Carnival of Journalism #3: Improving The Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Reynolds Fellows Program

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

Yes, it’s that time again — step right up and join the Carnival of Journalism.  For the occasional reader, the carnival is the brainchild of  David Cohn, founder of Spot.Us and a current Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow.  Every month, a group of us is asked to blog about a specific topic.  He gave us two choices this month: after a five-year, $25 million investment, what would be the next step for the Knight Foundation to further its mission to drive innovation in journalism; or the Reynolds Fellowship is just 4 years old.  How would you shape the fellowship to drive innovation?

I’m going to tackle question two, because I think programs like the Reynolds Fellowship will be key in helping shape the ongoing innovation — and change — we’re seeing in the practice of journalism.

The institute offers an eight-month fellowship for those looking to develop and study a “big” idea in journalism that will offer solutions for the future of our industry.  Fellows receive an $80,000 stipend and another $10,000  to cover living expenses, moving costs and insurance.  Fellows reside at the institute’s home in Columbia, Mo., from Sept. 1, 2011, through April 30, 2012 to collaborate with “some of the brightest minds in media.”

In a time of tumultuous and exhilarating change in journalism, what would you do with eight months, a generous living stipend and a chance to collaborate with some of the brightest minds in media today

I consider myself someone who tries to keep her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the fields of training and innovation in our crazy industry, especially as co-chair of the National Association of Black Journalists’s Digital Journalism Task Force.  But I have to admit, I had never even heard of the fellowship until I learned about it in a random tweet late last year on the @NABJDigital Twitter account.

So I’m going to offer a new twist on my ongoing diversity theme.  I would encourage the Reynolds Journalism Institute to make more of an effort to attract more diverse fellows to the program in the widest sense of the word. 

The program has done a good job of including women, but I’ d love to see not only more people of color, but I’d also like to see folks including early career journalists, citizen journalists/news bloggers and entrepreneurs looking to improve journalism.

To this end, I would encourage the institute to tap past fellows and key staff members to leave the friendly confines of Columbia, Mo., and send them to events where there are gatherings of more diverse journalists, including organizations like NABJ, the South Asian Journalists Association, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and even Blog World & New Media Expo.  Use these events to speak about the fellowship and why attendees should consider applying for it.

Many journalism organizations have events year round,  including webinars, one-day workshops and meet-ups that the institute could tap to get the message out about the fellowship.  And many more journalism organizations have blogs, magazines and eletters that the institute could use to tout the benefits of the fellowship and encourage folks to apply.

The Reynolds Journalism Institute’s website is a font of information on things including upcoming events and training.  I had no idea these resources were there, so staff should do more outreach to offer these resources to journalism schools and organizations as a way to not only get a foot in the door to reach potential fellows, but also to keep the institute’s mission front and center 365 days a year and serve as a training resource for those who don’t apply for the fellowship.

The Reynolds Journalism Institute is currently taking applications for its 2011-2012 class.  I encourage my fellow journalists with an idea that will offer solutions to keep our industry viable to consider applying.  I especially encourage those who normally don’t consider these types of programs to seriously look at what the institute has to offer. 

In aviation, pilots follow check lists covering takeoff, flight, before landing and after landing on each and every flight.  They take it seriously, and never treat it like a rote exercise, because the safety of passengers is at stake.

I urge the Reynolds Journalism Institute to create its own check list specifically to expand the diversity of the Reynolds Fellows program and make its programming more widely available to the journalism community.  The future of our industry depends on the efforts of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and other teaching organizations to prepare us all for rapid change.

Group, Website Shine Light On Digital Professionals

By Jeannine Hunter, News Producer, Washington Post

Jessica Faye Carter

Jessica Faye Carter is the founder and chief executive officer of Heta Corporation, a professional services firm that advises corporations and small businesses on social technologies and cultural and gender diversity. She is a frequent speaker on these issues and the author of Double Outsiders: How Women of Color Can Succeed in Corporate America, an award-winning practical guide for professional multicultural women.

The former corporate lawyer has a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Duke University and a B.A. from Spelman College. In 2010, she established a new organization and website, Black Social Media Professionals. During an engaging conversation, Carter explained why she developed BSMP and the importance of branding, marketing and staying on top of innovations.

Jessica Faye Carter, left, speaks during a session at the Social Media Brasil 2010, the country’s largest social media conference

“The goal of Black Social Media Professionals is to provide resources for Black professionals and entrepreneurs in the social media industry, and to make social media resources and information available to non-profit and community organizations,” Carter said.

The growing site features a blog, a directory of professionals, and an area showcasing members’ sites and projects. Sections for social media resources/tools and job listings will be added soon.

She wanted to create a way to spotlight what people of African descent are doing with social technologies because there is “so much cool stuff people are working on.” She recently started to add videos to the BSMP YouTube channel, which features members offering tips and sharing their own stories about how they got started in social media.

BSMP is also a space where individuals with similar interests can learn about one another and engage online or “in real life” as they attend events such as the recent Austin, Texas-based South by Southwest, one of the world’s largest media conferences. “In the future,” said Carter, “we hope to offer informal get-togethers in the context of the larger technology conferences.”

Providing a place where prospective employers and conference organizers, etc., can diversify their pool of job candidates and speakers is a knock-off benefit of the site. “It’s important for conferences to be aware that there are Black professionals using social technologies in business, education, politics, journalism, and philanthropy,” Carter said, adding that some of them are top-flight professionals who reinvented themselves via social media tools.

Retooling one’s skills and branding are essential as careers, industries, and activities become increasingly shaped by evolving technologies and tools.

“Many people don’t realize that social technologies are changing everything from the way we do business to how we interact with our local government officials,” Carter said. “We’ve moved beyond socializing online to managing important parts of our lives with technology. That’s part of the reason that it’s really important to understand and leverage social tools and not get left behind.”

In the last decade, “the proportion of Internet users who are black or Latino has nearly doubled – from 11 percent to 21 percent,” wrote Aaron Smith, senior research specialist for the Pew Internet and American Life Project, last fall about trends in technology among people of color. “At the same time, African Americans remain somewhat less likely than whites to go online.”

“Similarly, African Americans have made up substantial ground in the last year when it comes to home broadband adoption. However, even with these gains they continue to trail whites in broadband use at home,” wrote Smith, who also noted that blacks are also less likely to own a desktop computer yet are on par in laptop ownership (as are Latinos) and more likely, as are Latinos, to use mobile devices (report here).

This fall, Carter hopes BSMP will have a volunteer day where members could help non-profits and community groups develop or refine their online identities. Members would be able to use their talents to help others demystify the Internet and get online, an especially valuable service in communities where people may be unconnected to the Internet, lack the appropriate tools to get online, or are generally unfamiliar with the benefits social media affords.

Calendar of Multimedia Training, Events & Fellowships

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.)

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University has updated its calendar of free workshops and webinars from now through May 2011.  And Media Bistro has its current course list available through the end of June.

MARCH

• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “15 Red Flags When Editing Business Stories: Online,” March 29 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EST. This free Webinar aims to bring business copy into your comfort zone — or at least closer to it — by exposing the biggest pitfalls editors and reporters face in dealing with business topics.

APRIL

• The Online News Association and the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute are co-sponsoring a one-day workshop — The Mobile Migration — at the John Seigenthaler Center on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville that will share real world information about delivering news and information for the small screen.  The event will be held April 1.  The cost is $50, with discounts for ONA members and students.
• The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation are seeking to fund four women-led projects that will rock the world of journalism.  The McCormick Foundation’s New Media Women Entrepreneurs program will fund individuals who have original ideas to create new Web sites, mobile news services or other entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community or a community of interest.  Applications are due April 4.  Check out NABJDigital’s profiles of winners Dr. Michelle Ferrier and Retha Hill.
• NABJ’s Digital Journalism Task Force will hold a free webinar, Tapping our Oral Traditions: How To Add A Podcast To Your Print Story, April 5 from noon to 1:00 p.m. EDT.  Join multimedia journalist Vanessa Deggins as she shows how to create a podcast to accompany a print story. She will allow us to listen to some of her work and she’ll answer questions on how you can get started. The NABJDigital blog will also have links to resources Deggins recommends for producing podcasts.
• 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.
• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “Telling Business Stories with Soundslides” at Southern Methodist University’s Umphrey Lee Center in Dallas, April 8. Attendees must be registered for the Society of American Business Writers and Editors spring conference April 7-9.
• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “Covering the green economy – Follow the green money,” April 19 at noon or 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.  You will learn the skills to find the green money trail on your beat. He’ll show you how to track green stimulus projects and identify the other cash trickling from Washington into your backyard.
• Social Media Club’s Social Media Camp: San Diego will be held April 30.  Social Media Camp is a one day education and networking event for the local community of social media professionals and those seeking to learn social media in a high energy, collaborative environment. The main focus of Social Media Camp is to provide a low cost opportunity for the unemployed and underemployed to learn core social media job skills that will help them find a new job, or get ahead in the job they have.

MAY

• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “15 tips on time management for business journalists,” May 3.  Participants will learn simple things they can immediately incorporate into their daily work and personal lives that will allow them to juggle more efficiently. You can attend the hour-long, interactive session at either noon or 4 p.m. EDT on May 3.
• The New England Center for Investigative Reporting is taking applications for the McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute May 9-12 in Boston.  This workshop will provide you with the tools and the expertise you need to offer your readers, viewers and listeners insightful coverage of the next big story taking shape in post-stimulus America – the budget crises gripping communities and states nationwide.  Applications are due April 10.
• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “Beyond Google: Mining the Web for company intelligence: Online,” May 17-18 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EST.  Here’s a chance to learn the tools and techniques that competitive intelligence experts use every day — and that you can use to keep tabs on the companies on your beat.

 

JUNE

• The Maynard Institute is taking applications for its 2011 Multimedia Editing Program June 1-30 at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno.    The immersion program that will teach you the range of multimedia skills: video, audio, blogging, slideshows, tagging, databases, maps, HTML, producing stories using mobile, Web strategy, social networking and content management systems, and how they all connect.  The cost is $6,000, but 12 scholarship spots are available.  Applications are due April 15.
• Internet Week New York City is being held June 6-13.  Internet Week is a week-long festival of events celebrating New York’s thriving internet industry and community.
• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its Web 2.0 workshop 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 April 15.
• The #140conf: NYC – Exploring “The State of NOW” will be held June 15-16 at the 92^nd Street Y.
• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “10 Tips for Turning National Stories into Great Local Ones,” June 21 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EDT.  Listeners will learn how to localize hot national stories.

 

JULY

• The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is holding a free Webinar, “Unlocking Financial Statements,” July 18-22.  The weeklong online seminar covers income statements, balance sheets, cash flows and writing about numbers.
• The University of Southern California’s Reporting on Health is taking applications for its National Health Journalism Fellowship, being held July 24-29.  This Fellowship is open to professional journalists from print, broadcast, and online media around the country, including freelancers. Applicants need not be fulltime health reporters, but they need to have a passion for health news (broadly defined). Applications from ethnic media journalists are strongly encouraged, as are applications proposing collaborative projects between mainstream and ethnic news outlets.  Applications are due May 2.

 

AUGUST

• The National Association of Black Journalists is holding its annual convention and career fair Aug. 3-7, 2011, in Philadelphia.  Professional journalists, students and educators will take part in full- and half-day seminars designed to strengthen and enhance their skills. Workshops throughout the five-day convention will highlight journalism ethics, entrepreneurship, specialized journalism and transitioning journalism skills to book publishing, screen writing and media relations.
• The Society for Features Journalism is now taking applications for its 2011 Society for Features Journalism Diversity Fellowship, Aug. 24-27 at the Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, Ariz.  The fellowship targets journalists of color who produce arts and features content for news organizations or those interested in pursuing careers in arts and features. Applications are due March 31.

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

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

Editor’s note: NABJ’s Digital Journalism Task Force will hold a free webinar, Tapping our Oral Traditions: How To Add A Podcast To Your Print Story, April 5 from noon to 1:00 p.m. EDT.  Join multimedia journalist Vanessa Deggins as she shows how to create a podcast to accompany a print story. She will allow us to listen to some of her work and she’ll answer questions on how you can get started. The NABJDigital blog will also have links to resources Deggins recommends for producing podcasts.

1. 10000 Words – Five free tools for finding design inspiration
2. The Gadget Guy – Surprise friends with a custom, Facebook profile page message
3. MakeUseOf – 3 Fun & Useful Google News Mashups
4. Smart Blog on Social Media – Using videos to amp up your blog
5. Lifehacker – Add QR Codes To Your WordPress Blog

NABJDigital Profiles Marcus Osborne, Your Straight Male Friend

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

Marcus Osborne

One of the many benefits of being a member of the National Association of Black Journalists is the people you meet at the annual convention.  The convention is a golden opportunity to network, and at last year’s conference, I met Marcus Osborne.

Osborne, a radio industry veteran based in the Bay Area, and I were on a panel in San Diego covering the relationship between journalists and public relations professionals.  We chatted after and said we’d keep in touch.  Since then, he has ramped up his venture, StraightMaleFriend.com, a multiplatform effort that offers advice to women from a male perspective.  Below, we discuss how he came up with the idea, using social media to support Straight Male Friend and what it takes to do a similar endeavor.

NABJDigital: How did you come up with the idea for the site?

Marcus Osborne: I’ve always been a guy with lots of platonic female friends.  A few years ago, I appeared on a reality show on ABC called “How To Get The Guy.” It was for 30-something professional women with everything in their lives but love.  Three of us came on as average guy relationship counselors.  The women would put questions in a fishbowl and we’d answer them. After the show was over, I though “we could create an industry doing this.”  Frankly, I don’t think women know what they’re talking about when it comes to giving advice about men because women get that information from other women.  I kept seeing women giving crazy advice about men, and I would say, “you’re crazy, no guy would do that!”

I was the co-host and producer on a country radio station in the Bay Area and I got laid off back in 2007.  I have two daughters, and moving from the Bay Area was not an option.  So I looked at my skills. I could write, I’m good on the air and can talk on relationships.  I had a friend who was having relationship problems, and said I could help. From there, I sent out an email to all my female contacts asking for 10 questions they wanted to ask males.  I got thousands.

From there, I turned it into a book, Your Straight Male Friend…Every Woman Should Have At Least One!, did a book tour and launched a blog, Your Straight Male Friend.  In the last year, I felt it was time to get serious, so I created SMF Media to create content on every media platform: online, radio, print, TV, movies, or whatever else we can find.  The content will be all original, with StraightMaleFriend.com as our first product.  I just signed a deal with CBS Radio to syndicate our podcasts and website.

Looking ahead, we’re searching for a title sponsor for our national tour, where we’ll do live events.  That tour is the focus for 2011.  The plan is to get us to the top 40 markets to do our live events.

ND: How did you find the “males” for the show?

MO: I worked with both guys [John Scott and Matty Staudt] in radio. I worked with Matty for 10 years and he’s one of my best friends. We play off each other and he’s very creative.  I wanted him on my team to manage the content.  I’m the big picture-creative guy who likes to think big.  But I also needed someone who could manage the small things, so I brought in John Scott, who used to manage the Bay Area AM Clear Channel Country stations.

ND: You started the blog on Blogger, but moved over to WordPress. Why did you make that move?

MO: That was a recommendation from one of our web consultant people.  You can do more on WordPress because it allows for greater flexibility and versatility that Blogger doesn’t have.  But as things take off, we’ll probably build a website from scratch.  That will allow us to do the things we can’t do on any blog platform, like a chat function, do posts and podcasts in real time and meet people.  We want to create a national community. We want to be like Oprah.

ND: You are a big user of social media, including Twitter, Facebook, the blog, the podcast and Formspring for questions. How important do you think social media has been in expanding the reach of the show?

MO: It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.  If you have a really good product, people will talk about you.  Look at Facebook. We can see how our content is forwarded, and it costs nothing.  Do you know how much it would cost for PR alone?  I checked our analytics and found that Facebook is the number one place people find Straight Male Friend. It’s incredible, the power of social media.  The greatest advertising is word of mouth, and it’s particularly important for Straight Male Friend because we talk about issues that are extremely personal.  We are not counselors, but we can offer advice.

ND: How do you make money with Straight Male Friend?

MO: We are doing it through advertising, and I expect to be generating revenue in the next six to seven months.  We’re doing ads on our podcasts and we want to create one-minute featurettes that will be syndicated on radio stations and sponsored by an advertiser like Coca Cola.  You’ll also see banners on our website and see links to content partners.  The process has been grueling, but the money’s coming.

We’ll also make money off Straight Male Friend events, the book available at Amazon.com and we’ll sell merchandise. We also have an online version of Straight Male Friend in video, which will be a sponsored show.  You have to be creative, but there’s lots of money to be made.

ND: What advice would you give to people who want to take their issue/topic and replicate some of the things you’ve done with Straight Male Friend?

MO: If you want to do this, go ahead and put a blog together and start writing.  Get it out to as many people as you can.  Make sure your product is good and decide what your audience is.  And ask the question: will it be something that appeals to sponsors?  The only way to make money is through sponsorships or through subscriptions.  But subscriptions are hard because there’s just too much free stuff out there.

Calendar of Multimedia Training, Events & Fellowships

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.)

The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute has updated its calendar of free workshops and webinars from now through May 2011.  And Media Bistro has its current course list available through the end of March.

MARCH

• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free live chat with Bloomberg’s John Gittelsohn on real estate March 16 at 1:30 p.m. EST.  He will discuss key housing trends to track locally.
• ProPublica is holding its first live event — Long-Form Storytelling in a Short Attention Span World — March 16 at Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York City. The event is free, but you must make a reservation.
• The Conference on International News, Technology and Audiences will be held March 17-18 at the University of California-Berkeley.  The conference will bring together a broad range of academics, journalists and industry representatives in order to focus on some of the emergent, boundary-crossing constellations of news, technologies and audiences.  Registration is $250.
• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its 2011 Multimedia Training 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 March 18.
• The City University of New York’s J-Camp is holding a Video Storytelling Workshop March 26-27 in New York City.  The course will feature hands-on learning of video shooting, editing, polishing and publishing, led by top multimedia journalists with experience running workshops at MediaStorm, Columbia and other leading training workshops.  The cost is $489.00.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “15 Red Flags When Editing Business Stories: Online,” March 29 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EST. This free Webinar aims to bring business copy into your comfort zone — or at least closer to it — by exposing the biggest pitfalls editors and reporters face in dealing with business topics.

APRIL

• The Online News Association and the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute are co-sponsoring a one-day workshop — The Mobile Migration — at the John Seigenthaler Center on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville that will share real world information about delivering news and information for the small screen.  The event will be held April 1.  The cost is $50, with discounts for ONA members and students.
• The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation are seeking to fund four women-led projects that will rock the world of journalism.  The McCormick Foundation’s New Media Women Entrepreneurs program will fund individuals who have original ideas to create new Web sites, mobile news services or other entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community or a community of interest.  Applications are due April 4.  Check out NABJDigital’s profiles of winners Dr. Michelle Ferrier and Retha Hill.
• NABJ’s Digital Journalism Task Force will hold a free webinar, Tapping our Oral Traditions: How To Add A Podcast To Your Print Story, April 5 from noon to 1:00 p.m. EDT.  Join multimedia journalist Vanessa Deggins as she shows how to create a podcast to accompany a print story. She will allow us to listen to some of her work and she’ll answer questions on how you can get started. The NABJDigital blog will also have links to resources Deggins recommends for producing podcasts.
• 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.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “Telling Business Stories with Soundslides” at Southern Methodist University’s Umphrey Lee Center in Dallas, April 8. Attendees must be registered for the Society of American Business Writers and Editors spring conference April 7-9.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “Covering the green economy – Follow the green money,” April 19 at noon or 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.  You will learn the skills to find the green money trail on your beat. He’ll show you how to track green stimulus projects and identify the other cash trickling from Washington into your backyard.
• Social Media Club’s Social Media Camp: San Diego will be held April 30.  Social Media Camp is a one day education and networking event for the local community of social media professionals and those seeking to learn social media in a high energy, collaborative environment. The main focus of Social Media Camp is to provide a low cost opportunity for the unemployed and underemployed to learn core social media job skills that will help them find a new job, or get ahead in the job they have.

MAY

• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “15 tips on time management for business journalists,” May 3.  Participants will learn simple things they can immediately incorporate into their daily work and personal lives that will allow them to juggle more efficiently. You can attend the hour-long, interactive session at either noon or 4 p.m. EDT on May 3.
• The New England Center for Investigative Reporting is taking applications for the McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute May 9-12 in Boston.  This workshop will provide you with the tools and the expertise you need to offer your readers, viewers and listeners insightful coverage of the next big story taking shape in post-stimulus America – the budget crises gripping communities and states nationwide.  Applications are due April 10.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “Beyond Google: Mining the Web for company intelligence: Online,” May 17-18 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EST.  Here’s a chance to learn the tools and techniques that competitive intelligence experts use every day — and that you can use to keep tabs on the companies on your beat.

 

JUNE

• The Maynard Institute is taking applications for its 2011 Multimedia Editing Program June 1-30 at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno.    The immersion program that will teach you the range of multimedia skills: video, audio, blogging, slideshows, tagging, databases, maps, HTML, producing stories using mobile, Web strategy, social networking and content management systems, and how they all connect.  The cost is $6,000, but 12 scholarship spots are available.  Applications are due April 15.
• Internet Week New York City is being held June 6-13.  Internet Week is a week-long festival of events celebrating New York’s thriving internet industry and community.
• The Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley has opened applications for its Web 2.0 workshop 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 April 15.
• The #140conf: NYC – Exploring “The State of NOW” will be held June 15-16 at the 92^nd Street Y.
• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “10 Tips for Turning National Stories into Great Local Ones,” June 21 at noon or 4:00 p.m. EDT.  Listeners will learn how to localize hot national stories.

 

JULY

• The Donald J. Reynolds Journalism Institute is holding a free Webinar, “Unlocking Financial Statements,” July 18-22.  The weeklong online seminar covers income statements, balance sheets, cash flows and writing about numbers.
• The University of Southern California’s Reporting on Health is taking applications for its National Health Journalism Fellowship, being held July 24-29.  This Fellowship is open to professional journalists from print, broadcast, and online media around the country, including freelancers. Applicants need not be fulltime health reporters, but they need to have a passion for health news (broadly defined). Applications from ethnic media journalists are strongly encouraged, as are applications proposing collaborative projects between mainstream and ethnic news outlets.  Applications are due May 2.

 

AUGUST

• The National Association of Black Journalists is holding its annual convention and career fair Aug. 3-7, 2011, in Philadelphia.  Professional journalists, students and educators will take part in full- and half-day seminars designed to strengthen and enhance their skills. Workshops throughout the five-day convention will highlight journalism ethics, entrepreneurship, specialized journalism and transitioning journalism skills to book publishing, screen writing and media relations.
• The Society for Features Journalism is now taking applications for its 2011 Society for Features Journalism Diversity Fellowship, Aug. 24-27 at the Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, Ariz.  The fellowship targets journalists of color who produce arts and features content for news organizations or those interested in pursuing careers in arts and features. Applications are due March 31.

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!

Global Is The New Local: The 2011 Japan Earthquake & Social Media

By Andrew Humphrey, CBM
Founder & Co-Chair, NABJ’s Digital Journalism Task Force
Meteorologist & Station Scientist, WDIV-TV & ClickOnDetroit.com

My goodness! Friday, March 11, 2011 was an amazing day in weather, earth science and humanity! On WDIV’s Local 4 News Morning it was all snow, all earthquake, all the time! Locally, Detroiters woke up to 3 to 6 inches of fresh snow with numerous school closings and traffic accidents. Internationally, Japan had a catastrophic 8.9 earthquake and an ensuing tsunami, killing hundreds of people, and the story was still unfolding on the air. As a meteorologist and station scientist, I was beside myself trying to fit following the snowfall and getting a fresh perspective of the story in Japan to our audience on TV and the worldwide web. Social media empowered me to do it.

While tracking our snowstorm, I regularly tweeted Detroit-centric advisories and warnings to keep people informed and safe. Our Local 4 News Morning Traffic Producer, Khary Jones Hobbs (Twitter ID: RufioJones) is someone I “follow,” and he tweeted the following around 5am:

@RufioJones RufioJones
Prayers to Japan. I have several homies out there. I hope you all are okay.

So I replied:

AndrewHumphrey Andrew Humphrey
@RufioJones Who are your homies? What are their SKYPE IDs?

I told him about the reply, too, and said his Japan-based buddies should safely email their names and Skype IDs to the station. After Khary got on it, one of his Twitter buds, rjbass73, responded. Turns out his name is Reggie Austin and he’s a musician, born and raised in Detroit and living in Tokyo. My newsteam got a hold of him and we did a live Skype with him on television during our 6am hour just before the Today Show. He gave a riveting account of survival and let everyone know he is well but remaining alert for future quakes and tsunami threats.
Simultaneously, I did hash tag searches (#earthquake, #tsunami, #japan) for more survivors who could Skype later in the day. Kunio Nakajima and Alan Margerison responded and I referred them to my friend & colleage, Local 4 News Morning Reporter Paula Tutman. She took the ball and ran with it, including them in her story called Social Media: Covering The Quake. Others were featured on the air and on ClickOnDetroit.com through Saturday morning.

In addition, I went on Facebook and said:

Andrew Humphrey To my Facebook buddies in Japan, East Asia, Australia & New Zealand! Where are you? Are you affected by the earthquake/tsunami? Any watches or warnings? Email me at morningshow@wdiv.com.

Here is a comment I received:

Michael Mawilai Delta Flight 276 was supposed to leave 15 minutes before the earthquake hit. It ended up 6 hours delayed, and will arrive at Metro sometime after 6pm.
Friday, 3/11/2010 at 11:38am

When I informed my teammates, they added Michael to the list of other Motor City Area people anxiously waiting for their family members, loved ones or friends from the Toyko-Detroit flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The result was an excellent collection of stories by Local 4 News Reporters Lauren Podell, Rod Meloni and Mara MacDonald that aired after my shift from 4pm to 11:30pm ET.

The responsible use of social media has the same power as an earthquake, a tsunami or any natural disaster. It shows that we are all one family. All of us are connected. Global stories become local, affecting the human heart, mind and spirit.

Friday Fast Five — The 10000 Words Edition

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

Editor’s Note:  please join DJTF TODAY  for a FREE webinar: “Some Multimedia With That Story?” from 11:30 to 1:00 EST.  Moderated by DJYF Treasurer and USA Todaybreaking news desk reporter Melanie Eversley, the webinar  will help you conceive of and present your work using the range of technological and interactive tools available to journalists today. Three journalists at the tops of their games will offer practical, hands-on tips and share resources for reporting and presenting news stories digitally. I hope you can join us!

My Fast Five bookmarks are piling up, so I thought this week, we could focus on posts from one of my favorite blogs, 10000 Words.  Enjoy!

1. Website icons: Small size, big impact
2. Tool of the Day: CuePrompter
3. 5 Ways to publish your social media messages
4. 5 things you didn’t know you could do with LinkedIn
5. 7 Innovative online maps

Follow Up: “Some Multimedia With That Story?”

 

By Melanie Eversley, DJTF, USA Today

For those who missed Friday’s DJTF multimedia webinar with Media General’s Vidisha Priyanka, Time.com’s Madison Gray and Gannett’s Nichelle Smith, the audio replay of the session is now available here. Here are links to the pieces/PowerPoint presentation that were discussed during the session:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/0,28757,1726656,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/audioslide/0,32187,1952607,00.html

http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2010/10/01/podcast-why-greater-detroit-is-so-segregated/

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AfUv9CnPnLOLZGY3MnNtM2ZfMzA3Z3A1NDJyaHI&hl=en&authkey=CJX3u88F

http://civilrights.historybeat.com/

http://topics.gannett.com/civil+rights+bloody+sunday/?template=clarionledger

http://topics.gannett.com/civil+rights+video/?template=clarionledger

http://topics.gannett.com/civil+rights+share+stories/?template=clarionledger

Here is contact information for the panelists:
• Vidisha Priyanka, vpriyanka@tbo.com
• Madison “Joe” Gray, madison_gray@timemagazine.com
• Nichelle Smith, nysmith@gannett.com

Also, don’t miss DJTF’s next free webinar, “Tapping Our Oral Traditions: How To Add A Podcast To Your Print Story,” slated for noon to 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, April 5. DJTF co-chair Benet Wilson, online managing editor for business aviation for Aviation Week, will host Vanessa Deggins, a multimedia reporter for the American Press and a radio reporter for Cumulus Broadcasting.

SXSW Panel: 100% Viable, 1% Visible – Minority New Media Entrepreneurs, By Kiratiana Freelon

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

Back on Feb. 18, I did a profile of travel blogger Kiratiana Freelon.  Tomorrow is the first day of the annual South By Southwest Interactive conference, and Freelon is one of a handful of minority presenters at this year’s event.

The interactive part of SXSW has quickly become THE place to come to hear the latest in digital/social/new and multimedia.  A virtual who’s who from influential companies and media organizations are at SXSW, participating on panels, offering exhibits and hosting evening functions. Below we chat about her SXSW presentation.  I also have links below that will help attendees navigate SXSW.

NABJDigital: you have a panel at SXSW: 100% Viable, 1% Visible – Minority New Media Entrepreneurs.  Why did you feel it was important to present this topic?

Kiratiana Freelon: for the past year and a half, I have been heavily involved in this digital and new media world. That means I’ve been going to interactive conferences, blogging conferences, and development conferences and just creating stuff on my own. I’m so enamored with people who create new digital applications and technologies, but when I go to even slightly more techie conferences, the number of minorities dramatically dips.

Yes we can blog. We tweet our behinds off. But why aren’t we creating more new media companies? Is it because young people don’t even THINK to develop something in the digital space?

But I always wonder: why aren’t there more black or Latino new media entrepreneurs? So I want to use this panel to call attention to this issue (as BlackWeb20.com already has) and have a call to action. What social media has taught me is that big things happen when you can get a lot of people together for a cause. Getting more minorities to be entrepreneurs is a cause that I think will move a lot of people.

Why can’t I create a photo sharing application? Why can’t I create a new way to look at a travel guide on your phone? I may not have the developer chops but I have the creativity, passion and will. That’s why I’m turning my book, Kiratiana’s Travel Guide to Black Paris, into a mobile application. Mark my word, it will be available by July 14, 2011 of THIS YEAR.

ND: Who will appear on the panel with you?

KF: That’s a really good question. Even though I applied for the presentation to be a panel, I am actually giving a Future15 talk, which is a 12.5 minute presentation. I will be one of four Future15 presenters that will talk about diversity. That basically means my stuff has to be TIGHT. It also puts a lot more pressure on me as well.

ND: SXSW has been called out in past years for not having enough diversity.  How do you think they’re doing in trying to bring more diversity to the conference?

KF: Well I definitely think it was good to include my panel in the mix! From my experience of only a year, I think they are doing a good job. I know that this year, they are having affinity meetups and one includes a black technology meetup. There are other many other panels that are being led by people of color as well. I think the representation of minority panels is good this year because we all just took control of our destiny and knew that they best way to get into the conference is lead a panel.

But I STILL think black people and NABJ people in particular need to do a better job at attending conferences like these and pitching panels. There should be at least 50 people who belong to NABJ at the SXSW Interactive. There should be NABJ people leading panels.  It shouldn’t just be black bloggers and tech heads.  If done ahead of time, you can do SXSW with $1,000. It’s not cheap but you have to look at it like an investment.

ND: If a person of color asks you why they should attend SXSW, what would you tell them?

KF: It will change your life. Last year, I was unemployed and I had just returned from the Vancouver Olympic Games when I realized that I needed and wanted to go to SXSW Interactive. I paid more than $2,000 of my own money to attend the conference and it was worth every penny. That $2,000 did the following for me:

1) Allowed me to interact with the leaders of social media and got me up to speed on who the big dogs were.

2) When I left SXSW, I had a good idea of what were going to be the “hot” interactive technologies for the next year (location-based social media, cause social media (a la Pepsi refresh).

3) Allowed me to personally interact with people of color who are leaders in the field. When I arrived at SXSW last year, I was nobody. After going to a couple of panels that featured people of color, I was able to connect with leaders like blogger Gina McCauley (What About Our Daughters) and comedian/techie Baratunde.

4) Soon after attending SXSW, I really started to follow social media and digital media more closely. I knew what publications to read. I knew what people to follow.

This year I am going to have more of a targeted approach and focus on entrepreneurship and mobile technologies.

SXSW Interactive Links

• Amy Webb of Knowledgewebb: 80+ Can’t Miss Things To See & Do at SXSW 2011
• Robert Hernandez, AKA @WebJournalist: Tips and tricks for SXSWi 2011
• ReadWriteWeb: 5 Absolute, Must-Have Apps to Rock SXSW Interactive
• Inc.: 7 Tips for Networking at SXSW
• Tantek.com: SXSW 101 and Additional Tips