The Modern Journalist

What My Desktop Looks Like

I’m oftentimes surprised at how reporters work these days.

Some of them are walking, talking technologists. They have synched phones that receive email, wire service updates, instant messages, twitters. You name it, they have it.

Then there are others who are old school. No IM. No email. It’s straight face-to-face reporting.

I make no bones about the how. Technology can be good. It can also get in the way. For instance, I’ve spend the last three months working with a laptop with a function problem (re: my function keys just activate on their own). And writing can be difficult for those who can’t filter out all the communication happening with technology without shutting everything down.

Me, I operate with a constant (copy edit by KP) the constant whir and buzzing from all my machines, 24-hours a day. Here’s what my desktop looks like.

You’ll see four instant messenger programs, including one that handles three different programs by itself (which means there are six). Docked to the right side is my Google Desktop with a clock, BBC Radio, Twitter, Weather, Dictionary, Wikipedia, Google Trends, Facebook and Gmail indicator.

Trillian, the messenging program that tracks Yahoo, AIM and Messenger also alerts me if any mail shows up to those accounts.

I use these to talk with sources, friends, family as well as following what people are talking about outside my office. It’s a virtual way to follow the world.

What you don’t see (or hear) is my Treo, constantly alerting me of appointments, IMs and other items that I add to my Outlook calendar and then synch once per day so that I have a mobile tech-servant.