Tuesday, December 23, 2003

For our In the Loop coverage-- how to talk about the ARTSPoynter Online - Taking the Tweed Out of the Arts Journalism Wardrobe
Prediction for the New Year--reporters will increasingly trade "dead-tree reporting" for blogging. Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

How about censorship of a virtual newspaper that is published by a Sim character about a town of Sims? Why does Electronic Arts need to censor Alphaville's newspaper? Cyberlife mirrors real life?OJC brief
Students--are you 19th hole or Walmart smart? This is an interesting read to contemplate. Affluence remakes the newsroom

Monday, December 15, 2003

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Another party--SPJ satellite club party--(J dept party is on Tuesday in the Library 4-7PM)
Monday, December 15, 2003
624 South Michigan Ave. Room 804
6pm
 
No RSVP needed, we'll have plenty of refreshments to share, bring a friend.
 
Here is an excellent example of how to use the web to be brief and yet provide extensive details at the same time. CBC News Indepth: Paul Martin

Friday, December 05, 2003

MediaDailyNews 12-05-03
Interesting to read about this total threat to the integrity of our next election in a UK publication...I think it was in the New York Times as well. ZDNet UK - News - E-voting company faces congressional inquiry
"Blogspotting" at MSNBC Weblog Central

Monday, November 24, 2003

Interesting blog about computer assisted reporting.The Scoop

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Can you "work with online?" Time has come to converge.OJR article: Moving Online Into the Newsroom: "Annual performance reviews -- and raises -- are based partly on how well reporters work with online."

OJR article: Moving Online Into the Newsroom: "And there's more reporting across platforms: The online staff writes stories for the print product, the newspaper's photographers often carry tape recorders into the field to grab audio for the Web site. Editors hope that cooperation will increase as more online staffers move into the paper's newsroom."

That is why my students do some audio, video and photography for stories in our online publication, In the Loop--which will soon be ready for viewing.

Friday, November 21, 2003

Where is the news about the free trade(click for the issues) protesters in Miami? Gee, it appears that mainstream media think Michael Jackson's sexploits are more important than issues of jobs, wages, the environment and democracy. Here is a brief round-up of news and events about what is going on in Miami.

Live from FTAA Miami protests as well as news from Miami.

Here are pictures from the demonstration and eyewitness accounts from 11/20/03 and 11/21/03
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/ftaa_miami.html

What the Boston Globe said about the incidents on 11/20/03.

Photos from Miami Herald

Music tour that begin in Madison at the Media Reform Conference and rocked its way to Miami.
"What we see here is Big Media getting a free pass to get bigger by government and our government getting a free pass to do whatever, whether that means changing the media rules or changing the trade policies," asserts indie rocker Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, a musician advocacy group and a sponsor of the tour.
AlterNet: Musicians Rock Miami Protests

What is happening in the UK where George Bush is visiting?

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

We can find a style we like at this site if we are lucky.css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design
Here is info on cascading style sheets.
CSS button

Monday, November 17, 2003

This is what we learned at newsplex. News is information. Information users don't care about the views of news organizations about whether information should be in print or on screen. Users want the information when they want it-- by cellphone, on the Internet, etc. Video is the future of news. Video Killed the Text-News Star

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Example to view of online publication formatSocial Text on the web
Students, here is a good oppty to network with the online literati. ONA annual conference updates

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

*spark-online.com >> archives
Be sure you have checked out the sections under "The Elements" for this week. Digital Storytelling
NDN
A site we will discuss when we talk about copyright.Creative Commons

Sunday, November 02, 2003

Friday, October 31, 2003

Here is an interesting idea. The BBC is using a social cooperation interface--a blog plus set up to try and get people to work together in their neighborhoods. Pros and cons are discussed and of course there is already a parody site. Better check back on this one once in a while.Wired News: BBC Offers Power to the People

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

A sample online publication we will analyze. *spark-online.com >> archives
For class today. Let's think together. And also, we must look together....Digital Storytelling
This is more about editing and blogging. Please read and be ready to discuss it.
The Case Against Editors - Why it still pays to not have one.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

What we used in class on 10/30/03 Dreamweaver - Introduction

Friday, October 24, 2003

Interesting article on what blog study means. Is the glass half full or half empty? Blog Bog and an E-Mail Pony Express

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Learning and using Dreamweaver:

http://www.trainingtools.com/online/dreamweaver4/


http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200002/dream_index.html
http://www.iboost.com/build/software/dw/tutorial/786.htm
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/authoring/tools/tutorials/tutorial1.html
New directions in news that will determine what reporters are doing in the future. NDN
Blog on | CNET News.com: "What effect is blogging having on traditional journalism? Would it ever replace or dilute the value of traditional journalism?
It's certainly having an impact. From a blog reader's perspective, it certainly affects where I go and where I get and read my news. It is a more complex ecosystem now, so for the most part, I think they're complementary; blogs tend to be more about filtering and adding commentary and perspective--but there is some original reporting that's going on there. And the journalists who take advantage of blogs, I think, can do a better job of reporting on their areas. "

Sunday, October 19, 2003

We are going to go back to this during class this week because we need to complete our site design. Web Style Guide: PROCESS

Friday, October 17, 2003

Look a history of online news' first 10 years.Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Here is an interesting use of blogging for reporting. A reporter is blogging from the Sniper Trial with the encouragment of his editors. You don't have to read it, but I suggest you look at the blog from the trial several times to assess its effectiveness in reporting an ongoing event like a trial.Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Please read this article (see link below) for a discussion next week. As you go to each of the links and explore how the links build context into the overall mental impact of the story, make notes about what was going on in your own thinking process. How did you read the story? Usually one either reads through and then checks links or one reads the story more slowly and checks each link as one reads.

What kind of forum, discussions, or audience blogs might we include? Let's talk next week.
Advancing Citizen Blogs on News Sites

Saturday, October 11, 2003

Thursday, October 09, 2003

The editor who dared to axe the left side nav barBoston.com's Flexible Redesign
Check out this information about site redesigns. Take a look at the publications in question. What do you think? Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Wednesday, October 8, 2003 Blogging, FTP, and Basic Imaging
Blogging—the tool
http://www.blogger.com

Set up a blog.
Keep track of:
Username:
Password:
Blogname & url:
Try blogging your notes today in class. Our discussions indicate there is confusion between the tool to blog and the way the tool is being used. We will have some readings from the Nieman Foundation about the growing role of blog, the publishing tool, in Journalism. Keep in mind that other blogging software allows you to get comments and additions to your blog from viewer/users. Writing interactively can be as silly as a chatroom, but it can also represent a new kind of narrative, one which grips readers’ interest.

FTP & our place in Cyberspace
Once you make a web page, how to put it onto the Internet so all the virtual world can see it? Well, like the way you saved your initial web pages to a location on your own computer (or on a storage medium of some kind) you logon (connect) to a computer called a “server”, locate your folder or directory on that server, establish your identity with a logon and password, and then you use the PROTOCOL of FTP or file transfer protocol, to upload (put) or download (get) files from where you are in time and space to your storage space on the server. Note that the server may be anywhere in the cyber universe.
Our server is called “nexus.colum.edu”
Our username (for everyone in class) is “reporter”
Our password is:
Your directory or folder in our website is called:

Our website for class will be found at:
http://nexus.colum.edu/class/online
"To upload your files".

When designing your pages, you have to name your main home page "index.html". As UNIX, the computer language we use, is cAsE-SeNSiTivE, please be sure not to name your file Index.html or INDEX.HTML.
If your Web page development program limits you to a 3 letter file extension, make sure to rename your index.htm file to index.html after you upload it. Use the rename command in your FTP program. You will notice that when you login(ftp) to your account that an index.html file already exist, just replace it with your own.

"How do I upload and what's FTP?"

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is what you use to transfer files from your computer to your Web site, which resides on our machine. An FTP program will allow you to upload files. Uploading is the process of putting files from your machine onto another. (The process of getting files from another machine to yours is called downloading.) Most Macs and PC's in the Academic Computing department will have Fetch (Mac) or FTPworks (PC) ftp clients.
If you do not already have an ftp client, you can get an FTP program from:
Mac users: http://fetchsoftworks.com
PC users: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
(NOTE: When we start using Dreamweaver, the FTP client is built into that program.)
To upload your files, connect to the Internet and start your FTP program. It will require the following information:
Host: nexus.colum.edu <-- Where your documents are kept
Username: <-- Your username
Password: <4news> <-- password
Your workspace: your directory we set up today
Use your FTP program to connect to nexus.colum.edu. Once you've entered your username and password, you will be put into your personal or class directory on our ftp server. Now all you need to do is upload web documents using your FTP program. Since different programs have different procedures for uploading, I suggest you read the Help section (usually found by clicking on the "Help" menu option in the menu bar) to see the particular setup and operation of your program. Make sure you select "Raw Data" (Macintosh) or "Binary" (PC) when uploading data files such as pictures or sound files. When uploading text files such as HTML or imagemap (.map) files, you should
select the "Text-only" or "ASCII" setting.

NOTE: By using your ftp/web space you have agreed to certain Terms and Conditions and are bound by the limitations as set down by the Academic Computing department.

Images

Be sure you have a list of the free workshops offered by Academic Computing and by Interactive Multimedia and attend as many as you can.
Image basics for our class are a simplification of all the possibilities of imaging on a computer. There are many ways to accomplish imaging tasks, so use ones that you find work for you.
Where do you get images? You can capture images from digital cameras, digital video (frame captures), scanning in photos or drawings, or by downloading images from the Internet. All images for use on Internet must be in either .jpg or .gif format (note this is for still images.) The resolution of these images never needs to be greater than screen resolution, which is no more than about 92 dpi (dots per inch.)
When you capture an image, the first thing you do is size it for the webpage. Since a typical web page is 600 by 800 pixels, your images are sized accordingly.
Open photoshop
Open your image
Under the “Help” menu, click the resize command
Choose online
Set your image size
Finish and try the unsharp mask under the “Filter” menu
Use “Image” “Adjustments” tools as needed
Save for web…
Set up for 4 views
Text for .gif or .jpg
Save and keep track to where you saved the image, and what its extension is.

References and tutorial help at:our class site under the entries for 10/8/03
This is the background info for today's discussion of FTP. Read it over at your leisure, but do check it out.FTP: For The People
Let's set our tables....The Basic, Basic Table Go on to his next exercise, too. Check out the examples of good use of tables and excessive use at the end of the second tutorial. Now we are almost ready for Dreamweaver.
Help yourself is typical advice in the world of HTML and online publishing. Help yourself here to Webmonkey tutorials galore.Webmonkey | tour

Monday, October 06, 2003

Like it or not news people, if the NYTimes takes up blogging as a journalistic tool, it better be in your "journalist toolkit." The challenge is to use the technology to get out stories the way you think they should appear, not to worry about how some of the flaky folks use the same tool. Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits
This could be Kitty. She might like this the link text
Creative CommonsCheck out this site and te idea behind it. As a content creator, what's your opinion?

Look at these sites for samples of student-driven ezines as you think about what ours might be (and bring in your own examples):

OJR
Project Censored
Student ezines from American Univ in Cairo

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Writing for free %u2013 free content: "Contacts"
Here are Journalists blogging for Neiman. Check out what the professional journalist say about and do with blogs.projo.com | Providence | Weblogs | Subterranean Homepage News

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

What is happening with foreign news coverage? Does the digicam style sound a bit like the blogging reporter? What do you think?American Journalism Review: "A digicam revolution has created a breed of correspondents who travel light, often working alone, producing intimate, you-are-there reports for a fraction of the cost of sending a traditional network crew. The new technology offers a promise of faster, less produced, more informal stories that not only could increase the amount of foreign news on television, but inject new style. "
A classic article has been updated. Refer to this as needed. Dube is focused on reportorial writing than Nielson, who has gotten too pompous in my humble opinion.Poynter Online - Writing News Online
Homework week 2: Image story with links (see handout); 2-3 Site Structure sketches (as per handout) with design notes

In week two, we will critique your text links, and then work on digital image capture by going out and capturing some still and video clips. When we return to class, you will learn how to transfer the images to the computer. This is a skill that you need to practice over the next few weeks, and you need to be thinking about image capture for our online publication. It is best to play first to learn the technical skills. Then when you work with content that is important, the skills will be natural.

In addition to learning about digital image capture, we will discuss the process of web site design, and begin preliminary site planning. Our global objective is to create a news website for the Journalism department. We will learn the steps in web site production and work together to focus our publication, through audience identification, asset inventory, and other planning stages.

I have included links to reading and tutorial exercises you need to work with today and for next week. These include "how to" HTML, and a guide to the design process. At this stage, we are thinking globally and conceptually, rather than focusing on specific content. Thus, think about "look and feel" and navigation possibilities, without choosing a color or style at this time -- what are our choices in these areas? This is the time to sketch out your ideas, or do screen grabs so we can have lots of concrete examples of things.

This is a supplement to the handout on HTML given out in class in the second week. This tutorial is designed with a Primer a day. You can do all of them at one sitting, however. For the assignment you did on writing with links, check out Primer #4. That explains what code the MS Word program was inserting for you, in order to create live links.

In class today, and for homework, refer to Primer 5 on how to work with images. Primers 6 & 7 are for you to read on your own.

This is a handy overview of new tags and old tags in HTML 4.

Web Style Guide: PROCESS We will study all sections, but leave site marketing and tracking, evaluation & maintenance for later.

Read here to make sure you see where we are going with our work with the digital image capture devices today. After all, we need to know how it is going to be formatted and used as part of understanding what to shoot."

Web Style Guide: PAGE DESIGNThis section is particularly important so be sure you look at it carefully.

We need to have a general understanding of streaming, of audio, slideshows, video, etc. Go through this and write down any questions you have for next week. Web Style Guide: MULTIMEDIA

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Gothamist: Jayson Blair in Jane
OJR article: The Guardian of the Web:
"I think that now is the time to accept that, if you're in the game of online publishing, you have to be much more open-minded. I saw a comment that wouldn't it be great if a newspaper bloggerized all their content? Or if you could attract comments on every single piece you wrote? Supposing your leading columnists had blogs rather than columns?"

The Guardian online Editor in Chief, Emily Bell, is interviewed about online news in the OJR. The Guardian operation does not currently charge, and is increasing viewership. Bell sees the online version of the paper as another department of the existing Guardian, but pegs future growth and viability of the news operation to its online presence. Also, the term "micropayments" comes up again.

Read Clay Shirky, on the failure of micropayments to see what is happening in online publishing and payment for online content. Clay writes on the economics of networks and other and notes that he writes about “[S]ystems where vested interests lose out to innovation.”

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

As I have posted previously about the value and use of RFIDs, I thought it fair to present the views of a group of activists who plan to protest the use RFID tags in clothing and consumer goods on Sept.16th at McCormick Place in Chicago. Stop RFID Moblog

At Newsplex, we discussed how RFID tags on hardware could cut down on losses in newsrooms and in school settings. The tags could allow cordless devices or laptops to "call home" if a worker or student "inadvertently" walked off with them. The devices can broadcast their current location.

In Celebration, FL, grade schoolers wear cool dog tags or rings with their info in them. It allows them to enter the school building, but also to move from room to room, class to class, but keep connected to their individualized computer-related lessons and assignments.

These uses presume that the information flow is being managed with the knowledge of the user of the device. However, Bennetton wants to put the tags in clothes that could broadcast information back to them, as a retailer, in a "spy" fashion. That is, you the consumer wouldn't have a clue that Benneton was learning where you hung out when you put on the snappy clothing you purchased. Some retailers claim they will deactivate the tags when the consumer leaves the store and has purchased the item. But there are no safeguards about this.

Stay tuned to this issue. It is going to come increasingly into the public consciousness.

Friday, September 05, 2003

Here you can view your intrepid teacher with the well-respected reporter Christiane Amanpour. I posted this from my phonecam while the event was in full swing. scoops-of-life project 1

Wednesday, September 03, 2003

OJR article: Online News Pioneers See Lots of Changes in the First 10 Years
I tell you, here all the secret technology I was going to teach you is rendered unncessary (just kidding) but here is a "zine maker" site that works like blogger software. CrimsonZine - Easy Way to Publish Your Articles and Essays - Powered by WebCrimson
Whew, I am glad that our Topics class (Human Rights was the topic) worked to produce a CD-ROM of conference highlights. I like to keep a bit ahead of the commercial application crowd. If you would like to see Columbia College's Journalism students' CD-ROM, drop me an email. I think I will upload it, as though it is on a CD-ROM, it uses a browser to display its content.

The idea that the print version will build readership among the coveted younger audience by getting their interest via the CD is interesting. It could work, but I am wondering if the under 25s haven't given up the CD as media in favor of their MP3s and MP3 players which are like portable hard drives. Just a thought. MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | A newspaper revolution?
Here is something we could consider. We could create online work and package the best of it on CD ROM. What skills do you bring to an interactive and online work? Who is a vivid writer? Who can use images with their words? Any advertising or PR folks? It is going to be fun this semester. MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | A newspaper revolution?

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits Students, do you know what RSS is? What can you find out about this app that is going to turn news on its head?

Saturday, August 30, 2003

Here are a few of scores of stories about the health effects workers are suffering. Most detail the lack of systematic care or benefits that are being offered to the workers who pitched in after 9/11. We should all join Hillary in calling for an inquiry into who told the EPA to lie and cover-up the environmental dangers. Besides workers, there were many families and individuals who may have been affected. Perhaps they will be relegated to the category of "corollary damage" and then just ignored.

Experts worried about Ground Zero exposure

AP story carried by many news outlets across the USA

Gotham Gazette

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Electric paper coming to a screen near you as soon as next year. Imagine a computer screen you can put into your pocket and a book that updates its story....Your Message Here, in a Flash: "Magink is not the first company to produce display technologies loosely referred to as electronic paper, which encompasses thin materials that readily display images sent electronically and viewed in reflective light from a wide range of angles. All the technologies operate on roughly similar approaches that depend on fabricated, microscopic elements that reflect light. The elements are controlled by a low-power electrical current to create pixels that display specified text and images. Xerox and E Ink, a display manufacturer in Cambridge, Mass., have been developing electronic-paper technologies for years. "

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

t r u t h o u t - 12,000 Dead in European Heat Wave President George Bush says that people should just get used to climate change and exploit new economic opportunities it will create.

I guess the 12,000 people didn't get what he was saying. On the bright side, it sure makes undertaking look like a growth industry...

Friday, August 22, 2003

Interactive Narratives
It is a relief to me that I had my phlog and a moblog up and running by the time Steve posted this. I could say "I told you so" to many of my Journalism educator colleagues, but I will just post their photos on the phlog and moblog when school starts up again.Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

The sports editor apologizes and fires a sportsreporter who claimed to be at game, but was watching on TV. The reporter also used old and unattributed quotes. So, ethics lapses can hurt a sports writer. Don't do a "Jayson Blair." You can learn how to avoid "word crimes" by going through our elearning module sacbee.com -- Sports -- An apology to our readers : "An apology to our readers

Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, August 20, 2003
On Aug. 7, a story on the cover of the Sports section about the Giants game at Pacific Bell Park was filed by a Bee reporter who was not at the game. The reporter watched the game on television at a location away from the stadium.

He filed his story without telling editors at The Bee his true location, leaving the impression he covered the game from the ballpark.

In addition, it was discovered later that the story included quotes from other media outlets that were unattributed and old, made to reporters on a previous occasion before the day of the game.

The story violated basic journalistic values and ethics as practiced by The Bee.

The reporter involved, Jim Van Vliet, no longer works at the newspaper.

The Bee regrets the situation and apologizes to its readers.

Armando Acuña
Sports editor"

Sunday, August 17, 2003

Guess Some People Don't Have Anything Better to DoHere is flash mob story from the Sunday Times. Why not be part of a flash mob? No one just wants to have fun anymore.

Thursday, August 14, 2003

USATODAY.com - Camera phone fans post shots to Web sitesWith the advent of my "phlog" called "scoop of life" I am posting stories to make sure everyone knows what a phlog is.

I will be discussing "phlogs" at the Les Brownlee Workshop series presented by Chicago Headline Club in October in Chicago. A great event for j students and freelancers, not to mention all journalists. I will be talking about news technology.
OJR article: News Sites Still Figuring Out What to Do With Online CommunitiesMany users know, but the news orgs still are kind of out to sea with the whole concept of "its about the users" kind of interactivity.
Lockergnome's RSS ResourceI have been trying to explain RSS and why it is critical to news folks and reporters for a couple of years. It has been big with bloggers since RadioUserLand was free (now you have to pay for it...) and it is at the heart of delivering content to users based on their preferences. Most news organizations have their own version written for their sites.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Mervin Block: BBC's news stylebook We will be using this to help focus what our online publishing is all about-- ideas and writing

Monday, August 11, 2003

Poynter Online - Google's New News Alerts Here is a tool we will use to begin to be online reporters and publishers. All the directions on limiting your searches to make them effective are included.

Monday, August 04, 2003

Damn the Slam PAM Plan! - Canceling the Pentagon's futures market is cowardly and dumb. By James Surowiecki Here is an explanation of why those futures markets for terrorism proposed by DARPA weren't so wacky. In fact, there is futures market being set up now that will deal in the futures of things like the odds that Bush will be impeached and what country the USA will attack next. Academics who are able to rise above a concrete understanding of ideas like the futures thing because it works...

Monday, July 28, 2003

Applications: Blogging By The Numbers We will review this.
Poynter Online - Dusty Lessons for a Digital World We return to basics, but still we need to think like the viwer/user who is looking at the story on a phone, PDA, as well as from newsprint.

While the basics of crisp writing are still key, note this statement
This formula was ideal for hard breaking news stories; other solutions were deployed for features and in-depth background pieces.
where we realize that there is more to the story than the precise, comforting basics he is referring to, such as links, images, tie-ins to create context. This writer is going digital but still thinking print. We can learn from what he says, but we have to think about the big picture.

Monday, July 21, 2003

Monitoring Traffic If we incorporate an interactive travel feature into our currently vaguely idealized news site, we can "drive" more eyeballs there...

Friday, July 18, 2003

Wired News: Blogging for Bucks Is this your future? Who would like to work from home, and take two steps from bed to get to work? What did Ali have to know, experience, and do in order to be making $60,000/year as an online journalist? We will be talking about this when class starts up...

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News CoverageA traveler's nightmare, an online publisher's problem....

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Wired News: Mozilla Wants to Rumble With IE New and better browsers mean new ideas for those online publications.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

International Moblogging Conference Moblogging already has its own conference. Can you tell me what a moblog is? Shall we try and organize a moblog event in the Fall?

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Wireless in the polar reaches extends polar bear cam.

Saturday, July 05, 2003

Lillian Williams sends us this invitation:
The Association for Women Journalists is sponsoring a picnic-style membership party at 6 p.m., Thursday, July 24, at the Chicago Sun-Times. This is one of AWJ's most popular events each year. I always look forward to it!

Join us for hamburgers, veggie burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, beer,wine and pop. Just $5 for members, and $15 for non-members.

The event promises to be a fun party where you'll have a chance to network, as well as relax. Invite your friends to join the festivities too.

Details:
6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Chicago Sun-Times, 7th Floor Atrium overlooking the Chicago River.
401 N. Wabash Avenue
$5 for members, $15 for non-members

An RSVP is required for this event. Please RSVP at 312-344-7687, or
Send your name and the names of guests to rsvp@awjchicago.org.
Put "summer party rsvp" in the subject line of your email.

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

Here is something on deck collapses from a Rockford television station.Consider how an interactive piece showing a deck and how it connects to a structure would add value to the story. Otherwise, it is just like a re-hash and since it doesn't show the video, it is less than the TV package. Too bad. They probably could have even linked to something like the Home Depot sitethough there would be issues of whether this is an ad, or whether Home depot would be charged for the link...just thinking...

Friday, June 20, 2003

Here is a short, sweet, and to-the-point item about color theory. "I'm not an artist" you start to say. Then you reconsider the visual nature of the communication media in our society today. Yes, you do need to be able to talk with photographers, designers, and editors intelligently about color. Learn to go beyond, "its ugly and depressing" or "its really cute" Poynter's The Design Desk Oh, and the links at the end of the article--we will interacting with some of them too.

Thursday, June 19, 2003

Online publishers can learn from the guidelines provided here for local television broadcasters , in regard to how they should design their websites.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Lost & Found in Cyberspace This would make an interesting investigation or serve as a unique and useful link in an online publication.

Monday, June 16, 2003

Questions in online publishing: new media sites or digital facsimile additions for newspaper companies? New software allows newspapers to post facsimile electronic versions of their papers. Some are cutting new media departments and substituting the 'shovelware' versions of the paper for innovation and exploration of the potentials of interactivity. Is this going for short-term economic gain by failing to capitalize on the the future of interactive, personal electronic publishing.

Thursday, June 12, 2003

The news business in all of its manifestations is undergoing changes that will alter it in ways that we are only beginning to put together. Some of those with the most invested, both in monetary terms, and in terms of their long-time association with news business will miss the point of many of the changes. News is still sought by viewer/users. Audiences will continue to exist. It is the form the news will take, the voice the news will speak to us in, and the organization of news producing entities that are changing. Here is an article about the rise of online as publishing and money making tool in the face of decline of print. A somewhat analogous situation faces broadcast news on television and radio. Read Online publishing grows as print falls and think about the future.
Welcome to the news and reporting online teachers weblog.