print, pixels & people 11

Print, Pixels & PeopleIdeas for today’s

student journalistLogan Aimone, MJE, executive director

National Scholastic Press Association

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Print, Pixels & People

Let’s startwith a quiz!Keep score at your seat,

or just keep track in your head.If you’re really techy, you’ll add

your points on your iPhone.



1. Mobile5 points: You have a Web-enabled mobile device (BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.)3 points: You have a cellphone with text message capability (that you use)1 point: Cellphones can do that? Yours is just for actual phone calls.0 points: No cellphone.+3 Bonus if you have a Web-enabled phone and an iPad



2. E-mail5 points: You check your e-mail account(s) on your computer, iPad and phone.3 points: You use only a computer to access e-mail.1 point: You have to print your e-mails to file them.0 points: No e-mail.+1 if you’re on Gmail. -1 if you still use AOL.



3. Microblogging5 points: You have a Twitter account and regularly send tweets.3 points: You set up a Twitter account but never send tweets.1 point: You have at least heard of Twitter.0 points: You think the only “tweets” are from birds.+1 Bonus: You Tweet from your phone, or if you know and use TwitPic.



4. Curated Links5 points: You have an account on Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Publish2 or another social bookmarking site.3 points: You’ve seen these sites.1 point: You’ve forwarded a link.0 points: You thought curating was for museums.



5. Social Network5 points: You’re a Facebook expert (pages, groups, photos, links, apps).3 points: You’ve seen these sites.1 point: Your main Facebook activity is Farmville or Mafia Wars.0 points: No active Facebook.+1 if you manage a fan page or a group. -1 if you only have MySpace.



6. Websites5 points: You own your own domain name and manage the site.3 points: You’ve dabbled online with HTML or WordPress.1 point: You are mainly a user, not a creator online.0 points: You think the Internet is a “series of tubes.”+1 if you access on your phone.



7. Flickr5 points: You have a Flickr account and post images regularly.3 points: You’ve browsed Flickr.1 point: You know Flickr exists.0 points: You think this is about candles and wonder why it’s misspelled.+5 if you know about Creative Commons and have abided by a CC license.



8. Video5 points: You’ve created and uploaded a video to YouTube or another site.3 points: You’ve watched multiple YouTube videos.1 point: You’ve maybe seen a couple videos online.0 points: You didn’t know YouTube was an online video source.+1 if you have seen the Old Spice ads.+5 if your question was in one.



9. MiscellaneousBonus Points:+2 if you use RSS feeds+2 if you read Mashable.com+2 if you have apps for news+2 if you have apps for lifestyle+2 if you’re on LinkedIn+2 if you’ve made a Google Map+2 if you use Google Docs+2 if you know about QR Codes



Scoring35+: Impressive! You’re techy. You probably already tweeted your score.25-34: Not too shabby. You’ll probably update your Facebook about this later.11-24: You’re somewhat techy, but you could to kick it up a notch. Ask your friends how.10 and under: Time to start living in the 21st century.



Shifting GearsWhat’s your platform?



PrintWhat’s working?



Print• Although it has faced challenges from

broadcast media, it remains the most common, widespread and portable form of mass media.

• It’s relatively inexpensive, portable and accessible.

• What is the impact on the school community when printed media are eliminated?

• What content should be printed?



PixelsWhat’s new?



Pixels• While the printed page has been the

dominant medium in scholastic journalism, online publishing has started to take off.

• More student newspapers — and even magazines and yearbooks — are turning to the Web for a variety of reasons.



Pixels• The Internet allows for instant publishing

of content rather than the infrequent publication of print.

• Compared to the expense of printing an edition of the newspaper, a website is dramatically less expensive — maybe even free.

• However, websites can be hard to manage and inaccessible to many.



PeopleWhat’s it all about?



People• Ultimately, it’s the content that matters.

• You and your staff need to answer this question:

• What is the most appropriate format to use to tell this story?



Putting it together

What does today’sstudent journalist

need to think about?



Convergence• The term convergence means a “coming

together” — and that’s what you have available to you today.

• Members of Generation Y (that’s you!) are comfortable with and operating in a converged media environment.



Convergence• Online tools allow a media staff to combine

multiple media to deliver content in the most appropriate format: text, audio, images or video.

• Online networks like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Delicious, Flickr and Twitter allow users to build a community and to customize and share content.



Convergence• Are you and your staff positioned to tell the

story in multiple formats?

• Why not?



Social Media• Because teens are comfortable in this

environment, you need to shift your focus to take advantage of where your readers/viewers are.

• Engage your readers in a way that helps them (they get news) and helps you (you get tips for more news).



Social Media• Do you have any idea how big of an impact

social media are having on every aspect of our lives?

• Let’s watch a short video and see…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8(Social Media Revolution 2, May 5, 2010


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8





Social Media• A few highlights from the video:

• Nearly all of you (96%) are on a social network.

• That’s the #1 Web activity.

• More than 500 million people are on Facebook. (More on that in a minute.)

• Fastest-growing segment is women 55-65 (that’s your mom or grandma!).



Social Media• More highlights from the video:

• 80% of Twitter use is by mobile device.

• That’s instant discussion, good or bad.

• Studies show Wikipedia is more accurate than Encyclopedia Brittanica.

• But that’s not an excuse for using it as your sole source.



Social Media• More highlights from the video:

• 78% of people trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust ads.

• 25% of Americans watched a short video in the last month on their phone.



Facebook• In June 2009, the average United States

user spent an average of 4 hours, 39 minutes on the site per month (~9 minutes per day), according to Nielsen Media.

• In January 2010, the average U.S. user spent more than 7 hours per month (~14 minutes per day) on Facebook.

• That’s more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon — combined.



15 Things to Think About This Year

Improving your operation in 2010-2011



1. Be excellent• It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say

it anyway: Strive for excellence.

• Excellence isn’t settling for pretty good.

• Good enough is not good enough.

• Set goals to improve with each edition or deadline.



2. Get out there• You can’t really get a story unless you get

out and talk to people. In person.

• Yes, in person!

• You can always tell the difference when a writer has observed and interviewed in person.

• E-mail or chat interviews fill a need, but they are not as effective as being there.



3. Find stories• Establish a solid beat system in place to

gather the routine news.

• Expect that each beat will yield some briefs and longer stories.

• Demand enterprise from reporters (editors, too). That means digging around to find something newsworthy and writing it in a compelling, interesting and useful way.



4. Show us• Probably the most widely read (and most

liked) stories are those that tell interesting stories about people.

• Your school and community are full of these stories.

• Localize national issues with the stories of people around you.



5. Get a Website• There’s really no excuse today for not

having at least a basic website.

• Basic: You could post a PDF version of the printed paper.

• Advanced: You could update news throughout the school day.

• An online presence opens up a new universe of multimedia opportunities.



6. Get social• MySpace and Facebook accounts are free.

Interact with readers by posting links to stories and by getting tips from readers.

• With 60 million Facebook status updates daily, you can monitor what’s happening or ask them to let you know about events occurring outside school (or at school but not known).

• Let readers submit photos, letters, etc., to you through these pages.



7. Start Tweeting• Twitter is a free “microblogging” site that

works in 140-character messages.

• As you gather “followers” you will be able to pass along messages to a wide group of people. That means instantly informing your followers when news happens (sports scores, lockdown, free burritos at Chipotle).

• Use hashtags (#word) to label and search.



8. Get Delicious• Delicious.com is a social bookmarking site

that is, guess what, free.

• You can post links there that will be useful to others.

• The links can be labeled and sorted in a number of ways.

• This is a way to enhance content beyond the printed page.

• You can also see what others bookmarked.



9. Use Flickr• Flickr is an online image-sharing service.

Yep, it’s free for a basic account.

• You can make your images available for people to browse.

• Through a Creative Commons license, you can get images to use (free and legal!).



10. Use YouTube• YouTube is a solution to upload videos.

• It might be blocked on your school’s computers.

• However, it’s not blocked on mobile devices or at home, which is where most people will probably access the videos anyway.

• If you need a site to get by school filters, try SchoolTube.com instead.



11. Do multimedia• With a website, not only can you update

news and information as frequently as you want, you can improve the content.

• The newspaper can showcase one or two images from an event. Online, you can have dozens — with audio and captions.

• Yearbook staffs can promote the book through “sneak peeks” or extras that are posted online.



11a. Try QR Codes• The “QR” stands for quick read and is a type

of two-dimensional bar code

• Smart phones can scan the codes and launch PDFs, videos or websites

• Create a QR code easily and for free online

• Even without a website, this is a way to add content and value



12. Be the #1 source• Be serious about being the top information

source for all things about your school.

• If someone wants to know a fact, score, date, record, time or whatever — be the place they turn for that information.

• Own sports stats, especially JV and lower squads.

• Scoop the local paper. Doesn’t it feel good when that happens?



13. Do fewer…• Horoscopes and advice columns

• Superficial columns (carpe diem, senioritis, slow drivers, etc.) that could be in any year

• Double-truck stories on “hot topics” that aren’t tied to a news event. Make sure you have a news peg if you’re committing that much space.



14. Follow the law• Obey copyright.

• Only use “fair use” images or get permission. Flickr lets you search for Creative Commons images.

• Use copyright-free music unless you pay a royalty.

• Saying it’s “for education” doesn’t let you off the hook.

• Know privacy rules.

• Know your rights.



15. Remember…• Your role on campus is to inform and

enlighten your audience.

• You have a responsibility — an obligation, even — to take that seriously and to do it well.

• Your audience needs you to tell them the things no one else will tell them.



SummaryTime to wake up if you

have been sleeping!



PrintKeep doing it.

• It’s perfect for long stories.

• People can pick it up and take it with them.

• It’s permanent. (You can’t tape a Web page in your scrapbook.)



PixelsGet more digital.

• It’s instant.

• You build a community.

• Readers expect you to be online.

• If you don’t someone else will.



PeopleIt’s always about them.

• Whether in print or online, it’s the story that matters most.

• Find the platform that is most appropriate.

• Converge multiple platforms to experiment.

• Be excellent.



Thanks!Twitter: @NSPA

Facebook:National Scholastic

Press Association

Any questions?


print, pixels & people 11

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