SOJo: Student of Online Journalism

...is up and running at www.megantaylor.org

This is the last post to Fragments of Mine. SOJo has a different RSS feed, so head on over and check it out.

Moving...

Fragments of Mine is in the process of becoming SOJo: Student of Online Journalim. I will post the new Web site and feed when everything is up and running.

Reporters Without Borders

The Internet redefines the limitations of travel, of money, of physical possibility. Except:



24 Hours Against Internet Censorship allows Web surfers to fight against censorship in 13 countries by submitting comments to an animated map.



The 13 "Enemies of the Internet": Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.



I'm a little surprised that Iraq and Afghanistan aren't on the list.

New York Times Blogs and Newspaper Web site stats

The New York Times has staff blogging about:

• Bits - newest gadgets and trends
• First Look - new features and services
• Carpetbagger - movie awards
• The Lede - news stories
• The Caucus - elections
• Pogue's Posts - technology
• DealBook - business
• The Pour - wine, beer and spirits
• Diner's Journal - restaurants
• The Public Editor's Journal - responds to reader complaints/comments
• Dream Home Diaries - the epic tale of home construction
• Screens - Web video and media
• The Empire Zone - politics in NY, NJ, And Conn.
• Tierney Lab - science
• The Fifth Down - fantasy football
• Wheels - cars

In addition, this article reports that newspaper blog traffic has tripled from 1.2 million viewers a year ago to 3.8 million in December 2006.

Blog pages accounted for 13 percent of overall visits to newspaper sites in that month, up from 4 percent a year earlier. Total visitors to the top newspaper sites rose 9 percent to 29.9 million.

Lookin' good!

Novels in newspapers

A long, long time ago, newspapers printed novels in serial form along with the news. But it's been quite a while since fiction had a place in the news business. No, wait, that's wrong too...



Anyway, the point is that The Washington Post is posting a fiction novel in serial form on it's Web site.



As newspaper Web sites move away from the traditional design of printed news, it's interesting to see how the content evolves as well.



One thing: When fact and fiction overlap, how do you know which is which?

Goggles Boggles: Applications of Google Maps mashup game for Journalism

Goggles lets you fly a cartoon airplane over 21 locations, drawing its imagery from Google Maps. The plane is controlled using the arrow keys, speed is controlled with A and Z, and you can even fire by hitting the space bar.



How does this apply to journalism? What if you could simulate the flight of a plane crash? Follow the path of the planes, see the landmark, etc? Simulate air-bombing in the Middle East (or wherever)?



Maybe that's brushing too close to reality for some, but wouldn't you want to see the detailed flight path of a burning plane?



Take it out of the context of planes. How about trains and automobiles? People?



Kim's wilderness wanderings could be followed as if we were right there. Tagged wildlife could be viewed anywhere without leaving the comfy chair at your desk.

Mavs ride into the Web with a Wiki

From Micro Persuasion:

The Dallas Mavericks have a wiki where fans are encouraged to document games and submit photographs. This may be the first wiki in professional sports.

From MavsWiki:

The Official MavsWiki is a collaboration of Mavs history, official stats and the all important FAN perspective. Editing of this site is open to all and we encourage everyone to share thoughts, comments and photos of their experiences with the Dallas Mavericks.

Now that's citizen journalism. What would happen if the same idea was applied to online news?

More on Data

Looks like I had good timing. Check out some of these posts for more on CAR.

• Journalism's Future
• Do numbers make your head hurt?
• The next step after multimedia and interactivity? Just add data.

My affinity with numbers is pretty weak. My education in Excel is elementary. I'll be looking for a tutor soon.

Florida Times-Union and The Scoop

The Scoop is an amazing Web site where Computer Assisted Reporting is documented and then sorted into categories by any means your geeky heart could desire.

Today's entry is from the Florida Times-Union, a piece called Homicide 360.

Writers Jim Schoettler, Paul Pinkham and Steve Patterson researched the 364 homicides - whether criminal, accidental or justifiable - that occurred between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2006. That included learning the backgrounds of victims and killers.

Schoettler and Pinkham studied police investigative reports, prosecutors' files and autopsy findings, then recorded the information in a computer database. They interviewed killers and cops, prosecutors and defense lawyers, judges and academics, crime witnesses and victims' families.

With support from Duval County's chief judge, homicide suspects' confidential juvenile court files and pre-sentence reports were opened. Patterson coordinated and analyzed database records of each killing and collected other records. He also developed a database that tracked homicide suspects' prior arrests and the outcomes of those cases.

I just finished a course on public records last semester, and it's really cool to see what can be done with some patience and an affinity for numbers.

The feature is also a great example of how news stories should work online. From any one place in the story, you can move to any other place. Beautiful.

Gainesville, Gainesville

I saw this last week, in the parking lot next to what used to be T.I.S. Bookstore and is now Textbook Brokers.

As I walked past, I had the sense to pull out my phone and snap a picture (I would have stopped to talk but I was running late for class). He called after me, and asked me to pull a didgeridoo out of the knapsack leaned against the wall. I did and handed it to him, and he proceeded to continue hula hooping while playing the instrument.

This is why I love Gainesville.

Guest Editors on YouTube: Training for the future?

YouTube will be selecting one user each month to be the Editor of the YouTube homepage. Participants will submit 10 videos they think belong on the homepage, along with a video of themselves explaining their choices.

Finally, we’re opening up the programming of our home page to guest editors. We’ll pick one user a month to take over for a few days. All you’ll have to do is send us 10 videos you’d like to place on home (make sure they adhere to the terms of service!) along with a short video about why you chose what you did and how you found the experience. If you’re interested in participating, please let me know.

via the YouTube Blog



I assume there would be a way to discern how successful each participant is in selecting "good" videos for the YouTube homepage, be it page views, comments, whathaveyou. Allowing a YouTube member to be the Editor of the homepage may also bring insights into what the community wants, as well as the individual's preferences. Could a brief stint as the Editor of a popular page result in an unexpected learning experience? Participants also have to describe the experience in their personal video, so maybe we'll find out.

How to get a job in Journalism pt. 2

In response to the challenge:



I have and continue to develop my own Web site: MeganTaylor: Jill of All Trades



I use Google Reader to keep track of over 100 blogs and news Web sites.



Obviously, I maintain a blog. However, I do have trouble making time to comment on other blogs. (New Year's Resolution #34)



I walk around with a digital camera and my phone, which also captures photos, video and audio.



Oh yea, and I'm taking Mindy McAdams's class at UF. Heh.



What are you doing to get the job?

Who does News Web sites well?

This is a little dated, but still interesting:

Best Use of RSS Feeds: The Houston Chronicle a job of making its RSS feeds clearly available from its home page. While this may seem obvious to some, a large majority of newspaper sites make users go through several clicks to the RSS feeds. The fact that the Chronicle makes them accessible directly from its homepage is somewhat unique.



Best Blog Network: The Boston Globe has an enormous network of journalist and citizen blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you live in the Boston area.



Best Use of Bookmarking: For newspapers, the Washington Post is a great example of a site that gives users a variety of options for external bookmarking. For magazines, Sports Illustrated the only publication that allows both internal and external bookmarking options (users can save articles on their si.com account or their facebook account).



Best Commenting Features: There are a few newspapers that have fantastic mechanisms for user comments on articles. For example, on the Philadelphia Inquirer website, users cannot comment on every article. But the site does enable comments on popular articles about local news or special interest items. On the main section pages, articles with commenting functions are highlighted by a special icon. The Morning Call and the Virginian-Pilot take a different approach, allowing comments on just about every article on the site. Also noteworthy is the commenting functions for The Guardian (UK). This publication has a separate site dedicated to user comments, called Comment is Free.



Best Use of Tags: We found three magazine websites that used tags: US Weekly, Popular Science, and Parenting. All three sites have tag clouds on their homepage, which makes searching for article pretty easy.

From Print Media Websites: Who’s Getting it Right?

How to get a job in Journalism

Learn how to make Web pages, shoot video, gather and edit audio, read, write and comment on blogs. In other words, produce content. Make yourself visible online, not just as a person, but as a journalist.



Choose an RSS reader and use it! Find out what other people are doing and what they want to know about.



As Mindy McAdams reminds us, the future of Journalism is now, and it's online. Newspapers are reworking their newsrooms and budgets to develop strong online presences. Keep up, or be left behind.

From TheUndertone.org

Where were you when UF became National Champions in football?



Megan Taylor:



I was enjoying a self-absorbed evening at home until my father called to tell me that the Gators were losing. He was watching the game on TV at the gym. Shrug. I'm the first to say that I'm not a fan of American football. A little later, a friend of the family called to tell me the Gators were winning. Darn. Now I'll be up all night listening to fireworks, car horns and yahoos, instead of getting some desperately needed sleep before my 7:25 a.m. class. Around midnight, I knew the Gators had indeed won the game. Well done. Now shut up out there so I can sleep!

UF Newsies

The UF Newsies are officially published to Undertone, a segment of the Gainesville Sun online.

Look for our accounts of the National Championship, plus feature stories about life at the University of Florida.