Posts tagged tips and tricks

Today’s Digiday Buzzword Tracker looks at the evolution of the word “curation”. For example, in the 14th century “curate” referred to spiritual guidance. With the rise of self publishing platforms, so too came a lot of thought about curation’s pros and cons. For example, as Digiday Points out, Jeff Jarvis’ 2009 post about the journalist as curator. Most important, since we live in and contribute to a curated digital world, we highly recommend reviewing Curator’s Code by Brain Pickings founder Maria Popova and designer Kelli Anderson. The two created the site last winter and walk through issues of respect, attribution, the nuances between “via” and “hat tip” and even offer a browser bookmarklet that generates links and symbols to indicate to site visitors how and where you found your newly published piece of awesome. As they write, “The internet is a whimsical rabbit hole of discovery. Acknowledging where information came from helps keep the rabbit hole open and makes the Web Wonderland better for all of us.” Couldn’t agree more. — Michael

Today’s Digiday Buzzword Tracker looks at the evolution of the word “curation”. For example, in the 14th century “curate” referred to spiritual guidance.

With the rise of self publishing platforms, so too came a lot of thought about curation’s pros and cons. For example, as Digiday Points out, Jeff Jarvis’ 2009 post about the journalist as curator. Most important, since we live in and contribute to a curated digital world, we highly recommend reviewing Curator’s Code by Brain Pickings founder Maria Popova and designer Kelli Anderson.

The two created the site last winter and walk through issues of respect, attribution, the nuances between “via” and “hat tip” and even offer a browser bookmarklet that generates links and symbols to indicate to site visitors how and where you found your newly published piece of awesome.

As they write, “The internet is a whimsical rabbit hole of discovery. Acknowledging where information came from helps keep the rabbit hole open and makes the Web Wonderland better for all of us.”

Couldn’t agree more. — Michael

Mobile Reporting Field Guide Students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism have put together a great field guide for mobile reporting. Available as a PDF or iBook, the guide walks through and evaluates a number of audio, video and photography apps. Via the Guide: During the Spring semester of 2012 a small group of students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism enrolled in an eight week mobile reporting course to experiment to see how far they can go only using their wits, drive and the smartphone in their pocket… …A lot of attention in the news industry has been given recently to the idea of using mobile devices for reporting. This class decided to serve as a case study on how well these devices, apps and third-party accessories work in the creation of multimedia. We attempted find all the accessories that had potential to aid a mobile journalist in the field, then we bought them all… …This field guide is the result of the hard work of students, Casey Capachi, Matt Sarnecki and Evan Wagstaff. Each item is presented with a brief review, followed by Pros, Cons and a final rating. Where appropriate we also included sample videos, images and audio so you could judge for yourself. Multimedia Shooter, Mobile Reporting Field Guide.

Mobile Reporting Field Guide

Students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism have put together a great field guide for mobile reporting.

Available as a PDF or iBook, the guide walks through and evaluates a number of audio, video and photography apps.

Via the Guide:

During the Spring semester of 2012 a small group of students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism enrolled in an eight week mobile reporting course to experiment to see how far they can go only using their wits, drive and the smartphone in their pocket…

…A lot of attention in the news industry has been given recently to the idea of using mobile devices for reporting. This class decided to serve as a case study on how well these devices, apps and third-party accessories work in the creation of multimedia. We attempted find all the accessories that had potential to aid a mobile journalist in the field, then we bought them all…

…This field guide is the result of the hard work of students, Casey Capachi, Matt Sarnecki and Evan Wagstaff.

Each item is presented with a brief review, followed by Pros, Cons and a final rating. Where appropriate we also included sample videos, images and audio so you could judge for yourself.

Multimedia Shooter, Mobile Reporting Field Guide.

YouTube Launches Video School

Vimeo offers on-demand video tutorials via its Vimeo Video School and now YouTube is offering something similar, but live.

Via SocialTimes:

Want to learn more about pre-production, production or post-production for YouTube? Starting this Wednesday, YouTube will be offering free weekly workshops on Google Plus Hangouts open to all YouTube Creators.

Workshops will take place every Wednesday, starting this Wednesday, at Noon PT / 3pm ET at the YouTube Creators Google Plus page. The first three weeks will focus on Pre-Production, followed by five weeks focused on Production and four weeks focused on Post-Production.

It’s already too late for the first lesson but here’s the YouTube Creators G+ Page (otherwise known as where these lessons will take place), and here’s where the archived versions of the workshops will be. The upcoming schedule is located here. 

SocialTimes: YouTube To Offer Free Production Workshops On Google Plus Hangouts.

Low Cost, No Cost and Open Source Software for Digital Storytellers

Investigative Reporters and Editors has a nice rundown of free production tools for journalists. These include old standbys such as Gimp for images and graphics, Audacity for audio editing and Open Movie Editor for video editing.

IRE also includes data tools such as Google’s Fusion Table’s and Tableau Software’s Tableau Public.

Multimedia production can get pretty pricey pretty quickly, of course. There’s a lot of gear and software needed so knowing what alternatives are out there is important.

If money’s tight, a great place to start is Open Source Alternatives. For example, if you need Adobe’s Photoshop but don’t have (or want to spend) the $699 to buy the standalone version, OSA lists Gimp and Krita among others as alternatives.

There are Web-based alternatives out there as well. For example, Aviary has a swiss army knife of audio and image editing applications that sit in the browser. In 2010, Google purchased the Web-based image editor Picnik and now you can crop, enhance and perform other basic edits in Picasa/Google+.

Other important browser-based tools are plugins and add-ons. For example, if you’re working with large files you’ll eventually need to get them somewhere which you’ll often do via FTP (although I come across more and more people who are using shared folders in Dropbox). Use Firefox? Try FireFTP. Chrome more your flavor? Try FileZilla. Want a desktop FTP client instead? Try Cyberduck.

Sometimes though, what’s already on your computer can bring you where you need to go. For example — and using a Mac because that’s what I have and know — iMovie, Garage Band and iPhoto all come pre-installed and are perfectly fine for editing video interviews, creating radio pieces and organizing and lightly editing your photos. Are they as robust as Final Cut, Pro Tools and some sort of Adobe Bridge/Photoshop amalgam? No, but they’re tools immediately available to you once you actually have the computer. Besides, the tools we need don’t always have to be the latest and greatest model of something.

There are good reasons to have the software that have become standard across the industry. This is especially true when collaborating with others. But when money’s tight, or you just want to try things out before diving deeper into a particular format, play with what’s low cost or free before making the plunge.

Besides, it’s the end result that matters. Once you publish your amazing audio, video or interactive piece, your appreciative audience isn’t going to care what you used to get there.

My head is still throbbing.

Over at Fuel Your Writing, Eric Kuentz takes Ernest Hemingway’s “write drunk; edit sober” edict to heart and sacrifices himself to a boozy experiment: where will a case of beer, a bottle of Chianti and some brandy bring his writing.

He survives a hangover to tell the tale.

BBC Syria Coverage Uses Wrong Photo from Wrong Country and Wrong Year The BBC published the photo above yesterday to illustrate the massacres taking place in Houla, Syria. Problem is, the photo was taken by Marco di Lauro south of Baghdad in 2003. Via the Telegraph: Mr di Lauro, who works for Getty Images picture agency and has been published by newspapers across the US and Europe, said: “I went home at 3am and I opened the BBC page which had a front page story about what happened in Syria and I almost felt off from my chair. “One of my pictures from Iraq was used by the BBC web site as a front page illustration claiming that those were the bodies of yesterday’s massacre in Syria and that the picture was sent by an activist. “Instead the picture was taken by me and it’s on my web site, on the feature section regarding a story I did In Iraq during the war called Iraq, the aftermath of Saddam. “What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn’t check the sources and it’s willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone: activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That’s all.” He added he was less concerned about an apology or the use of image without consent, adding: “What is amazing it’s that a news organization has a picture proving a massacre that happened yesterday in Syria and instead it’s a picture that was taken in 2003 of a totally different massacre.” FJP Pro Tip: a reverse image search could have flagged this photo in seconds. Where to do it? We use Google Image Search (instead of typing a search term in the text box select the camera icon which allows you to either enter the URL of an image or upload one) and Tineye (the process is the same). Image: An Iraqi girl jumps over body bags containing skeletons found in the desert south of Baghdad. Marco di Lauro, 2003.

BBC Syria Coverage Uses Wrong Photo from Wrong Country and Wrong Year

The BBC published the photo above yesterday to illustrate the massacres taking place in Houla, Syria.

Problem is, the photo was taken by Marco di Lauro south of Baghdad in 2003.

Via the Telegraph:

Mr di Lauro, who works for Getty Images picture agency and has been published by newspapers across the US and Europe, said: “I went home at 3am and I opened the BBC page which had a front page story about what happened in Syria and I almost felt off from my chair.

“One of my pictures from Iraq was used by the BBC web site as a front page illustration claiming that those were the bodies of yesterday’s massacre in Syria and that the picture was sent by an activist.

“Instead the picture was taken by me and it’s on my web site, on the feature section regarding a story I did In Iraq during the war called Iraq, the aftermath of Saddam. “What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn’t check the sources and it’s willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone: activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That’s all.”

He added he was less concerned about an apology or the use of image without consent, adding: “What is amazing it’s that a news organization has a picture proving a massacre that happened yesterday in Syria and instead it’s a picture that was taken in 2003 of a totally different massacre.”

FJP Pro Tip: a reverse image search could have flagged this photo in seconds. Where to do it? We use Google Image Search (instead of typing a search term in the text box select the camera icon which allows you to either enter the URL of an image or upload one) and Tineye (the process is the same).

Image: An Iraqi girl jumps over body bags containing skeletons found in the desert south of Baghdad. Marco di Lauro, 2003.

Check One, Check Two: Our Webcasting Checklist Next Wednesday we’ll be Webcasting GigaOm’s paidContent 2012 event from the Times Center in New York City. From past experience, Murphy’s Law dominates the production of these type of things. If the Webcast is supposed to start at 9am, everything will work until 8:58 and then all hell breaks loose. To prepare we take things apart, put them back together again, start streams, stop streams, figure out how and why things break, and figure out how to put everything back together again. The gear we use runs as follows: TriCaster: This is the boxy thing in the photo. It’s essentially a Windows box with NewTek’s TriCaster video mixing software in it. Our audio and video feeds go into this, and from there we push the feed out to Livestream. Livestream: Livestream is a live event platform that’s been used by the New York Times, ABC and CBS News, the Associated Press among others. If you can get your video to it (say, with a TriCaster), Livestream can push it out to desktop, mobile and tablet clients. Sony EX1: We’ve been using these cameras for a while now and they’re work horses. So, a couple EX1’s with 100 foot SDI cables connecting back to the TriCaster will let us position our cameras around the Times Center.  Mackie Board: While the TriCaster has an audio mixer built into its software, over time we’ve felt that having a separate, analog mixer makes things easier and gives us better overall sound. Also, when there are odd and peculiar audio irregularities (remember Murphy’s Law from above), there’s something reassuring about reaching out and working with real life knobs and sliders rather than pointing and clicking through a software interface. It’s much faster too. So, the house audio will be fed into the Mackie and from there it will go into the TriCaster before being pushed to Livestream. I’ll post next Tuesday where people can watch the event. The lineup looks great and includes WordPress founder Matt Mullenwag, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo, Condé Nast president Bob Sauerberg and News Corporation CEO Jon Miller among others. The agenda: explore “business models and debate the best ways to keep content meaningful and profitable in an ever-changing digital environment.”

Check One, Check Two: Our Webcasting Checklist

Next Wednesday we’ll be Webcasting GigaOm’s paidContent 2012 event from the Times Center in New York City.

From past experience, Murphy’s Law dominates the production of these type of things. If the Webcast is supposed to start at 9am, everything will work until 8:58 and then all hell breaks loose.

To prepare we take things apart, put them back together again, start streams, stop streams, figure out how and why things break, and figure out how to put everything back together again.

The gear we use runs as follows:

  • TriCaster: This is the boxy thing in the photo. It’s essentially a Windows box with NewTek’s TriCaster video mixing software in it. Our audio and video feeds go into this, and from there we push the feed out to Livestream.
  • Livestream: Livestream is a live event platform that’s been used by the New York Times, ABC and CBS News, the Associated Press among others. If you can get your video to it (say, with a TriCaster), Livestream can push it out to desktop, mobile and tablet clients.
  • Sony EX1: We’ve been using these cameras for a while now and they’re work horses. So, a couple EX1’s with 100 foot SDI cables connecting back to the TriCaster will let us position our cameras around the Times Center. 
  • Mackie Board: While the TriCaster has an audio mixer built into its software, over time we’ve felt that having a separate, analog mixer makes things easier and gives us better overall sound. Also, when there are odd and peculiar audio irregularities (remember Murphy’s Law from above), there’s something reassuring about reaching out and working with real life knobs and sliders rather than pointing and clicking through a software interface. It’s much faster too. So, the house audio will be fed into the Mackie and from there it will go into the TriCaster before being pushed to Livestream.

I’ll post next Tuesday where people can watch the event. The lineup looks great and includes WordPress founder Matt Mullenwag, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo, Condé Nast president Bob Sauerberg and News Corporation CEO Jon Miller among others.

The agenda: explore “business models and debate the best ways to keep content meaningful and profitable in an ever-changing digital environment.”

How to Work With Data

The other day, Bitly’s data chief Hilary Mason explained how to get started with data.

Today, she discusses how to work with data, from getting it, to exploring it to interpreting it.

A while back, Hilary and Columbia mathematician Chris Wiggins wrote about this process, called it a taxonomy of data science, and gave a roughly chronological account of what one does with data: Obtain, Scrub, Explore, Model and iNterpret.

No, that’s not a typo, it’s part of an acronym: OSEMN, which rhymes with possum, which means you pronounce it “awesome”.

To get more details than Hilary offers here, check their article. It offers code examples and tools and tricks to work through each of the steps above.

Getting Started With Data

Hilary Mason, Bitly’s data chief, gives advice on how to get started in data science, from finding a buddy to tutorials you can watch and books you can read.

Bonus: Why you don’t need to be a math whiz.

Double Bonus: See her next video, How to Work With Data.

Ten Social Media Tips of 2012 from Brian Solis

Ten Social Media Tips

In 2012, consider yourself a digital anthropologist or sociologist as you immerse yourself in a day in the life of your connected consumer and seek to close the chasm between you and them.

There are many professional social media analysts, researchers and strategists who can help you find the answers you seek.

Starting now and forever, technology and empathy are now part of your business strategy. To what extent disruptive technology impacts your markets will depend on your industry and the rate of adoption within it.

Priority areas for your social media strategy should include an understanding of the following:

1. Social Networks from Facebook to Twitter to Google+ and how they’re connecting to influencers and businesses

2. Geo-location check-in services such as Foursquare and Facebook location updates to share locations and earn rewards or opportunities for discounts.

3. Crowd-sourced discounts and deals including Groupon and LivingSocial and what’s valued and why.

4. Social commerce services like Shopkick and Armadealo and how they create personalized experiences that are worth sharing.

5. Referral based solutions like Yelp, Service Magic, and Angie’s List to make informed decisions and how shared experiences can improve your business, products, and services.

6. Gamification platforms such as Badgeville and Fangager, and why rewarding engagement improves commerce and loyalty.

7. How your consumers using mobile devices today and what apps they’re installing. Also, how they’re comparing options, reviewing experiences and making decisions while mobile?

8. The online presence your business produces across a variety of platforms such as tablets, smartphones, laptops and desktops. You must realize how consumers are experiencing the online presences you create and whether or not they deliver a holistic and optimized experience for each platform.

9. The consumer clickpath based on the platform consumers are using. Are you steering experiences based on the expectations of your customers? And are you taking into consideration the device or network where the clickpath begins and ends? Are you integrating Facebook F-commerce and m-commerce into the journey?

10. The expectations of connected consumers, what they value in each channel and platform, where they engage and how your business can improve experiences and make them worthy of sharing.

More Social Media strategy from Brian Solis here.

briansolis.com

Is Huffington Post Reinventing the Liveblog?

Via Simon Owens at Nieman Journalism Lab:

A few days ago, I clicked on a link to an Associated Press article published at the Huffington Post and reporting on a new AP poll that found widespread support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Like hundreds of other news outlets, HuffPo subscribes to the AP and runs its articles to supplement the original content the AOL-owned company produces on its own.

A curious thing happened when I finished the article, however: I didn’t stop reading.

At the bottom of the piece, I came across a liveblog that published up-to-the minute news on the protests. The posts were a mixture of links, block quotes, reprinted tweets, and even small original news nuggets being reported by HuffPo journalists on the ground. All together, I probably spent an extra 20 minutes on the site than I would have otherwise. I began clicking around and found that HuffPo had embedded this same liveblog at the bottom of nearly every article concerning Occupy Wall Street.

Read through for the nuts and bolts of what HuffPo is doing, why they’re doing it and how they’re doing it.

Interesting is Nico Pitney, Executive Editor of the Huffington Post Media Group, observing how they identified three types of readers — the news browsers who just want the article overview, the junkies who want the immediate (liveblog) update, and the newsies who want both — and how they’re trying to satisfy each.

The Proofreading Primer

Patrick LaForge, New York Times’ editor of news presentation, offers today’s best in Freshest Advices.

In a memo to the paper’s editors and reporters, he offers “proofreading tips culled from years of journalism tip sheets.”

  • Break your mind-set: Read the copy out loud. Read it silently, one word at a time. Read it backward and focus on the spelling of words. Print a copy. Preview it in a different application. Change the format or the screen resolution. Justify or unjustify the type. Take a break and return to it with fresh eyes.
  • Use spelling checkers but don’t trust them. In particular, be aware of homophone confusion: complement and compliment, accept and except, effect and affect, oversees and overseas.
  • Memorize frequently misspelled and misused words. Here’s a list: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html.
  • Beware of contractions and apostrophes: their and they’re, its and it’s, your and you’re.
  • After reading for content and spelling, proofread separately for punctuation.
  • Beware of doubled words at the end and start of a line. A doubled “that” will often slip right by if you let it.
  • Double-check proper names and claims of distinction (first, best, oldest, tallest, etc.).
  • Double-check little words that are often interchanged: or, of; it, is.
  • Check all the numbers, especially any reference to millions, billions or trillions. Do the math. Do the math again.
  • Set aside a regular time to review stylebook and usage rules. This includes backfield editors and reporters. If you don’t want someone to change your story on style grounds (and perhaps introduce an error), learn the basics and follow them.
  • Be aware of dates and days of the week, especially in advance copy or copy that has been held. Be aware of references to next month/last month around the time the month is changing.
  • Make a personal checklist of the things you tend to miss. Use it on every story.
  • Have someone else, preferably a copy editor, read behind you.

Last of all, think of our readers — and care what they think of us.

H/T: Regret The Error.

scribemedia: 5 Ways to Optimize your Facebook Page by Maya Grinberg Excerpt…      1. featured photos       2. The left side link panel       3. Rolling Feedback       4. Featured Links       5. Wall tab layouts can be different Get the details on each of the 5 tips at Social Media Examiner Chao: Great article. I love all the screenshots and visual examples for each tip.  bravo!  for more curated articles on social media please follow our sister tumblr Scribe Media

scribemedia:

5 Ways to Optimize your Facebook Page by Maya Grinberg

Excerpt…

     1. featured photos

      2. The left side link panel

      3. Rolling Feedback

      4. Featured Links

      5. Wall tab layouts can be different

Get the details on each of the 5 tips at Social Media Examiner

Chao: Great article. I love all the screenshots and visual examples for each tip.  bravo!  for more curated articles on social media please follow our sister tumblr Scribe Media

Facebook’s Journalism Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik puts together “Facebook and Journalism 101,” a tips and tricks guide for journalists and news organizations using the behemoth network.

Via Vadim on Google+ (irony noted) and downloadable on Scribd.