It’s now very easy for us to bring really engaging visual storytelling techniques to our reporting
A number of great apps and tools let us use the full range of media
They let us geotag what we are creating – which means we can put it on a map
And some of them let us broadcast these great visual stories direct from our smartphones.
We’re going to look at a range of the latest apps here.
They don’t all do everything I’ve mentioned.
Some are great for live reporting, others are best at other things
At building mapped, multimedia travel features, for example
Or creating timelines
So here’s a quick introduction to the apps and tools we’ll be working with
We’ll look at:
Meporter – for live, multimedia, geotgagged reports filed direct from the scene of a story
At Intersect – for multimedia, mapped stories rooted in place and time, and which can intersect with other stories in the same place. (It’s actually a lot more straightforward than it may sound)
At iMapFlickr –which turns Flickr pictures into a journey told on a map
At Gowalla – a check-in site which has just reinvented itself with a focus on travel and storytelling
At Foursquare – another check-in site which is also developing its capacity as a storytelling paltform
At Dipity, which is great for creating embeddable timelines fast
And at Vuvox, which lets you create really professional timeline visualisaitons without having to learn Flash or Photoshop.
Those last two items have been picked up from a session we did in the MMJ summer school a couple of months ago. They’re added here to give an added dimension to our discussion and demonstrations of visual storytelling.
Some of the other tools we’ve looked at before, either in masterclasses or in the MMJ textbook. We’re returning to them now because there’s new stuff to be said – and new functionality to explore.
The whole subject of visual storytelling is a big, and fast moving one. There’s a good deal of other information on it elsewhere in the MMJ website and in the paper or ebook textbook. So we’ll finish up with a screen of links to other relevant tuition.
This masterclass is again set at the Getting Started level of MMJ's three-level learning programme.
Below is what the intro screen for students will say. There's a link at the bottom into the tuition.
A journalist is only as good as their sources
And building those sources is a vital part of becoming an effective and professional journalist
Some sources are individual, face to face ones.
The people you come into personal contact with in your day-to-day work. Or who you talk to by phone.
But we can also tap into sources online, and reach people, and information streams, we can’t easily get to in other ways.
With
the growth of online publishing via specialist blogs, and the use of
social media, the importance of monitoring these information sources has
become huge – it’s one of the cornerstones on which you’ll build your
career as a journalist.
RSS as social media
We looked in the last masterclass at how social media can be a valuable source of stories, contacts and tools for research.
We also looked at social media as publishing platforms, or distribution channels, for our journalism.
Now we add to that with a look at using RSS feeds to the same ends.
We’ll start from scratch, looking at what RSS feeds are, and how to set them up.
And we’ll look at how to use them most efficiently, by combining the sources you want to keep tabs on into folders.
We’ll
also look at something Google calls bundles, which turn a whole bunch –
or bundle – of individual RSS feeds into one big aggregated one.
These bundles can be a great resource for you, and for others. So they’re something you can share with your community.
Which
brings us to publishing. We’ll also look at how you can set up RSS
streams to distribute your breaking news and other information.
It is currently available exclusively on the website, but will be adapted for inclusion in future editions of the MMJ print and ebook.
Here are our learning goals
To demonstrate the importance of social mediato the modern practice of journalism
To establish professional presencesfor yourself and/or the journalism publication or programme you work on with the following social platforms:
Twitter
Facebook
Google+
Linked In
You Tube
To outline best practice inbuilding a professional presenceon each of the above.
To demonstratehow to use each platform, as appropriate, to promote you and your journalism.
To underline the importance ofbuilding up contactson these platforms.
To show how toengage with the communityyou are a part of on them.
To explore how tofind and research storieson each platform.
To give guidance on how topublish and/or promote your storieson them.
In addition, to explorethe most time-efficient use of social media, using social media dashboards and examining the benefits and drawbacks of sending one post to multiple social platforms.
Social media guidelines for journalists
Most organisatiosn now have social media guidelines, which outline how their journalists should conduct themselves on social media.
The final unit holds series ofexercises, designed to enable students to research the use of social media; andprojects, designed to enable groups of students - or individuals - to hone their skills as social media journalists.
Further learning programmes
There will be two further masterclasses on social media for journalism, designed to fit the Building Proficiency and Professional Standards levels of MMJ tuition.
These will be designed to enable students to move to increasingly sophisticated and effective levels in the use of social media.
They will also take in additional social media platforms.
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Masterclasses 34-50: the 2011-12 season
The next 16 masterclasses will appear during the 2011-12 academic year. Here’s an outline of what’s planned.
It’s not set in stone, and if there are items you’d like to see added, or if you have input into any of the topics listed, feel free to get in touch via the Contact button, or by DMing @andybull.
Masterclass 34: Getting started in social media
Because social media has developed so fast in the 18 months since MMJ was published, it’s time to bring everything up to date.
So I’m adding three masterclasses in using social media for journalism that correspond with the three learning levels – getting started, building proficiency and professional standards – of the MMJ project.
Those new chapter will be web-exclusive for now, but will be added to the next print edition of MMJ.
Masterclass 35: Building your sources with RSS feeds, bundles and pipes
We looked in the last masterclass at how social media can be a valuable source of stories, contacts and tools for research. Now we add to that with a look at the use of RSS feeds, and how to combine the sources you want to keep tabs on into combinations, known as bundles or pipes, that make such sources manageable.
September 16
Masterclass 36: Location-based journalism. The latest Geolocation and mapping tools
September 30
Masterclass 37: Building proficiency in social media
We take our use of social media to the next level.
October 14
Masterclass 38: How clever, well-crafted headlines and good SEO can be compatible
The latest advice on how the often-conflicting arts of search engine optimisation and headline writing can be reconciled.
October 28
Masterclass 39: Getting started in Wordpress.
How to create great, professional websites for your journalism. We’ll kick off by getting a basic site up and running.
November 11
Masterclass 40: Professional standards in social media
Bringing your use of social media up to the standard expected of a newly-qualified multimedia journalist.
November 25
Masterclass 41: Smartphone photography
Smartphones have become invaluable photographic tools. There are all sorts of apps to enable you to create really professional images on them, and hardware that helps transform them into fully professional cameras. We’ll look at all you can now achieve.
December 9
Masterclass 42: Building proficiency in Wordpress
Using customised themes to create a really impressive Wordpress publishing platform for your journalism.
January 6 2012
Masterclass 43: Building proficiency in data journalism
Building on what was covered inMasterclass 20 to develop your skills in finding, sifting and visualising data.
January 20
Masterclass 44: How to create multimedia promo widgets
We’ll look at building customisable widgets that will enable you to embed blog and Twitter feeds, photo and video galleries in your website.
February 3
Masterclass 45: Professional standards in Wordpress
Bringing your skills in creating and managing a Wordpress publishing platform up to those expected of a newly-qualified journalist.
February 17
Masterclass 46-50: How to choose a specialism, Series 2
