Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” greeted receptive attendees of David Dobbs’ Saturday afternoon workshop “Going Long: How to Structure the Longform Narrative – with Help From Music, Theater, and Film.” Dobbs played portions of the track, an example of the rock pioneers’ exploration of song structure, to kick off a fascinating talk and discussion about the use of form and structure in longform narrative stories.
ScienceWriters meeting coverage
When Siri Carpenter opened the Pitch Slam session, just two writers had signed up to pitch. But an hour and a half later, nearly a dozen ideas had been put to the panel of seven editors. Not a single assignment was made, but both the pitchers and many others in the room likely walked out with insight about how these editors think and some specific suggestions for selling an idea.
The media industry — science writers, particularly — can no longer afford to look the other way when it comes understanding the fundamental changes occurring in how Americans are getting their news in our “crazy, mixed-up digital world,” said Esther Thorson, plenary session speaker at ScienceWriters 2011.
Science Writers 2011 kicked off Saturday morning with a business meeting (coffee and carbs were provided). Before committee members shared the exciting things going on, including various opportunities for money, Ron Winslow of the Finance Committee assured members “we are solvent.”
“How Science Writing Saved My Life,” was one of the highlights of the ScienceWriters 2011 opening session, which followed the high-energy format of an Ignite event. In rapid succession, ten presenters had exactly five minutes each to speak on a topic of their choice. Each presenter used twenty slides, which were set to auto-advance every 15 seconds.
Saturday I attended a couple of workshops about "New Media" ("Experiments in new media: Beautiful failures and startling successes" before lunch and "Rebooting science journalism: Adapting to the new media landscape" afterwards.) Together they convinced me that neither revolution nor evolution are the right metaphors for the impact of digital media.
Here are a few links to resources that were mentioned during "Get the Numbers Right."
What does a tweeter like me add to a meeting like ScienceWriters2010? As promised, you can compare the twitter vs. blog coverage.
Three new online ventures in publishing have two things in common: top editors with old-school, self-described dead-tree credentials, and decent traffic — 150,000 or more unique views per month — for even long-form narratives. And all are managing to avoid or not rely on advertising to pay the bills.
Long time medical reporters shared savvy tips on how to make the most of a medical conference this afternoon at Science Writers 2010 in New Haven, CT, while a scientific press room manager revealed tips for public information officers on how to garner attention for their stories.