Tag: online journalism

Nevada Sagebrush uses Twitter to liveblog editor selection meeting

The Nevada Sagebrush (University of Nevada Reno) liveblogged its editor selection meeting Saturday afternoon using Twitter.

The tweets were very comprehensive and, needless to say, flooded my Twhirl window for the duration of the meeting, but it was all good fun.

Thanks to Chelsea Otakan for directing followers of her Twitter account to the Sagebrush’s.

In an interesting twist, I recognized in an early tweet that one my fellow Miami Herald summer 2008 interns is on staff at the Sagebrush. It’s a small world after all.

Weigh in: Does your news organization use Twitter?

Shameless plug: The Miami Hurricane‘s page.

(Since you’re in the neighborhood, check out mine too.)

CommTogether right now, over…journalism

I’m a student in the School of Communication at the University of Miami, but you would think that the various journalism programs (print, broadcast and visual) speak different languages sometimes from the lack of collaboration that is present.

Yes, there have been several notable successes — and I’ve been lucky to be in three classes this year that focus on convergence (In-depth reporting for convergent media, online journalism and interactive storytelling) — but the level of cooperation is still not where it should be.

I kept all this is mind while devising a new final project for my CNJ 442 online journalism class, after the first plan regarding the new TheMiamiHurricane.com didn’t work out a planned.

The result is a social networking site the class is developing using Ning:

CommTogether

The general idea came to me one night as I was chatting online with Hurricane Visuals Editor Will Wooten (check out his recent site redesign). Regarding the group name, which I love, credit goes to Kiersten Schmidt.

Here are details from the CNJ 442 proposal that I drafted and the class helped refine:

Goals

  • Bring together in one forum the three journalism programs at the University of Miami School of Communication: print, broadcast and visual
  • Recruit students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students
  • Begin a conversation about the future of school’s journalism programs
  • Conceptualize collaborative projects for classes, students, media outlets, etc.
  • Take ideas and turn them into reality

Elements

  • Profile pages: students, faculty, administrators
  • Groups: programs, classes, projects, media
  • Feeds: blogs, news, etc.
  • Photos and videos
  • Blogs: internal
  • Comments

Action plan

  • Discuss and decide on name for group (complete)
  • Create network (complete)
  • Create profile pages (complete)
  • Create groups within network: programs, classes, media, organizations, etc.
  • Invite/recruit students, professors, administrators, staff, alumni and prospective students (in progress)
  • Table in the SoC courtyard
  • Solicit ideas from everyone regarding the future of curriculum, organizations
  • Conceptualize possible collaboration projects, way to converge
  • Maintain the discussion
  • Continue to recruit new group members

UPDATE: I forgot one very important reason for this site:

Students should have a voice in the development of curriculum.

Weigh in: Any suggestions/ideas for this site?

College Content Management social network

Last Saturday night I created a social networking site using Ning called College Content Management.
I’ve seen the power of Wired Journalists and NextNewsroom during the past few months and those served as my inspiration.
The idea floated around my head for a few weeks, but it was not realized until after I talked with Megan Taylor, online managing editor at The Alligator and Kevin Koehler, contributing editor (basically the online editor) at the Old Gold & Black at the NextNewsroom conference last week.
We talked extensively about each of our content management systems:
It became clear to me that there’s a desire among Web editors to share ideas, and gripe about their CMSes and, the day before I flew back home, the group was born.
The slogan: Because we all have to deal with a CMS.
The description: Do you have a Web site for your student media organization? “Yes.” Mine does too. We should work together.
So, come one, come all student journalists, editors, advisers and anyone else who uses or manages a university/college news site.
And be sure to spread the word. I plan to start searching the Web for online editors’ e-mail addresses to invite them, but any help would be much appreciated.

NextNewsroom conference recap

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online/new media at The Independent Florida Alligator, and I had the same idea to recap the NextNewsroom conference, but she beat me to it:

NextNewsroom: Wrap-up

Megan summarized it all very well, so I won’t repeat what’s already been said except to thank Chris O’Brien for organizing what was hands-down one of the best journalism conferences I’ve attended — and I’ve been to quite a few, thanks to The Miami Hurricane and UM’s SPJ chapter.

I’d also like to thank Megan for providing the proper computer to stream video live using ustream.tv and later Yahoo!Live with my Canon HV20, which would have been impossible because I don’t have a computer with a six-pin FireWire port. Her hand mic was another asset, helping us get pretty decent sound, and she played videographer for the first livestreamed session before I — sadly — gave back her MacBook Pro.

I couldn’t have done it without her. And besides the awesomeness that is livestreaming video, this is a great testament to the importance of working as a team. I’ve done mojo/backpack journalist/one-man-band coverage of events before, but backpack journalist-squared is hands down the better way to go.

For more great coverage of the conference, as Megan also cites, check out Bryan Murley’s CoverItLive blogs: day 1 and day 2.

Weigh in: What did you think of all the coverage?

NextNewsroom – How to change from the old to the new

Facilitated by John North, Knoxville News Sentinel

What is the new world?
“It’s publishing now, we don’t wait.”

On the board

Old World:

  • Print tomorrow or
  • Print whenever

New World: Web, e-mail, text

  • Publish now
  • Publish now
  • Publish now
  • Publish now
  • Print tomorrow

You [should] begin to work a story throughout the day. Start with a a few graphs early on and evolve the story slowly — not a 15- to 20-inch update each time.

“We’re talking about quick hits and things you can get up quickly.”

Then, you can reach into that system and put it into the newspaper.

“For us, it’s really been, ‘Wow, you can do this?’ ”

Shannon Morgan, editor in chief, The Arbiter, Boise State

  • “My focus to tell the stories in as many dimensions as we can.”
  • You also have to make sure the various elements are different.
  • People thought, “Oh, she’s just that multimedia girl — she doesn’t know journalism.”

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online, The Independent Florida Alligator

  • She recently wrote a story for the front page and people were surprised she could write.
  • Regarding having staff do new media: “You can’t just tell them what they have to do, you just have to do it.”

North

“Universities are on the radar nationwide now. You guys can do amazing things. If you guys feel limited, you’re not; there are no barriers.” Wait until you get to the paid world to see limits.

For new media: “If you set that expectation, you will get the result you want. … Once you start that little bit of synergy, it tends to begin to grow itself.” It’s not so difficult to push through that wall to find success.

Promotion/marketing:
Examples include promos, Web refers, etc.

“Sometimes you just have to be creative and think outside of the box.”