Plastics

“It is often said that ‘information wants to be free’, but it is truer in the digital age that information wants to be analyzed, shared, synthesized, curated, aggregated, commented on and distributed”

News as a Conversation: News is no longer a lecture from journalist to public. In the digital age, journalists and the community create an interactive conversation.

Making Conversation: Digital conversation between journalists and readers first started in the comment sections of online newspapers. Today, with the advent of social media, journalists are active on websites like Facebook and Twitter. This allows for more in depth coverage of beats because the reporter can turn to the public and hear immediate feedback.

-Downsides of Digital Conversation: Because online users are able to comment on content anonymously, there is the potential for mean spirited or harmful feedback.

In chapter 9, Briggs discusses data-driven journalism. The first part of the chapter essentially indicates that if you organize your online life, your journalism will follow. “You can become a better, more efficient reporter or editor simply by trading any of the paper-based information storage systems you’re using and going digital” (Briggs, 251.)

Every story is a gathering of data. Stories all have information. It’s about organizing and breaking down that information in a way that will benefit your storytelling and accuracy.

I payed particular attention to the section of Map Mashups. Map Mashups are “the product of taking information data, such as addresses or points on a map, and organizing them based on a category or information type” (Briggs, 268.)

“It’s heavy on manual labor, but once the work is done, we have a repository of everything we know in one place,” said Megan Garvey, LA Times editor.

My group for this class is planning on making an interactive map of the Virginia earthquake, so we will definitely be referring to this chapter.

In chapter 8, Briggs discusses the digital video revolution. According to Briggs, “visual journalism is about telling compelling stories that connect the audience with subjects, people and issues.”

Just remember to tell a story with your video. How does one do that? Arrange your video clips in a coherent and interesting order. Put more emphasis on information gathering than information editing. Keep it short, though.

More lessons to learn:

• Define your story in the first 20 seconds; hook the audience.
• Make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end.
• Don’t let the viewer have a chance to be bored. Use short clips, the more the better.
• Focus on one central idea and stick with it
• Remember that characters make stories. The better your characters, the better your stories will be.

“Are we using 1,000 words where a picture should be? — Matt Thompson

This Matt Thompson quote begins Chapter 6, and it really made me stop and think. We’ve all heard the cliche a picture is worth 1,000 words a million times — but I’ve never really thought of a picture as a substitute for text.

I think that the digital age has had (some of) the same impact on photographers as it has journalists. There are many parallels that can be drawn between the newsprint business and the print photography business. (Kodak just filed for bankruptcy. Yikes.)

Being able to publish your work globally at the click of a button is fantastic. Journalists can share their stories, photographers can share their photos. The down side? So can everyone else.

This chapter is a beginners guide for the journalist who may be uncomfortable with a camera but still need to add photographs to their stories and do it better than the Average Joe blogger.

This chapter covers:

• An introduction to digital photography
• How to capture solid photographs
• How to edit and manage digital photos on your computer
• How to publish photos

I remember my first cell phone. It was eleven years ago and it was a Nokia 5165 paperweight. Only good for two things: Snake and Snake. Snake was one of the, like, 3 games that came programmed on the Nokias at the time. It was awesome — and it has left a void in my heart that even my iPhone4 cannot fill.

We’ve come a long way from the Nokia 5165. Briggs lets us know this with the entirety of Chapter 5.

Mobile journalism is just as it sounds. Actually, in America we don’t usually refer to cell phones as “mobiles” so maybe it isn’t just as it sounds. Whatever. Mobile journalism is news gathering, reporting, editing and publishing all from the journalist’s smartphone. (Suck it, Nokia.)

“The cell phone is the world’s most ubiquitous computer.” – John Markoff, NY Times 2009

A smartphone with the following capabilities can take you from a journalist to a mojo:

• A camera that shoots good pictures with flash and video.
• A full QWERTY keyboard.
• Mobile Internet capability

When Brad Klabfeld spoke to our class the other day, he said, “the Internet is primarily a written word medium.” Briggs agrees. “Text is critical and — journalists can be thankful — it’s the easiest to publish.” Microblogging and live blogging are both important methods to keep your audience engaged up to the minute.