The best blogs of the semester

See if you agree with me, but I think the two best blogs were those of Mildred Scott and Alex Alvarez. Each had a strong title: “Economy, Interrupted,” and “Our ‘Unjust’ Justice System.” Each blogger offered a steady volume of posts with strong graphics and headlines, and succinct, well written stories. Each posted a series of helpful links. 

Other blogs I thought were strong were Job Tennant’s recent posts on “green” technology and UH, and Marylu Rodriguez’s coverage of a talk by Rice sociologists about whether  immigrants are good Americans. Danny Mata finally delivered on the data about teenage homeless that created a vital dimension to his interviews with homeless teenagers.

Thank you again for a great semester and for your work and conversation. I was a pleasure to get to know you.

Again, I urge you to keep you blogs going, or start another. Change the look. But keep your work out there in public. Blogs aren’t a passing fancy. They’re here to stay. I firmly believe they’ll be an essential part of business and government.

Building a bank of resources

Alex has nailed the resources section of her blog better than anyone. Notice the variety and depth of the links: columnists, publications, government sites.

This is an important part of building a blog. One of the sayings I heard at the Knight Conference on Online Journalism is that blogs are not just about what you say. They are about what you read.

We typically think of blogs as a way of sharing opinion, and the stereotypical view of bloggers is of caffeinated, angry people typing snarky things while wearing their pajamas. 

But what if blogs are a way of sharing information, not opinions? Then blogs can be incredibly useful in business, not to mention the news media. 

So work on that bank of resources. Polish it up.

On copyrights and blogs

We need a short lesson on copyrights and blogs. I wish I had the perfect short answer on what you can and cannot put up on the web and how to think about it.  But here is a complex website at the University of Texas.  

It’s called a “crash course” but it contains a lot of information. Maybe too much.

If anyone has found a site   that explains the fundamentals of copyrights and blogs in a simple and straightforward manner, please send me the link.

Tips on writing

As you’re finishing your blogs and improving them, you may be looking for advice. Maybe you’re just warming up to the idea of how to handle language and the like. Some good advice can be found on the Writer’s Craft website, especially in David McHam’s handouts for feature writing. That’s still a lot of information. So if you had to consult one handout it would be the one on how to write.    

Those of you who are confident might turn to it anyway. Lots of good material to review there.

A great immigration story in Sunday NY Times

When I read this story I thought of UH students. It’s about a brother and a sister, one legal, one illegal.

Of all the social issues we face, immigration is one of the most profound and difficult. It appears that President Obama is determined to do something about making it possible for millions of people to get citizen. That may unleash a torrent of fear and resentment. But it may also unleash a great deal of empathy. Americans are basically a generous people, I think.

And business leaders want those immigrant workers.

When generosity meets economics, there may be a way through.

The decline of newspapers

Newspapers are in trouble. We all know this. There’s even a blog called Newspaper Deathwatch, which is not as morbid as it sounds. It offers thoughtful pieces about the financial earthquakes that are going on in journalism, as well as a funny musical video about the problems. Another useful source is “ Reflections of a Newsosaur: Musings (and occasional urgent warnings) of a veteran media executive, who fears our news-gathering companies are stumbling to extinction.” These blogs will take you to a lot of useful sources.

The recent layoffs at the Houston Chronicle led to my appearing on Fox 26  news last Friday for three minutes of fame at 7:30 in the morning.  I searched for the most pertinent facts about the newspaper business. The Pew Center for People and the Press just last month issued a sweeping report. The basic facts are these.

Newspaper advertising fell from $49.3 billion in 2006 to $38 billion in 2008. This is an $11 billion drop. Newspapers are still big businesses. But clearly they are shrinking. And advertising is still declining as the recession deepens. The Houston Chronicle suffered when two big Chevrolet dealerships closed. 

Newspapers used to get 30 percent of their revenue from classified ads, but Monster and Craig’s List changed all that. The internet is ideally suited for classified ads, and what’s worse (for newspapers) it can provide them for virtually no cost. Classifed advertising has dropped from $20 billion in 2000 to $10 billion in 2008.

But keep in mind that while newspapers are in trouble, journalism isn’t necessarily in trouble. The business model for newspapers is broken. But journalism will still be needed. The problem is how to pay for it.

Funky Winkerbean on writing for the digital media

Today’s Funky Winkerbean cartoon includes a lot of real world problems: divorce, death, aging, and what’s going on in teaching digital media. 

Writing is being changed by the new media.

One example was reported in Sunday’s NY Times, about an attempt to combine novels and images for the electronic book reading public. There will be more. 

Also in the Times, a story about “cloud” computing. Already you can use word processing and other programs online instead of installing them in your computer. There’s talk of a $99 internet computer. Most of the software to run it will be out there in cyberspace, not in the computer.

 

A conference about online journalism

Check it out. You can view some of this online if you’re interested. 

The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to invite you to the

10th International Symposium on Online Journalism
April 17-18, 2009
Registration closes Sunday, April 5th. For more information and to register, visithttp://online.journalism.utexas.edu/.

Organized by the Knight Chair in Journalism and the UNESCO Chair in Communication at UT Austin.

Activities will take place at Avaya Auditorium, ACES 2.302 <http://knightcenter2.communication.utexas.edu/email/lt/t_go.php?i=386&e=MTcyNjM=&l=-http–www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/ace.html> .  The symposium is free, but registration is required and space is limited.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 17

8:00–8:30 a.m.    Registration  

8:30–8:45 a.m.    Opening Session
•    Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication, School of Journalism, UT Austin– Symposium Chair
•    Tracy Dahlby, Director, School of Journalism, Frank A. Bennack, Jr. Chair in Journalism, UT Austin

8:45–9:30 a.m.    Keynote Address: The Future of Journalism Amid Disappearing Newspapers
Paul Steiger, Editor-in-Chief, President and Chief Executive of ProPublica

9:30–11:00 a.m.    Panel. Diverse Business Models in Online Journalism – Are we Trying Hard Enough?

•    Chair and presenter: Steve Outing, Columnist, Editor & Publisher
•    Premesh Chandran, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysiakini.com (Malaysia)
•    Beth Frerking, Assistant Managing Editor, Politico.com
•    Katie King, Creative and Development Editor, MSN (United Kingdom)
•    Márion Strecker, Content Director, UOL.com.br (Brazil)

11:00–11:15 a.m.    Coffee Break

11:15–¬12:45 p.m.    Panel. Using New Platforms and Social Networks to Enhance Interactivity and Journalism Outreach. Are Journalists Engaging in the Conversation? 

Chair:  Robert Rivard, Editor, San Antonio Express News
•    Paul Brannan, Emerging Platforms Editor, BBC News, (United Kingdom) 
•    Andy Carvin, Senior Strategist for Social Media, National Public Radio
•    Rachel Nixon, News Director, NowPublic.com (Canada) 
•    Robert Quigley, Internet Editor and Social Media Coordinator, Statesman.com and Austin360.com
•    Dwight Silverman, Interactive Journalism Editor, Houston Chronicle


12:45–1:45 p.m.     Presentation by Steve Semelsberger, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Pluck Enterprise, followed by luncheon sponsored by Pluck 

1:45–3:15 p.m.    Panel. Newsroom Integration and the Prevailing Formula of Multimedia, Multiplatform Content – Is it Working?

Chair:  Fred Zipp, Editor, Austin American-Statesman
•    Jim Brady, former Vice President and Executive Editor, WashingtonPost.com 
•    Sewell Chan, Bureau Chief of City Room Blog, NYT.com
•    Jonathan Dube, Vice President, ABCNews.com
•    Anthony Moor, Deputy Managing Editor/Interactive, Dallas Morning News
•    Torry Pederson, Chief Executive Officer, VG Group (Norway) 

3:15–3:30 p.m.    Coffee Break

3:30–5:00 p.m.    Panel. Visual and Multimedia Storytelling on the Web and Beyond. Have we Already Created New Narrative Styles through the Use of Photos and Video?

Chair: José Zamora, Journalism Program Associate, Knight Foundation
•    David LaFontaine, Partner, Artesian Media and Managing Editor, Newspaper Association of America’s Audience PlanBook
•    Travis Fox, Video Producer, WashingtonPost.com 
•    Bill Gentile, Journalist-in-Residence, American University  
•    Fred Ritchin, Director, PixelPress
•    María Teresa Ronderos, Editor, Semana.com (Colombia)

SATURDAY, APRIL 18

8:30–9:00 a.m.    Registration

9:00–10:15 a.m.    Panel. Ten Years of the Symposium: How We Saw Online Journalism in 1999, What has Happened Since Then, and What do we Predict for the Next Decade?

Chair: Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication, School of Journalism, UTAustin

•    Gerry Barker, Digital Operations Revenue Manager, The Palm Beach Post
•    Steve Sullivan, Multimedia Editor, The Baltimore Sun 
•    Janine Warner, Digital Alchemist, Artesian Media, Inc. 
•    Peter Zollman, Founding Principal, AIM Group 

10:15–10:30 a.m.    Presentation. Six Years of Symposium Research – A Review of Trends 2004-2009
Amy Schmitz Weiss, Assistant Professor, San Diego State University and Symposium Research Chair

10:30–10:45 a.m.    Coffee Break 

10:45 –12:00 p.m.    Panel. Citizen Journalism, User-Generated Content and Crowdsourcing: Who is Contributing to the Conversation and Why?*

Chair: Cindy Royal, Assistant Professor, Texas State University at San Marcos
•    Thinking about Citizen Journalism: Perspectives on Participatory News Production at Community Newspapers
Seth C. Lewis, Kelly Kaufhold, Dominic L. Lasorsa, UT Austin
•    UGC Status and Levels of Control in Argentine, Colombian, Mexican, Peruvian, Portuguese, Spanish, US and Venezuelan Online Newspapers
Elvira García de Torres et al, CEU Cardenal Herrera (Spain)
•    When the Crowd Doesn’t See the Value: Crowdsourcing, Citizen Journalism, and the Cultural Production of Local Online News
Shayla Thiel-Stern, University of Minnesota 
•    The Loud Public: Readers’ Comments in Online News Media
Na’ama Nagar, University at Albany-SUNY

12:00–1:00 p.m.    Lunch sponsored by UT College of Communication

1:00 – 2:15 p.m.    Panel. Reading Between the Lines: Investigations into the Messages, Frames and Perspectives on Online Journalism*

Chair:  Tom Johnson, Marshall and Sharleen Formby Regents Professor, Texas Tech University
•    Framing Differences in Gender-Related Sport Coverage by Internet Sites and Newspapers
Edward (Ted) M. Kian, University of Central Florida
•    State Policy and News Websites in China
Ying Zhan and Dong Han, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
•    Online Journalism: Reflections from a Political Economy of Communication Perspective
César Bolaño, Universidade Federal de Sergipe (Brazil)
•    Readers’ Comments to Online Editorials as a Space of Public Deliberation
Edith Manosevitch, Researcher, Kettering Foundation

2:15–3:30 p.m.    Panel. Looking Inward: Tracking the Changes and Transformations in Today’s Newsroom*

Chair: Amy Schmitz Weiss, Assistant Professor, San Diego State University
•    Technology, Physical Organization, and Spatial Culture in the Transforming Newsroom
Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
•    Taking the Paper out of News: A Case Study of Taloussanomat, Europe’s First Online-only Newspaper
Neil Thurman and Merja Myllylahti, City University  (United Kingdom)**
•    Lost in the Ashes:  A Case Study Demonstrating the Importance of Embracing the Share Economy for Environmental and Scientific Journalism
J. Richard Stevens, University of Colorado at Boulder
•    Web Production, News Judgment, and Emerging Categories of Online Newswork in Metropolitan Journalism
Chris Anderson, Columbia University

3:30–3:45 p.m.    Coffee Break

3:45–5:00 p.m.    Invited Research Panel. International Journalism Perspectives from the Americas and Iberian Peninsula

Chair: Alfred Hermida, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia (Canada)
•    From Gatekeeper to Social Partner: Citizen Journalism and the Journalist in Web 2.0 Participatory Environment in Brazil
Elizabeth Saad Corrêa and Francisco Madureira, Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) 
•    Why Should we Expect Worlds to Collide? A Case Study Analysis of “Jornal de Notícias” and its Strategic Production Changes
Luís António Santos and Manuel Pinto, Universidade do Minho (Portugal)
•    Creating an Index to Calculate the Level of Convergence of a Medium
Manuel Gago Mariño, Moisés Limia Fernández, Carlos Toural Bran, Xosé López García, Teresa de la Hera Conde-Pumpido and Xosé Pereira Fariña, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
•    Setting Guidelines on How to Design the News Online: An Analysis of the Portuguese Online Newspapers and their Spanish, Argentinean and Brazilian Counterparts
Nuno Vargas, Department of Design and Image, Universidad de Barcelona (Spain)
•    The Use of Video Journalism and Other Types of Copyrighted Video in Teaching Journalism
Loreto Corredoira y Alfonso and Rodrigo Cetina Presuel, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)

5:00–5:30 p.m.    Wrap-up 

Chair: Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication, UT Austin 
•    Presentation by Symposium’s Rapporteur: Charlotte-Anne Lucas, Online Instigator, WilCharMedia

(*) Refereed research papers (blind review)
(**) Top rated paper
 

Class visitor Wednesday April 8

Our class visitor will be Matt Geihart. Here’s his biography:

 

Matt Gierhart founded The New Celebrity in 2002 as series of experiments in social networking websites. After gaining attention he went on to begin working for companies developing their internet strategy. Some of his clients have included Harcourt Education, Freescale Semiconductors, German Audi and the Democratic National Convention. He is currently working on some experiments with K-12 school demonstrating their possible uses of social media, how fine art and content licensing meet on the internet and the current rise of social media marketers. Matt has given public speeches at South by Southwest, London’s Art Academy and Prague’s Modern Art Museum. He currently writes for the trend spotting blog JoshSpear.com and spends most of his year in London, but he only owns as many objects as can be packed into two large suitcases, just to keep options open.

Resources: Deepening your web of references

Every major social issue has some advocates in one way or another. These are the “sources” that we often hear from on opinion pages. If they conduct a major investigation, reporters write stories about the results. 

We hear a great deal of talk about investigative reporting, but more often, stories are based on the investigations of nonprofit advocacy groups that make it their business to investigate their issue. Sometimes the advocacy groups are staffed by degreed experts. Sometimes the groups advocate policy. Some try to stay above the fray and report. Some conduct public opinion polls. Others do hard science or social science. 

Expand your blog by identifying the sources that are most helpful and knowledgable about your issue.

There might be books, university blogs, journal articles, advocacy websites, government websites, business groups, religious groups.  Make a library of sources and post them. Do this gradually. Dig into the library. Pull it together by the end of the semester. Don’t leave it for the last minute.