Google Buzz

A few days ago, I decided to finally try Buzz.

Like so many new and shiny things, it was really exciting at first. I could comment back and forth on random trends and topics with my closest friends, without worrying about a crowd of Facebook friends or Twitter followers looking in - people I'd met once, if ever.

But once the excitement wore off, I started to ask myself: what does Buzz really have to add to the already overcrowded social media scene? It feels an awful lot like Gmail Chat, except slower and more cumbersome. It doesn't have the journalistic merits of Twitter (ability to spread news to a large number of followers in a very short time) - at least not yet. And, unlike Facebook, there's little to keep you interested once you're done posting. And then there's the privacy concerns Google has only now started to address.

If I'm overlooking an important redeeming feature here, feel free to point it out to me. For now, I'll stick with Twitter.

After two back-to-back blizzards, I finally get it. After 12 years of working for weekly community newspapers, and my own travel magazine, I have to admit I am a print diehard. But, over the past year, I have witnessed the demise of 67 newspapers. Even two magazines that I've been affiliated with have ceased their print products. I am finally getting how this new age of media really is about delivering the message in a different way, not just shoveling content from the printed page to a Web site.

At the beginning of 2009, I was definitely intrigued by how many businesses were joining in the chatter of the social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. By the summer, I joined in the chatter -- not sure why, but knowing I had to be part of it.

Now I get it. Last week, due to the forecasted blizzard to begin Tuesday afternoon, I pushed to finish up my newspaper, The Prince George's Sentinel, before the snow started. I met our print deadline and put the content on the Web before the first flake fell late Tuesday afternoon. In the past, that would have been good enough. In the past, I would have called it a week and begun to think about the next week's issue.

However, this time, I found myself snowbound and logging into my computer remotely nearly five or six times per day. In the past, I would have spent a lot of time on the phone with our freelance reporters and photographers to send in photos and story ideas for the next issue.

This time, I actually realized what engaging your audience meant. I invited our online audience and social media followers and friends to send in photos and comments. I found our readers, at the ready, to send in their comments and photos. Boom! Stories, comments and photos were uploaded to the site within minutes. We were in this together! Our readers didn't have to wait to read about it and see our photos a week later.

Then, as I kept a watch on the TV news and the press releases from the governor's office about various things, I updated the Web site on a regular basis, including up-to-the minute photos. It was exciting.

Yes, I finally get it. Unfortunately, our office staff has shrunk so much that most of this work falls on me. But, that's OK. I'm ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to stay alive in the profession I love.

Writer steps aside to let others tell their own remarkable stories

When I was in seventh grade, I went on a field trip to the Washington Post. As soon as I walked into the newsroom, I was hooked. This is what I wanted to do -- to be part of a giant news organization that cranked out news for the public. I wanted to give a voice to the people who needed to be heard.

Since I've been in the newspaper industry for 12 years, I have done just that. Even though I never worked for the Post, I have worked for two community newspapers to give a voice to many people who wanted to tell their story to their neighbors.

One notable series of articles I did was on a family going through a very dark journey as their very young son was diagnosed with leukemia. After I told their story in the local newspaper, the community rallied behind them and saw them through the next several years, through two remissions and -- finally -- a bone marrow transplant, which thankfully cured this remarkable young man. I felt very privileged to be part of this family's life and to be able to use my writing skills to give this family a voice and tell their inspiring story.

Since then, I have had the privilege of meeting so many interesting and diverse people to tell others about their challenges and victories. And I do mean it was a privilege. But now, as the new age of media ushered in under our noses, it looks like I will have to step aside and let the people tell their own stories.

Now, using the Internet, people of all ages and backgrounds can tell their own stories through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. Their voices are being heard by thousands of people with the click of a mouse. Their Internet community can rally behind them -- even though there they may be many miles separating them.

For me, this new year began with the news that my good friend and mentor, Vera Foster Rollo, had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. At 85, she decided to face the end stage of her life with the same dignity in which she lived. A writer, editor, publisher and pilot, this truly remarkable woman's family was able to share her legacy and the valiant way she ended her time here on Earth with her family, friends, and people who have never even met her, across the miles, through a blog provided by the local hospice.

Even though I shall mourn the loss of being one of a privileged few to be able to tell others about ordinary people who do extraordinary things, I now feel privileged to be part of a wider network of people from around the world. I enjoy reading your stories and sharing them with my friends, and I am willing to move over to make room for you.

My only question is: How can I make a living now?

Welcome new class!

Looking forward to engaging with you electronically as well as in class. Please use this class blog to post thoughtful comments on new-media topics in the news. You're required to start at least one thread, as well as to comment on others' posts.

Going Mobile

It's weird when I read articles about news organizations reaching out to an audience that gets its daily news from Blackberries and other mobile devices, mainly because my cell phone doesn't even let me take photos, let alone access the Internet.

I've been covering NPR.org for my individual blog, and the other day I ran across this post on Inside NPR.org Blog. To summarize, NPR has launched a new Web site with content specifically designed for mobile phone users, and now NPR fans will have an easier time accessing stories and audio.

I found a similar story on Poynter Online that addresses the issue from an industry-wide perspective. In a blog post titled "How News Organizations Can Create a Mobile-First Strategy," Steve Puttry urges media groups to focus on metadata, "data about data," among other things. His emphasis on metadata intrigued me because I think this is the meat of a lot of online journalism. With traditional media, it was all about whittling down the story to fit into the newspaper. Now, with multimedia packages, data that doesn't make it into the text story can still be incorporated into slideshows, quizzes, interactive maps and more.

Classmates, do you get news updates on your phone? I'm curious if this is more of a trend for the older, professional population...

Screen shots and your final blog analysis

Class, a few of you said you had never done a screen shot, (also called a screen grab). It can be done in less than a minute, using the Print Scrn button on the top right side of your key board and Photoshop. Simply pull up the page you want to work with, hit Print Scrn, open up Photoshop, hit File/New/OK, then Edit/paste, to pull in your image. Edit the image in Photoshop as you would other images, saving it as a .gif, which would then be uploadable to a blog or Web site. About.com has a video tutorial on this, if you'd prefer to watch it done before trying it. Here's the link:

http://video.about.com/graphicssoft/WinXPScreenshot-mov.--8z.htm

A few reminders about your final blog analyses:

* Your edited first entries are still waiting for most of you in the big envelope stuck to my office door, room 4119.
* Many of you are still having trouble with AP style points. It's Internet, not internet; e-mail, not email; home page, not homepage; Web site, not website.
* Do remember to give examples to support broad statements that you make, and remember to provide links to stories you discuss.
* Please upload a screen shot of the pages you discuss in the design portion of your analysis.

Full details on your assignment are posted below. This is pulled from your class syllabus:

# Tuesday, Dec. 15, 3:30 p.m.: (20 percent of your grade): Finals due, (based on the university's finals' schedule): This is a 2,000- to 2,400-word research / analysis of a news Web site, selected from a list I will circulate in class. It will be written as multiple posts on a blog you'll create on godaddy.com for this purpose. Throughout the semester, you should be posting coherent, well-written thoughts on your blog page. Each posting should be roughly 200 to 500 words. You should have a minimum of six posts on six different days during the semester. Postings should address the following points, but need not be limited to these: How well the Web site uses navigation; how clean its design is; how well it uses photos and graphics, broadcast features (including audio and video and podcasts) and interactive elements (such as chats, blogs, polls, map mashups and info graphics, quizzes and searchable databases); and how well stories are written and presented and make use of the medium. You should tell me about any other features you loved or hated and why. In your final posting, you should tell me what changes editors and publishers might consider to better position themselves for the future. The analysis should be based on your observations of the site throughout the semester and on background research you've conducted on the site. Comments should be supported with facts, links and visual screen grabs to illustrate your points. Factual mistakes that have not been corrected by the deadline --including misspelled proper names and faulty URLs--will result in full letter-grade deductions. Information quoted from other sources should be fully attributed in your text. To turn in, please e-mail me your blog URL before the deadline, and turn in a printout of your blog under my 4th floor office door (Room 4119). Finals turned in after deadline will receive an automatic F.

Using graphics to illustrate stories

So I saved a screen grab from Salon.com on my computer, and I was thinking about it today and I just wanted to share it. The graphic goes with a story Salon published about how some pastors are praying for Obama's death.

The graphic's caption says "Albrecht Durer's Praying Hands and AP photo." I know that it's clear to readers that the picture isn't real. But when I looked at it, it just reminded of flag burning, which is a pretty hot-button free speech issue, which many people find disrespectful or offensive. Personally, I thought the graphic was a little disrespectful toward our president. I mean, he's the president. It's bad enough that other countries might be defaming him or burning pictures of him or something - it doesn't exactly set a good example for people to see that we're ok with depicting that as well. Is it ok for journalists to make controversial graphics of important figures like the president, because it's a form of free speech? Or are there certain things that should be off-limits to graphic manipulation?

Broadcast Journalism Online

I think that slide shows and multimedia aspects to news websites are probably the most important feature. Although many people are quite interested in comments and quick Twitter posts, nothing tells a story more than actual pictures and videos. After taking this class and analyzing various news websites, I think the most successful ones are the ones that have these features. It is sad to say, but a sufficient news text story just does not cut it anymore. People of my generation have developed short attention spans and it is easier for them to look at pictures or watch a quick video. This is why Twitter has become so successful; those 140 characters are just enough for people to read and absorb (sad right). However, what news sites have going for them that Twitter doesn’t it that they can incorporate multimedia aspects to them.

I am very fortunate that I am a broadcast student here because I have gained great skills in reporting and videography that can be carried with me through online use. Here is the question I pose though: Do you think that broadcast reporting is the same for online as it is on television? What are the major similarities and differences?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!!

http://www.10000words.net/

hehe ;)

Backpack Journalists v. Twitter

With Twitter and the Apple I-Phone, it is clear that you can literally have the news at the tip of your fingers. Additionally, you can know the news almost as soon as it is happening. Take the Tiger Woods story for example; Twitter had reported it within minutes. See the article here.

For tech-savvy, computer users, how important is watching the news or reading the newspaper the next day if you already know what happened? Not only does this concern me as a journalism major, but it also makes me wonder about backpack journalists. Backpack journalists combine editing, producing, filming, and reporting in one and are also referred to as a “One Man Band.” They are known as the journalists of the future and many professionals will agree that they are much more likely to hire someone who knows how to perform all these skills. Now that many news stations are hurting financially, backpack journalists are a way for them to save money and cut employees.

While I understand that backpack journalists save money and may even make it easier for newsrooms, doesn’t it take them much longer to get their stories out? With a world of new technology and Twitter, which release news stories almost immediately, how is ONE person going to keep up? Lets say the economy does pick up, are they honestly going to have one person compete with Twitter? How is one person going to be able to quickly report, film, edit, and produce?

I just think it may be smarter to keep hiring experts in one given field rather than hire a young backpack journalists to compete with the Internet. Although experts may still not get the news released as quickly as Twitter, they definitely can do the work in half of the amount of time. Clearly, if a news station has one great editor, one great photographer, and one great reporter work together, they can have the information released in half the time as one backpack journalist would. What do you think? How can backpack journalists strive to keep up with Twitter and I-Phone news application?

Rebranding The Washington Times

The latest blow to aspiring area journalists dropped earlier this week with news that The Washington Times will cut its staff by 40 percent and pursue a different business model.

The development that I found most interesting has little to do with the online side of things-the fact that it's likely the entire sports department will be cut after a 60-day evaluation period. But as with any paper failing, there is definitely a new media side to the story.

In this New York Times' report on the situation, it's clear that the paper has battled issues for a while, but the lede makes an important point. John Solomon, the paper's former executive editor, joined the staff last year, one of his charges was to push the paper "into the digital age."

He left earlier this month, seemingly without accomplishing many of his intended goals for the paper, which seems likely to pursue a free model similar to the Washington Examiner that focuses heavily on politics and other local news reporting.

It's all summed up pretty well in this quote from an anonymous staffer:

"It’s pretty clear they can’t support it on this scale, and they’re trying to figure out what kind of product they can put out that’s economically viable and competitive with what’s available to them."

To me, that means it will have to really focus on new media, specifically its website. I think it will be especially important with the elimination of the sports section because studies have shown that many men pick up the paper primarily for sports news. The Washington Times will be alienating those potential readers, so they will have to be able to target market effectively to get the readership and sponsorships to allow them to continue.

Further more, here's The Washington Times' own write-up on the news, which includes excerpts from the official statement from acting publisher and president Jonathan Slevin.

Slevin offered this bit of comfort: "A new Washington Times will continue to reach readers and more effectively earn new audiences via digital, broadcast, print and wireless media."

That all amounts to a lot of changes from this local paper that has competed in the district since 1982. It's probably more bad news for people about to hit the job market like us, but maybe these kind of complete rebranding projects can offer new niches for people with fresh ideas to compete in tough markets.

With that in mind, what steps must this newspaper take to stay viable? Which facets of its media empire should be deemed most important? Based on some of the ideas we've discussed in class, how can new media help a struggling entity like The Washington Times to stay relevant as it becomes less traditional?

Tweet!

Today you'll be using Twitter.com to "tweet" our discussion.

First, sign in.

When you get to the "What are you doing" screen, simply type in this slug for this discussion: #classtweets

Leave a space after the slug, and begin typing your reasoned comment or summary of the events. Remember, you've got to be exceptionally succinct: You've got only 140 characters with each take. And please remember that the world can read your remarks. So be accurate and fair.

To follow other "tweets" from classmates and others during this discussion, open up another browser window and go to:
http://search.twitter.com/
Type in #classtweets, and all the comments for this thread will display.

Hit "refresh" periodically to see new comments.

We're experimenting with this technology because it is increasingly being used journalistically--to find story ideas and sources, to tout published stories and to send in quick updates from the field on breaking news stories.

Advertising on mobile phones to help newspaper?

I read an article from The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/2009/12/01/stories/2009120155921100.htm) which said many newspapers are beginning to advertise their content more on mobile phones in order to draw in more readers. By featuring more content for mobile phones, newspaper companies are hoping to gain a leg up on competitors in this newer medium. Because the use of mobile phones to search the internet and finds news is steadily increasing, I was wondering if any of you thought this was a good way for media outlets to gain popularity or readers?

Good and Bad Headlines

We spent a lot of time in class a couple weeks ago and I found a good and bad headline to show:

GOOD: "Knox's Parents Probed for Alleged Defamation"

This headline appeared on ABCNews.com today and this is a solid for the online platform. It is straightforward and clear, it does not contain jargon, and you can read it one time and understand the meaning of the story. The other thing that is good about this headline is that it contains many search terms such as "Knox," "probed," and "defamation" which would probably do a good job to find the article.

BAD: "White House to 'Name-and-Shame' Lenders

This headline also came from ABCNews.com today on the front page of the website. This headline is not terrible but it has a possible double meaning. At first when I read it I thought it was an incomplete statement such as the White House talking to lenders and the lenders were the ones that were naming and shaming. After I read it a couple of times I read it correctly; the White House will be identifying bad lenders. I'm not sure if the quote is the best thing to put here; perhaps it should be more direct such as "White House to Name Bad Lenders." Additionally there are not as many good search terms because 'Name-and-Shame' could turn up unrelated results. 'White House" is also extremely common and could turn up unrelated results. While this headline is not terrible, it could use a little work.

Interesting Headline

I know that we had been talking about good and bad headlines. I found this headline on the homepage of aol.com

"Man Cleared in Wife's Death, Moose Suspected"

The headline is actually pretty good in that it describes the story and on top of that it certainly caught my attention. But it definitely is not something you see every day.

The Role of Twitter in Reporting and Making News

Twitter has emerged as another extremely popular form of new media . As we were reminded yet again during our recent trip to USA Today, Twitter is becoming an increasingly accepted companion to traditional journalism and is used by many traditional reporters as another effective method of getting information out to their audience.

As recently as the spring, Twitter was a mostly unknown entity among reporters and the general public, but now it seems like nearly every newsperson has a Twitter account to file quick updates and provide follower with tidbits of information as they come up. In the press box at Terp football games, it has become something of a competition to see which reporter can tweet information the fastest.

Another interesting Twitter-related development is when newsmakers tweet something and the tweets themselves become the news. Cincinnati Bengals running back Larry Johnson was recently waived by the Kansas City Chiefs for using a homophobic slur on his Twitter account. Johnson had also used Twitter to criticize his former team and specifically its head coach.

Closer to home, our classmate Eric Detweiler referenced tweets made by Terp basketball player Dino Gregory in a recent story in The Diamondback about Gregory's eventual return from a suspension. Gregory had not been made available to speak with the media, but Detweiler used Gregory's Twitter account to convey Gregory's comment on the situation.

What does everybody think about Twitter in the media? Should reporters use Twitter to report information, or is that unprofessional? Should things that prominent people tweet become fair game for news? Should reporters use relevant tweets as comments on important issues when the source is not available for more traditional comment?

Good and Bad Headlines

GOOD:

Ravens, Browns scoreless at the half

Yahoo Sports does a pretty god job with headlines of wire stories- I initially tried finding a bad headline from them but I couldn't find one. This headline has all the key terms someone wanting to know what had happened in this Monday Night Football game would search: Ravens (name of team), Browns (name of team), scoreless (the score of game, or term "score" could be searched) and half (a relevant time period to search for).


BAD:

Govt to unveil 20,000 MW solar power plan

The article is a Reuters story Yahoo News picked up about India's plan to improve their solar power generation. However, the headline doesn't include anything about India. Additionally, the word "new" probably would have been better for searches than "20,000 MW."

Field Trip Nov. 18 to usatoday.com

On Nov. 18 we'll be carpooling to usatoday.com, at 7950 Jones Branch Drive in McLean, Va. Class will begin at 1:45 p.m., to allow time for driving. If possible, give yourself an hour driving and parking time. You'll pull in to the parking lot by the security booth (on the right) before you get to the building. Park in the lot to the side of the building, and come to the lobby, where you'll sign in with the security desk. We'll meet there in the lobby.

We'll talk with staffers Denny Gainor, Anne Willette and Marisol Bello about storytelling, story presentation and reader interaction. You will be given assigned questions to answer about the visit; your typed responses will count as an in-class grade, and will be due by e-mail before the start of the next class Nov. 25.

If you'd like, we could pre-arrange for carpools. If you need a ride or can share a ride in your car, please post a comment to this post. Be sure to leave your contact info.

We'll end the session at 3:15 p.m., to allow driving time before your next class.

See you there!
Best, chris

Good and Not-so-Good Headlines

Before our next class Nov. 18, please find a good and not-so-adept headline on one or more news Web sites, and explain why you think so on this blog.

Please attach them as comments to this post.

Please be sure to give the full URL and headline for each.

And please don't write anything you don't want the world to see.

Ethics of Reporting and Photography

On Friday, Girl Talk performed a show at Cole Field House for about 2,000 students. There were numerous campus media outlets covering the show, including two from the music blog Terrapin Sound. Terrapin Sound, which is affiliated with the Maryland Music Business Society, sent a reporter and a photographer to the event. They both had backstage passes and where told that they would at least have the chance to talk to Girl Talk's entourage, if not interview him. When they knocked on his dressing room door they were told that they would not be able to do an interview and were asked to leave, which they did.

They later found out that after this incident Girl Talk requested that Terrapin Sound is never allowed backstage again. This is a somewhat irrational request because the two were never actually told they would not be allowed to interview Girl Talk. Maybe he felt they were intruding on his space, which would be a legitimate reason. So in retrospect, did the reporter and photographer do anything wrong?

Local media: the next big step?

Allbritton Communications Co., the parent company of Politico.com, ABC 7 and NewsChannel 8, recently announced plans to launch a new website that will focus on local news in the Washington, D.C. area. This interesting advancement will be led by Jim Brady, the former executive editor of WashingtonPost.com.



I discovered this piece of news while perusing Politico.com a few days ago, the site that I am analyzing for my final paper. This move comes at a time when many forms of traditional media are struggling to hold onto a fickle and impatient audience. As online journalism is becoming increasingly popular, it comes as no surprise that along with websites for national news, there should be a niche for websites covering local news. This innovative move is one that will likely be watched closely by many other news sources, potentially starting a new trend of local news websites.



The entity taking on this move is also noteworthy; Politico.com achieved success seemingly immediately, fulfilling the online niche for political addicts, so it follows that the creators of this new site are hopeful that Politico's success will be repeated.



The other main focuses that this site will encompass are a push toward mobile compatibility and a combination of professional journalism and citizen journalism, a subcategory of the field that is becoming more and more popular. This will definitely be a site to keep an eye on, as its success or failure could determine whether or not local media becomes the newest form of new media.

Big news: Internet domains are moving multilingual!

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that oversees Internet domain addresses, endorsed a move on October 30 that will allow for domains to be published and accessed using non-Latin alphabets. Starting next year, Web sites will be produced using non-Latin scripts, an act that will allow for an Internet that better reflects international diversity and multilingualism.

ICANN President and Chief Executive Rod Beckstrom called this a “historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet,” according to the New York Times. An estimated 1.5 billion people use non-Latin based languages, according an Associated Press article. Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Hebrew, Hindi and Japanese are among the major languages to be added to domain names.

I think this is a brilliant move toward accepting international diversity and it is unbelievable that this change has not already been incorporated into Web usage, especially since so many non-Western countries have been at the forefront of developing Web technologies and the majority of people in the world do not speak Latin-based languages. I’m curious to see what this will do for the Internet and online news media, especially as online networks are to expand through this action.

And now that the Internet will move to multilingualism and be accessible to more people from all corners of the world, I’m wondering what complications, if any, this will create. How will this affect search engines and online databases? Even though this move will expand access to people who are less familiar or proficient with Latin-based characters, will this also hinder access to others?

Tweeting Literature- the Next Big Thing?

Tweeting Literature- The Next Big Thing?
During my summer internship at NBC Bay Area News, I wrote an article about Matt Stewart, a local author who published his first novel via 3,700 tweets on Twitter. Stewart claims to be the first author to publish a novel on Twitter, but after digging deeper I found that he is one of a few people who are using Twitter to publish literature.
In all honesty, when hearing Stewart brag about being a published author on Twitter I was not impressed. “Ok,” I thought, “so no one credible wanted to publish your book so you did it yourself. Is anyone actually going to read it?”
Well, Stewart’s novel The French Revolution may only have 1,023 followers on Twitter, but it turns out credible literary organizations are starting to use new media Web sites such as Twitter to publish literature as well.
According to a New York Times article, Electric Literature, a quarterly literary magazine is using new media to its advantage to “revitalize the short story in the age of the short attention span.” In addition to using Facebook for publicity, the magazine also publishes videos on Youtube and will begin having authors tweet out short stories on Twitter.
I suppose it is good that people are trying to maintain art and literature in a world of decreasing attention spans and the-world-at-your-fingertips-technology, but at what point is this too much? Is our society ever going to look back at the simple days when magazines and books were published on paper and miss it?

How web-sharing tools can help or hurt you

Everyone nowadays is talking about how social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, are godsends to the journalism world. Reporters and news organizations can Tweet their hearts out and attract readers by appearing to be up to speed on new media, and readers can link to articles they liked on their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts. But this article from Poynter Online seems to say that some organizations utilize those web-sharing applications better than others.

The author said he looked at both the New York Times and Washington Post to see how easy it was to link stories to Twitter accounts. He found that the New York Times made it really easy by compressing the length of the link in a bit.ly address. Using this shorter form, users could pull the link and still have enough characters to comment on the content of the article. However, the Washington Post didn't foresee this issue with long URLs, making it a whole lot harder to post links from the Post to a Twitter account and have room left to "retweet" the article. Readers would either have no characters left or would have to go through a convoluted process to compress the length of the link themselves.

The author also noticed (and it's easy to double check, just click to both sites) it's also a lot easier to find the "Share" button on the Times website (right next to the headline). The Post only puts its sharing buttons at the end of the article, after the "Sponsored Links" ads. Most readers probably won't bother linking if they can't find the button easily, and the Post makes it quite a scavenger hunt.

The Post gets points for including the option to link to their story, but it loses a whole lot more points by making it impractical for readers to actually do the sharing. If it's difficult to use, it's almost not worth it to attempt having web-sharing tools because it makes readers think you're not actually as tech savvy as you think you are... And that doesn't reflect well on the future of an organization in a new media world, does it?

Ethics in Audio Reporting and Slideshow Publishing

A student in my online news bureau posed an interesting ethical question last week: He's doing a Halloween-pegged story and slideshow about purported "hauntings" at the Surratt House in Clinton, and he wondered if when he plays the audio interview of the museum director talking about alleged ghosts if he could insert sounds of his own footsteps and opening and closings of doors.

It sounded a bit too much like manufactured sound, rather than the capturing of real sound, to me, so I consulted friend and former colleague Keith Jenkins, who now leads a multimedia team at npr.org.

Jenkins' take: If the narration on the slide show made it clear it was the reporters' footsteps we were hearing, it would be OK; but if there was any ambiguity, it would not be ethical. That sounded like a good solution to me. Perhaps the same clarity could be achieved through captioning under the photos, rather than narration.

I'll post a link to the finished stories as soon as they're ready this week.

BTW: Sound issues on slide shows have come up in the past. I agree with purists, including Jenkins, who argue that no background music should be heard in a news slide show, unless the music was playing at the time of the interview. But I've heard others in the business argue differently.

--Chris Harvey

Tim Berners-Lee and the Dreaded Forward Slashes

News Alert: Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, is sorry for putting forward slashes in web addresses. In a BBC article, he admits the symbols // before web addresses is "unnecessary."He's annoyed himself. I never notice it. Most of the time they will appear after you type the main part of the address. I don't find it a big deal, but apparently he' s gotten an earful about it from his users.

Computers, the internet, the World Wide Web, it's such an engrained part of our everyday lives. It's hard to imagine that one man is (partially) responsible for creating a society built online. It's funny to imagine him annoyed about coding he invented himself.

I found this article amusing because it reminds you that there's a person behind all of "this." Just as you should remember there are people behind every post, blog, website. Users feel they can get away with anything online because they can stay "anonymous." But there are measures to enforce punishments on those who publish defamatory or false information. It's something I think about as the media begins more and more to provide online content. We're still just as accountable for what we publish even though we can't be seen. So thanks for making life harder with the forward slashes, Tim Berners-Lee. We really needed the aggravation. I posted the address here, but it doesn't appear to link up. If you copy and paste it, that should work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8306631.stm

Multi-Media for The New York Times Dining Section

One of my favorite examples of multi-media can be found on The New York Times Dining and Wine section. Every Wednesday, there is a review of a different restaurant. An audio slide show usually accompanies the review. The writer of the review is actually interviewed for the slide show about his main opinions regarding the restaurant. Throughout the interview, attractive photographs of the eatery's interior and of noteworthy dishes are streamed.

One of the best multi-media packages in the dining section was about the influx of artisinal pizzerias in New York City. Frank Bruni wrote an informative and entertaining column discussing the trend. However, my favorite parts of the feature were the accompanying interactives.

The audio slide show, titled The New Generation of Pizzerias, features Bruni discussing eight new and important pizzerias. Each pizzeria has a separate slide show that consists of about three photographs. This interactive makes me crave pizza every time I watch and listen to it.

There is also a Google map of the five boroughs that shows where the pizzerias are. This is very useful for readers. It shows how online journalism can also be great service journalism.

Linking to PDFs in WordPress

A few of you asked about linking to .pdfs on the clips page of your personal WordPress sites.

It's easy; it requires two steps:

• Click on the "Media" button on the left side of your dashboard; click on "Add New"; click on the desired .pdf saved on your computer to upload it; grab the coding for that URL
  
• On the page you wish to add the .pdf to as a link, simply drop the URL into a link tag: Headline Goes Here
  

That's it.

Earn Money Next Summer Doing Multimedia Journalism

UMD's Philip Merrill College of Journalism this fall will be awarding 10 multimedia reporting fellowships to outstanding journalism majors under the national News21 program. The program, which encourages innovations in journalism, is funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corp. and Knight Foundation.

Selected graduate students and seniors graduating in 2010 will spend 10 weeks next summer immersed in multimedia storytelling and site building. Fellows are paid for their full-time summer work: $7,500 for the 10 weeks. The newsroom will be based in a lab in our new journalism building on the College Park campus.

Fellows must also take a multimedia class on covering environmental issues in spring 2010.

The journalism college's 2009 News21 project, The New Voters, can be found online at http://umd.news21.com/.

To learn more about the program contact professor Leslie Walker at lwalker@umd.edu.

The application form, due Nov. 2 at 5 p.m., is linked here.