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YOU can tell when a print journalist has lost his full-time job because of the digital markings that suddenly appear, like the tail of a fading comet. First, he joins Facebook. A Gmail address is promptly obtained. The Twitter account comes next, followed by the inevitable blog. Throw in a LinkedIn profile for good measure. This online coming-out is the first step in a daunting, and economically discouraging, transformation: from a member of a large institution to a would-be Internet “brand.”

I was confronted with the fact that traditional media was rarely publishing, let alone commissioning, long-form visual journalism. I saw the dearth of assignments as an opportunity that would force me to find different, and potentially more personally fulfilling, ways to reach an audience.

"I figured that if my primary goal was not to publish in traditional print media, then I should take on projects that were larger and demanded a broader platform. I began to investigate ways to finance those projects and avenues to distribute them. I began to look for grants to produce the work, but was equally interested in figuring out how to reach an audience outside of traditional media outlets in a way that could still have a significant impact.

I'm Phil Coomes, picture editor and photographer for the BBC News website. This is my blog where I'll be exploring the world of photojournalism, photos in the news and BBC News' use of photographs, including those by our readers.

relies on software algorithms to collect technology news in real time into what is essentially the front page of an ever-changing industry newspaper.

turns to humans to filter the ever-growing number of articles and blog posts published online each day

Mediagazer, a new sister site for media industry news.

The AP Stylebook has released its new social media guidelines, including the official change from “Web site” to “website” (a move first reported back in April) and 41 other definitions, use cases and rules that journalists should follow.

Finally, the AP also offers some basic rules of thumb for how social media should and shouldn’t be used by journalists, with a focus on making sure they continue to confirm sources and information they find on blogs, tweets and other forms of social media.

more and more teachers are beginning to discover the enhanced, interactive learning experience that Skype’s free videoconferencing enables.

An analysis of controlled studies by the U.S. Department of Education in June 2009 found that “blended” instruction that combined online and face-to-face instruction had a larger advantage than pure online or face-to-face communication.

Tolisano insists that these calls are not about learning technology alone, because during these video calls, students are expected to do different jobs. Some prepare to present or ask questions of their online guests such as what the time difference is or what the weather is like. Other students film and photograph the conversation, while still others listen and write about the call. “It is not about using the webcam alone,” says Tolisano. “ It is about communication and presentation skills.”

"Yet we are the last stalwarts; my photojournalist friends at other mainstream newspapers say their travel budgets are gone. The LA Times, US News and Newsweek appear to be sliding towards bankruptcy; The Washington Post closed nearly all its foreign bureaux; Time is a shadow of its former self.

what is dead is not photojournalism - what is dead is the particular culture of photojournalism that supported us for the past 30 years.

new models for raising cash to do projects - the grants, agency workshops, Emphasis, the partnerships with NGOs (which I find troubling for reasons I won't detail here), and others. I myself am using Emphasis to raise money for a book project.

our 'photo-op' culture, where much of everyday life seems picture driven and played out in front of the camera.

"As a professional practice, photojournalism has historically relied on two forms of scarcity. The first involved the scarcity of skills to make good images, and the second the scarcity of popular access to the dominant forms of print distribution, the newspapers and magazines. Both of these limits have now been fundamentally challenged.

"Amateurs are able to purchase and use the best camera technology to make striking photographs, and - although it is not solely responsible for the decline of newspapers - the transformative power of the Internet has reduced the cost of publication to near zero, thereby opening up new channels for the circulation of imagery. Together these transformations have produced a new era of abundant pictures.

Quality photojournalism is expensive - researching the story, gaining access, spending time with your subjects, post production and editing - there are no short cuts. Newspapers and magazines spend a tiny proportion of their income on content and they certainly don't want to spend it on photography.

Success now lies in being multiskilled, merely taking photographs is not enough. My advice to aspiring photographers is that they need to be able to design a web page using html, know their way around a multitude of publishing software programmes shoot and edit video, record audio and most importantly research and pitch stories.

rather than sourcing funding from the print media or distributor of a story, photographers are working with organisations who have a message they want to disseminate.