Orientation to online journalism UN Media Workshop

12 September, 2015Vidyaratha Kissoon

Email vidyak1 (at) gmail.com , Tel: 686-0835

This handout has been updated after the presentation

A note has been inserted about immersive journalism

23 October, 2015

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Before we start..

I am NOT a journalist; I have some Information Technology skills

I do this because of The Danger of a Single Story

Thanks to Samantha Alleyne, Ravin Singh, Derwayne Wills, Jomo Paul, Neketa Forde, Andre Haynes and others for ideas for the presentation

The mistakes are all mine

This handout is best read online so that persons could click on the links to see the reference materials.

Please feel free to contact me for any more information

Things covered in this handout..

The scope of online journalism

The convergence of media

Blogging and role of personal blogs

Website design, responsive themes

Writing for mobile users 'breaking news'

Addition of hyperlinks and embedded content

Every journalist is a photographer

Data journalism, data visualisation

Ethical considerations

Answers to all your questions

New slide : Virtual Reality immersive journalism

In Guyana...

Print media online

Web based news

TV news clips online (Youtube channels)

Live streaming of radio

Social media

NGOs, other organisations sharing their own stories on websites (Help & Shelter, SASOD, IADB blogs, )

About online journalism

The use of information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, to collate, analyse and disseminate content for the purposes of what ever you consider journalism to be... VK definition

ranges from tweets of 140 characters to long form features of 15,000 words and over..

The increase in usage of mobile devices means a need for short, to the point, news updates

Moving from just putting the text,images and videos from traditional media on websites to creating content which mixes text, images, audio, video, interactive graphics, maps , data visualisations

There is interactivity with the readers/users sorting, commenting, clicking for more information, giving feedback

Example of crowdsourcing data

Social media

Blogs

Blogs

Blog reference

...When iNews Guyana reporter Jomo Paul arrived, around 8:30 p.m., he found himself stranded between police with riot shieldsand a mob with petrol bombs. Over the next three hours, Paul told me, he witnessed people from outside Sophia fuel the mayhem... CIA Meddling, Race Riots, and a Phantom Death Squad Gaiutra Bahadur Foreign Policy July 31 2015

Blogs using creolese

Blogs Youth voices

Blogs

Personal stories, opinions, behind the scenes, additional information not in the 'news'

Can journalists can have blogs? Facebook, Twitter is 'microblogging'

Decide on your ethics (Poynter guidelines say no anonymous blogs for journalists)

Check with your editor/ manager Do nothing to harm them

Platforms are Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Tumblr.com, LinkedIn.com , YouTube for vlogs

Good to build your personal profile especially if you are a free lancer

Decide a post a day, every two days, once a week, once a month

IADB Blog

Please see this 'personal blog' from an IADB staff member about the GT Recyclers. It has video, text, links and images.

The stink of ignorance and the sweet smell of dignity by Dr Marcello Basani.

Examples of online multimedia journalism

Video, text, sound, images Tiny Words ,Big Drama : Inside the world of the Birdmen of Queens Emile S Rueb,Emily S Rueb, NY Times, 31 July, 2015

Video, text, music : In Guyana, Feeling stifled after needling Government in song Girish Gupta , 5 Dec, 2013

Audio, Text, Images, Meet the Harmonium king of Queen's New York(Guyana born Mindra Sahadeo)

Bruce Wallace, 1 April 2015, Public Radio International

Video, text, images, animated maps, slideshows Snow Fall:The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, John Branch, NY Times, 2012

Maps, Data Visualisations

Map : Chikungunya Cases confirmed in Trinidad & Tobago (TT Guardian)

LGBT Rights in the world (UK Guardian)

Declaracion Juradas(La Nacion, Argentina)

Web platform considerations

Customised design for agencies? Or use software like Wordpress, Drupal

A separate team for the online presence of the agency

Technical team for interactive graphics.

Black text on white background

Layout is important for ease of loading and navigation

Search engine optimised (use of text, etc.)

Accessibility text for screen readers, font size adjustment

Mobile Use Decide on separate sites for mobile devices

One site using a responsive theme (layout changes when the screen size changes so persons do not have to scroll across too much)

Free(almost) Youtube, Vimeo, Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, Podomatic, Soundcloud

Writing for mobile users

BBC Academy Writing for mobile

Different from Writing for paper, and writing features

Short headlines 55 chars, up to 70 chars - SEO

Use images 450 to 625 pixels wide,

width to height ratio maintained

Use Cross-heads

Use Lists

Use links for depth

Get to the point quickly

Tight writing, use every word

Images

Every (online) journalist is a photographer (BBC Academy)

Learn photography light, composition, etc.

Learn to use your camera.

Capture many images

Detail is nice, but could be lost when reduced for a mobile user

Use Relevant Images (Example below of pretty image not really connected to the story)

Images

Decide on how much post processing

Do not use the same image files which are being used for the print version of the newspaper. They should be edited to reduce file size, resolution, dimensions, etc.

Maintain width to height ratio

Verify images which are not your own

Check on attribution, COPYRIGHT

Links

Links give readers choice to get more informationLinks allow fact checking and validationLinks allow attribution Decision is based on ethicsYou can store your expose documents, files in Dropbox, Google Drive etc. and link to those

Decision about links

Link to articles,reports, images and other multimedia content from credible sources

Do not link to

criminal or offensive content,

content which will disappear,

content which violates your ethics

Content which cannot be verified

Embedding video and other content

You can embed video and other content in your story by pasting embed codes in the HTML of the story. Many sites generate the embed code. Youtube Example below

Data Visualisation

Google forms, Google spreadsheets

Google Maps, Open Street Maps, etc

IBM's Many Eyes Generates data visualisations

DevInfohas development statistics and generates charts and graphs maps which can be embedded

How to make Infographics: A beginners Guide to data visualisation : Rachel Banning-Lover 28 August, 2014 UK Guardian

Please feel free to contact me for details

Ethics

Poynter Guidelines

Journalists have a duty to explore new technologies

Limited time, resources no excuse for bad work, mistakes. Harm could be easily caused by viral mistakes. Quickly correct what is wrong and acknowledge this.

Understand difference between news and opinion

Transparency to avoid conflict of interest

Digital Media Ethics by Stephen J Ward from Uni. Of Wisconsin Centre for Journalism Ethics

Ethics Guyana concerns

- (GMPA & others are working on a draft media code of conduct for consideration to take into account Guyana's situation and global journalism standards )

- Journalists on social media getting into arguments and reflecting biases the difficulty of separating the professional from the personal on social media

- The need to moderate comments on posts, and on news websites to not cause further harm from users

- Journalists using Facebook posts, etc. as sources for their reporting . This issue is addressed in t his Poynter Guidance paper. How to decide what can be published, whats private on Twitter and Facebook

Some resources

Many online resources eg.Online Journalism BlogData Journalism HandbookKnight Centre for Journalism in the AmericasThere are also many how-tos and online courses available

Immersive journalism

Inspired by Nonny de la Pea

Journalism meets Virtual Reality

Using 3D cameras and software to create visuals of news events

Users need 3D lens and appropriate viewing software to access the content

ABC News VR Inside Syria http://abcnews.go.com/US/fullpage?id=33768357

Thanks for reading

There were many positive responses to the workshop presentation which was done in 90 minutes.

I willl be happy to voluntarily conduct any orientation or specific training sessions 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes with no obligation to (any) participant(s). We would need a space with good Internet access. (With speed so that a youtube video can be viewed without any problems)

All work will be done according to my code of ethics.

Please feel free to contact me on vidyak1@gmail.com or tel 6860835 to arrange

.