Online Journalism Blog » documentally

Some other online innovators for some other list

Paul Bradshaw — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:08:28 +0000

Journalism.co.uk have a list of this year’s “leading innovators in journalism and media”. I have some additions. You may too.

Nick Booth

I brought Nick in to work with me on Help Me Investigate, a project for which he doesn’t get nearly enough credit. It’s his understanding of and connections with local communities that lie behind most of the successful investigations on the site. In addition, Nick helped spread the idea of the social media surgery, where social media savvy citizens help others find their online voice. The idea has spread as far as Australia and Africa.

Matt Buck and Alex Hughes

Matt and Alex have been busily reinventing news cartoons for a digital age with a number of projects, including Drawnalism (event drawing), animated illustrations, and socially networked characters such as Tobias Grubbe.

Pete Cashmore

Mashable.

Tony Hirst

Tony has been blogging about mashups for longer than most at OUseful.info, providing essential help for journalists getting to grips with Yahoo! Pipes, Google spreadsheets, scraping, and – this week – Google App Inventor.

Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison

I’m unfairly bunching these two together because they were responsible – with others – for the Django web framework, which has been the basis for some very important data journalism projects including The Guardian’s experiment in crowdsourcing analysis of MPs’ redacted expenses, and Holovaty’s Everyblock.

Philip John

Behind the Lichfield Blog but equally importantly, Journal Local, the platform for hyperlocal publishers which comes with a raft of useful plugins pre-installed, and he runs the West Midlands Future of News Group.

Christian Payne

Documentally has been innovating and experimenting with mobile journalism for years in the UK, with a relaxed-but-excitable on-screen/on-audio presence that suits the medium perfectly. And he really, really knows his kit.

Meg Pickard

Meg is an anthropologist by training, a perfect background for community management, especially when combined with blogging experience that pre-dates most of the UK. The practices she has established on the community management front at The Guardian’s online operations are an exemplar for any news organisation – and she takes lovely photos too.

Chris Taggart

Chris has been working so hard on open data in 2010 I expect steam to pour from the soles of his shoes every time I see him. His ambition to free up local government data is laudable and, until recently, unfashionable. And he deserves all the support and recognition he gets.

Rick Waghorn

One of the first regional newspaper reporters to take the payoff and try to go it alone online – first with his Norwich City website, then the MyFootballWriter network, and more recently with the Addiply self-serve ad platform. Rick is still adapting and innovating in 2010 with some promising plans in the pipeline.

I freely admit that these are based on my personal perspective and knowledge. And yes, lists are pointless, and linkbait.

Micropodcasting – an overview through the eyes of two practitioners

Paul Bradshaw — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:17:45 +0000

I’m kicking off the second semester of my MA in Online Journalism this week with a session on audio. As part of the preparation for that I’ve been looking at ‘micropodcasting‘, speaking to Mark Rock, the founder of Audioboo, and Christian Payne – better known as Documentally - who is a great user of the micropodcasting form. I thought it might be useful to post their thoughts here:

I asked Mark Rock what sort of boos (recordings) proved popular on the site. He listed the following:

“Celebrity boos are the biggest here – witness @bobbyllew, who got retweeted from the site 45 times at the weekend.
“Next come people who embed the player on their website – such as the Arsenal blogger - http://audioboo.fm/boos/94714-united-reaction
“Finally interesting content – people who are using it for a purpose, such as my one! http://audioboo.fm/boos/94707-alex-walters-on-the-state-of-journalism.”

Asked what types of recordings people make, Mark provides this overview:

“Micro podcasts. Chris does short photo tips: http://audioboo.fm/boos/51850-are-you-missing-daily-photo-tips-daily-photo-tips-with-chris
“Interviews: http://audioboo.fm/boos/94682-talking-with-the-taxman-about-poetry-sort-of-jason_cobb-with-billybragg
“Promotion of other content: http://audioboo.fm/boos/94834-bullet-proof-crocodiles-and-more-on-today-s-outlook
“Educational support: A lot of use in schools – http://audioboo.fm/boos/94818-the-dark
“Business info. Lots of realtors as well as big firms like BDO: http://audioboo.fm/profile/bdo
“Audio projects. This guy has setup the firstpages tag to get people to read the 1st pages of books: http://audioboo.fm/tag/firstpages
“Radio. Lots of radio stations using it for content - http://audioboo.fm/profile/BBCLondon949
“Capturing the moment. Lot of personal social usage - http://audioboo.fm/boos/94794-sharing-my-thoughts-11-f-king-frustrated
“plus ambient, children and more.”

He adds: “I think the thing about audioboo is that it takes a bit of time to find a voice or a style and that probably puts a lot of people off. But in my experience the more off-the-cuff ones are often the best. There is something about the unedited nature that is more compelling than edited radio.”

Christian, meainwhile, said he has “found no hard and fast rule on what makes a popular ‘Boo’ as it all depends on what audience you want to engage.”

On the whole I find short soundbites are more welcomed than long ones. As regards interviews, for me casual conversation tends to spread more outside of the podcast itself i.e others feel more at liberty to join in in the comments, twitter etc.

As far as editing goes, a top ‘n’ tail should be more than enough for a micro blog. It should all be about ease of posting and the immediacy of it going live. A non edited piece of audio sounds more intimate and less premeditated ‘programmed’.

All my types of Boo are really ‘personal journal’. It’s been rare that I have been talking on behalf of anyone else and so as far as the audio goes it’s just another way of documenting my journey. An audience is a bonus (sometimes) for me. I boo to document and remember the moment. there are countless categories available should you want to tag certain styles.

As for tips, he says: “Be random.”

More importantly than anything (in my opinion) I feel a micropodcast should be and could be anything from one episode or boo to the next. It is the element of ‘anything could happen next’ that keeps me subscribed to the boos I listen to. I want to be taken to new places, though not on any scheduled flight – more of a magical mystery tour.

We have production studios in our pockets and they go with us everywhere. Why create a studio environment when there are so many great places/sounds/conversations/situations and moments to share?

10 Twitter users that every journalism student should follow?

Paul Bradshaw — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:14:40 +0000

UPDATE: From the comments: similar lists now available for Norway and Sweden.

I will soon begin teaching my annual module in Online Journalism and one of the first things I get the students to do is set up a Twitter account. It’s often a struggle to demonstrate the usefulness of Twitter, so this time around, in addition to following each other, I’m going to give them 10 people to start following from the off. This is the list I’ve come up with – would welcome your suggestions for others:

@davelee - former journalism student and excellent blogger who landed a plum job at the BBC after graduating. Get the point?
@channel4news - example of how a news organisation can use Twitter in a personal, conversational way, rather than simply republishing its RSS feed (see also: @r4news, @mashable)
@jemimakiss – likewise, example of a journalist using Twitter to involve readers in production, as well as just be a ‘real person’ (alternative: Mike Butcher).
@jayrosen_nyu – journalism professor at New York University with excellent links and analysis on the news industry and online journalism (see also: @jeffjarvis)
@digidickinson – Andy Dickinson, UK journalism lecturer and online video specialist. Ditto above. (alternative: @egrommet)
@bhampostjoanna – Jo Geary of the Birmingham Post & Mail, uses Twitter brilliantly, and is so switched on there’s a power surge every time she wakes up. (alternatives: Sarah Hartley and Alison Gow)
@shanerichmond – Communities Editor at The Telegraph, knows his onions. (alternative: Martin Stabe)
@documentally - vlogger, moblogger, social media man, has worked with Reuters and others
This is a local choice so you would probably have a local equivalent, but @peteashton founded local arts blog Created In Birmingham, which recently won Best UK Blog. Every journalism student should be following – and talking with – people like this in their area. One good place to find out is by searching twitter.grader.com for your area
Likewise, @tom_watson is a local MP, but is closely involved in campaigning for the release of government data to the public, and in the government’s digital communications generally. You may have a local or national equivalent.

Needless to say I’ll be suggesting they use services like Twellow, Twitterlocal and Twits Like Me to find other users in their ‘beat’, but I think it helps get someone into a conversation quicker if they can see what other people are talking about – and how.

Over to you – who would you recommend…?