E-Media Tidbits

Your faithful editor, almost-live-blogging SPJ 2006 from a hotel lobby.

I'm at the 2006 SPJ convention in Chicago. Well, actually, I'm above it. It's happening downstairs right now, two levels below me in the east tower of the Hyatt Regency.

Why am I blogging from the lobby? Because -- appallingly -- there is no wifi available in the meeting areas of one of the nation's major events for journalists. I have to take two escalators up to the lobby -- and then, I only get wifi when I face west.

I'd like to say this is an anomaly, but unfortunately this kind of oversight is common.

Open request to all media conference planners: Please make sure that wifi is available in the conference areas. People will be trying to live blog (or at least file stories and photos) right from your event -- and that is a GOOD thing! If you have to spend a little extra for the wifi, do it. It's no longer a luxury. It's an expected utility for live events -- as basic as having a sound system or even lighting.

Also, the gentleman who snapped my photo inform me that there is no cell service in the conference area, either. Amazing! You'd thing the hotel would have installed cell phone repeaters in the meeting levels.