time working on this blog, folks. And b) potential copyright issues, as I outlined above.
   
3. Conduct a fundraiser. This could be done. I find it distasteful, though. I don’t mind helping to raise funds for other people or organizations. But I loathe doing it for myself. I think I’d rather quit first.
   
4. Find a sponsor for the blog. I’ve been chewing this one over since yesterday, when I found that Adobe sponsors BizCommunity, the organization that posted the interview with me. Typical editorial guy that I am, though, I have no clue how to attract and seduce a sponsor. A dab of printer’s ink behind the ears and on the nape of the neck, perhaps?
5. Move the blog to another site. Over the years, I’ve been approached by a number of folks inquiring if I’d come blog for them. I like being affiliated with VizEds — a nonprofit aimed at furthering visual journalism — but it seems that I’ve moved beyond being a magnet or a draw for readers. I’ve now swamped VizEds — both their servers and their pocketbook. Are there really any prospective hosts out there? I dunno. Let’s find out.
6. Leave VizEds and strike out on my own. My wife has been urging me for years to do this. Again, I like being affiliated with a nonprofit, which matches the spirit with which approach the blog. And, yes, I like having Robb’s technical guidance there as we navigate all those aspects of the web that completely baffle me. I also don’t have a clue as to how much this would cost me. A lot, I’m afraid.
   
7. And then I could always quit. I never really meant for this blog to become this big anyway. Perhaps it’s time for me to ‘retire.’ Perhaps it’s time for someone else to take up the cause of visual journalism. Perhaps there’s someone else out there who could do this better than I can. Or, at least, perhaps they can afford it better than I can.
   

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? Now’s the time.

…can someone explain to me why there’s an ad for Ann Taylor Loft women’s dress shops on my visual journalism blog?

I just don’t understand Google Ads sometimes.

VisualEditors.com — the place where my blog is home-based — is a nonprofit organization. The reason we have ads here in the blog at all, of course, is because the founder of VizEds — my good friend Robb Montgomery — pays for upkeep of the blog out of his pocket. The ads help defray his expenses. Which, given the storage space for all the pages I post and the bandwidth I suck up, are pretty significant.

Last year, a prominent reader took offense to a Google ad that uploaded itself into my blog. Unreasonably so, I think. Read about that here.

Also, I posted earlier today about advertising blockers in the new Apple release of Safari 5. Find that here.

What would be great, of course, is if Apple — or Adobe or DTI or Nikon or another company or association that seeks business with visual journalists — would sponsor this blog. You know where to find me, folks. E-mail me.

Until then, I guess I’m stuck with Ann Taylor Loft.

I wouldn’t mind it so much, y’know, if it were Victoria’s Secret…