Article focusing on the convergence of traditional news reporting and web2.0 style user-generated content, from MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium (February 2007)
"It's no secret that web design is a fast-growing industry. Virtually every type of business is in need of a quality website. There are opportunities at the large agency level down to freelancers developing small-business websites from home.
So how do you break into this exciting field? With little or no experience creating websites, getting yourself up to speed can be a daunting task. There are so many different avenues of design and development to explore. Which way should you go first? Which skill sets suit you the best?
We aim to give you an overview of a few things things that are essential to a well-rounded knowledge of web design. These are starting-points, if you will. Below each item, we've listed additional resources for you to continue on in your learning process.
Before we get into it, heed one important lesson: You can't become a professional web designer overnight. It takes years to reach an expert level in any aspect of the field. But everybody starts somewhere, and there's no better time than the present begin your web design education."
OpenZine is a publishing platform with web browser based tools that provides an easy way for anyone to make their own magazine, for free.
The best way to describe what OpenZine provides is by understanding how magazines work. Magazines have a staff of writers, photographers, designers, illustrators and editors that create & contribute. Here at OpenZine you create & contribute on those same principles but your resources are other OpenZine users!
To preserving the design experience of print we've created amazingly powerful one click layouts. You can even change them as you go!
Create your magazine cover online with the OhhZee Image Editor.
In just a few clicks, you can add shapes, text and effects the OhhZee way!
New tools for new news
Journalists need new tools to work online. I started building this online database of such tools as a personal project, just a way to keep track of everything I was using. It has since grown into something I think others will find useful.
10x10™ ('ten by ten') is an interactive exploration of the words and pictures that define the time. The result is an often moving, sometimes shocking, occasionally frivolous, but always fitting snapshot of our world. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.
10x10 is ever-changing, ever-growing, quietly observing the ways in which we live. It records our wars and crises, our triumphs and tragedies, our mistakes and milestones. When we make history, or at least the headlines, 10x10 takes note and remembers.
Each hour is presented as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames, each of which holds the image of a single moment in time. Clicking on a single frame allows us to peer a bit deeper into the story that lies behind the image. In this way, we can dart in and out of the news, understanding both the individual stories and the ways in which they relate to each other.
10x10 runs with no human intervention, autonomously observing what a handful of leading international news sources are saying and showing. 10x10 makes no comment on news media bias, or lack thereof. It has no politics, nor any secret agenda; it simply shows what it finds.
With no human editors and no regulation, 10x10 is open and free, raw and fresh, and consequently a unique way of following world events. In 10x10, we respond instinctively to patterns in the grid, visual indicators of relevance. When we see a frequently repeated image, we know it's important. When we see a picture of a movie star next to a picture of dead bodies, we understand the extremes that exist in our world. Scanning a grid of pictures can be more intuitive than reading headlines, for it lets the new
"Keeping abreast of news in your niche can be tough. I know the feeling of being left behind, when you think you need to be checking thousands of feeds 24 hours a day.
Fact is you do not need to have such a punishing regime.
I have been known to follow stupidly excessive amounts of RSS feeds, plus my Twitter following got well out of hand.
My feeds are now down to 300 and I am slowly trimming who I follow on Twitter. I'm down from 900 and some to hopefully approaching a manageable number below 700.
This might still seem like a lot to you, how do I manage to follow so many feeds?
Here are 21 tips for a more productive approach to keeping up with all the crucial developments in your niche. They will work for feeds or Twitter in most cases but I have aimed mainly at RSS:"
"Get Started With Google Wave
From Wired How-To Wiki
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Let's just say this up front: Google Wave doesn't make sense at first glance. It kinda looks like e-mail because you send messages to friends, but it's also like chat because the messages you send to friends can be received and responded to in real time. It's also a little like Google Docs, because the messages you send are rich in display features.
However, if you look at Google Wave as a mishmash of Web 2.0 technology, you're missing the point. Google Wave is a communication device all its own. It allows you to communicate online as if you're in the same room, and it makes your communication with large groups of people more powerful and useful. If you really want to conceptualize Google Wave, you're going to have to use it. Here's how. "
"You've probably heard people talk about Google Wave (Google Wave) being a game-changer, a disruptive product, or maybe even as an email killer. But while keywords and phrases like these grab people's attention, they don't explain why or how Google Wave could be a paradigm-shifter. In this article, we explore these questions by highlighting some of Google Wave's most unique and promising features. By exploring these features, we can better understand the potential of this new technology."
"Finding the Frame is a gathering spot where multimedia journalists can receive feedback on their videos, audio slideshows and multimedia projects from industry professionals and fellow visual journalists. "
Wimba Classroom 6.0 Participant Guide
This Help Guide is designed to assist you with Wimba Classroom to participate in an interactive session or view an archived presentation. You will also find information for solving technical problems.
Top 10 Tips for Twitter … and Life
by Guest Poster on January 22, 2009
in Twitter for Beginners
In this post Crystal N Woods (follow her at @crystalsquest) shares some great tips for those starting out in Twitter.
twitter-tips.png
The buzz this year is all about Twitter, the 'microblog' service.
Both the web and twitter are full of pleas from people who say they don't 'get it'. In a nutshell, the point of twitter is to post very short updates - no more than 140 characters. It's a bit like a txt msg for the web, on 'what you're doing now'. These tweets can be links to cool sites you've found, conversations with other twitter users, questions you want a quick answer for, what you're having for dinner or even haiku poetry.
The main difference between twitter and txt is: when you send it out it goes out to everyone who's opted to follow you. On the receiving end, you're getting these updates from everyone you've chosen to follow. This constant flow of short messages to and from is called the 'twitter stream'. It can be a bit overwhelming at first. Just like modern life. In fact, it occurred to me that the people who 'get it' and rave about it the most are the very same people who have achieved vast levels of success in this information age. So, here's my take on the top 10 success tips for twitter… and Life!
At TEDU 2009, Erik Hersman presents the remarkable story of Ushahidi, a GoogleMap mashup that allowed Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts following the 2008 elections, and has evolved to continue saving lives in other countries.
Collective Lens promotes social change with your photos. Upload a photo and help bring awareness to important issues around the world. You can inspire others to become involved.
Using Twitter… 'The Smart Way'
by Guest Poster on December 9, 2008
in Twitter Tools, Twitter for Beginners
Today Mark Ramskill (@ramskill) from SubHub, takes a look at some of the steps that new Twitter users can go through to get going.
Twitter, having been quickly adopted initially by key influencers, has grown into a mass-market communication tool, with millions of users.
If you're publishing content, undertaking online marketing, and looking to keep up with the latest trends in anything web related then Twitter should be featuring highly as a 'weapon of choice'.
In this article I'll be assuming you are new to Twitter, and that rather than wanting to use Twitter as a way of simply keeping up with friends, you want to use it as a tool for valuable engagement and maximum effect, avoiding the white noise that Twitter can also create if used incorrectly.
I call this 'Using Twitter, the Smart Way'.
10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
by Darren Rowse on November 16, 2008
in Twitter for Beginners
In this guest post Aira Bongco (@airabongco) shares 10 tips for Beginners who are just getting into Twitter.
So you just signed up for Twitter. You make your first tweet and you realize you don't have any followers. "What a dumb idea!" You say. "Who the hell would be interested in what I'm doing anyway?"
Don't worry. You're normal. That is a sign that you are a Twitter beginner. A lot of us Twitter users (or addicts) went through the same questioning routine. And look at us now. We're geeks who are on Twitter all day and night and we can't stop tweeting.
So you want to be like us? It's not that hard really. Just follow these simple steps.
13 Twitter Tips and Tutorials for Beginners
by Darren Rowse on April 18, 2009
in Twitter for Beginners
Just starting out on Twitter? Looking for some Twitter Tips to get you started?
How to Teach Yourself About Social Media When J-Schools Fail
Roland Legrand
by Roland Legrand, April 14, 2009
Tagged: communities of practice, connectivism, journalism school, learning, networked learning, social media
Journalism is changing rapidly due to social media, and these changes can be bewildering as people wonder how to keep up. I recently gave a social media workshop for journalism students, and I soon realized that many students were still unaware of social media other than Facebook. They were shocked to hear about feed readers, blogs, or micro-blogging and asked how they could learn about all those developments.
It seems that we should rethink not only journalism, but also journalism education: Tomorrow's journalists will need to take the initiative to teach themselves about rapidly changing technology. To that end, here are some ways that students can become their own teachers in regards to social media.
Bewilderment
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Guest Passes let you share your photos that aren't public. Anyone can see your public photos anytime, whether they're a Flickr member or not. But! If you want to share photos marked as friends, family or private, use a Guest Pass. If you're sharing photos from a set, you can create a Guest Pass that includes any of your photos marked as friends, family, or private. If you're sharing your entire photostream, you can create a Guest Pass that includes photos marked as friends or family (but not your private photos). Learn more about Guest Passes![?]
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