It is almost the one month anniversary of NicoleNorfleet.info! (Balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling) This site’s main purpose is for employers and other recruiters to find out more information about me. It is basically my online portfolio. With my blog, I am trying to give the perspective of a soon-to-be journalism grad. I have to admit, nothing too special about it. But this site helps me focus. While right now the blog just has a couple of posts about my opinion on journalism issues, I am going to grow it into being a more personal look at some of the anxieties I’m experiencing during my last couple months of being a student.

Today I found myself going over my future plans in my head, a habit that I seem to do more and more lately as my booting from the nest looms near. I am now deadset on going to Japan next year. Before I would just mention my goal to live in Japan during networking events as a way to sound interesting. However, I am now actively looking for opportunities in Japan. I’ll talk more about that in a later post. Anyway, I am definitely going to Japan next year whether that country wants me there or not. When I’m there, I’m going to write a detailed blog about my daily experiences. I want it to be kind of like a Tokyo Times. When I was in a journalism class two years ago, I started a blog for class called Black Otaku. I basically just talked about otaku culture from an African American’s view. It was kind of popular (mostly because of a post I did comparing Kanye West’s “Stronger” music video and Akira). Today I bought the domain www.blackotaku.com in preparation for next year’s adventures. Exciting! We’ll see how it turns out.

NYTimes tech columnist David Pogue has been accused of a journalism no-no, engaging in conflicts of interest. Critics have ranged from his techy counterparts to even his paper’s public editor. Pogue is criticized for reviewing new products in his popular column and also writing books about some of them. The NYTPicker just blogged about a podcast Pogue was interviewed in Sunday when he admitted that his “Missing Manual” series might be a conflict of interest but that other tech writers were guilty of the same practice. What’s more is that Pogue chose to defend himself by saying he was “not a reporter.”

CitySourced screenshot (Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

QUICK POST

Journalists Tweeting at TechCrunch 50 are excited about the prospects of CitySourced, a digital startup focused on mobile civic engagement tools.

Here is how the people at CitySourced describe their mobile apps:

1) a free, simple, and intuitive tool empowering citizens to identify civil issues (potholes, graffiti, trash, snow removal, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; 2) an opportunity for government to use technology to save money and improve accountability to those they govern; and 3) a positive, collaborative platform for real action. Our platform is called CitySourced, as it empowers everyday citizens to use their smart phones to make their cities a better place.