By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Jan. 4, 2017: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. The coolest investigation with Legos you’ve ever seen: The Tampa Bay Times had a complicated story to story to tell about bridge construction. They turned to Legos. Why? Because everyone loves Legos*. And they are perfect for building bridges. The story is awesome. Congrats to the staffers who worked on this.

2. The long, sordid history of fake news (but there’s a silver lining): Fake news has been around for centuries, causing chaos and sometimes even death and destruction. But there is a silver lining. People can only take so much crap — reams of fake news leads to pushback from readers who search out quality news. A good read by Jacob Soll of Politico.

3. A love letter to the copy desk: In an era of cutbacks, it seems that copy editors are among the first to lose their jobs. Here’s a wonderful read by David W. Dunlap of the NYT about these important, if often under appreciated, folks.

* Except when you step on one in the middle of the night heading to the bathroom. Ouch.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Dec. 13, 2016: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. Why Facebook has zero interest in making changes for news: OK, the hedline exaggerates. Frederic Filloux of Monday Note says Facebook does have one good reason — it’s good PR. But otherwise… Facebook is about ads, page views and emotion. News? It don’t care; ain’t part of the game plan. So newspeople who are counting on Facebook to make substantive changes? Sorry. A tough read, but sounds realistic to me.

1. A tech era ends: NYT’s Markoff retires: For anyone who has followed the world of tech, reporter John Markoff is a rock star. Markoff chronicled the ins and outs of digital, from Apple to browsers, from AI to dark hackers. Now he’s pulled the plug, after nearly three decades. His retirement speech looks back over his illustrious career at the new York Times.
2. Print is dead. Long live print: Why print is so hard to kill (hint: people like it): Michael Rosenwald argues in the Columbia Journalism Review that newspaper publishers are giving up on print way too soon. People still love print and — btw — that’s still where a lot of the money is. He makes an interesting argument (even if I’m not sure I quite buy it.)

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Dec. 6, 2016: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. The bruising battle over using the term ‘alt-right’: The NYT has become ground zero for the fight over using the term “alt right.” Every time it’s used, readers write in, pro and con (but always with passion), about how and whether it should be used. Public editor Liz Spayd explains how the Times will be using “alt right” in the future.
2. The rise of the browser over apps (again): First came the browser, and it was good. Then came the apps, and they were better. And now comes … the browser, again? How browsers are winning back your phone. By Hugh Durkin of Intercom.
3. The civil war tearing Reddit apart is all about Trump: Reddit is incredibly successful because it (mostly) let’s people say and post whatever they want. But now the Trump election and the rise of manipulative trolls is putting incredible stress on one of the web’s most cheerfully anarchic sites. By Bryan Menegus at Gizmodo.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Nov. 29, 2016: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

By Matt Carroll <@MattCData>

Nov. 29, 2016: Cool stuff about journalism, once a week. Get notified via email? Subscribe: 3toread (at) gmail.

1. How the election blew up in Facebook’s face: A fascinating autopsy of Facebook’s decision to become more focused on real-time content, like Twitter, and how that led directly to an horrifying avalanche of fake news. It’s a case study of how seemingly innocuous decisions to encourage sharing had unimaginable results. By Ben Kantrowitz at BuzzFeed.
2. Saving investigative news: Folks, it’s a great time to be a corrupt politician in America. That’s why we need investigative journalism more than ever, at a time when the news media’s financial underpinnings are collapsing. Here’s some ideas for what we can do. By yours truly. (Text of TedX talk.)
3. Newsletters are cool (again): Newsletters, those digital dinosaurs from the wayback before social media, are making a comeback. Here’s a couple of stories about how to make a newsletter work for you: “How to start a newsletter” by Mario R. Garcia and “8 business models for email newsletters,” by Andrew Jack.

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Matt Carroll is a journalism professor at Northeastern University.