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The information sherpa: role for journalists on the web

February 1, 2012 in General Media, ideas

(Image by Flickr user Sistak, used under Creative Commons license)

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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College online media checklist for a new year

August 22, 2011 in ideas, innovation

Students are returning to campus for the new year. No doubt, the college journalists on your campus are excited to get back to putting out a product for the community. As I’ve done a couple of times in the past, I’m putting out this checklist of things to consider for your online presence.

  • 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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Radio reporting with the iPhone

April 5, 2011 in ideas, Tech Talk

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...

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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QR codes and college media

February 22, 2011 in hope for the future, ideas, innovation, Mobile

UPDATE: See end of post for additions – ed.

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):

qrcode

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:

kentstater

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Free online tools to expand your story

October 30, 2010 in College Media, ideas, Links, online software, Tech Talk

links

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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Xtranormal: in ur text, making it video

February 6, 2010 in ideas, innovation

I linked to this site almost a year ago when I first discovered it, but I thought it was worth looking at again: xtranormal.com. The site allows you to produce an animated movie based upon the text you type into a script. It allows for various camera angles, characters, and actions. And, as with most online software, it’s free to sign up and use.

Here’s a movie I produced in about 30 minutes:

How is this helpful for journalists? I can think of a couple of uses for this. Suppose you are covering a court case where cameras aren’t allowed in the courtroom. You could produce a “dramatic reading” with xtranormal. And editorial writers/cartoonists can have a field day with animated commentary.

For a writer who’s too shy to go on camera, this would be a fun way to “tape” a video of a story/column.

Who knows what other opportunities there are for a software like this. Experiment. Have some fun while doing journalism. Any other ideas?

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RTNDA’s social media guidelines

February 4, 2010 in ideas, industry news, management

twitter

Via Al Tompkins at Poynter, here are the guidelines for social media as proposed by the Radio and Television News Director’s Association.

College journalists should perhaps pay special attention to this one:

• Avoid posting photos or any other content on any website, blog, social network or video/photo sharing website that might embarrass you or undermine your journalistic credibility. Keep this in mind, even if you are posting on what you believe to be a “private” or password-protected site. Consider this when allowing others to take pictures of you at social gatherings. When you work for a journalism organization, you represent that organization on and off the clock. The same standards apply for journalists who work on air or off air.

A few weeks ago at the Canadian University Press Conference, I made this point during a session on social media. If you don’t want anything to embarrass you, don’t put it on the Internet, or share it via cellphone. At all. In these days of ubiquitous cell phone cameras, it’s almost impossible to control all access to something that might be embarrassing. If someone feels that they do want to share photos of themselves, they should use a personal account with controlled access. Even then, a photo could be “leaked” through other people who have access.

This is another handy set of guidelines to refer to when your media outlet is compiling social media guidelines.

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New software link dump

August 29, 2009 in ideas, innovation, online software

I come across new software that might be of use to college media outlets all the time. Most of them end up in the reinventing delicious account. Here are a few recent finds that might pique your interest:

Produle: This is an online Flash-based widget builder, sort of like Sproutbuilder. Also like Sproutbuilder, there are a variety of cost options. The free plan lets you have three widgets and 10MB of storage. You can’t track the use of the widgets, though, which is a little disappointing. The lowest-priced $$ plan costs $19/mo. for 15 widgets and does allow tracking. That’s $240/year, which might be within your budget if you don’t have any Flash whiz students on your staff. (thanks to @triptych on Twitter)

Jing: Jing is from the same company that produces Camtasia Studio and SnagIt, so it’s sort of a hybrid screenshot/screencapture tool that lets you share what you’re working on with others over the internet immediately. The free version records in swf video, while the “pro” version ($14.95/year) allows for mpeg-4 format and webcam recording, among other things. (thanks to @manfull on Twitter)

Blogo: Blogo is a Mac-only desktop blogging client, not unlike MarsEdit. The advantage of desktop blogging clients is that you can write blog posts when you’re not connected to the Internet, and – unlike using a text editor – desktop blogging clients have a similar interface to an actual blogging admin area. Blogo has drag and drop image editing and some other cool features. It saves drafts to your web server, which is also nice, and it will schedule posts in advance. If you like it, it’ll cost $25 after the demo period. I’ve been trying it out for the past couple of weeks and it works quite well so far.

logo_yugmaYugma: From the web site: “Yugma free web conferencing allows anyone, anywhere to instantly share their desktop and ideas online with others.” I found out about this software from Dr. James Danowski at the University of Chicago-Illinois, who shared his desktop to show me how to use a software program called Wordij. There is also a pro version.

gooseGrade: gooseGrade is a service that lets you copy edit any page on the web. If a web site owner has the gooseGrade widget installed, a gooseGrade user can highlight text that contains an error and add an edit to the text. This edit will then appear in the admin area of the weblog, and the site owner can approve/disregard the edit. Recently, gooseGrade opened up the system so you can copy edit any page on the web. The edits will show up in the gooseGrade system. This would be a good tool to implement to try to help your staff copy edit online stories after they are online. You don’t have to have a weblog system to use gooseGrade, but you’ll have to do the edits manually.


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Mobile news alerts: An underused tool

April 21, 2009 in ideas, Mobile

iPhone SMS alert from the New York TimesHave you ever deleted a text message without reading it? Most people wouldn’t, which makes SMS text messaging a potentially valuable tool for news organizations.

Use of a texting service is different than a mobile site or iPhone application because it delivers news to the reader without requiring the reader to seek it on his own. All he/she has to do is sign up.

I can see how it’d get annoying — perhaps spammy– but the service is all opt-in.  If you have high-quality content, this won’t be an issue.

Barack Obama’s campaign is proof tha text alerts can be successful. He texted alerts to his supporters and even broke news of his VP via text message.

It baffles me that most news sites which offer text alerts bury the feature somewhere on the site. Pro news organizations like Tampa Bay Online offer text alerts, but the feature is hidden under the “tools” option.

The New York Times offers the service too, but again, it’s a hidden option that most readers probably don’t realize they have.  Even a Google search didn’t yield results for LA Times’ mobile alerts, which only leads me to assume they don’t offer the service.

The option to subscribe for text alerts should be offered prominently on the homepage, right alongside the option to subscribe to RSS.

OaklandNorth.net, a project out of UC Berkeley, is a great example of college media that offers text alerts and features it on their homepage (found via Richard Koci Hernandez).

The best texting service is designed with narrow subscription options (i.e. specific categories/sections of news alerts) so your readers receive only the news they want.

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Three easy features that add value to your site

April 13, 2009 in ideas

1. Crime map
Estimated time to produce: 30 minutes a week

If your campus puts out a regular police log — which most college police departments do — setting up a crime map like this one is easy and your readers will love it. Go to Google Maps and under the “my maps” feature, set up your new map. Plot each crime from the police log onto the location in which the crime took place and spice it up using relevant icons and colors.

Why your readers will love it: It’s a digestible way to read about crime on campus. It’s also more personal because they can see where crimes happened in relation to their own locations.

Update the map once or twice a week.

2.  “Trending topics” pages
Estimated time to produce: 1 hour initially, 15 minutes for each additional update

I stole this idea from Twitter. Much like Twitter lists “trending topics” on their home page, you can maintain go-to pages for the trending topics and issues on your campus. After the initial setup, maintaining the pages is simple.

For example, at Cal Poly, a big issue is a possible college-based fee increase. It’s something students care about and want to read more about. On our “trending topics page” (which we call “hot topics” but you can come up with a catchier title than that) we link to recent articles about the topic, letters to the editor and columns, as well as all relevant multimedia.

Students can find everything they need to know, and it’s accessible from our homepage (our brand new homepage on our brand new web site, might I add).

3. Event calendar using Google Calendars
Estimate time to produce: 1 hour a month

Although I couldn’t find an example of a college publication doing this (if you have one, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the post), a Google Calendar of campus/community events could easily become a popular feature for college students. UPDATE: Batmoo from the comments informed me of a gCal system on The Boar (a student-run magazine for the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo) and adds some insight: 

 The flexibility of gCal allows us to embed a small version in our sidebar on the home page, and full-scale version on its own page. It’s super easy to use, and changes propagate instantly, plus it has built-in support for RSS and iCal, which is a nice bonus. Downside is that it’s not searchable.

At the start of each month, editors can compile a list of events — which they’re probably doing anyway for story ideas — and throw them onto a calendar.

It’s a win-win situation: reporters can use it as a resource for staying on schedule, and readers can use it as a resource when planning their weekends.

Now comes the bonus: Spend the time to develop these pages and promote them (in print if possible) so they gain a steady flow of traffic. After that happens, throw a few ads on each of these three pages and you’ve got yourself an extra flow of money every month.  Not bad, eh?

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