Media Reading from the earley edition

I don’t have time to write real blog posts, as evidenced by my lack of updates here at the earley edition. Consider this a curated reading list of carefully selected items, which are of great and enduring import to the changing media landscape.

Or it’s just some random links I had time to take note of.

Enjoy.

• Why Twitter matters for media organisations | Alan Rusbridger | Editor of The Guardian newspaper
  

  1. It’s an amazing form of distribution
  2. It’s where things happen first
  3. As a search engine, it rivals Google
  4. It’s a formidable aggregation tool
  5. It’s a great reporting tool
  6. It’s a fantastic form of marketing
  7. It’s a series of common conversations. Or it can be
  8. It’s more diverse
  9. It changes the tone of writing
  10. It’s a level playing field
  11. It has different news values
  12. It has a long attention span
  13. It creates communities
  14. It changes notions of authority
  15. It is an agent of change

  That’s just an excerpt of Alan Rusbridger’s full speech at the 2010 Andrew Olle Media Lecture, and it wasn’t all about Twitter. The full text, and audio, of Rusbridger’s speech, titled The Splintering of the Fourth Estate, is available from 702 ABC Sydney.

• Mobile Journalism Tools blog
  

  Our Mission
  Exploring best practices in mobile journalism
  Hear what The Experts have to say about the mobilejournalismtools blog.

• Blogging and commenting guidelines for journalists at The Guardian
  

  1. Participate in conversations about our content, and take responsibility for the conversations you start.
  2. Focus on the constructive by recognising and rewarding intelligent contributions.
  3. Don’t reward disruptive behaviour with attention, but report it when you find it.
  4. Link to sources for facts or statements you reference, and encourage others to do likewise.
  5. Declare personal interest when applicable. Be transparent about your affiliations, perspectives or previous coverage of a particular topic or individual.
  6. Be careful about blurring fact and opinion and consider carefully how your words could be (mis)interpreted or (mis)represented.
  7. Encourage readers to contribute perspective, additional knowledge and expertise. Acknowledge their additions.
  8. Exemplify our community standards in your contributions above and below the line.

• 10 ways journalists can use Storify | Zombie Journalism
  

  1. Organizing reaction in social media.
  2. Giving back-story using past content.
  3. Curating topical content.
  4. Displaying a non-linear social media discussion or chat.
  5. Creating a multimedia/social media narrative.
  6. Organize your live tweets into a story
  7. Collaborate on a topic with readers.
  8. Create a timeline of events.
  9. Display audience content from across platforms.
  10. Live curate live tweets from the stream.

• When Are Facebook Users Most Active? [STUDY]
  

  as in – when is your online audience most active?
  Here are some of the big takeaways:

  • The three biggest usage spikes tend to occur on weekdays at 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET.
  • The biggest spike occurs at 3:00 p.m. ET on weekdays.
  • Weekday usage is pretty steady, however Wednesday at 3:00 pm ET is consistently the busiest period.
  • Fans are less active on Sunday compared to all other days of the week.

• The top 10 key lessons for hyperlocal journalism startups from ONA10
  

  1. Successful doesn’t mean beautiful
  2. Legal stuff isn’t rocket science
  3. There is no such thing as free content
  4. Follow the data
  5. Focus on money from day one
  6. Advertisers are buying your audience, not funding your stories
  7. Grants don’t come for free
  8. Focus on multiple revenue models
  9. Technology should be fast and cheap
  10. Stop whining and just do it

• Poynter Online – Shirky: The Shock of Inclusion and New Roles for News in the Fabric of Society
• Poynter Online – Rusbridger: Openness, Collaboration Key to New Information Ecosystem
• The Times’ Paywall and Newsletter Economics « Clay Shirky
• Virtualeconomics: News Corp’s paywall is about News Corp, not the Times

Interview with Dave Earley about Mobile Journalism – MoJo

I had an interview request about mobile journalism, or mojo, from Air Force News of all places.
The editor, Simone Liebelt, is a former student of Deakin University academic and mobile journalism expert Stephen Quinn, who recommended me as “one of the pioneers in Australia” for the story on Mobile Journalism trends. The following are some of the answers I was going to email in, but we ended up talking over the phone.
Read on for my ideas about using mobile phones for news gathering.

Read more

An experiment in Mobile Journalism or MoJo

In January I experimented with a little mobile journalism, or MoJo, on a small story. Using Qik on a Dopod mobile phone, I live streamed video from the scene of a unit fire on Brisbane’s south side.

This was by no means an experiment in mobile journalism that even basically covered how MoJo could be done, it was simply a spur of the moment decision to give it a go. These are my thoughts on the process.

Read more

iPhone camera – breaking news nets pro photographer rates

Image via Wikipedia

• Just F8 and Be There, but faster :: Jim MacMillan: Blogging, News, Information and Opinion from Philadelphia
  People need to remember that MSM (mainstream media) need instant photos for online. MSM need to remember they should not just acknowledge the public for these pics, but remunerate where appropriate (exclusive/first). In this example, photos taken on an iPhone (remember, only a 2 megapixel camera) were paid for at the same rate as ‘pro’ photos.
  “After I sent another couple of photos, I [...] found messages from the editor of philly.com [...]. She had seen my Twitter posts and Twitpics, and was interested in getting them.
  I let her know that there were other pros working hard on the scene, but the Internet wants breaking news asap and – in a nutshell – she bought my pictures and posted one right away.
  I was compensated roughly on the scale that freelancers in this town are paid in traditional scenarios: for responding and shooting with pro-level Nikons or Canons, and delivering their photos via laptops with cell modems.”
  (tags: citizenjournalism journalism newmedia twitter mobile mojo iphone photojournalism)

Originally from my auto-posting daily Delicious links, I have cut this back to just the link I have added comment to. This is in preparation for a blog redesign, where I no longer want posts titled “links for YYYY-MM-DD”. A live stream of Delicious links will also always be available in a sidebar widget and/or stand-alone page.

HOW TO: Get reporters out into the community

Image by Bill on Capitol Hill via Flickr

• Ready, set change!
  “we MUST understand and then embrace the notion that print is no longer our primary focus.
  ..reporters chained to desks working with large desktop computers..so last century..Transition them to laptops..get them out of the newsroom and into the community”
  (tags: journalism videojournalism newmedia future)
• Cool visualizations with ManyEyes
  How important is comprehensible data presentation to new journalism?
  “visualisation is a way to turn usually a lot of numbers into images, so you can look at all the data that you have at the same time and try to see patterns – or interesting trends…”
  (tags: database-reporting newmedia manyeyes)

Originally from my auto-posting daily Delicious links, I have cut this back to just a few links I have added comment to and that I think particularly useful. I have also retitled the post. This is in preparation for a blog redesign, where I no longer want posts titled “links for YYYY-MM-DD”. A live stream of Delicious links will also always be available in a sidebar widget and/or stand-alone page.

Mobile journalism, citizen journalism and virtual worlds

• List of crime maps is updated
  Crime mapping is just the start. How do we leverage the freely available (but difficult to utilise) information from government sources?
  (tags: mapping maps journalism web2.0 webdesign crimemap crime geocode geotagging)
• The tribe known as “the professional press”
  The tribe should think about moving before the cold winter arrives.
  (tags: journalism journalist newmedia)
• Cheap camera video journalism going mainstream
  How cheap is too cheap for video journalism on news websites? Even if it’s on your PHONE, just get out there and shoot, edit, experiment!
  (tags: videojournalism videojournalist video goodenough media)
• NYC Police Deny Press Passes to Online Reporters
  What makes the journalist? Will the rise of ‘citizen journalists’ deplete the number of voices with the access and ability to scrutinise the dishonest bastards?
  (tags: blogging journalism media online citizenjournalist)
• We can. We will. We must.
  Stop your crying and save journalism. Fight for it.
  (tags: media mediaindustry journalismjobs journalist intern jessicadasilva)
• The Next Newsroom in Second life
  Virtual worlds could be the classroom, newsroom, place of work and community square of the future – especially when we can’t drive our cars because fuel has become either prohibitively expensive or non-existent.
  (tags: secondlife journalism newmedia socialnetworking newssites)
• Mobile strategies – are you ready
  Everyone’s touting mobile as the future of the internet – with the iPhone said to be pushing phone providers to actually make that happen.
  I’ve been thinking the mobile web is the most likely way developing countries can join the global community
  (tags: mobile mobilebrowser mojo socialjustice)

Originally from my auto-posting daily Delicious links, I have cut this back to just a few links I have added comment to and those I think particularly useful. I have also retitled the post. This is in preparation for a blog redesign, where I no longer want posts titled “links for YYYY-MM-DD”. A live stream of Delicious links will also always be available in a sidebar widget and/or stand-alone page.