Tag Archives: computer aided reporting

Online journalism’s must-read blog posts

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Shane Richmond is asking for contributions to a list of classic blog posts on online journalism. For some reason my comments don’t seem to have gone through, so here’s my list of the essential reads for online journalists:

  1. For an overview of the forms and possibilities of online journalism: Jonathon Dube’s Online Storytelling Forms
  2. For a mind-blowing insight into the journalistic potential of computer technology: Adrian Holovaty: A fundamental way newspaper sites need to change
  3. For reflection on how the online news environment changes the nature of journalism: Dan Gillmor’s The End of Objectivity (Version 0.91)
  4. For reflection on journalism ethics in the MySpace/Facebook/UGC/digital doorstepping era: Robin Hamman’s posts virginia tech bloggers: approach and confirm or link and disclaim? and his coverage of a debate on virginia tech coverage
  5. For a sliding scale of ideas on how to involve the audience: Steve Outing’s The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism
  6. For a succinct and clear explanation of moving from the TV mindset to an understanding of online video: Andy Dickinson: Moving from TV to Online
  7. For a quick list of tips when moving into video: Newslab’s Tips for Photographers
  8. For an outline of the possibilities of Flash for interactive storytelling, and experiences of its use: Mindy McAdams’ Flash journalism: Professional practice today 
  9. For a step-by-step overview of how to treat a story in a multimedia way: Mindy McAdams’ Journalism stories: A multimedia approach Parts 1, 2 and 3.
  10. For a conceptual exploration of interactive storytelling: The Elements of Digital Storytelling
  11. I’ll agree with Richmond’s inclusion of Ross Mayfield’s post on his own blog: What makes wikis work
  12. And it pre-dates blogs, but answers very effectively that recurring question of “Is blogging/wikis/databases/broccoli etc. etc. journalism?”: G. Stuart Adam’s Notes Towards a Definition of Journalism

How easy is it for your readers to tip you off?

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Here’s a case study in making it easy for your readers to tip you off.

Earlier today I was sent a link to a YouTube clip of former Bolton Wanderers and Villa midfielder Sasa Curcic, made up of clips from the Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro version of Celebrity Big Brother, in which he was competing.

A quick Google later, and I discover that not only has he been competing – he actually won the thing this week.

Spotting a quirky story when I see it, and being the nice journalist that I am, I decided to inform the Bolton News and the Birmingham Mail – but through their websites rather than through personal contacts.

The difference in accessibility is interesting: the Bolton News make it easy for people to contact them, with a range of contacts on a ‘Contact Us’ page. The Birmingham Mail, on the other hand, is not so straightforward. Being part of the ‘icBirmingham’ site means you have to drill down to the Mail section, and then the less obvious ‘About Us’ page.

So I email both sports editors, and see what happens.

Within three hours, the Bolton News has a story up – ‘Former Wanderers star wins Big Brother‘. The Birmingham Mail… well, I wait with bated breath.

So, two lessons: have a very obvious ‘contact us’ link on your news site – and secondly: when you report a tip-off story like this, credit the tipster at the end*, or send an email to let them know their tip was appreciated. If you’re looking to engender a sense of community, and build relations, you need to give something back to reinforce that behaviour.

*UPDATE: Turns out I was credited – on another page. Thanks to Chris Sudlow for letting me know (see comment), and credit for being savvy enough to monitor incoming links.

Video: how to be an online journalist

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A great way to start the week: my students are back from their Easter break, and one has not only posted a story about police being unable to keep up with 999 calls, but also created a witty video of ‘how to be an online journalist’, with royalty-free music to boot (note: Corbis is mentioned in the video – students are allowed to use image banks as long as they cost it up for a professional operation).

Virginia Tech: the speed of news online

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If ever proof were needed of the increased speed which the internet and blogs bring to news, yesterday Wired was already looking at the implications of the Virginia Tech shooting after a blog post:

“After Columbine, there was a nationwide backlash against geeks and goths — kids were being suspended, and worse, for wearing Marilyn Manson tee shirts. What will the Virginia Tech backlash look like, if it comes?

“Given all the emphasis on Cho’s creative writing, I’d guess student fiction-writers will be feeling the heat. Turning in dark, tortured, soul-searching fiction will be a good way to get sent to a counselor, or wind up interviewed by the local police.

“Kimberly Lacey, a graduate teaching instructor at Wayne State University, has a thoughtful blog post on the position creative writing teachers are in now.”

The article even links to two of Cho’s plays: “Richard McBeef and Mr. Brownstone are here, along with an account of one his former classmates.”

Herald-Tribune shows the way for Flash and database journalism

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I’m still scooping my jaw from the floor after looking at the Herald-Tribune’s Flash interactive on how complaints about teachers are handled. Not only does this use Flash cleverly – particularly to illustrate the complex process through which complaints go (now try doing that in print), along with audio clips – but it’s integrated with a database so you can search by district and school, keyword, or even map, a great example of database-driven journalism. From Journalistopia:

“It took the Herald-Tribune 14 months and repeated threats of legal action to obtain the database under Florida’s public records law.

“Even then, some information turned out to be so inaccurate that the Herald-Tribune decided to create its own version, reviewing 30,000 pages of administrative documents to build a database […]”

Inspirational.

Best of the journalism blogs (and creating RSS feeds of RSS feeds)

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Journalism.co.uk has set up a page pulling feeds from what they consider the ‘Best of the journalism blogs‘. Well, I’m one of them so I’m not going to argue with that. There’s an RSS feed as well, which would save you having to subscribe to the RSS feeds of all 15 blogs individually.

You can actually create a similar service on Wikio. Although the site has the occasional bug (like post summaries appearing in French), once you’ve subscribed to a number of RSS feeds a ‘subscribe’ button appears (top right) with a link to an RSS feed of all your feeds. The RSS feed combining all of the RSS feeds I subscribe to, for instance, is at http://rss.wikio.com/mywikio.rss?my=24124 (you’ll note a large amount of overlap with the Journalism.co.uk feed).

And if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can create something even more complex using Yahoo! Pipes (there’s a review in the printed version of today’s Press Gazette by Martin Stabe… yes, he’s also in the ‘Best Journalism Blogs’ list. And on that circular note…).

Move over ‘MyGoogle’ – I’ve found a better tool

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I’ve long been a fan of the personalised page that Google allows you to create through selecting RSS feeds and adding them to your selection. But, thanks to Poynter, I’ve discovered an even better, more intuitive tool, called Wikio. It’s a personalised news service, but based on keywords as well as RSS feeds. Yes, I know you can create an RSS feed based on a keyword, but Wikio just does it much more intuitively, and makes it easier.

That’s not all – there’s a built-in social recommendation-type feature which recommends additional keywords based on the ones you’ve selected. And there’s a ‘Publish’ feature which allows you to create material yourself.

The only downside at the moment is that the generic and unpersonalised ‘news’ tabbed page is always the default – so you have to click on your personalised tabbed page to begin surfing.