by Marc DeRoberts
1. Don’t use a built-in microphone: Hand-held microphones record at much better quality than built in mics of your equipment.
2. Know how your microphone records: Microphones record in different patterns, such as omni-directional and cardioid. Knowledge of this pattern will assist you in determining the placement of your microphone in relation to your subject.
3. Monitor levels: In most cases, the device you are using shows the levels at which you are recording. Make sure that the audio does not peak above -12db to insure that your audio will not be blown out and crackly.
4. Wear headphones while recording: This is a vital step in securing the quality of your audio. For example, if you are using a lavalier microphone clipped onto your subject's lapel and it is rubbing against their jacket, you will hear a crackling sound and be able to prevent it from continuing through the interview. You would not be able to hear this if you only look at your recording level.
5. Get close, but not too close: Hold your microphone a few inches away from the speaker's mouth and slightly below the chin. If it is too close audio will sound distorted, and if it is directly in front of the person's mouth, you are going to hear some harsh noises when they use words with the letter p. The farther you are, you will hear more ambient sounds detracting from an interview.
6. Bonus: If you are doing an interview, choose a location that is relatively quiet to prevent distracting noises. Make sure to record ambient sounds separately so that you can mix them into your audio during the editing process.
7. Bonus Bonus: Practice, practice, practice.
February 28, 2010
February 26, 2010
Video tutorial: The interview
— journalists' timeless tool
by Steve Earley
One thing Web 2.0 hasn't changed, and Web 3.0, 4.0 and so on won't change is the importance of interviewing. No matter how a story is packaged, it's not going to be all it could be without strong interviews.
For this week's News rEvolution video tutorial, six experienced interviewers from Elon University's Interactive Media graduate program shared some of their favorite tips for mastering this timeless art.
- Shelley Russell, the former special projects editor for Elon's student newspaper, talks about the importance of background research.
- Documentary filmmaker Conor Britain explains why e-mail interviews should be avoided.
- Former newspaper journalist David Kennedy stresses interviewing sources at their home base, be it their house, their office or where news is happening.
- Kevin Burrows, a former trade magazine writer and editor, encourages interviewers to break the ice by chatting about a shared interest or experience.
- Alisa Petitt, who has worked on both sides of the camera covering sports, says it's essential to have a game plan going into an interview.
- Print journalism veteran Brook Corwin advises leaving the toughest questions for the end of the interview.
5 Ways to build an
online community
by Cathy Freeman
Believe it or not, online communities are just as hard to develop as real-live human people neighborhoods. You begin by researching who might live in your houses and what they might like to look at every day. Would a centrally-located pool bring everyone together with like-minded goals? What about security concerns? Can my children roam safely without supervision? What about uniformity and pretty trees and clean porches?
Behind every avatar and profile picture is a living breathing person who expects the same attention from an online community manager that they would find from a Homeowners' Association or Neighborhood Watch program.
Here's the first installment of a long list of my top tips for developing your online neighborhood:
1. KNOW YOUR MEMBERS: Before you can meet your members’ needs, you have to know what they are. Research your visitors’ advertising tolerances, preferred platforms and other favorites. Try tools like Survey Money, online polls or plain and simple discussion forums. If you want to know what your customers want, it never hurts to ask, right?
2. LISTEN: If you have a brand– people are talking about it. Find out what they’re saying on sites like Blogpulse, Technorati, Delicious, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search or Ice Rocket. Study things like brand mentions, hot topics and big talkers. Who is the most vocal about your company and why?
If you’re introducing a new brand to the market, take the time to learn what people are saying about your competitors. By understanding consumers’ likes and dislikes, you can better communicate what makes your product unique.
3. FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION: I don’t mean jump on any ole bandwagon that comes along. Find out where your consumers are online and join in their conversation, rather than trying to dictate your own tête-à-tête.
For example, the 2010 Social Media Report announced that 69% of online shoppers regularly use social media sites. 50% of those consumers use Facebook regularly (anything clicking in your head?) 50 percent is a huge market share to be reaching with your targeted advertisements.
4. MAKE CONTENT VIRAL: No flu-mask necessary. I’m talking about valuable content – anything from laugh-out-loud home videos to inspirational short stories. Social media is making content sharing easier than ever. Your clever 30-second spot or short animation is just a click away from being “shared” between millions of users. To make your content worthy of being passed along, you have to understand what makes it viral.
5. INFLUENCE YOUR INFLUENCERS: Now that we all live in online communities, we have to have new theories just to understand ourselves (and each other). The online community theory suggests that people who participate online are ultimately motivated by anticipated reciprocity, recognition, and a sense of efficacy and community.
Obviously some people are more motivated to participate than others. Those people are called influencers. If you think that sounds creepy, those who are listening but aren’t speaking up are called “lurkers.” Shudder. And to think, you’ve probably lurked at least ONCE today already. You are probably doing it RIGHT now.
According to the Pareto principle, approximately 80 percent of online activity is supplied by 20 percent of participants. The easiest way to reach the lurkers is to identify and influence those who are doing all the talking. No one can speak better about your brand than your own satisfied customers.
February 25, 2010
Hyperlocal news at work
The world of journalism is changing drastically. No longer do we the audience have to depend on the traditional news organizations to be our source for news. We can participate in the process ourselves. And now, more than ever, we’re interested in the news that we want to know about. We’re determining what’s most important by our involvement in the news process. So, what is hyper-local news? Wikipedia says:
The term "hyperlocal" is sometimes used to refer to news coverage of community-level events. Typical mainstream media do not cover topics with narrow interest like street repair or local health inspection results, and instead focus on regional, national, and global concerns and trends. Hyperlocal media has created a niche for themselves by only covering narrow-interest stories related to a specific region, city, or neighborhood.This is what the audience is asking for. This is the way journalism used to operate. Small community newspapers and even television stations when they came on the scene worked to serve the small community they were a part of. It was when journalism became a money-maker, that the bottom line became the main focus, not the goal of giving news to the community that each news organization was designed to serve.
So, a website called Neighborlogs is getting back to “serving the community” with its mission of getting people in small communities involved in reporting the news that is important to them. Neighborlogs is a free, hosted placeblogging platform with an integrated local advertising service. It’s designed for local content contributors and organizations to document the news and information that maters most in their communities. It also gives local businesses a relevant, engaged audience for their advertising messages.
Just register for the site.
And start adding content!
It’s that simple.
There’s a place for videos, photos, maps showing all the stories and their locations, as related to your specific community, everything you need on your neighbor log, including the opportunity for local businesses to advertise.This is a great way for a hyper-local news organization to get off the ground. Here you’ll find all the tools necessary to become a citizen news participator. You just have to get involved.
Here are some examples of hyper-local news organizations that are putting it into practice.
Here's a little documentary about the use of Neighborlogs:
February 22, 2010
Irazu Coffee brings
Costa Rican flavor to Elon
by Sean H. Smith
Burlington coffee shop, Irazu Coffee has expanded its business by bringing a taste of Costa Rica to the campus of Elon University.
Five months after being introduced to Irazu to do a story about the effects of large corporations on local businesses. It was then that we learned about the joint venture between Irazu and Elon University. The shop has made an impression on the Burlington population with is high-grade brew and welcoming atmosphere. Irazu had also become very popular with the university’s student body.
Walking into Irazu Coffee feels like walking into your home. A large mural, portraying the back of a Costa Rican five colones bill covers the majority of a wall. A couch and TV are tucked into the back corner, along with games and jewelry made in the land of the rich coast. Above all that, there is Rossy Villalobos, who owns Irazu Coffee along with her son Rod Salazar. Her warmth and kindness makes feel as if you are part of her family the moment you walk through the door.
This inviting atmosphere has turned Irazu into a popular stop for locals and students alike, to relax and enjoy a quality cup of Joe and good conversation. As a result, business has been good for Irazu Coffee in recent years. At least the was until the economic downturn as Villalobos explains here.
Photos by Sean H. Smith
As Rossy waits for business to pick back up at the Burlingtion location, she can turn to their second location now located in Elon’s Moseley Center to bring in more business. Irazu and Elon are into the fifth month of their relationship that started back in September. The idea to bring the coffee shop to Elon was the idea of Salazar, but as he explains the endeavor was merely a dream and not thought to come to fruition.
Photos by Sean H. Smith
After a semester of being on campus, Irazu Coffee has been building a reputation as a relaxing and inviting alternative for students to gather for conversation or studying. Salazar says that the shop has something different to offer from the other coffee shops on campus as a result of their type of product and the way they do business by buying their product from local vendors who offer a variety of coffees from different parts of the world.
Photos by Sean H. Smith
This local relationship with vendors isn’t only here in the area but extends back to Costa Rica as well. Ninety-five percent of the coffee that Irazu brews is from small, “fair trade” farmers around the world. In addition, Irazu also supports Café Feminino, a co-op of single mothers who grow coffee for trade and use the profits to support their families. The organization started in Peru and has grown from a group of 464 farmers to over 4,000 throughout coffee growing countries in South and Central America.
As a result of the high quality product offered, the coffee house is brewing with activity as students talk, drink various coffees, and do work on the half dozen computers located in the shop. This boom in business has really come as a surprise to Salazar and his sister Becky, when they say that, “we expected to do well on campus, but not this well.”
Salazar is really happy with the way things are going, as one can understand if they spend any amount of time in the new shop. The young owner, like his mother is inviting and inventive by the way he greets each and every customer and creates, what he calls “latté art” – heart and leaf shapes he forms on the surface with the way he pours the milk into the concoctions – building a bond and rapport with his customers and the university.
Salazar is very appreciative of Elon for offering his family this opportunity to do business on their campus and feels that the relationship between the two has worked out well for both parties as it provides a tranquil atmosphere for its students to interact and study.
Photos by Sean H. Smith
The success of Irazu at Elon is a direct result of the friendly and easy-going attitude that Salazar and his family bring to the business and campus. This pura vida approach to doing business and treating people is percolating throughout the campus and community and is what will bring continued success to both of Irazu Coffee’s shops in the future.
Burlington coffee shop, Irazu Coffee has expanded its business by bringing a taste of Costa Rica to the campus of Elon University.
Five months after being introduced to Irazu to do a story about the effects of large corporations on local businesses. It was then that we learned about the joint venture between Irazu and Elon University. The shop has made an impression on the Burlington population with is high-grade brew and welcoming atmosphere. Irazu had also become very popular with the university’s student body.
Walking into Irazu Coffee feels like walking into your home. A large mural, portraying the back of a Costa Rican five colones bill covers the majority of a wall. A couch and TV are tucked into the back corner, along with games and jewelry made in the land of the rich coast. Above all that, there is Rossy Villalobos, who owns Irazu Coffee along with her son Rod Salazar. Her warmth and kindness makes feel as if you are part of her family the moment you walk through the door.
This inviting atmosphere has turned Irazu into a popular stop for locals and students alike, to relax and enjoy a quality cup of Joe and good conversation. As a result, business has been good for Irazu Coffee in recent years. At least the was until the economic downturn as Villalobos explains here.
As Rossy waits for business to pick back up at the Burlingtion location, she can turn to their second location now located in Elon’s Moseley Center to bring in more business. Irazu and Elon are into the fifth month of their relationship that started back in September. The idea to bring the coffee shop to Elon was the idea of Salazar, but as he explains the endeavor was merely a dream and not thought to come to fruition.
After a semester of being on campus, Irazu Coffee has been building a reputation as a relaxing and inviting alternative for students to gather for conversation or studying. Salazar says that the shop has something different to offer from the other coffee shops on campus as a result of their type of product and the way they do business by buying their product from local vendors who offer a variety of coffees from different parts of the world.
This local relationship with vendors isn’t only here in the area but extends back to Costa Rica as well. Ninety-five percent of the coffee that Irazu brews is from small, “fair trade” farmers around the world. In addition, Irazu also supports Café Feminino, a co-op of single mothers who grow coffee for trade and use the profits to support their families. The organization started in Peru and has grown from a group of 464 farmers to over 4,000 throughout coffee growing countries in South and Central America.
As a result of the high quality product offered, the coffee house is brewing with activity as students talk, drink various coffees, and do work on the half dozen computers located in the shop. This boom in business has really come as a surprise to Salazar and his sister Becky, when they say that, “we expected to do well on campus, but not this well.”
Salazar is really happy with the way things are going, as one can understand if they spend any amount of time in the new shop. The young owner, like his mother is inviting and inventive by the way he greets each and every customer and creates, what he calls “latté art” – heart and leaf shapes he forms on the surface with the way he pours the milk into the concoctions – building a bond and rapport with his customers and the university.
Salazar is very appreciative of Elon for offering his family this opportunity to do business on their campus and feels that the relationship between the two has worked out well for both parties as it provides a tranquil atmosphere for its students to interact and study.
The success of Irazu at Elon is a direct result of the friendly and easy-going attitude that Salazar and his family bring to the business and campus. This pura vida approach to doing business and treating people is percolating throughout the campus and community and is what will bring continued success to both of Irazu Coffee’s shops in the future.
February 20, 2010
Civil Rights museum open
by Marc DeRoberts
February 1, 2010 was a cold morning in Greensboro, NC. Snow and ice patches that remained from a previous storm lined the streets. The difference between 7:15 am and 7:45 am was the influx of hundreds people gathered at the intersection of Elm Street and February One in downtown.
On this day, at this location fifty years ago four young men from North Carolina A&T University sat down at the lunch counter in the Woolworth’s building, and refused to give up their seats, which were reserved for white people only.
I was among the crowd, huddled together not only to celebrate the anniversary of this act of courage, but all the victories which came from the Civil Rights Movement. To commemorate the struggle, and teach future generations a lesson in tolerance and a piece of American history, the old Woolworth’s building was turned into a Civil Rights Museum, which was to be opened to the public that morning.
Outside of the museum’s doors, a stage stood before the masses, upon which Rev. Jesse Jackson (A&T alumnus), Senator Kay Hagan, and Governor Bev Purdue took turns speaking. Also on
stage were three of the four surviving members of the “Greensboro Four,” Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and Jibreel Khazan. This area was blocked off and reserved for VIP guests and the media, while the majority of the crowd congregated around a jumbotron, in the street.
Someone in the crowd made a comment about rebelling and rallying past the guarded gates, up to the stage. I found this interesting considering the circumstances.
As the ceremony came to a close, and the ribbon was cut, the streets were re-opened, but people continued to linger in anticipation to see the museum first hand. An announcement was made.
“There are no more tickets available to see the museum today.”
I came across an older couple sitting in the lobby. They did not have tickets. Even though they would not be able to see the museum today, the two of them sat in high spirits, happy to be among those present.
We were having a pleasant conversation and I asked them if they would be interested in an interview, to discuss what it was like living during the Civil Rights era and their thoughts on the museum. Luther Cheek obliged.
As I was interviewing Luther, something occurred to me. At nearly 27 years old, being removed from the Civil Rights era, I realized that I have never spoken with anyone who lived through this time about their first hand experiences.
Call it luck, or being in the right place at the right time, but as I was standing near the entrance of the museum I overheard one of the staff tell an older gentleman that they may have some extra tickets for one of the tours. I followed behind him, and as he walked away from the ticket desk successfully, I asked if they still had any left.
With my ticket in hand, I introduced myself to the same older gentleman who stood in line before me, waiting for the tour to start. His name is Titus McClenton.
Titus is also a Greensboro native, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps and earned two Purple Hearts. He ventured out to the old Woolworth’s building by himself, but was beaming with joy and excitement. Titus agreed to an interview after the tour, and I was eager to hear what he had to say.
The tour highlighted major themes and events before, during, and after the Civil Rights era. Most impressive was the fully restored lunchroom that housed the counter where the Greensboro Four took a stand years ago. Even though I was with a group of about 20 people, the silence in that room was piercing. It felt like walking into a time capsule, and you could feel the air pressure on your ear-drums. Behind the counter were 5 large panels that played a video recreating the scene that took place in that room in 1960.
One disturbing artifact, living in a case a few rooms away, was a wooden baton used by a Georgian police officer, infamous for beating African Americans. A museum employee told me that he gladly signed the baton before it was set to be on display at the museum.
February 1, 2010 was a cold morning in Greensboro, NC. Snow and ice patches that remained from a previous storm lined the streets. The difference between 7:15 am and 7:45 am was the influx of hundreds people gathered at the intersection of Elm Street and February One in downtown.
On this day, at this location fifty years ago four young men from North Carolina A&T University sat down at the lunch counter in the Woolworth’s building, and refused to give up their seats, which were reserved for white people only.
I was among the crowd, huddled together not only to celebrate the anniversary of this act of courage, but all the victories which came from the Civil Rights Movement. To commemorate the struggle, and teach future generations a lesson in tolerance and a piece of American history, the old Woolworth’s building was turned into a Civil Rights Museum, which was to be opened to the public that morning.
Outside of the museum’s doors, a stage stood before the masses, upon which Rev. Jesse Jackson (A&T alumnus), Senator Kay Hagan, and Governor Bev Purdue took turns speaking. Also on
stage were three of the four surviving members of the “Greensboro Four,” Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and Jibreel Khazan. This area was blocked off and reserved for VIP guests and the media, while the majority of the crowd congregated around a jumbotron, in the street.Someone in the crowd made a comment about rebelling and rallying past the guarded gates, up to the stage. I found this interesting considering the circumstances.
As the ceremony came to a close, and the ribbon was cut, the streets were re-opened, but people continued to linger in anticipation to see the museum first hand. An announcement was made.
“There are no more tickets available to see the museum today.”
I came across an older couple sitting in the lobby. They did not have tickets. Even though they would not be able to see the museum today, the two of them sat in high spirits, happy to be among those present.
We were having a pleasant conversation and I asked them if they would be interested in an interview, to discuss what it was like living during the Civil Rights era and their thoughts on the museum. Luther Cheek obliged.
As I was interviewing Luther, something occurred to me. At nearly 27 years old, being removed from the Civil Rights era, I realized that I have never spoken with anyone who lived through this time about their first hand experiences.
Call it luck, or being in the right place at the right time, but as I was standing near the entrance of the museum I overheard one of the staff tell an older gentleman that they may have some extra tickets for one of the tours. I followed behind him, and as he walked away from the ticket desk successfully, I asked if they still had any left.
With my ticket in hand, I introduced myself to the same older gentleman who stood in line before me, waiting for the tour to start. His name is Titus McClenton.
Titus is also a Greensboro native, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps and earned two Purple Hearts. He ventured out to the old Woolworth’s building by himself, but was beaming with joy and excitement. Titus agreed to an interview after the tour, and I was eager to hear what he had to say.
The tour highlighted major themes and events before, during, and after the Civil Rights era. Most impressive was the fully restored lunchroom that housed the counter where the Greensboro Four took a stand years ago. Even though I was with a group of about 20 people, the silence in that room was piercing. It felt like walking into a time capsule, and you could feel the air pressure on your ear-drums. Behind the counter were 5 large panels that played a video recreating the scene that took place in that room in 1960.
One disturbing artifact, living in a case a few rooms away, was a wooden baton used by a Georgian police officer, infamous for beating African Americans. A museum employee told me that he gladly signed the baton before it was set to be on display at the museum.
February 19, 2010
MediaStorm founder Brian Storm inspires more than noise
by Cathy Freeman
If ever there were someone who really “gets” journalism, it is Brian Storm, founder and president of multimedia production company MediaStorm.I had the pleasure of hearing Storm speak this week at my beloved alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill. Once again entering the double doors at Carroll Hall felt simultaneously foreign and familiar. I sat in my old lecture hall and remembered a younger version of myself who furiously scribbled notes without really “getting” journalism.
MediaStorm is guided by four main principles. First and foremost, everything is produced across multiple platforms. We’re living in a mobile world and our content needs to be available in a convenient carry-along size. Second, it is a project-specific, rather than producer-specific multimedia agency. It is an interactive production studio. And lastly, it is a training ground for journalists to relearn the tools of message delivery.Storm has such an exact way of expressing the internal flaw of journalism today. “We stopped answering to the audience and started answering to the shareholders,” he said. “We broke journalism. The model that has financed journalism for a long time is broken.”
This is a harsh reality for anyone who spent countless days in a lecture hall or behind a news desk. News is changing now in a forever kind of way and we're all trying to figure out how we're going to more than just keep up. We're trying to create a new standard for journalism that encourages truth-seeking and public participation.In 2005, Storm launched Media Storm and started publishing “diverse narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition.” Bottom line: the status quo journalist hasn't been doing his job.
And who is stepping into his place? It's Joe Journalist — your next door neighbor, best friend or son's fifth grade teacher. Storm named citizen participation as one of the most important tools for journalists today. “The new front page is not The New York Times. It’s your Facebook feed.” Storm said. “It is a paramount shift that has happened to journalism.”MediaStorm engages in several different online networking platforms including Myspace, Vimeo, Ning, Meta Cafe, Facebook and Twitter. Storm said, "I can't believe what this tool has meant, how it has changed the way we work. It's no longer the big media companies who control distribution. We all can now."
This new social power is captivating the media world. It's demanding better journalism, more engaging stories, more powerful connections. "The stuff in the middle that is just cranking out product — that is just noise," said Storm.All eyes on iReport.com
by Jaqueta Abbey
A screenshot of CNN's iReport.com home page
Background
Originally its own entity, iReport.com was launched in August 2006 in order for people to contribute their stories, photos and videos from around the world. iReport was not purchased by CNN until January 2008, and then underwent a relaunch, with the newly renovated site debuting two months later.What is unique about iReport?
iReport stories are not edited, fact-checked or screened before posted, but stories that are examined and investigated by CNN are marked with the site’s favicon (a white “i" in a red box).Not only is viewer content submitted instantly to the Web site, producers from CNN go through the online contributions and choose pieces to possibly be aired on the various CNN platforms.
One criticism of iReport is that contributors are not paid for their submissions, and seeing that CNN is a corporate news network they should be able to. Another criticism is that though users are granted copyright of their contributions, they must give up control of who uses their work.iReport features
The site is set up so that people can send in contributions as well as network with fellow contributors. Contributors can create profiles that show their statistics (how many reports they have uploaded, how many comments they have posted, etc.), hometown, occupation and interests, among other things. If you really like contributors' stories, there’s a button on their profile for you to subscribe to their RSS feed.Another large section of the site is the “Assignment Desk," where CNN proposes topics that people can submit stories about to possibly end up on CNN. CNN also helps iReporters by giving tips on what makes up a good story, how to take great photographs, how to shoot good video, and how to record sound for a story.
Finally, you can look at an interactive international map that pinpoints the location that the top iReports are sent from. It can be sorted by what has been featured on CNN, what are the “newsiest” (and vetted by CNN), the latest reports, the most viewed, the most shared, and the most commented on. The map can also be sorted by the location of iReporters themselves.
Status update on
open government
and social media
by Steve Earley
When North Carolina's Public Records Law received its last major update in 2005, Facebook still hadn't graduated from college and Twitter hadn't even been hatched. Today both social media tools are regularly used by state government employees.
"The technology's kind of outpaced the law," said Will Polk, deputy general counsel for Gov. Beverly Purdue.
Expect the pace to only quicken.
Philips Wood, a new media press aide for the Democratic governor, said social media have proven an effective way of communicating with younger citizens, who he said are becoming harder to reach through traditional outlets. His boss has accounts on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
Proving bipartisanship isn't dead, House Republican leader Paul "Skip" Stam has also embraced social media, although his Twitter feed, Facebook page and blog are political vehicles not used for legislative business, and therefore not subject to open records law, according to Chad Barefoot, who maintains the accounts. Barefoot said that as the minority party, Republicans "don't get all the press that we deserve." Social media, he said, let them bypass mainstream media and talk directly to voters.
Social media's rapid ascension doesn't necessarily mean that existing public records law can't accommodate status updates, tweets and whatever comes next. One of the law's strengths, the North Carolina Open Government Coalition's Dale Harrison said, is that it does not attempt a laundry list of communication tools.
"Absent poor decisions by public officials," said Harrison, Assistant Director of the coalition's Sunshine Center at Elon University, "what the law says is that any communication involving the carrying on of public business is considered a public record." (Personnel files, security plan details, trial preparation materials and trade secrets are among some of the exceptions.)
Without a public accounting of official deliberations, it would be difficult for citizens to meaningfully participate in the political process. They can't comment on a debate they don't know about and they can't evaluate a decision if they don't know what led to it.
Logging phone calls and office memos has long been a part of this accounting. If it's to be considered complete, logging newer, sometimes less formal seeming exchanges needs to become just as routine.
Pointing to the speed of both technological change and of political turnover, stakeholders said that educating officials of these new responsibilities is paramount.
"Education is probably more important than rewriting laws," Harrison said.
Polk, the deputy general counsel, also advocated education. Asked what social media questions his office fields most, he said users weren't familiar enough with the technology to be asking many nuanced questions. Mostly, he said, people are seeking general guidance on how to get up and running.
That social media are so new in a way makes things easier on teachers like Polk. Their pupils are yet to develop bad habits.
To help state workers develop good habits, the governor's office, state information technology officials and state archivists put together a social media handbook (pdf). The eight-page document, published in December, outlines best practices for the use, security and preservation of social media messages.
It states that communications sent and received by state employees are public record and instructs officials to check "public" for all privacy settings. Officials can manually archive messages or automate the process using software from the Department of Cultural Resources.
How long a record stays archived is determined by broader public records rules. More substantive messages are subject to prescribed retention schedules, some requiring records to be kept forever, others for three or five years.
Communications considered less substantive may be removed much sooner. Harrison said that parties creating the records have too much discretion over what falls into this category.
For instance, records with "extremely limited value" can be deleted as soon as those generating them no longer find them useful. E-mail guidelines list notes like "Call me when you return to your office." and "Can you meet on Thursday?" as examples of such records, but leave it relatively open as to what else these could include.
"You get some abuses of the law where e-mails are deleted right away when they ought to be retained," Harrison said. He considers this area one of the weakest parts of the state's open government laws, which typically rank somewhere in the middle of the pack when their effectiveness is compared with other states'.
The degree to which governments have embraced social media is less closely tracked, but the Perdue administration has to be among the leaders. Its social media handbook is as much policy paper as manual, calling social networks "a hallmark of vibrant and transparent communications" and encouraging all state agencies to join them.
That North Carolina officials are learning social media sooner than a lot of their national peers should benefit the relative openness of their government as the new tools become more widely embraced.
While citizens who track public officials on social media might be known as followers, true to the pull-not-push nature of new media, to a large extent, they are leading officials into this new frontier. Perdue alluded to this in remarks to local government managers earlier this month, suggesting that the modern ubiquity of information heightens expectations of transparency.
"In this kind of day and age, everybody understands that the work you do and I do is public business," she said, according to The Herald-Sun. "There is no 'behind closed doors.' There are no more dinners. All of that is history. We live in a different time."
When North Carolina's Public Records Law received its last major update in 2005, Facebook still hadn't graduated from college and Twitter hadn't even been hatched. Today both social media tools are regularly used by state government employees.
"The technology's kind of outpaced the law," said Will Polk, deputy general counsel for Gov. Beverly Purdue.
Expect the pace to only quicken.
Philips Wood, a new media press aide for the Democratic governor, said social media have proven an effective way of communicating with younger citizens, who he said are becoming harder to reach through traditional outlets. His boss has accounts on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
Proving bipartisanship isn't dead, House Republican leader Paul "Skip" Stam has also embraced social media, although his Twitter feed, Facebook page and blog are political vehicles not used for legislative business, and therefore not subject to open records law, according to Chad Barefoot, who maintains the accounts. Barefoot said that as the minority party, Republicans "don't get all the press that we deserve." Social media, he said, let them bypass mainstream media and talk directly to voters.
Social media's rapid ascension doesn't necessarily mean that existing public records law can't accommodate status updates, tweets and whatever comes next. One of the law's strengths, the North Carolina Open Government Coalition's Dale Harrison said, is that it does not attempt a laundry list of communication tools.
"Absent poor decisions by public officials," said Harrison, Assistant Director of the coalition's Sunshine Center at Elon University, "what the law says is that any communication involving the carrying on of public business is considered a public record." (Personnel files, security plan details, trial preparation materials and trade secrets are among some of the exceptions.)
Without a public accounting of official deliberations, it would be difficult for citizens to meaningfully participate in the political process. They can't comment on a debate they don't know about and they can't evaluate a decision if they don't know what led to it.
Logging phone calls and office memos has long been a part of this accounting. If it's to be considered complete, logging newer, sometimes less formal seeming exchanges needs to become just as routine.
Pointing to the speed of both technological change and of political turnover, stakeholders said that educating officials of these new responsibilities is paramount.
"Education is probably more important than rewriting laws," Harrison said.
Polk, the deputy general counsel, also advocated education. Asked what social media questions his office fields most, he said users weren't familiar enough with the technology to be asking many nuanced questions. Mostly, he said, people are seeking general guidance on how to get up and running.
That social media are so new in a way makes things easier on teachers like Polk. Their pupils are yet to develop bad habits.
To help state workers develop good habits, the governor's office, state information technology officials and state archivists put together a social media handbook (pdf). The eight-page document, published in December, outlines best practices for the use, security and preservation of social media messages.
It states that communications sent and received by state employees are public record and instructs officials to check "public" for all privacy settings. Officials can manually archive messages or automate the process using software from the Department of Cultural Resources.
How long a record stays archived is determined by broader public records rules. More substantive messages are subject to prescribed retention schedules, some requiring records to be kept forever, others for three or five years.
Communications considered less substantive may be removed much sooner. Harrison said that parties creating the records have too much discretion over what falls into this category.
For instance, records with "extremely limited value" can be deleted as soon as those generating them no longer find them useful. E-mail guidelines list notes like "Call me when you return to your office." and "Can you meet on Thursday?" as examples of such records, but leave it relatively open as to what else these could include.
"You get some abuses of the law where e-mails are deleted right away when they ought to be retained," Harrison said. He considers this area one of the weakest parts of the state's open government laws, which typically rank somewhere in the middle of the pack when their effectiveness is compared with other states'.
The degree to which governments have embraced social media is less closely tracked, but the Perdue administration has to be among the leaders. Its social media handbook is as much policy paper as manual, calling social networks "a hallmark of vibrant and transparent communications" and encouraging all state agencies to join them.
That North Carolina officials are learning social media sooner than a lot of their national peers should benefit the relative openness of their government as the new tools become more widely embraced.
While citizens who track public officials on social media might be known as followers, true to the pull-not-push nature of new media, to a large extent, they are leading officials into this new frontier. Perdue alluded to this in remarks to local government managers earlier this month, suggesting that the modern ubiquity of information heightens expectations of transparency.
"In this kind of day and age, everybody understands that the work you do and I do is public business," she said, according to The Herald-Sun. "There is no 'behind closed doors.' There are no more dinners. All of that is history. We live in a different time."
Blogger quick start guide
by Brynne Tuggle
Writing a blog is a great way to communicate and make your voice heard. It can be an outlet for your thoughts, your views about the world, a source for breaking news, etc. Google’s Blogger provides a very easy format for you to use when starting out on your blogging adventure.
To get started just go to www.blogger.com.
If you already have a Google account, type in your username and password at the top right hand corner and SIGN IN.
If you don’t have a Google account, click the “create blog” button and set up a Google account. You can use any e-mail address to create your account.
Once you sign in, choose a title for your blog, and a URL address where it will appear.
After you do this, you can choose from several Blogger templates to make your blog stand out. And don’t worry, you can always go back and change this.
Once you choose your template, you’re all set. Use the text editor to type in what you’d like your blog to say and the little photo and video buttons to add pictures and video to your blog. Give your blog a title, and you’re done.
Happy blogging!
Writing a blog is a great way to communicate and make your voice heard. It can be an outlet for your thoughts, your views about the world, a source for breaking news, etc. Google’s Blogger provides a very easy format for you to use when starting out on your blogging adventure.
To get started just go to www.blogger.com.
If you already have a Google account, type in your username and password at the top right hand corner and SIGN IN.
If you don’t have a Google account, click the “create blog” button and set up a Google account. You can use any e-mail address to create your account.
Once you sign in, choose a title for your blog, and a URL address where it will appear.
After you do this, you can choose from several Blogger templates to make your blog stand out. And don’t worry, you can always go back and change this.
Once you choose your template, you’re all set. Use the text editor to type in what you’d like your blog to say and the little photo and video buttons to add pictures and video to your blog. Give your blog a title, and you’re done.
Happy blogging!
February 13, 2010
February 12, 2010
Elon women's basketball teams with the Special Olympics
*For higher quality, click here.
To read an article from Elon University's The Pendulum about this special partnership, click here.
For more information about Elon University athletics, visit elonphoenix.com.
Quick steps to a happening blog
by Cathy Freeman
If you’re reading this, you understand the importance of people like me (and you, of course). WE are the blogosphere. We are the megaphones to the mouths of people silenced by traditional media. Most likely, your teenage daughter, favorite company, and quilting-obsessed grandmother are all live streaming in this open publishing forum.
We speak our minds at 90 wpm through this relatively new outlet with a funny little name and hope that other people will read our thoughts and turn our monologue into a dialogue. But how? With so many people joining the ‘sphere, how can your voice be heard? How can you encourage discussion and exchange of information to affirm our foot in citizen reporting?Follow some of these suggestions to help your blog lurkers find a voice:
- Ask a question: Ending your post in an open question encourages readers to reply to you. The more contentious your conclusion, the more likely you are to elicit a response.
- Create a poll: Gauge your public’s opinion through quick and easy polls that allow readers to bypass lengthy or time-consuming commenting. Use polling tools like Bloggeries and Blogpoll to help you get started.
- Reward participators: List top commentators on your blog with a widget or plug-in. On WordPress, this can be easily done with the Show Top Commentators plug-in.
- Keep them updated: This goes for your audience members and your blog posts. By posting consistently, you will keep readers engaged over time. Take it a step further and allow readers to subscribe to comments, so they are alerted when follow up comments are made.
Above all else, don’t be a bore. If your posts are relevant and easy-to-read, your audience will look forward to hearing from you and hopefully conversing with you and fellow followers.
What would you add to the list?
Citizens in action
for human rights
by Brynne Tuggle
The topic of citizens involved in reporting the news is usually discussed in the journalism world. But “citizen reports” are not constricted to news outlets. An organization called Witness is using the same tools to bring light to human rights around the world.
The group’s mission statement says that it uses video “to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations.” The organization seeks to give power to the people by training and supporting local groups to use media for human rights advocacy. Witness provides video cameras and editing equipment to these organizations.
This is a unique organization because of the way it positions itself to effect change. Most people think getting involved with a human rights campaign involves giving money or maybe volunteering, but what Witness is doing could be revolutionary. By providing these smaller organizations with the tools they need to capture some of the problems and needs “on camera”, the organization is doing much more. It’s giving the power to the people to be their own voices through words and pictures.
Witness created, "The Hub", a participatory media site dedicated to human rights media. Anyone can participate in this community by uploading his or her own video, photos, or audio to campaign against human rights abuses. "The Hub" is the perfect platform for anyone concerned about human rights to get involved by becoming the eyes and the voices of the people who need to be seen and heard. Here, people can create groups and promote action for the causes that are most important to them. Witness provides the tools.
The organization’s slogan is “See it. Film it. Change it.” This is exactly what giving the power to the people is all about. This organization is using people who “know the story the best” to be the eyes and ears for everyone else. Isn’t this what participation is? Bringing light to a story or need so as to effect change in the world around you? I think so. And I believe we who are interested in this idea of citizen participation in storytelling can learn something from Witness. It’s about giving people the tools they need and an outlet to use those tools so their voices can be heard.
The topic of citizens involved in reporting the news is usually discussed in the journalism world. But “citizen reports” are not constricted to news outlets. An organization called Witness is using the same tools to bring light to human rights around the world.
The group’s mission statement says that it uses video “to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations.” The organization seeks to give power to the people by training and supporting local groups to use media for human rights advocacy. Witness provides video cameras and editing equipment to these organizations.
This is a unique organization because of the way it positions itself to effect change. Most people think getting involved with a human rights campaign involves giving money or maybe volunteering, but what Witness is doing could be revolutionary. By providing these smaller organizations with the tools they need to capture some of the problems and needs “on camera”, the organization is doing much more. It’s giving the power to the people to be their own voices through words and pictures.
Witness created, "The Hub", a participatory media site dedicated to human rights media. Anyone can participate in this community by uploading his or her own video, photos, or audio to campaign against human rights abuses. "The Hub" is the perfect platform for anyone concerned about human rights to get involved by becoming the eyes and the voices of the people who need to be seen and heard. Here, people can create groups and promote action for the causes that are most important to them. Witness provides the tools.
The organization’s slogan is “See it. Film it. Change it.” This is exactly what giving the power to the people is all about. This organization is using people who “know the story the best” to be the eyes and ears for everyone else. Isn’t this what participation is? Bringing light to a story or need so as to effect change in the world around you? I think so. And I believe we who are interested in this idea of citizen participation in storytelling can learn something from Witness. It’s about giving people the tools they need and an outlet to use those tools so their voices can be heard.
Spot.us is spot on
by Sean Smith
I’ve been surfing the Net the past couple of days looking for information, stories, examples, etc. of citizen journalism (CJ) and journalists.
I came across a good number of websites for the major American newspapers, a few sites of international news organizations, and of course a gazillion blogs.
The newspapers sites, of course report most of their stories the traditional way using professional journalists but they did have some written by citizen journalists. However, navigation to get to the page that includes the news written by normal everyday citizens, like you and I, is almost an afterthought. On each site of the major news organizations, I had to hunt down the links to the appropriate page. It’s as if they are hiding these stories that have the potential to be the most important to the average person.
It’s easy to find citizen journalism in the form of blogs, but they are typically based on a specific topic or theme. I do agree that they are a form of citizen journalism but I’m looking for a source or journalist that is organic, pure, and covers a wide range of topics that may affect all of us.
Finally, I came across Spot.us. This is the type of site I’ve been looking for. It’s genius!
Spot.us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change that looks to publicly fund news. It’s a place where traditional news organizations, independent reporters, and community members can work together in finding, developing, and collaborating on news stories that may typically be overlooked or ignored by mainstream news organizations.
The best thing about this site is that when you get to the home page you instantly see stories written or funded by local community members. Visitors to the site are encouraged to donate money to fund the development and completion of stories. They can easily do so by clicking on the “Donate” buttons associated with individual stories. By doing this the average citizen who visits the site decide what information or news will be reported on Spot.us.
If a reader doesn’t have the desire or means to contribute funds, they have the option to “donate talent”. Readers, like myself can request to participate in reporting a story and Spot.us will send a message to their reporters informing them that I’m interested in helping out. The reporters will then send leads or assignments to me that can start working. All I have to do is dig up some information about the story pitch it in Spot.us’s blog and see if Spot.us’s freelance reports will cover the story or better yet, a national news organization will pick it up.
In addition to the novel idea of publicly funding and including community members in news reporting the site does a great job of informing readers who has started or contributed financially or physically. On the page of an individual story is a list of all the people who contributed, how much, and in what capacity. This is basically a reward for those that did contribute. They get there face on a website, earn credibility, and of course form a bond with the site and other readers/contributors.
Another great thing about this site is that underneath the incomplete stories is information from the reporter regarding the various benefits or goals of covering a story and how reporting the story will help citizens, community, or world.
Imagine a world where all online news sites were similar to this. We can finally receive news that is honest and actually matters.
I’ve been surfing the Net the past couple of days looking for information, stories, examples, etc. of citizen journalism (CJ) and journalists.
I came across a good number of websites for the major American newspapers, a few sites of international news organizations, and of course a gazillion blogs.
The newspapers sites, of course report most of their stories the traditional way using professional journalists but they did have some written by citizen journalists. However, navigation to get to the page that includes the news written by normal everyday citizens, like you and I, is almost an afterthought. On each site of the major news organizations, I had to hunt down the links to the appropriate page. It’s as if they are hiding these stories that have the potential to be the most important to the average person.
It’s easy to find citizen journalism in the form of blogs, but they are typically based on a specific topic or theme. I do agree that they are a form of citizen journalism but I’m looking for a source or journalist that is organic, pure, and covers a wide range of topics that may affect all of us.
Finally, I came across Spot.us. This is the type of site I’ve been looking for. It’s genius!
Spot.us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change that looks to publicly fund news. It’s a place where traditional news organizations, independent reporters, and community members can work together in finding, developing, and collaborating on news stories that may typically be overlooked or ignored by mainstream news organizations.
The best thing about this site is that when you get to the home page you instantly see stories written or funded by local community members. Visitors to the site are encouraged to donate money to fund the development and completion of stories. They can easily do so by clicking on the “Donate” buttons associated with individual stories. By doing this the average citizen who visits the site decide what information or news will be reported on Spot.us.
If a reader doesn’t have the desire or means to contribute funds, they have the option to “donate talent”. Readers, like myself can request to participate in reporting a story and Spot.us will send a message to their reporters informing them that I’m interested in helping out. The reporters will then send leads or assignments to me that can start working. All I have to do is dig up some information about the story pitch it in Spot.us’s blog and see if Spot.us’s freelance reports will cover the story or better yet, a national news organization will pick it up.
In addition to the novel idea of publicly funding and including community members in news reporting the site does a great job of informing readers who has started or contributed financially or physically. On the page of an individual story is a list of all the people who contributed, how much, and in what capacity. This is basically a reward for those that did contribute. They get there face on a website, earn credibility, and of course form a bond with the site and other readers/contributors.
Another great thing about this site is that underneath the incomplete stories is information from the reporter regarding the various benefits or goals of covering a story and how reporting the story will help citizens, community, or world.
Imagine a world where all online news sites were similar to this. We can finally receive news that is honest and actually matters.
February 11, 2010
Snow days are field days
for user-generated content
by Steve Earley
When it snows, user-generated content pours. News organizations love weather-related citizen submissions because they are non-controversial and easily verifiable. That love was on display this past week in my native Maryland, which received over 3½ feet of snow in five days. Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, Snowverkill. No matter what you call it, that's a lot of snow!
Wednesday afternoon I sledded around the Web sites for four major Baltimore/D.C. media outlets to see what they were publishing from users. Some of it was engaging, though most of it not terribly informational. Some of it was, well, kinda flaky.
The best uses of audience submissions were in live information streams supplemented with posts from news organizations and official sources.
The first such stream was that for the Twitter hashtag "#mdsnow," which The Baltimore Sun actively promoted. Featuring tweets like "Dear roof, don't collapse. Sincerely...Jazzmen," and "Gov. O'Malley sounds pissed," it's certainly entertaining. But it serves a journalistic function, too. Collectively, users' posts paint a picture. You can watch conditions and residents' emotions deteriorate before your very eyes!
More tangibly, the well-populated hashtag feed is sprinkled with tidbits of information users might not find elsewhere, including names of businesses that are actually open and, directly from Baltimore's new mayor — what a first week! — Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB), precisely how many salt trucks and plows are treating city roads (134 at 11:07 p.m. Tuesday, in case you're wondering).
Baltimore's NBC affiliate, WBAL-TV, was getting similar results from its "Live Wire," a self-reloading mashup of user comments, the television channel's responses and official tweets focusing on road and traffic conditions. One user asked whether she had to report to jury duty. Courts were closed, a fellow user informed her. But if they weren't, people have certainly offered lesser excuses than 44 inches of snow for ducking their civic duty.
Down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway — a route much easier traveled this week in a blog post transition than in real life — D.C. Fox station WTTG-TV encouraged users to stream live video of their whited-out neighborhoods using their mobile phones. Plenty obliged, most via third-party service USTREAM. As good a way as any for the snowbound to connect with the outside world, I suppose. Sure to cure cabin fever, for videographers and viewers, at least for a bit.
Some of the cameras are trained on more exciting subjects than others. This bird feeder on a southern Prince George's County farm was among the cooler ones (There were lots and lots of birds when I looked at it, if there aren't now!). Still, even driveway shots helped me get a sense of the storms' brutality. Especially when the wind picked up — made me cold just looking at it.
The Washington Post's site boasted among the larger and better-quality user-submitted photo galleries. There were shots of a barely-visible U.S. Capitol building, tired shovelers, felled poles and trees and urban art like "Think Spring" spray painted on a powder-packed hillside. Oh yeah, there were the obligatory grumpy looking kids and pets. Some SPAM did get past the editors. No, not that kind. The food* kind (*using the term loosely here). The photographer claimed that was the best thing left on supermarket shelves.
I can't end this post without mentioning the Post's well-intentioned appeal for users to post a tweet if their power is out. Even in 2010, most people, if their power's out, their Internet's out. Regardless, how many mobile phone users, upon losing power during a state of emergency, are going to use precious juice and time to let the newspaper know they don't have electricity service? Based on my scroll through the stream for the Post's suggested "#poweroutage" hashtag, not many. Nothing proportionate to the tens of thousands of interruptions PEPCO and BGE were reporting anyway.
Late update: Just stumbled upon the Post's suggested #opendc hashtag — listing what's open. Now that's useful. Maybe there's even a few cybercafes on there.
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