Following up on my post yesterday about information overload, I wanted to expand a little bit on a term I used: information sherpa. I first used a similar term “video sherpa” in a post for a Carnival of Journalism about the future of online video. I wrote:

Perhaps a new form of journalistic curator will arise – the video sherpa, a journalist who guides others through the mazes of videos on various platforms like YouTube andVimeo to find the nuggets of related content that are worthwhile, a la Andy Carvin‘sNPR tweets about the Middle East.

I should specify that I’m using the term “sherpa” in a specific sense. Wikipedia captures that essence here:

Sherpas were immeasurably valuable to early explorers of the Himalayan region, serving as guides at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the region. Today, the term is used casually to refer to almost any guide or porter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes.

Another way of looking at our age instead of as “information overload” is to look at it as a mountain of information. News consumers who want to be informed, to stay on top of events that are important to them, need to find a way to scale that mountain. And they don’t always have the tools or experience to do so. That’s where a modern journalist can carve out an important role. The journalist as sherpa guides the info-mountaineer through the dizzying peaks and passes of the mountain of information, finding and presenting just the right information to help reach and stay on top of the mountain.

But I want to be clear about some things that are happening that are not what I mean by an information sherpa. The sherpa is not the mountaineer. The sherpa is not the mountain. The sherpa is not the treacherous weather that attacks the mountain suddenly. I’ll explain what I mean:

The sherpa is not the mountain: As I mentioned yesterday, there are too many sites on the internet that aren’t really providing high quality information. They’re posting intriguing photos and blurbs, or they’re posting barely disguised press releases, or hastily re-written information provided by quality news sources to juice page clicks. Those people are part of the mountain of information. They keep piling up the heights before the information consumer.

The sherpa is not the mountaineer: This is not the first time the sherpa has climbed the mountain. The sherpa knows a path through the mountain of B.S. masquerading as information, and is guiding the person who’s trying to make it up the mountain. More than ever, a journalist can’t be a generalist. Generalists get taken in by misinformation, slant, faux controversies and technical jargon meant to obscure rather than illuminate. A journalist needs to do everything possible to become fluent in whatever topic she is covering, learning who’s got an agenda, and when that agenda is shading the information she’s receiving. A sherpa doesn’t take the easiest path, but the best path.

The sherpa is not the weather: One of the most dangerous aspects of the ascent of Mt. Everest is the extreme and quickly changing weather, which can include high winds and sudden storms. In climbing a mountain of information, an info-mountaineer can experience frequent wild swings of information that can knock one off the path – useless information, sudden Twitter storms and Facebook outrages, breathless reporting about silly products and gossip about famous people. A true sherpa isn’t the weather. A journalist worth his salt doesn’t traffic in such chasing the weather. A sherpa stays the course, is aware of the weather, and knows to avoid its traps.

Many others have focused on the analogy of journalist as curator. But I think I prefer this analogy more. I would love to know what others think. I also think this new paradigm should influence how we train college journalists for the future.

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• Have you got your news org. online?
• Do you have a content management system?
• Have you posted any videos online?
• Have you included any audio soundbites in a story?
• Have you done a photo slideshow?
• Have you put up an audio slideshow (perhaps using Soundslides)?
• Have you used a map to highlight the location of a story?
• What about a timeline?
• Have you used weblogs on your site?
• Have you uploaded source documents (PDFs, excel spreadsheets, etc.) to accompany a big story?
• Have you used social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to market your stories?
• Have you tracked what others are saying about you via Google Blogsearch?
• Have you used the web site to post breaking news online FIRST?
• Have you moved the online editor out of the back office and into a position of authority?
• Have you allowed comments on your stories?
• Have you encouraged writers to write for the Web and include hyperlinks in their stories?
• Are you selling ads for your online site?
• Have you tried something experimental?

Obviously, I don’t expect you to be doing all of these at once if you’re not doing them now. But if you’re doing some of them (you have a site online, congratulations!), maybe it’s time to consider adding to your online toolbox.

Remember, your online presence doesn’t replace your print edition, but it adds depth to the stories you publish. Point people to your online site. Encourage them to “like” your Facebook page. Tweet and respond to people who tweet back to your Twitter presence.

If you’re short-staffed, pick one thing and try that for a semester. See how much you can build that one thing into a reliable skill for your student journalists. If it doesn’t work, try another thing. Above all, keep pushing.

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Image via CrunchBase

Neil Augenstein has a good post up at the PBS MediaShift blog about using his iPhone 4 for radio reporting. It’s worth a read because Augenstein is producing professional radio news with his phone, and it works.

So is it worth it? A year in, iPhone-only reporting isn’t perfect. While audio editing works great, with the phone’s built-in microphone I’d estimate the sound quality of my field reports is 92% as good as when I use bulky broadcast equipment. Getting better audio for my video is a real challenge. And if I ever have to cover a story from a subway tunnel or location where there’s no WiFi or cell coverage, I won’t be able to file until I resurface.

As digital equipment continues to morph I’m sure my tools will be substantially different within a few years. Every day, new applications open new opportunities for a reporter who’s willing to work around the limitations of iPhone-only reporting while maximizing the benefits.

This semester, we’ve been looking at using smaller equipment in our multimedia reporting class precisely because of the miniaturization of the news gathering equipment. I’ll talk more about the changes we’re making soon.

Is anyone out there in college media using mobile phones or iPod Touches (for instance) for gathering news on a consistent basis?

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One of the topics that came up two weeks ago when I attended the Mid-America Press Institute’s “Managing in the Digital Age” workshop was QR codes.

For the uninitiated, QR codes are square “bar codes” that can be read by smart phones. You can embed information in a QR code that will allow the smart phone user to access a web page, or an e-mail address, or send a text, etc.

Monday, I was discussing the topic with an advanced digital media class and we thought about some ways college newspapers could use the codes.

An obvious way to use them is in advertising. But another great way to use them would be to place them in the editorial content to promote content in their online presence. Think about it: when you promote online content in the newspaper, usually you are asking the reader to set aside the paper and go to a computer, type in a Web address, and find the content. With a QR code, the reader can scan the code in the publication and be right at the relevant content immediately.

After the class, I sent an e-mail out to the CMA listserv to see who was using this technique and for what purposes.

Newspapers that have been using them include the N.C. State Technician (ads), Minnesota Daily (ads, per Logan Aimone at ACP), Texas Wesleyan’s Rambler (editorial), the Northern Illinois University Northern Star, and the College of Charleston student newspaper (per Mandi Bryson, assistant student media director).

Here’s a sample of how the Northern Star has used them (thanks to Jim Killam for the PDF):

The biggest issues with using QR codes in the student news media (as I see them) are smart phone adoption, and conceptual understanding.

In one class I did a survey and 1 out of 14 students had a smart phone. On the other hand, smart phones are becoming more common across the U.S. population of cell phone users.

But many smart phone users don’t even know what those square blotches of ink are supposed to mean. If you do plan to do something with QR codes for smart phone users, you’re going to have to add some informational content to explain what those things are.

Three years ago when I first heard about QR codes, they seemed like an interesting, but slightly opaque, addition to the use of mobile phones and the Internet. Now, when I travel, I see them cropping up more and more, and the trend is likely to continue.

Are there other college media outlets using QR codes in their publications? If so, drop a comment in the comment section or e-mail me at scmurley -at- gmail.com and I’ll update this post.

And for those who are interested, here’s a list of QR code generators. One thing I would caution: when you generate a QR code, make sure you have a smart phone handy to make sure it works before you put it in the publication. Nothing will abuse people of the desire to check out your QR codes more than it not working when they use it the first time.

Update 1: Susan Kirkman Zake mentions that The Daily Kent Stater has been using a QR code in their flag for the last week to promote KentWired.com, with additional info on how to use it. Here’s a screencap from the PDF version:

Related articles

• QR Code: Why You Should Be Using It to Promote You, Your Business and Products (drdianehamilton.wordpress.com)
• 10 Ways to Use QR Codes in Your Classroom (itcboisestate.wordpress.com)
• Brodie Beta: Mobio reports QR code use has exploded by 1200 percent – URL: http://thenextweb.com/industry/2011/02/09/mobio-reports-qr-code-use-has-exploded-by-1200-percent/ (thenextweb.com)
• New QR codes are a free key to digital content (commercialappeal.com)
• Are QR codes ready for mainstream adoption? (sociable.co)

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I have created a page under the “Resources” tab at the top of the blog with a list of links to free online tools. This is a gathering place for links that I showed during a presentation at the National College Media Convention in Louisville (and also a couple of other workshops). I’ll be updating it in the future with other sites. Check it out here.

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