Friday Fast Five + Five

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

EDITOR’S NOTE: The NABJ Digital Journalism Task Force  and the NABJ Media Institute are holding a  webinar TODAY: “Video Storytelling for Journalists,”  starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.  It’s not too late to register, here.

I owe my readers an apology.  I have been lagging a bit with blog posts.  We all know how life gets in the way!  But I’m back on track and have several great interviews coming in the next few weeks.  A side effect is that the news keeps happening and my Fast Five bookmarks folder is packed, so I’m making an executive decision — I’m going to do 10 tips every Friday for the rest of the year.   And even though Mark Luckie is no longer the owner of the 10000 Words blog, I will continue my streak of leading off with a post from here.  Enjoy!

1. 10000 Words – 5 Ways to find, mix and mash your data
2. Black Star Rising – After the Newspaper Layoff: The First Six Things You Should Do
3. Mashable – 12 Beginner Tutorials for Getting Started with Adobe Illustrator
4. AMEX Open Forum – How to Run Your Business Online With $10 (and a Google Account)
5. Social Media A La Carte – How to Use Flickr Photos on Your WordPress Blog
6. Jorgen Sundberg – How To Make Google Love Your Twitter Profile
7. Lost Remote – Social Media Tips and Tools for Journalists
8. Multimedia Shooter – Why You NEED to Learn After Effects, NOW!
9. GigaOM – 5 Tips for Getting the Most out of Google Reader
10. Nieman Lab – Five important mobile app findings for news orgs

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DJTF Offers Free Webinar On Video For Print Journalists

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

The NABJ Digital Journalism Task Force  and the NABJ Media Institute are pleased to hold its first-ever webinar, “Video Storytelling for Journalists,” on Friday, Oct. 29 starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

This is the first in what we plan to be a series of free webinars designed to help NABJ members and others in the journalism community get the skills needed to write and report the news across multiple platforms.  These webinars were made possible through the efforts of DJTF Treasurer Melanie Eversley, a rewrite editor at USA Today.  Through her efforts, DJTF was able to win a grant from the Gannett Foundation that helped pay for a year of webinar services.

And ironically enough, Eversley is the creator and leader of this first webinar.  This webinar is designed to help journalists who are new to or curious about video learn how to approach their stories when visuals are introduced into the mix. This 90-minute session will focus on everything from how to sequence your shots to how to approach your reporting when introducing a video layer into your work.

Webinar panelists include:

• Andria Carter, online editor, The Trentonian
• Marisol Bello, general assignment reporter, USA Today
• Leslie Smith, video editor, USA Today
• Isaiah Poole, executive editor, Institute for America’s Future

Click here for more details or to register.  And please feel free to offer up future topics you’d like to see.

Do You Have What 10000 Words Says Are The 10 Basic Web Skills Every Journalist Must Have?

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

Instead of doing the usual Friday Fast Five, I thought I’d mix it up today.  You know that I am a HUGE fan of Mark Luckie’s 10000 Words blog, as are many of you.  You know that he sold the blog (at a really good profit, I hope) to WebMedia Brands, the parent company of Media Bistro.

But fortunately for us, Luckie is still writing for the blog.  It is at the top of my Google Reader, and the Oct. 19 post — The 10 basic web skills every journalist must have — was of real interest.  As technology and tools continue to come out and change how we do our journalism jobs, I worry that I’m doing everything I need to do to stay relevant in my news room.  And this blog post serves as a nice base on which to measure whether I — and the rest of us — are keeping up.

1. How to write an SEO-friendly headline.  Ok, I’m not so good on this one.  I write what I write and hope it sticks.  But thanks to the advice in this piece — New tricks: Journalists and SEO – searching for the right balance — from Old Media, New Tricks, we all can do better.
2. How to include a link in a story. I’ve got this one covered.  I actually consider myself the Links Queen.
3. How to upload a story into a content management system (CMS).  OK, I was a bit fuzzy on this one. This WordPress account seems to have me covered, but for interesting reading, check out this New York Times article on ScribbleLive.
4. How to shoot a proper photograph.  I took photography in college, but that was back when film was still in fashion. When the job said we had to start taking photos, I found this tutorial from Squidoo to be very helpful.
5. How to send an attachment in/download an attachment from an email.  My work email allows me to send pretty large files.  But if it’s something I’d rather not have on our servers, I’m a big fan of the free program YouSendIt.
6. How to operate a video camera.  I knew the basics, again from college, where I majored in broadcast journalism.  But video was that last frontier until a took a week-long course at Poynter Institute last month.  It has already become invaluable.  Sign up for “The Backpack Video Storyteller,” which runs from April 4-8 in St. Petersburg, Fla.  And apply for a scholarship if you’re a member of a minority journalism organization.
7. How to hold a microphone properly.  I have this one covered after attending the free one-day Podcamp Philly back in 2007.  Check out the PodCamp Community wiki for upcoming events.
8. How to use an audio recorder.  (see number 8)
9. How to post a tweet.  Got this one covered too.  I’m a big fan of using Twitter as a journalism tool, and advise you read “How We Use Twitter for Journalism” by Read Write Web (and follow us on @NABJDigital).
10. How to search the web effectively.  When we think of search, we all think of Google.  But there are many more ways to search the Web effectively for everything from research to multimedia tools.  This article on About.com is a great summary of what’s out there in the world of search.

I hope this has helped.  If you have more resources, please feel free to pass them along!

Choosing My Social Media Influencers

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

Back on Sept. 22, The Poynter Institute, as part of its 35-year anniversary celebration, asked journalists to help it choose 35 influential people in social media — both in and outside of journalism.  Mandy Jenkins, owner of the Zombie Journalism blog and social media producer at TBD.com. did a blog post on four people who have influenced her, so I thought I’d take a crack with my own picks.

• Josh Hallett, Voce Communications and Hyku.com.  I had been dabbling in social media, but didn’t take it to the next level until I heard Josh’s presentation on the possibilities of social media at a conference back in June 2007.  As a result, I completely revamped the way I approach journalism.  You still need the basic tools – writing, reporting and editing — but social media has been a boon in enhancing my work.
• Mark Luckie, The Digital Journalist’s Handbook, Washington Post and the 10000 Words blog.  I met Mark at my very first NABJ annual conference in Indianapolis back in 2006.  His blogging panel planted the see to what became my employer’s first official blog.  His 10000 Words blog has been my multimedia sherpa and he LITERALLY wrote the book on how to become an effective digital journalist.
• Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia University journalism professor and new media guru at sree.net.  I attended Sree’s social media for journalists seminar in Washington, D.C., which gave me practical tips specifically targeted to my work.  He also taught me the true power of LinkedIn.
• Vadim Lavrusik, community manager at Mashable, digital journalism blogger and Columbia University social media adjunct professor.  His journalism-specific posts on Mashable — including 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow’s Journalist and The Future of Social Media in Journalism — constantly make me rethink how I’m doing my job and whether I’m adapting to the new media realities.
• Jessica Faye Carter, Mashable contributor,  founder and CEO of Nette Media and creator of Black Social Media Professionals.  She is a pioneer in showing companies on how to use social media and technology to reach women and multicultural communities. She is also a strong advocate for more diversity in social media.
• Shireen Mitchell, AKA Digitalsista.  She is probably the biggest cheerleader for women to get involved in technology and new media, and many times, has been the lone minority representative at industry conferences and seminars on these topics.

I’m sure I’ll think of 10 more people once this is published.  But I’ll put the question to you: who are your social media influences?  Put them in our comments section and I’ll compile them for a future blog post!

How I Used Social Media To Land Newest Local Athletic Star

By Andrew Humphrey, CBM
Founder & Co-Chair, DJTF | Meteorologist & Reporter, WDIV-TV Detroit

After my Detroit Lions and Michigan Wolverines lost their football games, I searched for a good pick-me-up.  So I read some online newspapers and came across the headline First-Time Runner Wins Detroit Marathon.  That was a grabber, and the following Detroit News story kept me hooked.

What a feel-good story!  The “Detroit Marathon” is actually much more than your run-of-the-mill local or citywide 26.2 mile race.  This run is international; with the only course that crosses the United States-Canada border twice.  It is a one-of-a-kind event, and a first-time marathoner won it.  The winner’s name is Jodan Desilets, 29, from Detroit Area (Pinckney, Michigan).  He attended a Detroit Area university (Eastern Michigan University) and entered the race only within the past two months after being encouraged by his wife after they watched a motivational marathon movie called Spirit Of The Marathon.

His name is unique so at 6pm, the evening immediately after the race, I plugged the name into Facebook’s search engine.  Bingo!  Two results, one of them has a photo of a runner.  One of the best things about Facebook is that non-“Friends” can communicate with each other.  Although Jordan and I were not Facebook “friends,” I could and did message him.  I offered my congratulations, asked if he’d like to wake up early again and be on my show Local 4 News Morning on WDIV-TV, and left my direct office number and email address.  Soon after, I emailed and phoned my morning show team with my idea of having him as a guest.  The executive producer (EP) John Ferracane loved the opportunity.  Now it was a matter of waiting but only for a matter of minutes.

Wouldn’t you know it, the marathon winner and newest athletic celebrity replied.  Jordan Desilets called my work number and left a message and his mobile number with my colleague Brandon Roux.  Brandon quickly relayed the information to me, and I called Jason back right away.  We had a great conversation and he accepted the request to be on WDIV.  I asked if his wife Jamie would appear on the air because she played an important roll in his success.  He said that was no problem.

We were set.  I updated my EP and morning crew, and they were thrilled.  Jason and Jamie Desilets arrived at 5:45 am and were interviewed during our 6am hour.  We were the only station with the live, sit-down interview.  Afterward, the Desilets, my colleagues and the viewers who were or instantly became Jordan’s fans were delighted.  His Facebook friends expressed their pride and joy with their postings on his wall.

So let’s review.  An international story was found on the internet.  The subject was found and contacted directly with social media.  The result was an excellent exclusive interview on local television within twenty-four hours of a victorious achievement in Detroit.  Plus, I gained a new Facebook friend.

Calendar of Multimedia Training and Events

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

• Webbmedia Group has a great calendar of events that catches things not covered below.  If you want to subscribe to the calendar, click here. You can also subscribe to this calendar so the information appears on your personal Google Calendar. Just go to the Webbmedia Google calendar, click the “+Google Calendar” icon at the bottom right, and then click “Yes, add this calendar” in the dialog box.)

• Think like Google — what you need to know about SEO is a Webinar being offered by the Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute on Oct. 19.  The hour-long session will help reporters and editors understand the Web and how search engines find online content, explain some fundamentals of SEO and why journalists should care and give journalists tips and tools for writing good headline and ledes for the Web.
• DJTF member Tiffany Black will be holding an online course — Advanced Social Media – on Wednesdays from Oct. 20 through Nov. 17.  Participants should be ready to dive into a class filled with practical, actionable tips and case studies on using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Buzz.  The cost is $350.
• FreshWorkShops will hold a webinar “WordPress For Busy People” on Oct. 21 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT.  The webinar will teach participants how to customize WordPress using themes, boost performance with plugins and keep your site up to date.  The cost is $49.
• Media Bistro will hold the online course “Intro to Multimedia Journalism” on Thursdays Oct. 21-Nov. 18 from 9-10 pm Eastern time. In this class you’ll learn how to translate news stories into fascinating multimedia packages.
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is holding a “Two-Day Final Cut Pro Workshop” Oct. 23-24.  Students will learn to capture footage, import images, text and audio files, edit from larger clips and trim footage in a timeline. Participants will also learn how to mix audio levels, create text, animate images and export video for broadcast or the Web. The cost is $695.
• The Washington, D.C., chapter of the Online News Association is holding a meet-up on Oct. 27 at BlackFinn at 7:00 p.m.
• Registration is now open for the Online News Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28-30.
• She’s Geeky: Connecting Women in Tech will be holding its second annual unconference in New York City Oct. 29-30.
• Nov. 1 is the deadline to apply for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism’s Strictly Financials Fellows 2011 program.  The Reynolds Center is offering fellowships worth $2,000 for four days of intensive study in financials and accounting Jan. 4-7, 2011, in Phoenix at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.  Fellowships cover the full cost of training, lodging, materials and most meals. In addition, fellows receive a $500 stipend to help offset travel and other costs.  This seminar will cover the essentials of covering financials, from stock markets and bonds to financial statements and company research.
• Nov. 1 is also the deadline for students to apply for a summer internship at the Washington Post.  The newspaper 12-week paid internships for reporters on the Local, Financial, Sports, Style and Editorial desks, as well as internships for Visual Journalists, Multiplatform Producers and Web Designers.
• The Social Media Club is holding Social Media University Nov. 10-12 in Orlando. Learn from a dozen of the true Social Media Masters in this deep dive for Social Media Professionals.  The cost is $495 for members and $595 for non-members.
• The Freedom Forum Diversity Institute is offering a Multimedia Boot Camps for Journalism Professionals and Educators.  The boot camp is scheduled for Nov. 17-21 at the Freedom Forum’s John Seigenthaler Center in Nashville, Tenn.  The cost is $850.
• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding an online webinar “Writing Business News for the Web: Online” Dec. 1-2.  The webinar, taught by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jacqui Banaszynski, will help writers and editors write with clarity, efficiency, brevity and transparency. Participants will study story approaches and language use that enhance the readability of Web copy.
• The Knight Digital Media Center has spaces for 20 fellows at its Interactive Census Hands-On Workshop Dec. 12-17 at the University of California-Berkeley.  KDMC is offering a customized visual storytelling workshop to train journalists on new ways to process data from the 2010 Census. Fellows will illustrate the information using visualization and mapping tools to create a clearer, more meaningful picture of the complex statistics gathered in the national survey.
• The 2011 Kiplinger Fellowship will award 15 grants to journalists to help them hone their social media skills and learn about SEO, strategic tweeting, and other information about the Internet.  The deadline to apply is Nov. 30.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is offering the Webinar Writing Business News for the Web Dec. 1-2.  This Webinar will help writers and editors write with clarity, efficiency, brevity and transparency.

2011

• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its 2011 Multimedia Training Jan. 9-14 and May 15-20. The workshop offers intensive training that covers all aspects of multimedia news production; from basic storyboarding to hands-on instruction with hardware and software for production of multimedia stories. Participants will be organized into teams to report on a pre-arranged story in the Bay Area, and then construct a multimedia presentation based on that coverage.  Applications are due by Nov. 19 for the January training and March 18 for the May training.
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is holding a Five-Day Intensive Digital Media Boot Camp Jan. 10-14, 2011.  Participants will learn the basics of visual storytelling concepts through video production and post-production with Final Cut Pro (for Mac). Participants will leave with concrete skills and a better understanding of the technologies that are transforming the news business.  The cost is $1,195, and registration begins in November.
• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its Web 2.0 workshop Feb. 14-18 and June 13-17.  This training takes participants through the progression of reporting news for multiple digital platforms, starting with quick text posts and moving through photos and video and finally ending with a full multimedia presentation. The workshop provides hands-on training using Twitter and Facebook for reporting and driving web traffic, creating data-driven map mashups, dynamically updating a blog for breaking news, publishing photo galleries and audio slideshows, producing videos and editing videos using Final Cut Pro.  The deadline to apply is Dec. 10 for the February workshop and April 15 for the June training.
• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its Independent Journalists Workshop March 21-25.  The workshop will provide journalists with the hands-on training and tools to get started with an online publishing enterprise.  The deadline to apply is Jan. 28.
• The National Conference for Media Reform will hold its annual conference in Boston April 8-11, 2011.  The conference brings together thousands of activists, media makers, educators, journalists, scholars, policymakers and engaged citizens to meet, tell their stories, share tactics, listen to great speakers and build the movement for better media in America.

If you have any items that I’ve missed, please drop me an email via the DJTF Yahoo! Listserv or at regaviationqueen AT yahoo DOT com.  Thanks!

Friday Fast Five – The Fast Edition

By Benét J. Wilson, DJTF co-chair, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation, Aviation Week Group

This will be a quick one, since I’m working on some major deadlines this week.  But here are two notes from your editrix. First, please don’t forget to vote in the UNITY/Ford Foundation entrepreneurship program for minority journalists contest.  Voting ends on Oct. 17.  Second,  please sign up for the Digital Journalism Task Force’s first webinar”  “A picture can be worth a thousand words: How journalists from a print background can successfully incorporate video into their work.”  The event will be held on Friday, Oct. 29 starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.  Click here for more details.  Now, onto Fast Five. Enjoy!

1. 10000 Words – 10 Ways to track what people are saying about you on Twitter
2. Mashable – 7 Perfect Posterous Themes for Multimedia Blogs
3. Read Write Web – 13 Tools for Building Your Own iPhone App
4. TechCrunch – If You’ve Got Social Media Fatigue, UR DOIN IT WRONG
5. Networked – How to annotate your YouTube videos