iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

I could not be more proud to share that The Swampscott Tides, the local news startup I've been involved with since last year, was named startup of the year at the 2025 Nonprofit News Awards by @inn.org! inn.org/about/our-wo...

inn.org

Startup of the Year

Honors a young organization (operating for less than three years) for establishing strong support of their journalism throughout the community and the

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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 07/08/2025

It’s literally *years* overdue—both the pandemic & team members going & *getting jobs and stuff* delayed the multigraph so, so much But I just sent a draft of the final chapter for our Viral Texts Project book to the press! There will be much yet to do—but hitting send on that email was incredible

manifold.umn.edu

Going the Rounds | University of Minnesota Press Manifold

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Over on my Substack, I’ve launched a series called “Stories of Belief,” based on a course I used to teach that focused on spiritual autobiography. This week, I discuss the essay “My Mother’s Bible” by Walter Kirn. Read along! open.substack.com/pub/inprog/p...

open.substack.com

Stories of Belief: "My Mother's Bible" by Walter Kirn

This week, we read Walter Kirn's essay about meeting his mother through the story of the Fall

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Since this misguided argument describing the 90s as all “socially conscious” and what followed as a time of “irony” is making the rounds, I get to unleash my ready-made response from @theatlantic.com, back in 2012: www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen...

theatlantic.com

Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age's Ethos

A recent hipster-hating New York Times column got our pop-cultural moment exactly backwards.

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I open up new issue of Literary Journalism Studies &whaddya know, there's a splendid review of my book THE UNDERTOW, by Jonathan Fitzgerald, in which he makes a key distinction about empathy for the devil: "*feeling with* but never *believing with.*" s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

s35767.pcdn.co

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I just got a marketing email from Sears and it led to full on Obi Wan moment: “Sears. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long, long time.” *looks off wistfully*

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Has anybody figured out how to turn off Gemini in Google Docs? I've been searching and striking out.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Who are the best TikTok journalists out there? I downloaded the app for the first time (hi, I’m old) and do not find it user friendly for searching out journalists to follow. Help an elder millennial, would you?

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Also in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies (@literaryjournalism.bsky.social), a review of my book “How the News Feels!” I’m so grateful and I just love this: “Fitzgerald models the ethics of care for both his subjects and his subject.” s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

s35767.pcdn.co

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

My review of “The Undertow” by @jeffsharlet.bsky.social is out now in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies @literaryjournalism.bsky.social. “How the Extreme becomes the Ordinary” s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

s35767.pcdn.co

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maya cade @mayascade.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

my thoughts on AI are intertwined to two essential truths: -i don’t cite or trust an amaglation of unsourced claims. -no thought, claim, truth, history can be told from a fixed, “neutral” point. an acknowledged author is a contract of trust between reader and writer.

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IALJS - International Association of Literary Journalism Studies @literaryjournalism.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Call for Papers! The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19) - theme: “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History” - will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York... on the banks of the mighty Hudson River ialjs.org/conference-i...

ialjs.org

Conference Updates - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies

The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19), “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History,” will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New Y...

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

The stupidest thing about this move — and there’s a lot of stupid here — is the perpetuation of the myth that AI is unbiased. Like the pure machine can correct for humanity’s failings.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Incidentally, if he is confirmed I -- six years sober -- will probably start drinking again. (Kidding, of course)

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

I echo Dan’s sentiment and if you’re looking to get in on the ground floor of a local nonprofit news source, might I recommend Swampscott Tides? swampscotttides.org/donate/

swampscotttides.org

Donate - Swampscott Tides

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Dan Kennedy @dankennedy.net · 03/12/2024

On this #GivingTuesday, I donated to two news nonprofits on whose advisory boards I serve: @cwbeacon.bsky.social and the Local Journalism Project, which helps support The Provincetown Independent, a for-profit public benefit corporation. Please support #LocalNews in your community.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Help a local news startup get off the ground! I'm on the board of Swampscott Tides, an independent online local news source that we're hoping will launch early next year. This Giving Tuesday, we're asking for your support to help us get started reporting the news. Thanks! swampscotttides.org/donate/

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I’m not mad at more video in digital news, but I’ll never not find vertical video grating

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Ah, Cyber Monday, one of the last reminders of a bygone time when everything on the internet was “cyber.” I miss those halcyon days!

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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I am collecting examples of the most thoughtful writing about generative AI published in 2024. What’s yours? They can be insightful for commentary, smart critique, or just because it shifted the conversation. I’ll post some of mine below as I go through them. #criticalAI

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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

"I don't want to be influenced: I want to be informed." sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/intermission

sarahkendzior.substack.com

Intermission

Tired of the Trump Show? Time to change the way you watch.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Got my first “subscribe to see EVERYTHING” follow. We’re really growing up fast over here.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

This is my favorite takeaway from this great piece: “I’m rebuilding my RSS reader so at least I have to scan the headlines myself.” More good stuff here: www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/im-a...

niemanlab.org

I’m a journalist and I’m changing the way I read news. This is how.

Sometimes it's healthy to do something you love less, and differently.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

I used clearsky.app to see what lists/starter packs I’m on, and I learned that I’m on a block list that someone created for people who follow other people who have been identified as republicans. I’m not worried about it, but, I mean, that’s kind of awful criteria for blocking someone, right?

clearsky.app

ClearSky

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Just watched a livestream of my town’s high school football team play their Thanksgiving game at Fenway Park and it made me nostalgic for my days as…an AV kid.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Love this: “Readerly ‘flow’ allows for a submersion in another way of being, an expansion of possibilities and consciousness…to abandon deep reading is to jettison something intrinsic, precious, and singular.” lithub.com/in-praise-of...

lithub.com

In Praise of Print: Why Reading Remains Essential in an Era of Epistemological Collapse

When the witty and wry English fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett interviewed Bill Gates for GQ in 1995, only 39% of Americans had access to a home computer. According to the Pew Research Center, the…

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Don’t mind me (5’1”) googling Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s height after watching Wicked. Let’s just say, I’m in good company (and ready for my closeup).

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I'll letya know this aftanoon when I see it in Danvahs, ked

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Has anyone written about how Gen Alpha slang seems to be a mashup of Drag and BroGamer cultures? How did this happen?

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I cut my Twitter/X use years ago for my mental health. This place is so much better, but I’m remembering that it’s not just the content that matters, but the medium itself. It is still an endless scroll of other people’s thoughts. Breaks are still necessary.

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Evan Smith @evanasmith.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Most important recommendation for media rehab/reclaiming the reality and trust rooms in @brianstelter.bsky.social’s Reliable Sources newsletter today: “start small, with local news” go.bsky.app/JxrRdNn

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Mark Sample @samplereality.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Fire all the Democratic consultants you want. It won't change the fact that the media diet of most Americans is full of lies, mistruths, and unhinged opinions presented as facts, all designed to reaffirm parochial us vs. them insecurities while serving a steady stream of ads.

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

I do think there is danger in only interacting with people with whom you already agree, but the greater danger may be assuming complete agreement when there rarely is. This, 2017 essay by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social, is helpful. harpers.org/archive/2017...

Though great political work and useful debate about ideas and ethics is happening over social media, much of the time we spend together (or in solitude) has been replaced by the time we spend online, in arenas not conducive to subtlety or complexity. We have shifted to short declarative statements, to thinking in headlines, binaries, catch-all categories, to viewing words as pieces in a game of checkers rather than, say, gestures in a ballet.
If you're confident that everything not black is white, discussions about shades and hues seem beside the point. This absolutism presumes that our only position on those with whom we don't have complete agreement is complete disapproval, and also that agreement is simple, past which there is no nuance, strategy, possibility to explore.

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Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry.theatlantic.com · 21/11/2024

Go get @theatlantic.bsky.social's Starter Pack: go.bsky.app/NVbMa2Y

go.bsky.app

The Atlantic's Starter Pack

Join the conversation

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Great list. Still looking for fellow literary journalism scholars, too!

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