Microsoft Word 2010 advanced workshop covered several advanced formatting skills to edit documents.
Track Changes allows individuals to note changes and edits made to a document. This feature is an easy way to edit another person’s work and communicate those changes effectively through markups, highlighting and comment balloons
Advanced find and replace may be used to scan and make changes to information in lengthy documents. The wildcard feature allows users to extend their search and find and replace the following items
Any single character or string of characters
Beginning or end of a word
Specified characters within a certain range
Occurrences of characters or expressions
Quick Parts enables users to create and store reusable templates for documents.
The following techniques may be used to refine documents, reports, resumes, letters and online stories to add a more professional touch. Furthermore, these skills will be useful for my editing role in my class project and will allow me to effectively scan through and edit another person’s work.
Journalists are engaging in news conversations through comments and social networking:
Comments serve as a place for readers to openly discuss and debate topics. Nowadays, almost all online stories have a section for user-generated content, which allows the audience to connect with each other through news, photo and video sharing.
Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have transformed the way people connect and receive information online. Reporting now reflects a constant flow of information that is timely and interactive because of the two-way conversation among the journalists and the audience.
How to build and manage online community:
Make news participatory
Link and comment through photos, video, edits, message board posts, votes, recommendations, promotions, etc.
Use the 1-10-100 rule by Bradley Horowitz: one percent of users create content, 10 percent post comments or link, 100 percent benefit from actions of first two groups.
Develop sources through large scale social networks, niche networks or build one on your own through Google Groups.
The training program emulates the martial arts approach where journalists will earn belts upon mastery of each skill. The belts convert into monetary bonuses, and the completion of all five belts turns into $2,000 in bonuses.
Each area will be taught through workshops, web seminars and of course, firsthand experience. Journalists will have the opportunity to blog about their training and apply their skills on the job.
The Digital Ninja School employs a similar concept to how this class (COMM 361) is structured. As students, we develop a set of digital skills over six to seven weeks, document it and then incorporate each skill into a final project. Although we are not earning belts or monetary bonuses, we are awarded with skill sets and experiences that are essential in today’s job market. The skills we learn today will open the door to new opportunities and advancements within the digital journalism field.
Digital cameras provide convenience and portability with the ability to capture photos, review, upload, edit and share on the Web in a matter of minutes.
Photos are made of pixels, a visual representation of data in a digital image. Photo resolution measures the number of pixels in an image. High-resolution images should be compressed for online publication.
The two major classifications of cameras are point-and-shoot and DSLR
Point-and-shoot cameras are more affordable, simple and compact with a built in lens and flash
DSLR or digital single-lens reflex cameras capture better images but are more complex and expensive, with an additional cost for lenses or flash capabilities
When operating a camera, it is important to be familiarized with basic camera functions such as different camera modes, zoom, flash and view/delete function.
Get closer or move around to capture the right angle
Shoot action, not poses
Other tips to keep in mind:
Lighting is critical when taking a photo. Natural light works best but do not shoot in bright sunlight environment
Avoid flash or a strong backlight when doing a head shot. Choose a neutral background (dark over light).
The more photographs you take, the more chances you have to get the best picture.
Do not manipulate images that will mislead or alter the context of a photo.
Manage and organize photos by creating a master folder and subfolders.
When naming a photo, change generic file names to something recognizable such as the date and subject of the photo.
Use underscores to separate words instead of spaces when naming a photo.
Editing: Always edit a copy of the original photo. Basic editing functions include cropping, resizing, modifying resolution and adjusting the tone, contrast and brightness to enhance quality. When editing photos, ask which image can best communicate the message of the topic. iPhoto for Mac and Windows Photo Gallery for PC are free and provide basic editing functions.
Publishing: The size of a photo matters. Therefore, know the maximum possible width in pixels for display on a blog. Sizes should vary among photos. It is important to use the largest display size for the most important photo.
Slide shows: Slide shows represent a story you are telling and should contain at least 10 quality photos. Photos should be organized in a compelling and logical manner to build the story. An effective slide show should utilize captions, have effective transitions, an attention-grabbing opening, logical progression and an ending which concludes the entire show. Slide shows are created best with software such as Photoshop Elements or Soundslides for audio slide shows.
Mobile journalism allows reporters and average citizens to provide firsthand coverage with the ability to post updates, photo and video from a cell phone and onto the Web. Mobile reporting can be done on any medium from any location and serves as a supplement to in-depth reporting.
Mobile reporting can cover an array of events, including speeches, trials, breaking news events, public gatherings, sporting events and grand openings of public consumer spots. When covering an event, it is important to use news judgment to determine what events are interesting and worth reporting.
Deliver immediate, relevant information to the reader
Draw in readers to pursue other channels for additional coverage
Invite the public to gather information and share perspective
There are two types of mobile journalists in the field today:
Gearhead: A journalists who is constantly reporting and publishing content from the field. They will use a variety of reporting equipment such as a laptop, camera, video camera, tripod, audio recorder, headphones, microphone and cell phone.
Light packer: A journalist who occasionally reports from the field. This type of journalists usually carries a smartphone with camera and video capability, keypad and internet connection for reporting purposes.
Nowadays, it is easy to publish any type of content to an online platform for free.
Twitter is the most effective for mobile microblogging, for minute by minute coverage on a topic.
Live blogging sites such as TechCrunch and CoveritLive allows timely coverage for an ongoing event. Remember to create one post and add to it for the audience to easily follow along.
Mobile video services such as Qik, Kyte, Flixwagon can stream live video on a cell phone without Internet connection
Mobile crowdsourcing allows the audience to get involved in the conversation with a user-focused approach. Sites like Twitter gives the audience instant access to comment and leave feedback through hashtags for certain news events. News organizations can connect with the mobile audience by retweeting user comments.
Digital First journalists work for digital platforms, and since journalism is constantly changing, they are always experimenting with new social tools and trying to diversify their techniques.
Digital First journalists utilize collaborative journalism to their fullest advantage by reaching out to the public and generating discussions through Twitter or Facebook.
Twitter is their first resource to check when news breaks and their success is measured through the number retweets or links to a story.
If a journalist does not have the story first, they will credit and provide links to the sources that do.
In my opinion, the most valuable trait that Digital First journalists possess over traditional journalists is their exercise of collaboration over competition. Journalists seek to engage readers by building strong networks with community bloggers, encouraging the community to participate in conversation andlinking to sources with relevant information. Furthermore, it is important for rookie journalists to emulate the qualities exhibited by Digital First journalists in order to embrace a more innovative form of journalism that employs fairness, transparency, credibility and more readership.
