This/Next Week's Assignment #4

Support your classmates! This week's blog assignment is simply to peruse your fellow classmates blogs and post a comment in at least two of them. This way you will see what others are writing/podcasting/photographing about. Sometimes you get ideas from seeing what others are doing.

Breaking News and Mulit-media

A good example of how multi-media can be put to good use can be seen on the LA Times Website - with the coverage of the wild fires that are wreaking havoc in Southern California right now. There are static and interactive maps, constantly updated photos, a place for residents to post their stories, lists of who should be evacuating and what is closed, etc. This is all organized and easy to find on the homepage.

Testing Podcast host site

Test

This/Last Week's Assignment #3

This went out in an e-mail last week, but I wanted to post it here also.

Making a podcast for your blog. Record some audio with your recorder.
We will edit the audio and make the podcast in class next week.
So what should your podcast be? You could write a long post
and then read it. You may find you make a few recordings of
yourself saying the same thing, because you don't
like how you sound, you make mistakes, etc. You could
be a bit more creative and combine you talking with some
other sounds related to your topic. You could do a brief discussion
with someone else that is topic-related.  (Last semester,
one student did weekly podcasts of him and a friend discussing the
latest in baseball.)  The time length should be anywhere from 2 – 5 minutes. 
You may have multiple audio files that we will combine into one audio
track for the podcast. You should have your audio file ready to
go for Tuesday Oct. 23.

Promoting Your Blog

Where is everybody? It can be a bit discouraging, when you are writing post after post on your blog, but don’t see anyone commenting on your prolific witty and knowledgeable writings. There are many blogs out there that got off to an enthusiastic start, but slowly fizzled because the writer wasn’t sure if anyone was reading and gives up. The best course is to just to keep plugging away. Write and write and write. It is good discipline and you will grow as a writer, even if no one, but your best friends or parents, are reading you. If you feel you are starting to find a voice, and you are writing regularly, you might want to think about getting your blog “out there” a bit more. There are a few ways to plug in to the blogosphere. One is to link to other blogs on your site and then read them on a regular basis. When you click on the link from your blog into theirs, they may notice you if they are following their referrer links (some blogging programs allow bloggers to see how much traffic they have and where it is coming from). Some of these blogs, may in turn, put up a link back to you, driving their readers over to your site for a visit. To be more involved, start commenting on these other blogs to join the conversation. To find other blogs in your topic area, see below **

Another option is Google. Share your url address with Google and they may add it to their vast index. This means when people type in certain words during a search, your blog may turn up as one of the links. Go to this page to learn more about this: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.

But the purpose of our assignment is not to become the most popular blog or build high traffic. The point is to be "out there" with your voice, improve your writing, and possible connect or tap into a community that exists in the blogosphere. Good luck!
** Finding other blogs. There are a few blog directory/search engines out there. Google has one and Tecnhnorati

This week's Assignment #2

This week's assignment for your blog is to include an original photo/s with a post. Some of you have already been doing this, which is great. Some of you have blog topics that are really suited for this, and you may have to get a bit creative to figure out what will work. It doesn't need to be award-winning photo work - I just want you to add an original visual component to your blog. If you haven't been using any photos/visuals on your blog, you will see how it can really add to it. Let me know if you have any questions, etc.

The death knoll of journalism?

The above headline is a bit extreme - however, we can talk all we want about the important role media plays in society, but without advertising dollars to support the industry, we are sunk. (There are a few exceptions that aren't dependent on advertising such as public radio and television, but the majority of the industry is ad dependent). The New York Times has a piece on changing advertising practices with Nike as the main example - they are relying less and less on traditional print and TV ads - using there own Website and broadcasting most of their ads online. They are also reaching out to consumers with community-based strategies - running advice, runner's groups, etc. It's an interesting piece and anyone going into journalism needs to stay informed on what is happening in the advertising world as well.

This week's Assignment #1

On your blog, write a review or summary of another blog or Website related to your topic. Don't forget to link to it. If you need some suggestions, ask me.

Audio Slide Show examples

For your final project, peruse some of these to get ideas. As I was putting this list of links together, I realized how hard it is to find some of these on news Websites. For example, I know that Boston.com has done some of these but just try finding them. They don't have a main multimedia page. The poor organization and navigation on some news sites still amazes me since some of them have been in existence for at least 7-8 years if not more.

New York Times Audio Slide Shows

The Christian Science Monitor

Minneapolis Star Tribune
On this one - look at the Long Commute - and how they incorporate the basic sounds in background into the piece.

Blogs I like/read

This week's selection for blogs I like/read is Buzz Machine, a blog that is related to the topic of our class - new media. It's written by Jeff Jarvis, who has worn many hats in the media business and is currently associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. He is extremely enthusiastic about new directions/changes in the business and keeps tabs on all the latest happenings, gadgets, debates, etc.

Sourcing Facebook and My Space

The American Journalism Review has a piece about how journalists are starting to use Facebook and MySpace for background information on people - their hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc. One interesting use the article mention was reporters tracking the pages of U.S. men and women serving in Iraq.

Your fellow bloggers

Just to recap a few interesting posts on some of your blogs. Heather wrote up a nice one on her Style Stalker blog about the recent annual fashion show over at The Cambridge Artists' Cooperative Craft Gallery. She also loaded up some original pics, which is great. Shari, who is writing about reality TV, was able to rub shoulders with three reality TV personalities at the recent collegefest - with the photo to prove it. Jillian, who is blogging about health and fitness, writes about an upcoming PBS special on the Boston Marathon and includes a dramatic pic from her photo archives. Jewell writes about the Colorado State University college newspaper free speech issue with their F--- Bush headline on her higher education blog. And Matt. D. turned 21 and you can read all about here. Happy Birthday!

Chronic commenters

The New York Times had a piece today about how some people are making names for themselves just by commenting on other people's blogs - a few don't even have their own blogs, they just spout off on others (many, many times).

Blogs I read

Once in a while I'll write a post about a blog I check out on a regular or infrequent basis. Usually I'll try to cover one that is not one of the work/school related ones I check out. Today, it's Petite Anglaise. The last time I was in Paris was two New Year's Eve ago and I came back all enthused about all things Paris - dreams of moving there, planning another longer trip, ordering cafe au laits in my Dorchester coffee shop, etc. Needless to say the closest I'm getting to any of that is reading blogs of people who do live there - some are Americans and some are French. This blog is a British woman living in Paris and an example of a real personal blog - with photos, daily accounts. I like reading blog of people living other places - there are a ton of them out there and some give some real insight of daily life in places around the world.

Blogs are bad ... no they're not

The Globe ran an op-ed by local author Steve Almond about why blogs aren't right for newspaper Websites and for the news in general. I disagree with most of what he writes, although I do agree that many newspapers just added blogs to their Websites in a desperate "we can do this too" approach and many of them aren't that great. However, some reporters are writing great blogs that greatly expand their beats and establish a smart and intelligent rapport with their readers. One that I particularly like is Cathy Horn of the New York Times who covers fashion - her blog, On The Runway, gives a behind the scenes look at what she does, the business, the people - stuff that would never get in her printed pieces.

Welcome Fall 2007

So the Fall 2007 semester has kicked off and this year's online journalism students are setting up their blogs. I'm starting to add the links over to the right under Student Blogs. A few students from prior classes have still kept their blogs going in a one form or another and they are listed below in the former student category.

Boston music blogs

Yesterday's Sunday Globe had an article on local music blogs. One is Bradley's Almanac bradleysalmanac.com - which is 7 years old and posts recordings of live local shows. Another one is Band in Boston bandinbostonpodcast.com - which has podcasts. There are a few more local blogs profiled in the piece.

Who's afraid of the big bad blog?

Adam has a post on Dan Shaughnessy's (Globe sports columnist) column from yesterday, which was a mock on Curt Schilling's personal blog - basically Shaughnessy was making fun of Schilling's blog and the fans who post to it and basically just the whole concept of a sports star communicating with the fans. I think it was suppose to be funny, but it wasn't. And I felt it barely concealed "old media" angst about blogs. Read it for yourself and judge.

Blog highlights

On the blogging front, Adam has making good use of You Tube on Every Game is a Superbowl, Dinah writes about her audition on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" Rose has posted some pics from Puerto Rico, and from Em's blog I found out that Vanilla Ice (ugh!) is actually performing in Copley Square tomorrow to promote Dunkin Donuts! (free iced coffee on Wed. if you can bear to stand in the line at Schillman Hall)

Speaking of copyright

... which we talked about last class, Viacom is now suing You Tube for "massive copyright infringment" - mainly for all the clips of Viacom shows like the Daily Show, which are available on You Tube. This is the first major legal challenge to Google and portends to be a big clash between old media and new media.