Transcript journalism.utexas.edu
Trends in Online Media
Cindy Royal, Ph.D
Associate Professor Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication [email protected]
www.cindyroyal.com
www.onthatnote.com
tech.cindyroyal.net
twitter.com/cindyroyal facebook.com/cindyroyal linkedin.com/in/cindyroyal
Milestones in Multimedia
Pre-1995
Wired Magazine - 1993 NY Times on AOL - 1994 Nando -1994
1995
Craigslist launched Slate, Salon, USA Today, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer Washington Post Wall Street Journal Chicago Tribune LA Times MSNBC
1997
Blackhawk Down
1998
Drudge Report Google
1999
Blogger IndyMedia
2000 2001
DotCom Bust 9/11 Tributes Wikipedia launched
2002
Google News
2003
RSS Google Buys Blogger MySpace launched AOL/Time Warner merger
2004
Jon Stewart on Crossfire Rathergate Press Credentials to Bloggers WikiNews, Facebook, Digg
2005
YouTube News Corporation buys MySpace
2006
Macaca Invention of the Year -YouTube Person of the Year - You Google Buys YouTube $1.65B
2007
VA Tech Shooting Twitter tips at SXSW Invention of the Year iPhone CNN/ YouTube Debates
2008
CBS acquires CNET Candidates embrace social media EveryBlock.com
2009
Hudson Plane Crash photo Iran elections Politifact wins Pulitzer MSNBC purchases Everyblock Foursquare & Gowalla
2010
iPad released Wikileaks Facebook -500M Users; Zuckerberg Person of the Year; The Social Network
2011
Egyptian Protests Coupon sites AOL/HuffPo merger
Web Development Categories
Basic HTML design Programming emerges Blog Platforms Content Management Systems Other
Basic HTML Design
HTML – early 90s, language of the Web Became XHTML to add structure, conventions – early 2000's; next gen is HTML5 Cascading Stylesheets – CSS – 1996; next gen is CSS3 Javascript (1995), Flash (1996), AJAX Web programming – PHP, ASP, Ruby, Python, etc.
Web Hosting
Domain registration/hosting – lots of options; I've used doteasy.com; avahost.net, godaddy.com, bluehost.com
FTP Tools Fetch (Mac, free) - fetchsoftworks.com
WS-FTP (PC, free) - ipswitch.com
Net2Ftp – net2ftp.com - Web-based FTP FireFTP – fireftp.mozdev.org
Firefox Add-on HTML Tutorials Barebones Guide to HTML - werbach.com/barebones W3 Schools - w3schools.com/html Beyond the basics there's Flash, Javascript, PHP, audio and video editing...
Blog Platforms
Started as platform for online journaling; Web sites for people who didn't know html.
Early platforms – Open Diary, LiveJournal late '90s Blogger -started 1999 by Evan Williams (also Twitter) and Meg Hourihan; purchased by Google 2003 Movable Type – 2001; Six Apart Wordpress – 2003; can host yourself or on their site Posterous and Tumblr – fully featured blog platforms; social media usage a
Content Management Systems
Wordpress has often been modified as CMS on another host – free on their site or monthly fee of $< 10/month in most cases – With WP, pay for domain and access to CSS to customize – Customization requires knowledge of html/css Drupal Joomla Other hosted CMS
My.HSJ.org system
Provided by ASNE Simple to use CMS Ability to upload text, photos & video Have blogs Editing and admin
Other Turnkey Solutions
• • • • • School Newspapers Online – schoolnewspapersonline.com
Wordpress-based, but they design and customize for you $400-$600 setup fee depending on theme you choose - includes domain registration, site setup, hosting, and support $200 renewal per year - includes domain renewal, hosting, and support Instruction manual available at http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddpzz8sk_12f
Other Online Tools
YouTube Facebook or MySpace – set up groups; post content; stay in touch del.icio.us - social bookmark manager Niche Social Networks LinkedIn Flickr/Picasa – photo sharing sites Animoto/Vuvox – online tools for developing slideshows and video Second Life – virtual world Wikipedia - discuss credibility, have students contribute, wisdom of crowd vs. gatekeepers Twitter – microblog; good way to add new content to a website on a regular basis, breaking news, connect with audience.
Free (or cheap) Software!
SoundSlides – make a photo slideshow Must be hosted on a Web site Difficult, but not impossible, to embed on a blog Soundslides ($39.95) must include audio (you can tweak with a silent file); new Soundslides Plus ($69.95) lets you choose whether or not to have audio Audacity – free; edit audio, create mp3 files iMovie (Mac) or Windows MovieMaker (PC) – video editing SnapZPro (Mac, $69) /Camtasia(PC or Mac, $99) – screen capture; use for developing online tutorials
On The Go...
Rise in mobile technology UStream and Livestream – live stream with camcorder and laptop Qik.com & Ustream – stream LIVE video from your phone!
Equipment
You don't need expensive equipment Most students have digital cameras or cell phones that can shoot photos/video Low-end cameras with video Digital audio recorders Camcorders
Developing An Online News Operation
Integrated with your print operation Digital-first journalism – Web and mobile A Web editor can approve online stories, assignments for Web-only projects 1 or more Web producers can be responsible for multimedia aspects Integration with print and reporters to add visual interest to stories A content-management system with editor approval that allows multiple people to post to site A person with design responsibilities to oversee layout and design issues A social media editor who can oversee and integrate Twitter, Facebook presence, engage audience Multiple Twitter accounts, staff. Develop a policy with guidelines for how these accounts/personal accounts should be used.
Use social media to engage audience
• • • • • • • • Make it easy for people to share and talk about your content Twitter Facebook – pages or groups Social bookmarks on posts Add widget on site Foursquare or Gowalla – location-based promotion/events Flickr/Picasa/Instagram YouTube
Keeping Up
• • • • • • • • • • • • • Google News/Yahoo News - Technology NY Times Technology/David Pogue Wired News Scobleizer TechCrunch Digg Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang Techmeme SensibleTalk.com
Social Media Today Mashable Smashing Magazine 10000 Words
Resources
SXSW Interactive www.sxsw.com/interactive Wired Magazine www.wired.com
Fast Company Magazine – www.fastcompany.com
Cyberjournalist.net - Great Work Gallery www.cyberjournalist.net/category/great-work-gallery Online Journalism Awards http://www.journalists.org/ Knight Digital Media Center www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org
Online Journalism Review Archives ojr.org
Interactive Narratives interactivenarratives.org/
We The Media
by Dan Gillmor
Convergence Culture
by Henry Jenkins
The Long Tail
and
Free
by Chris Anderson
What Would Google Do?
- Jeff Jarvis Journalism Next – Mark Briggs Editor & Publisher Awards royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2008.html
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication jcmc.indiana.edu
Key Concepts
• • • • • • • • • New media Social media Social network Convergence Interactivity Hyperlinks Hyperlocal User-generated content User experience
Key Terms
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Web 2.0 Blog Microblog Mobile Mashup RSS Tag/ Tag Cloud Content Management System Podcast Wiki Web-first or Mobile First Journalism Programmer/Journalist Widgets/Plugin/App Location-based
Search Engine Optimization
• • • • • • • • • • • • • Most important thing – get others to link to you Google Page Rank algorithm Link to others, they are more likely to link to you Participate on comments, forums – tactfully include links to your content Write meaningful headlines – different than print Write strong teasers – not necessarily your lead Use phrases (keywords) frequently that you think people will be using to search for relevant content Fresh content – update regularly and often Use keywords in URLs Consistently use alt tags for images and videos; put content on video/slideshow pages Pages should have meaningful titles Use social media to spread your content, allow users to share Monitor your search standings and traffic – Google Analytics or other services
Why Learn HTML
Regardless of the platform you choose, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of HTML/CSS – the language of the Web Ability to customize a CMS Ability to troubleshoot and add advanced functionality HTML provides the structure CSS provides the formatting Control the entire Web site with a single stylesheet; make global changes quickly and easily
Basic HTML
Markup language – surround text with proper markup Open and close tags properly (i.e. Sample html page
This is a paragraph
Basic CSS
Use a stylesheet to control the design/layout of a Web page Save sheet with .css extension Insert into the
section of each page with the following code: Styles are defined in this manner: h2 { font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;Image and Graphic Manipulation
• • • • • • Web resolution – 72dpi .jpg for photos; .gif or .png for graphics Optimize photos for file size; crop and adjust Photoshop Picnik - http://www.picnik.com/ Webresizer http://www.webresizer.com/resizer/
Video editing
iMovie – available on Macs for free; easy to learn, use Final Cut Express or Pro – more comprehensive, but more expensive Other video options include Window Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere, Pinnacle, etc. Ability to import, crop, add transitions, titles, sound Keep it short Choose your editing software Practice visual storytelling Publish online Start small, but make sure you start
Gear
• • • • • • Lots of camera choices High Def?
Accessories – tapes, batteries, microphone, tripod, headphones, lighting Focus, zoom, exposure Solid clips – avoid panning and zooming Get good audio
Digital Video
• • • • • • Cheap cameras and editing software One person can produce high quality YouTube 20 hours of footage uploaded every minute The only way to learn video journalism is by doing it - Angela Grant (a former student) Video journalists or backpack journalists Both broadcast and non-broadcast
Plan Video
• • • • • Different approaches for different projects Storyboarding Focus story Choose interview and demonstration sequences as well as b-roll Mix your shots – wide angle, medium, close-ups
Five shots
• • • • • • Close-up on the hands Close-up on the face Prepare your subject Wide shot Over-the-shoulder shot Creative shot
Interviews
• • • • • Select a location – think sound and lighting Have several pre-written questions – some can be discussed ahead of time Remain silent Use a stand-up, just in case Effective use of voiceover
Great Multimedia – Photos and Video
• • • • • • New York Times Statesman MediaStorm Washington Post The University Star – star.txstate.edu
Links and examples at cindyroyal.com/asne
Telling Stories with Data
• • • • New York Times Texas Tribune Tools – Google Maps; Charts and Visualization; Fusion Tables Wordle, Chartle Links and examples at cindyroyal.com/asne
Student Projects
• • • • • • • • • • Learn skills in XHTML, CSS, Flash, graphic design, photo, audio, & video editing Digital Storytelling via integration of tools Firestation Studios http://www.jonzmikly.com/final/ Hill Country Concours http://cars.martin-whitaker.info/ Farm 2 Table http://farm2table.nicmartinez.com/ NPPA – Future of Journalism Workshop http://www.onesonia.com/nppa/index.html
South By Texas State – www.sxtxstate.com
Mass Comm Week – txstatemcweek.com
University Star – star.txstate.edu
Course sites Web Design – cindyroyal.com/webdesign Social Media at Work – cindyroyal.com/social Advanced Online Media - cindyroyal.com/advanced