Nevada Sagebrush uses Twitter to liveblog editor selection meeting

The Nevada Sagebrush (University of Nevada Reno) liveblogged its editor selection meeting Saturday afternoon using Twitter.

The tweets were very comprehensive and, needless to say, flooded my Twhirl window for the duration of the meeting, but it was all good fun.

Thanks to Chelsea Otakan for directing followers of her Twitter account to the Sagebrush's.

In an interesting twist, I recognized in an early tweet that one my fellow Miami Herald summer 2008 interns is on staff at the Sagebrush. It's a small world after all.

Weigh in: Does your news organization use Twitter?

Shameless plug: The Miami Hurricane's page.

(Since you're in the neighborhood, check out mine too.)

CommTogether right now, over...journalism

I'm a student in the School of Communication at the University of Miami, but you would think that the various journalism programs (print, broadcast and visual) speak different languages sometimes from the lack of collaboration that is present.

Yes, there have been several notable successes -- and I've been lucky to be in three classes this year that focus on convergence (In-depth reporting for convergent media, online journalism and interactive storytelling) -- but the level of cooperation is still not where it should be.

I kept all this is mind while devising a new final project for my CNJ 442 online journalism class, after the first plan regarding the new TheMiamiHurricane.com didn't work out a planned.

The result is a social networking site the class is developing using Ning:

CommTogether

The general idea came to me one night as I was chatting online with Hurricane Visuals Editor Will Wooten (check out his recent site redesign). Regarding the group name, which I love, credit goes to Kiersten Schmidt.

Here are details from the CNJ 442 proposal that I drafted and the class helped refine:

Goals

• Bring together in one forum the three journalism programs at the University of Miami School of Communication: print, broadcast and visual
• Recruit students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students
• Begin a conversation about the future of school’s journalism programs
• Conceptualize collaborative projects for classes, students, media outlets, etc.
• Take ideas and turn them into reality

Elements

• Profile pages: students, faculty, administrators
• Groups: programs, classes, projects, media
• Feeds: blogs, news, etc.
• Photos and videos
• Blogs: internal
• Comments

Action plan

• Discuss and decide on name for group (complete)
  
• Create network (complete)
• Create profile pages (complete)
• Create groups within network: programs, classes, media, organizations, etc.
  
• Invite/recruit students, professors, administrators, staff, alumni and prospective students (in progress)
  
• Table in the SoC courtyard
  
• Solicit ideas from everyone regarding the future of curriculum, organizations
• Conceptualize possible collaboration projects, way to converge
• Maintain the discussion
• Continue to recruit new group members

UPDATE: I forgot one very important reason for this site:

Students should have a voice in the development of curriculum.

Weigh in: Any suggestions/ideas for this site?

NextNewsroom conference recap

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online/new media at The Independent Florida Alligator, and I had the same idea to recap the NextNewsroom conference, but she beat me to it:

NextNewsroom: Wrap-up

Megan summarized it all very well, so I won't repeat what's already been said except to thank Chris O'Brien for organizing what was hands-down one of the best journalism conferences I've attended -- and I've been to quite a few, thanks to The Miami Hurricane and UM's SPJ chapter.

I'd also like to thank Megan for providing the proper computer to stream video live using ustream.tv and later Yahoo!Live with my Canon HV20, which would have been impossible because I don't have a computer with a six-pin FireWire port. Her hand mic was another asset, helping us get pretty decent sound, and she played videographer for the first livestreamed session before I -- sadly -- gave back her MacBook Pro.

I couldn't have done it without her. And besides the awesomeness that is livestreaming video, this is a great testament to the importance of working as a team. I've done mojo/backpack journalist/one-man-band coverage of events before, but backpack journalist-squared is hands down the better way to go.

For more great coverage of the conference, as Megan also cites, check out Bryan Murley's CoverItLive blogs: day 1 and day 2.

Weigh in: What did you think of all the coverage?

NextNewsroom - How to change from the old to the new

Facilitated by John North, Knoxville News Sentinel

What is the new world?
"It's publishing now, we don't wait."

On the board

Old World:

• Print tomorrow or
• Print whenever

New World: Web, e-mail, text

• Publish now
• Publish now
• Publish now
• Publish now
• Print tomorrow
  

You [should] begin to work a story throughout the day. Start with a a few graphs early on and evolve the story slowly -- not a 15- to 20-inch update each time.

"We're talking about quick hits and things you can get up quickly."

Then, you can reach into that system and put it into the newspaper.

"For us, it's really been, 'Wow, you can do this?' "

Shannon Morgan, editor in chief, The Arbiter, Boise State

• "My focus to tell the stories in as many dimensions as we can."
• You also have to make sure the various elements are different.
• People thought, "Oh, she's just that multimedia girl -- she doesn't know journalism."

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online, The Independent Florida Alligator

• She recently wrote a story for the front page and people were surprised she could write.
• Regarding having staff do new media: "You can't just tell them what they have to do, you just have to do it."

North

"Universities are on the radar nationwide now. You guys can do amazing things. If you guys feel limited, you're not; there are no barriers." Wait until you get to the paid world to see limits.

For new media: "If you set that expectation, you will get the result you want. ... Once you start that little bit of synergy, it tends to begin to grow itself." It's not so difficult to push through that wall to find success.

Promotion/marketing:
Examples include promos, Web refers, etc.

"Sometimes you just have to be creative and think outside of the box."

LIVESTREAM: NextNewsroom conference - Restructuring newsroom management

Facilitated by Bryan Murley of CICM.



Chris Carroll, student communications, Vanderbilt University

Discussing Inside Vandy

• They don't have a journalism program, so they didn't have to deal with traditional structures.
• "There is no Web editor. It's everyone's responsibility to produce for the Web."
• "We sort of dismantled some of that traditional structure."

Murley, CICM

• Reverse publication - post story online first
  
• "It seems antiquated" to break something in print
• There are very few Web editors who become editor in chief, and that should change
  

Brad Arendt, general manager, The Arbiter, Boise State

• Their six-step process: Story, path, deadline, communicate, edit, execute
• Try to have a collaborative thought process in management
  
• "The story is the key"

Dan Morris, adviser, The Arbiter, Boise State

• They have had editors in chief who have been the photo editor, assistant opinion editor, opinion writer who worked on local TV station, etc. That's made changing structure a little bit easier.
  

Greg Linch, editor in chief, The Miami Hurricane

• I was just yapping about what we do. Blah, blah, blah...
  

Megan Taylor, managing editor for online, The Independent Florida Alligator

• They instated a requirement for staffers to produce multimedia
  
• Because they are independent, their funds are limited and that's why her staff is two people
• Everyone is still print biased
  

John North, The Knoxville News Sentinel

• We crow when we can beat TV with posting online

Shannon Morgan, editor in chief, The Arbiter, Boise State

• We're trying to get people to tell stories in more than on way
  
• 80-100 people
• My problem now is trying to figure out how to restructure the staff

Kevin Koehler, contributing editor (online editor), Old Gold and Black, Wake Forest

• Making the transition to Web, it's hard to get people think of doing things and doing them well
• People want to do it, there's interest and people are excited, but they have to learn how it's done
• They don't have a journalism major or any new media courses
• "It's too big of a hump on their on a pressing deadline"

Arendt, The Arbiter

• We tried embedding a multimedia person in the section, but it failed because they were left out or ignored
• It's important to look at your deadlines for your output
• They expect 2-3 paragraph piece recapping a game after it ends, then they follow up
• If you run efficiently, I think students
  
• But the kicker is, "How do you do it?"
  

LIVESTREAM: NextNewsroom conference - The Converged Newsroom

Facilitated by Hasting (Neb.) College faculty members:

• Brett Erickson
• Sharon Brooks
• Kathy Stofer

Be sure to check out the chat feature of ustream.tv.

Thanks to Megan Taylor for providing the hand mic.

NOTES
"Leverage your skills. Everyone has different skills," Erickson said. Then turn into a way to telling a good story. "Encourage them to innovate is what you want to do." Also, he said, don't focus on technology, focus on the story.

NextNewsroom blog - Newsroom of the future panel

From NextNewsroom



Panelists (L-R):

Rusty Coats, director, Strategic Initiatives, Interactive Media for Media General, Inc.

Sharon Behl Brooks, Associate Professor of Communication Arts and English at Hastings College

Christian Oliver, INNOVATION Media Consulting Group

Robertson Barrett, Senior Vice President, Interactive and General Manager of latimes.com

Moderator: Keith Hanadel, broadcast design director at HLW, a New York-based architecture and design firm

PANEL

Hanadel: They've been trying to merge print and online for a long time, but now they're "starting in earnest to merge the staffs."

Oliver: There's going to be more fragmentation and news staffs will have a diverse backgrounds like the panel.

Brooks: They've brought all their student media together, including the yearbook.

Coats: In the early days of convergence, all the talk was about print and broadcast working together. Since then, they've seen online become more important than both.

Fielded data is now huge and they're realigning journalists around that. He cited Indystar.com when you search "911."

NextNewsroom blog - Randy Covington

From NextNewsroom:


Randy Covington, IRFA Newsplex director

Newsplex participants come in thinking it's about technology, but "really what we're dealing with is how we view stories. News organizations have been production-centered (print or broadcast), that needs to change.

Example of innovation:

• "Star Car" facilitates getting the Shelby Star's content online. It has a high-powered cell phone antenna and can create a Wi-Fi field around the car. It has a dashcam and can stream live. (They have a newsroom of 17 and all of them are cross-platform journalists).
  
• "From our perspective, it's thinking about how we cover the news" and leading us to the realization of how to build it.

Newsplex has an initiative to determine new roles for the "Full Media Newsroom"

• Newsflow editor: Story
• Multiskilled journalist: Content
• News resourcer: Context
• Story builder: Experience

People ask, does everyone have to do this? No, he says.

Multiskilled journalist

• A media "generalist"
• Understands different formats; familiar with various technologies and equipment
• (I missed the last attributes)

Example: Heidi McGuire, Gannett backpack journalist, Denver

"Heidi really likes to shape and control her own work." There are Heidi McGuires coming out of schools and you even have some in your newsroom.

News resourcer

• Informatics journalist/editor
• Applies news judgment with a thorough understanding of the information landscape
• Chief editorial information office

Librarians/researchers: "We need them more than we ever did."

In the past, the researcher was seen as a gopher. He feels this person should be a leader.

Story builder
"We're going back to the days of the front page."

• Combines roles of print copy editor and broadcast producer
• Develops and deploys integrated packages across media streams
• (more)
  

"It makes far more sense to have the same editor for more than one platform." But, "it's not one-size-fits-all."

He's looking for editors who understand different forms of storytelling and can give it depth.

Newsflow director

• Directs coverage across formats and delivery services
• Integrates multiple products under a unified editorial brand
• Ensures service to broad range of news consumers

Three organization models:

The Tampa Tribune - Tampa Bay, Fla.; considered the model for convergence in the U.S.

The Nordjyske Medier (Aalborg, Denmark) - was a dying newspaper and needed to reinvent themselves. They decided they would create a 24-hour news channel, like the original CNN Headline News. They have daily newspapers, two radio stations, Web sites, etc.

• Editorial staff of 248
• Five "media conductors"
• Editors for each medium "refine" the content
• Editorial departments serve all media

They would charge 1,000 euros for visitors.

Daily Telegraph (London) - One of the visiting organization was The Daily Telegraph.

• Story components from the starts
• Ownership
• Three job titles: reporter, editor, producer. They eliminated all the other "honorary" titles.
  

They used to have 13 editors look at each story.

NextNewsroom blog, live feed - Saf Fahim

Posted 1:44 P.M.

Saf Fahim, architect, Archronica speaking on the newsroom of the future:

"I think nesrooms need as much innovative as the organization all together. The community is now part of that structure."

"It is a monumental task."

"The process itself that we've learned is also elusive and difficult because how do you find a method that finds what the future is going to be like, it's virtually an impossible task."

"Any dogmatic vision does not work." Organizations say they want to build the best media group there is, but that's not possible.

"One of the major challenges is the timeframe your organization put" on the project.

"There is a fund role for research and without that, it is almost a suicidal attempt to put your money into a project and assume" your going to have something for the future.

"We don't want to draw a conclusion of what the century is going to be, what the century wants us to do; it's just brush strokes, what's out there."

It seems that software is taking over hardware

Citing map on screen, he says Europe is ahead. "Europe was modernizing very quickly."

Japan is also taking "huge strides to go forward."

1:54 P.M.

The U.S. had a very different profile in the 80s. "Innovation was not really a central focus. It was a backlash to the 60s and 70s, which were very progressive periods."

Mergers after the dotcom bust failed to produce anything of substance in the world of media

His firm worked on "Media Organization of the 21st Century" with AP. They felt something need to be changed to catch up with time.

• Showing image of AP concept newsroom from 1993: "Here you have an early sign of how and where you get the community involved within the operation."
• There would be morning interactions with the readers.
  
• No fixed seats, large screens. "The newsroom [would] become a totally flexible place. There really is no reason we found that you should be sitting in particularly cubicle or one particularly office."
• "The place where people meet is very hostile," for instance conference rooms. The atmosphere did not give a feeling of collegiate interaction." They wanted a place where people could truly collaborate.

2:04 P.M.

They discovered they needed some kind of training facility to teach technology, organizational skills and structures and feel this is going to work for them.

So, they wanted to find a school but did not find what they were looking for. They went to Columbia -- they weren't interested. "All the universities with a big name in journalism did not want to be involved in the project. Only the new and upcoming schools [were interested]."

Fahim was asked to be involved in developing the curriculum. It was eventually determined that text was still important, but they also conceived what is now known as convergence.

What resulted was the Newsplex at the University of South Carolina.

• "For us, as architects, it means an intelligent building. ... A totally flexible building that the users change, occupy" and that how they conceived the Newsplex plans.
• They found deficiencies in newsrooms, such as lighting and acoustics. They've addressed many of those issues in the Newsplex.
• Many groups from Europe and elsewhere have gone there to train. The building was able to accommodate them.
• The desks are movable and can be rearranged. The publisher is nearby and not isolated, which relates to what Chris O'Brien said about transparency in his introduction.
• They created a cybrarian in the Newsplex after concluding that journalism should not stop at news but how to inform society.
• They added bookshelves for old times sake.
  

After Newsplex, Archronica worked on projects in Malaysia and Greece.

"The mission of the journalist has changed."

Q&A (posted 2:25 p.m.)

Q: Do you even need a physical newsroom when a backpack could be a newsroom?

Fahim: Don't have to have a building, but you can learn by association.

"There is that collegian interface we found very critical within the location. If you dissolve the organization into community, how do you bring that together?"

How do you build what you need without a physical structure? You need to allow for easy exchange of ideas, such as conferences -- a place where people can learn from each other.

No physical newsroom: "That's a very interesting idea."

Q from Gary Kebbel: What is the one thing that you find the most difficult when approaching newsrooms?

Fahim: "Change."

People didn't like the idea of moving desks. We didn't suggest people lose personal space, because that's very important for the creative process.

They proposed a personal space and a team space, each of which would be used when needed.

NextNewsroom liveblog - Intro

Chris O'Brien, project manager:

What we've learned about The Next Newsroom

• Integrated
• Innovative - "Everything will continue to change very rapidly" and you have be prepared to change.
• Collaborative - Cultural changes needed
  
• Adaptable - "You have to be able to experiment and move things around very quickly"
• Transparent - "I think, in the coming years, the distinction of where the newsroom ends and where the community begins" will blur.
  

NextNewsroom conference

Two journalism conferences in two weeks, how much better can life get? (Especially because I'm getting reimbursed).

The NextNewsroom conferenceat Duke University looks to be one of most interesting journalism gathering I've been attended.

Don't get me wrong, last week's SPJ region 3 conference was great, and so were the past two and all other conventions I've been to, but none have been as focused as this:

"If you could build the ideal newsroom from scratch, what would it look like? We're trying to help The Chronicle, the Duke University student newspaper, find an answer. Join our conversation."

The event's chief organizer, Chris O'Brien of the San Jose Mercury News, is bringing together professionals, professors, students and others to discuss all this.

I have all my usual gear, so look out for liveblogs, tweets and live video feeds (if I can borrow someone's Mac and there's an Internet connection).

Find out more about the project:

• Ning
• Wiki

Weigh in: Describe your ideal "NextNewsroom" (answers may be posted to the Ning group).

SPJ region 3 conference update

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- It's day two here at the SPJ region 3 convention at the University of South Carolina.

Yesterday was great. New people, new ideas. I attended the following sessions:

• New Media Challenges: I learned a lot more about managing online communities.
  
• Preparing for Tomorrow's Newsroom: A very original and insightful presentation by Joe Grimm.
  
• Freelancing for the New Media Age: There was basically no mention of new media, but the freelancing tips were good.
  
• Reception: Chatted with students and others while eating chicken and brownie and sipping sweet, sweet iced tea.
  

I was unable to liveblog the events yesterday afternoon because there is no guest access to USC's wireless network. I took notes and post summaries of the events when time allows.

What's on deck today:

• One-man Banding
• Mark of Excellence luncheon
• Reporting by the Numbers
• The Changing Political Landscape

Then we fly back to Miami tonight and it's deadline tomorrow!

In my mind I'm going to Carolina

And so the music-themed posts continue tonight...

I'll be traveling to Columbia, S.C. for the SPJ region three conference in a few hours. This will be my third regional conference in as many years, at which I represent the University of Miami campus chapter and The Miami Hurricane.

Region three includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Are you going? Let me know in a comment or via e-mail, greglinch[at]gmail.com.

Also, I'll be at Duke next week for the Next Newsroom conference. Drop me a line if you'll be there.

I love being a student and being able to travel to these conferences for free!

Stay tuned: I'll have my laptop there to liveblog and post general thoughts during both conferences. I will also have my video and still cameras.

Also, be sure to look for my Twitter updates during the conference -- and in general.

Weigh in: Would a tripod count against me as one of my two carry-on items? D'oh!

Advice for bloggers, part one: Reader stats

I started blogging in November to discuss online journalism, journalism education and other related topics.

Since mid-January, I've also been using the blog to fulfill an online journalism class requirement because everyone in class is required to maintain a blog.

Professor Sam Terilli, who spoke to my class Thursday about law and the Internet (see related video), brought up a point that one of my classmates, Josh Newman, mentioned on his blog Friday:

"[Terilli asked] the question that, I think, made most of my classmates (including myself, excluding Greg Linch) squirm a little. 'How many people read your blogs?' ...Silence."

Josh goes on to mention Google Analytics. This is a great service, but it's only one way to measure how many readers you have.

I subscribe to all of my classmates' blogs via Google Reader and would recommend that they utilize FeedBurner, an earlier suggestion (How to...use FeedBurner) that the class has been using, to keep track of their subscribers.

FeedBurner is great for adding an e-mail subscription widget, something our professor required, but that should only be a preliminary step.

Explore the different tabs in FeedBurner, specifically "Publicize" and "Analyze" -- the latter of which shows you how many RSS subscribers you have. The number of subscribers is also available on the "My Feeds" page.

There's a lot that can be said about the question of increasing blog traffic and readers, so I decided to divide my thoughts into shorter posts.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE, March 23: I clarified above that not all journalism students are required to blog -- only the ones in the CNJ 442 Online Journalism class.

Other School of Communication students have their on personal blogs and may blog through the SoC's Web site.

Also, I should have mentioned SiteMeter as another option for blog/site analytics.

Journalism prof, former Herald counsel's advice for new (or any) bloggers

Sam Terilli, a University of Miami journalism professor whose background is in law, spoke with my online journalism class Thursday about law and the Internet. He has practiced law for more than 24 years, including 12 as general counsel at The Miami Herald.

After his talk I asked him what advice he would give to a student wanting to start a blog. Check it out his answer, which is relevant to any blogger.

The discussion gets more interesting: Blogging about blogging, part deux

No, this is not a repeat post; this is "The Empire Strikes Back" version (sort of) to my last post, Blogging about blogging.

In that previous entry I linked to a March 12 post -- and a great follow-up -- by Howard Owens of GateHouse Media. With the first post, Owens responded to Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban's explanation (March 10) of why he banned bloggers in the Mavs locker room.

Here are some of Cuban's comments from a March 13 post that came a day after Owens' remarks, most likely aimed at the general response to his March 10 announcement:

• "...newspapers having 'bloggers' is easily one of the many bad decisions that newspapers have made over the past 10 years."
• "Never, ever, ever consider something that any literate human being with Internet access can create in under 5 minutes to be a product or service that can in any way differentiate your business." [My reaction: really?]
  
• "A blog is a blog is a blog is a blog."
  
• "if I were marketing for them [The New York Times], I would be doing everything I could to send the message that 'The NY Times does not have blogs, we have Real Time Reports from the most qualified reporters in the world.' "
  

I comprehend his point regarding the Real Time Reports title, but this idea still seems contradictory to his "a blog is a blog is a blog" statement.

The Times' Saul Hansell responded earlier this evening with What I’ve Learned as a Blogger for The New York Times. Here are some of his points:

• "I’d say that blog is the name of a format for information and opinion that is roughly analogous to 'column' or 'newsletter.' The format itself doesn’t tell you whether the content is pedestrian or inflammatory, impressionistic or deeply researched."
• "...blogs are part of a conversation"
• "...blogs can be a great extension to articles reported initially for the newspaper"
• "One of the traditions of this place is an aversion to euphemisms. So call it whatever you want, but if it links like a blog, and is open like a blog, and interacts like a blog, then it is a blog."

These are all right on the mark, as is one of Owens' concluding remarks, which came before Cuba's more recent post: "So Cuban sells bloggers short, sadly."

Weigh in: What do you think of all these opinions? With whom do you agree?

Blogging about blogging

Several interesting blog posts about blogging have appeared in my Google Reader recently. Here are a few that I would recommend:

• 10 blogs your newspaper needs to rip off » Invisible Inkling
• Journalists who learn to blog help their online sites grow beyond repuporsed print news | Howard Owens
  
• Mark Cuban hits nothing but air in his stance on blog media | Howard Owens
• The Journalism Iconoclast » A blog for bloggers

Security, namely regarding WordPress, has also been a hot topic after MultimediaShooter.com was hacked and put out of business. See two of Pat Thornton's posts here (about the hacking) and here (discussing WordPress and security) for a taste of the discussion.

As a side note, if you're interested in online journalism, blogging, etc., you should subscribe to each of these bloggers -- they always provide great insight.

See who else I read by scrolling down to "Journalism Blogs" on the right side of the page.

Weigh in: What's you favorite blog?

More good advice from Mindy McAdams

A great post from Mindy McAdams:

What every journalism student needs to know (now)

It's a good summary of the fundamentals and skills student journalists/journalism students should know. The most important thing, as Mindy notes, is storytelling -- something that my online journalism professor, Chris Delboni, also emphasizes.

Ricardo Lopez discusses video with online journalism class

Ricard Lopez, a Miami Herald visual journalist, gave a presentation to my online journalism class about video Thursday evening. He was joined by Candace Barbot, a photojournalist convert to video.

Ricardo last spoke at UM during Communication Week, leading one of the new media workshops and participating in the new media panel. Check out advice he and other panelists gave students here.

See examples of his work and be sure to check out Chicken Busters, which is everyone's favorite.

WeMedia returns to Miami this week

It may not be the most well-known conference, but WeMedia is certainly not an event to be missed for this student journalist.

Take a look at the schedule and a list of participants.

This will be my second WeMedia and, as with last year's, I am able get in for free with a guest code from the School of Communication, one of the sponsors.

Compared to the regional (SPJ) and national (SPJ and ACP/CMA) conferences I've attended, which are great in their own respects, WeMedia is much more cutting-edge.

Let's look at some highlights of WeMedia 2007:

• Professionals from multiple facets of media in the same, non-keynote events (gasp!)
  
• An entire session by Reuters on Second Life
  
• Livebloggers galore
  
• A session moderated by The New York Times' futurist-in-residence that featured Craig Newmark, who some journalists would like put in a pillory for creating Craig's List
  

And how many conferences use (effectively) video players, tags and widgets in their online presence? Have their own social networking site? WeMedia Community

Continuing with my recently established tradition, I plan to liveblog as many of the events I attend as possible.

Will you be there? Drop me line.