People fear what they don’t understand

There’s something vaguely familiar with the attitude in that comic; something I don’t quite understand — why do people continue to cling to the old ways and the dead trees?

Don’t get me wrong, change is scary. But what happens when people are afraid to try new stuff? We end up with ideas for broadsheet style electronic readers instead of recognizing that there are newer, faster, better platforms of distribution.

We shouldn’t be tied down to printing presses, smudged ink and ground up flora to get our news. We need news that happens now to be delivered now. Not everyone will get this, especially in the newsroom.

Some of the people that “get it” advocate trying to show the benefits of change to the graying audience and the curmudgeon news tribe. Others have decided enough is enough — it’s time to declare our independence.

We have to start working within the business of journalism. The age of pure idealism is wrong: the news business is a business. And what business shields itself behind barriers of traditon when there’s new technology to use and master to push their product (in journalism’s case, news) to the market? None.

Did newspapers whine and moan when they started printing photographs? Did they bemoan the death of the industry when presses were able to distribute more product to more people? Did management decide that staying with tradition was more important than switching to color? Take a look at the nearest daily metro to see that all my rhetoric was answered with an emphatic “No.”

Then why are we faced with the opposite when we’re moving online? We shouldn’t begrudge the Web, we need to embrace it. There’s a need to find a way to use the latest technology and make it profitable. Everything can’t work, some thing’s will. That’s the most exciting part.

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Rebuilding a Web journalism class from scratch

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As the potential handful of readers of this blog know, I’m a recent graduate of  Northampton Community College’s journalism program.

And I’ve also blogged about what I think of the journalism program at NCC. Quite frankly I think I’m lucky to get out of there with any idea of what online news could become.

So let’s change that.

I’ve been unofficially tapped as a curriculum adviser to NCC’s journalism program (sidenote: I kinda started doing this during my last year there, I helped start a beat system in the news writing course and I’ve pushed for more online content). That’s right, I’m helping to shape a journalism curriculum, not bad right?

My goal is to provide enough of a groundwork for familiarity with online news production so that the students can start to function in a Web world after completing the two-year program and if they decide to transfer (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) to get a Bachelor’s degree the course will act as a stepping stone.

OK, enough babbling, here’s what I have so far:

• Beat blog: each student in the class is assigned a beat at the college, ranging from career services to security to sports to dorm life. The new blogger has to use the blog as a way to generate content beyond the painfully infrequent publication dates. Moreover the conversation can start between the beat audience and the blogger.
• Video story: One of the huge advancements for a one person small news outfit like The Commuter is our Flip video camera. Unfortunately I we didn’t get to use it much but I figure each student in the new class should produce a small video piece to either augment a story from the beats or as an independent multimedia story. The students would have access to the college media lab and could get assistance using Final Cut Pro or iMovie depending on their comfort level. Promotion is the second part of this assignment: upload it to YouTube via The Commuter account, share it on the paper’s Facebook page and also post it on their blog.  Which brings me to my next point.
• Building a sense of community: Using a free wiki platform and Facebook the students should create an online community where readers can go to share information and ideas about the beat. This task is designed to teach the “be the paperboy” thought that Paul Bradshaw mention over at the Online Journalism Blog.
• Social Media/RSS: This last part seems to be a “catch all.” I figure the potential online journalists should learn about Twitter and how to promote people following their escapades on their beats. Furthermore I see basic skills teaching like RSS, social bookmarking, SEO (if I could find a way to teach the professor), and how to work a CMS.

So there I have it, mostly. I’m not too sure if this class would be too ambitious for the handful of students actually registering for it each semester — when I had the class this spring I was one of seven people versus my 20-some classmates for other journalism courses.

I’d also run into a bit of a snag with textbooks/resources. So far I’d go for Journalism 2.0 and a few sites as learning materials but that’s not set in stone.

Next class to work with: Desktop Publishing. I mean seriously, do we need to teach every j-student how to design on dead trees?

Why journalism is exciting, or how Web freedom makes me happy

Whenever someone asks me what I’m studying I cringe as I manage to squeak out the word — “journalism.” They freeze up, mention something about how they don’t read the newspaper or think the media is dying while criticizing me.

Here’s the kicker, I’m not cringing at journalism, I’m cringing at people who don’t know the difference between a column, an editorial, a review and a news story. I’m also trying to avoid sounding too enthusiastic about online journalism around people in the media who don’t see much use with Web innovation.

And I hate feeling that way. Because right now journalism is the most exciting field to enter. Right now we can change the face of journalism and how it serves and interacts with the audience. Instead of fearing or ignoring the Web like a lot of news organizations do, the new guard of journalism can work with the tools to do what journalists do best — tell engaging stories.

As Paul Bradshaw blogged about two weeks ago, there’s a lot of room for jolly journalists, despite the angry ones and their happy brethren. Jolly journalists don’t just like their jobs, they’re down right elated over the new opportunities the Web sets in their laps including my personal favorites:

The death of churnalism. News is consumed in such a way that commoditized wire content can be delivered at zero marginal cost. There’s no need for rewriting. Journalists can focus on fact digging and analysis.

My god! Yes, it’s true, the Web has enabled journalists to focus on producing new content instead of endlessly turning out copy that is nothing more than rehashed releases.

Be the paperboy. That’s actually better than it sounds: As a journalist, you can now also take care of the distribution of your content - and decide whether you want it to be an article, a blog post, a video, a podcast or whatever.

The new methods and practices of distribution can get the story to the reader in the way that best suits the piece. Is that story about a new tax affecting local businesses better told as a straight written piece? Or would it be better off as a podcast or video of people affected or part of the issue? With the tools avaiable to journalists, it’s up to you.

Write what you want and build a personal brand. Your editor doesn’t like what you have to say? Start a blog and post it there - if it’s interesting and well written, the world will notice.

Ahh, the best for last. Personal branding is the key to successful journalism in the 21st century. Instead of relying on the brand of a newspaper that can change (and as the blogosphere has judged, changed poorly), journalists create their own identities via personal sites, blogs, social media … you name it.

It’s all about innovation. Fearing change isn’t bad. That fear can lead you to be more cautious and thoughtful but if you let it keep the excitement level down, you’re not going to be jolly. Heck you probably won’t even be happy.

But me? I love change. Granted it’s scary. It’s also pretty hard. But I don’t want to be another person in the angry journalist line, pushing the post number closer to 10,000. I may fall on my face but when I pick myself up all I’ll do is grin.

Business desk internship at The Morning Call

I started my internship at The Morning Call right after Memorial Day. On my first day I wrote a story from a press release.

The story went over well enough, got some decent feedback from people that read it and know me personally. I enjoyed the rush of making phone calls and getting something ready for deadline.

I also pitched an idea for a story about local garden centers and nurseries doing better off because area residents are putting in vegetable gardens to save money.

Reporting for this story took a long time. I spent the next week and a half trudging around trying to get information (and left places unsuccessfully).

However, last Thursday I was able to finish up the story with a box of tips for putting in a garden. The story ran on Saturday, June 14. The online version was missing the art and box of tips that ran with the print story (which ran on A1!), but the interesting discussion might lead to another story (I love online journalism).

I’ve got a bit more on my plate now, as it develops I’ll post some more updates.

For journalism to evolve, look at biology

I was having a great conversation about evolution last week. Pretty standard fair actually: niche roles, adaptation, survival and speciation (wherein a subgroup chooses desirable traits that aren’t possessed by the larger population and once those traits are the focus interbreeding stops).

And then it hit me.

Journalism needs to evolve just like species do biologically. We need to create products that focus on a niche so that they serve the readers in a way that will both attract an audience and make money. Niches also force competition — which would necessitate innovation on a level of service and coverage.

Think about it, a local newspaper should work on providing the best local news and information services. If a group of tech-savvy people in the locality start to compete with the newspaper, the newspaper will have to adapt in order to fit the niche better better serve the readers.

Without that competition the newspaper isn’t risking anything. Now while my former economics professors would cringe at the thought of creating risk, I’m an advocate of it. I believe that journalism must risk it’s very existence (just like species do when trying to focus on new desirable traits) in order to provide a better product for the readers.

What exactly do I mean by risk? I mean that you have to do what philly.com did and redesign the site. You have to look at technologies like Twitter, Brightkite, blogs, plurk, Facebook and wikis not with a feeling of compulsion but with specific purposes. Every news organization does not need all of those services, but they need to be ready in case the “trait” becomes desirable.

Journalism needs to adapt. The world is changing at a faster pace than yesterday and the news media need to be ready to see the next big thing that will allow the news to evolve. Just like in biology, our survival depends on it.

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Edirol-R09: The first thoughts

Today I graduated from Northampton Community College with my Associate of Arts degree in journalism. Now while all that may be exciting — just like my acceptance to Temple University so I can continue studying journalism this fall — the really exciting part came when I opened my Edirol R-09.

Yes, my ultra-geek tendencies took over and I spent the past hour or so setting up my new tech toy and part of my mobile journalism kit. So far I’ve been dictating into it with different settings like low or high mic gain, input level and one where I peaked the levels and got definite distortion so I could see how much effort it would take.

As far as the recorder goes it’s easy to use. In fact the thing kicks the crap out of the old Olympus WS-300M I was using before — and with an expandable SD slot it’ll take much more time to fill it up.

The quality was good, definitely what I would expect from a high quality product recommended from several journalists. I haven’t gotten much on the quality of the recording at a distance although I definitely heard my mother from across the room on the first recording I made.

My only current complaint is the battery door; it feels flimsy and I didn’t like the way it was closing with the batteries inside the unit. It’s tough to explain but the door looks like it’s under too much stress from the batteries pushing up on the contact springs.

I plan on updating my thoughts on the R-09 as I get more experience with it, possibly with some recordings if I can find something interesting to record while interning at The Morning Call.

Now if I could just figure out how to hold the recorder while interviewing a subject while simultaneously writing descriptive notes at the same time … maybe I should invest in attaching a third arm?

The M-M-Max Headroom style of news distribution, or why journalists should work with Nokia’ US service to turn backpack journalism into back pocket journalism

Image via Wikipedia

Awhile back I posted a photo of my mobile journalism kit where I mentioned I don’t have a smart phone. Nokia seemed to answer my prayers for the ultimate news reporting and mobile publishing tool with the N95, but I needed to be sure it would work before I dropped $500 or more on getting one.

As luck should have it Amy Gahran had just got an N95 and I was eagerly looking for advice on how to update the powerhouse phone that would let me publish news on the fly much like characters on the ’80s TV series “Max Headroom,” just like Amy discussed at contentious.com the other day (side note to Amy, at 23 I re-re-re-remember Max Headroom all too well!).

However techno-tragedy would strike as a the recently updated N95 firmware was incompatible and the phone turned into an expensive — and structurally unstable — brick.

Since I didn’t want to spend that much money on an extraordinaryily useful piece of equipment that might end up getting sent back and wasting my time I’ve decided to wait on the smart phone and do what Amy and others are doing — talking with Nokia USA on how the company can help journalists get the best technology out there. As someone who loves efficient, powerful and practical technology I’m jumping on board.

But here’s the problem with the entire issue, Nokia makes the best product for the job. I could’ve easily picked up an iPhone or Blackberry by now but they don’t have what I need: bluetooth keyboard compatibility, 3G capability, high (by Web standards) cameras and multimedia playback … the list goes on.

The reason that Nokia’s user discussion blog is packed with posts and comments about upgrading their US service all comes from their superior product. Ever since I saw what journalists with N95’s can do, I’ve wanted one so that if something happens while I’m in a spot where either carrying a gigantic bag of tech toys or using any of those larger tech toys is impossible or not practical — I can whip out my smart phone and publish a story.

My catch is that I can’t wait forever. The long it takes Nokia to realize that there is a huge market for their high end N-series products in the US (we’re gonna need reliable service too, I can’t be without my phone for a few hours, let alone 7-10 days) the better the chance that I’ll compromise and get something inferior.

And since I’m a poor frugal journalist I won’t be dumping my 3G iPhone or Blackberry so that I could (finally) get the thing I wanted in the first place — it jus-jus-jus-just isn’t practical.

Is shorthand necessary in a Web world or is it just a useful skill?

Last week I came across a post from Dave Lee about journalism and shorthand. He describes how learning shorthand is under debate in UK j-schools, where the skill appears to have a strong following. In fact one of the comments berates any journalist who doesn’t know a form of shorthand:

Anyone who thinks it is possible to accurately cover a court case without shorthand is a moron.

Unless and until tape recorders or the like are allowed inside a court that will not change.

If you can’t do shorthand you’re not a journalist - end of story (no pun intended).

The above quote is attributed to a “Gary.” While I can see the reasoning behind this mentality I actually agree with Martin Stabe who replied to Gary’s quote, basically making the point that shorthand is only a staple of a j-school education in the UK.

As a journalism student in the U.S. I stumbled upon stories about shorthand speed records and was immediately determined to learn shorthand, all by myself no less.

Here’s the kicker, it’s next to impossible to find a shorthand book in the U.S. I actually wound up ordering a guide online and I’m not ashamed to admit it’s been collecting dust on my shelf.

See I just found the entire process too time-consuming to learn — different thicknesses, sounds over words, dotted vowels … I frankly got frustrated and gave up.

Unfortunately for my Pitman book, I’ve since moved on to learning Gregg shorthand. I still think I can function without it, but I can see moments where it would be useful and I’ve decided to tack it onto my reading list.

Hey, it’s something to do when Twitter’s down.

Multimedia reporting ethics

Today I ran across an issue I don’t see a lot of people discussing in regard to online journalism: reporting ethics.

Jim Killam’s last post over at the Innovation in College Media blog discusses the ethical issues of reporters that would produce both written copy and potential multimedia stories via the web.

A brief summary of the events:

• A student interviewed a university president for the college-news publication
• The reporter asked if he could record the interview, permission was granted.
• After the conclusion the reporter asked if he could use some of the audio clips to produce multimedia content. The president declined saying he would’ve spoken differently.

I read through some of the comments before leaving my own where I outline my opinion — the reporter shouldn’t have to disclose how every piece of reported material will be used beforehand.

The very fact that the interviewee could dictate how the story is presented because he might “speak differently” makes me uneasy.

I think that if I needed to explain how my notes and potential recordings would be used before every interview I wouldn’t have anyone interested in being interviewed.

However at the same time I believe that most people I’d interview would be surprised to find out that journalists that write for printed publications also generate audio, video and interactive stories for web publication. The transition of the “mojo” into the public’s perception of a reporter hasn’t happened yet. I feel once it does, the problem will correct itself.

Once the public understands that a journalist might write a print piece, create a video story, publish an audio podcast or slideshow and do it all right away with whatever they get via reporting and interviewing no one will be surprised to find out that their quotes can end up online and in print.

Until then I’d make the recommendation from my comment at ICM: tell your source everything up front, something is better than nothing.

Old media attitudes can’t translate online

Today my web journalism class was “treated” with a guest speaker — Morning Call columnist Bill White. White’s been a columnist for a long time, and it shows.

While he writes both columns and blogs for the paper, there’s a definite preference for the printed product. He talks about regretting the personal elements in the blog that used to be in the columns.

He also mentioned several times that the blog doesn’t generate the same amount of readers — which I attribute to the newspaper and not the medium — and he mentioned several times that most bloggers do it “as a hobby”.

Does this attitude sound like someone who thinks online journalism is the future?

I bet if I showed Bill some of the stuff I’m working on he would think it’s “just a hobby” and that it’s a bit useless.

It doesn’t really make sense.