1 / 32

Online tools in the newsroom

Information literacy for news editors. Online tools in the newsroom. New Era News Management, frayintermedia , Joburg – Oct 2010 Izak Minnaar, SABC News. Overview. Media convergence, social media and the information jungle

erek
Download Presentation

Online tools in the newsroom

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Information literacy for news editors Online tools in the newsroom New Era News Management, frayintermedia, Joburg – Oct 2010 Izak Minnaar, SABC News

  2. Overview • Media convergence, social media and the information jungle • “Just google it” - information literacy standards for journalists • Online tools in the newsroom • Demo: Search tools and techniques • Checklists for news editors

  3. The jungle, waves & clouds

  4. We live and work in a new world … in an information jungle • The age of old and new media • ... of social media • Did you know?Shift happens (US biased) • … and media convergence • Compiled for the Economist Magazine's Media Convergence Forum end of 2009 in New York • See how things change: Worldometer

  5. The new world of waves & clouds • Web waves – development of the internet • What is Web 2.0? What is Journalism 2.0? • Social networking • Online collaboration • Information sharing • Open platforms allowing users to • contribute and curate content • format and organise content • display content in preferred environments • Computing in the clouds • The machine is us/ing us

  6. Key message today • To navigate through this information jungle – and produce better content – editors and journalists need to embrace the new tools of the trade: • Promote use of online tools and skills in the newsroom • Institutionalise best practices so that they become part of standard operational procedure • … to enhance quality and standards of journalism

  7. Info literacy standards

  8. “Just google it” • Journalists as information professionals • Tools and techniques of the trade • Required expertise in job ads? • Formal training? • Skills standards? • Editors/news editors leading by example? • Information Literacy Competency Standards for Journalism Students and Professionals - discussion paper compiled by a US Communication Studies academic association

  9. Source: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Journalism Students and Professionals Information literacy defined

  10. Info literacy for journalists

  11. Proposed standards • Standards applying to online and other information: • Content/story planning: sources and resources • Finding info: online research and gathering • Evaluation of info for accuracy and fairness • Analysing the info, collate draft and create the story for various platforms • Apply ethical standards • Source: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Journalism Students and Professionals

  12. Online tools in the newsroom

  13. A reporter in action … Secure the perfect interview Analyse the information Get a lead Check the facts; track competitors Find the experts; work your contacts Break the story and spread the word Prep: read up and research the story Slide adjusted from a Google SA presentation

  14. Online tools in the newsroom • Key functions to find and prepare info for content creation • search • gather • track • analyse • compile • Strategies to find info, to find people, to spot trends, for content analysis & evaluation, … • Which skills? Which tools? Expertise level?

  15. An online skills and toolset • What follows: an overview of essential online tools and techniques • Not comprehensive – please add yours! • Unique set needed for each newsroom • Presenting this toolset cognisant of differences in newsrooms regarding • Platform specific requirements • Level of computer infrastructure & connectivity • But you have your mobile computer in your pocket • Online skills levels in newsrooms

  16. Essential tools and techniques … but all newsrooms need a level of knowledge about: • Search engines • Search techniques • Social media tools • Online analysis • Online resources & reference

  17. 1. Search engines • Different kinds of search engines • Traditional search engines • Database driven web search • Deep web/invisible web searches (Biznar) • Specialised/targeted search (Pipl, Wolfram-Alpha) • Realtime search (of the social web) • News (latest and country news filters) • Blogs, social media, aggregators • Directories • Integrated/universal searches

  18. 1. Search engines … Searching beyond Google • Multisearch: Panabee • Metasearch:Dogpile • Search results clustering: Yippy • Visual search results: Carrot2 • New generation search: iResearch Reporter

  19. 2. Search techniques • Effective search techniques • Anticipate what info will be available • Search with a document frame of mind • More words, less but better results • Phrase searching • Advanced search techniques • Finding source material: domain and filetype searches to get primary source content for credible, balanced stories (gov/edu/org) • Search filters – eg results from one country or a website without a search facility

  20. 2. Search techniques … • Special search features in Google • Cache – Google’s snapshot of the last visit to the site • Time based and timeline searches • Wonder wheel – visual aided exploration • Tips and tricks • Language tools • Translated searches • Local domain searches

  21. 3. Social media tools • Types of sites (Danny Sullivan in Searchengineland): • Social News Sites (such as Digg, Reddit, Laakit) • Social Bookmarking Sites (such as Delicious, StumbleUpon, Muti) • Social Networking (such asFacebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) • Social Knowledge (such as Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers) • Social Sharing (such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Urban Spoon, Yelp) • More reading: Mashable • Wikipedia, tags and tag clouds

  22. 3. Social media tools … • Tracking stories and sources (Bradshaw) • RSS feeds & aggregators; web scraping • RSS in plain English; Feedity, Ponyfish • Personalised news and beat pages • News alerts and custom feeds • Readers and dashboards • Create and manage feeds • xFruits • Mashups • Yahoo pipes - examples: SA Media,SAM

  23. 4. Online analysis • Data analysis for investigative reporting • Spreadsheets and databases • Online mapping • My Maps (data layers) • Latitude • Data visualisation • Public Data • Fusion Tables, map mash-ups • Content analysis tools • Wordle • Google zeitgeist

  24. 5. Online resources & references • Language/dictionaries/pronunciation guides • Reference sources • Facts and stats • Experts and analysis • Profiles and timelines • News intranets • Newsroom collaboration tools • Team/beat docs and resources: Google docs • Editorial interaction: online chat

  25. Checklists for news editors

  26. Key questions • Do news editors know enough to guide journalists? To lead by example? • To spot the opportunities and pitfalls of the tools used by journalists? • Are you using these tools yourselves? • Using RSS products, aggregators and real time media to track stories and sources; read more in passive-aggressive newsgathering (Bradshaw) • Staying abreast of new developments and trendsetters with social bookmarking networks

  27. Newsroom strategies • Policies: • Online tools • Social media • New appointments – online skills • Editorial guidance (on using the most effective online tools of the trade) • Standard operating procedures – making it part of the newsroom operations and systems

  28. Creating online expertise • Training in online tools and social media: • Before entry in journalism schools • On the job, guided by internal experts • Mid-career formal courses, by journalism schools and industry training institutions • Regular skills and tools updates by internal and external experts, including: • Investigative journalism tools and techniques • Beat reporting tools and resources • Special training/coaching for editors and newsroom leaders

  29. Newsroom practices • Real time monitoring of developing stories • Monitter, Breakingtweets, Twittersearch • News editors; beat reporters; big screens • Live searching during story planning meetings • Setting up beat pages • Facts from Wikipedia • Leads from Facebook, Twitter • Check for plagiarism

  30. Training opportunities • Annual Power Reporting conference • Aimed at investigative journalists (and narrative journalism) • 1- 3 Nov 2010 • Wits University, Johannesburg • Power Reporting: the African Investigative Journalism Conference • Annual Highway Africa conference • New media, journalism and 2011 theme: climate change • 11 – 14 Sept 2011\ • Rhodes University, Grahamstown/Cape Town • http://highwayafrica.com

  31. Reading for news editors • Brave News Worlds: Navigating the New Media Landscape • Released last week by Poynter Institute and the International Press Institute • Insight of 42 authors from across the world

  32. Thank you! izak.minnaar@gmail.com http://delicious.com/Webguide

More Related