Technology

Subscribe to RSS - Technology

Writing on Nieman Storyboard, Julia Barton says one of the NPR science program's biggest innovations is the way it shifts broadcasting from an oratorial style to something more conversational: “Producers are finding they can sound more like themselves. 'Radiolab' co-hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich break down complicated stories through a relaxed Socratic dialogue, an approach that’s also been popularized by NPR’s 'Planet Money' and APM’s 'Freakonomics.'”

The Poynter Institute's Jim Colgan seems worried that we'll be offended by his suggestion that "journalists should at least experiment with online audio – whether they work in radio or not." If so, he makes amends by comparing and contrasting SoundCloud, AudioBoo, and Broadcastr: "While SoundCloud has an element of social media, AudioBoo is all about being the Twitter for audio." He also talks to public radio executives about the power of audio journalism.

"I want to spend less time on social media but post more frequently." That's the challenge put to Denise Graveline by a recent questioner. Graveline offers some tips for achieving that state on her "don't get caught' blog. "Before I turn the page on 2011," she writes, "I've started my now-annual "cleanup" of my social media habits, especially my reading list — the source of my content stash for blog posts — and how I handle incoming tweets, messages and emails."

If you can lay off the eggnog and Meyers's rum for a little longer, the 10,000 Words site has three computer-related skills that journalists can teach themselves over the holidays. For example, "If you’re looking for a job or looking to network, there’s no better time than time off your day job to round up your clips/photos/reel/etc. and corral everything into a simple, personalized blog on WordPress or a similar site," Meranda Watling writes.

Hacks/Hackers, a network of journalists aiming to meld computing with reporting, produced this Excel tipsheet for the Poynter Institute web site. It includes an introduction to simple formulas, techniques for splitting columns of data, and tips for sorting, filtering, and using pivot tables, — what statisticians call cross-tabs. "Excel (and other spreadsheet programs) are powerful tools and a valuable part of a reporter’s digital arsenal," Joshua Hatch writes.

Traditional news media were handcuffed (figuratively at least) during the crackdown at Zuccotti Park, where the Occupy movement began. News from the scene got out anyway via new social media tools like Storify, according to the ReadWriteWeb blog. "The raw power of citizen media — and the future of news envisioned by a site called Storify - thwarted the media blackout." More from Poynter and a Knight Center blog.

The Associated Press caused a stir recently when it issued a ponderous policy guide for its staff to use when "retweeting" — i.e., forwarding tweets from other users. It had seven pages of rules designed to make sure AP reporters are not stained by too much opinion. "AP has decided it wants to control the impossible — what readers think about what it's sharing," Denise Graveline comments in response. More from Poynter.

The digital media age serves up uncertainty as well as opportunity. One solution to the anemic job pool for science writers is to grow beyond journalism into entrepreneurship, specifically into digital publishing. Training for this kind of career growth is exactly what the Knight Digital Media Center offers in its intensive, weeklong workshop called Independent Journalist. From the Fall 2011 ScienceWriters.