Herb Caen lives through the SF Chronicle and New Media

Carl Nolte's take on Herb Caen is a worthy read, but for San Franciscans who've never heard of him - and the numnber's growing year-by-year - it's going to reach a small audience and then be quickly forgotten. That's sad, because Herb Caen is very much alive.

Herb Caen is alive in those of us who wanted to be like him, and still do. Who wanted to share how they saw San Francisco with the World. In the past, media wasn't fragmented; today it is. But because of that, he's everywhere.

Had he lived, Herb Caen would have still been a columnist, but a grouchy one, because his minders would not have had any idea how to get him plugged into New Media, and he most certainly would have resisted for a time. But his young fans would save him.

Herb Caen is alive. He lives in the people who use camcorders and cell phones to capture moments in San Francisco. Remember the Muni Driver who was getting a massage? The person who recorded him had Herb's sprit. Even the Oscar Grant Murder had Herb Caen's involvement in the form of the people who held up cell phones and camcorders to capture it as it was happening. And Herb Caen is very much in me. I had him in mind when I created this Golden Globe Awards video:



And this video on New Media, which was a tour of San Francisco, featuring talks with San Franciscans, including Mayor Newsom:



But if you're thinking I'm trying to say I'm Herb Caen - no, not exactly. We're all Herb Caen. I'm trying to show that we are him, today. We just need the proper vessel to show it and Herb Caen's sprit.

Herb Caen is alive. The problem is the San Francisco Chronicle hasn't figured out how to reassemble him today. Here's how.

Using YouTube's "direct" feature and a special web page, SFGate can have a new section called "I am Herb Caen: Herb Caen's San Francisco." The idea is to go to places that Herb would have either gone to or may have if they're new and make videos about them and what the person sees and upload them to the page. The result over time will be a powerful platform of San Francisco from his point of view as San Franciscans and visitors see it, expressed in videos.

In fact, here's an idea: each video should start with the title "I am Herb Caen."

Stay tuned.