In summary…

This blog was kept from fall 2008 to fall 2009. It was started as a platform to share what I learned during an independent study of online journalism and how it impacts the roles of today’s journalists when I was a student at Whitworth University (Read more in the “About” section). I shared insights as well as provided reading lists to what others were saying on the topic.

The most popular blog post on this site continues to be “The skills you need to be a journalist today,” which lists the skills as well as technical tools journalists are expected to have today according to those in and around the field.

As I transitioned into the profession after graduation, I moved on to other projects, but I have continued to follow online journalism trends. These days you can see what I’m reading on that topic by following me on Twitter or checking out what I share through GoogleReader.

Thank you to all who visited, read and commented on posts during this blog’s lifespan. You were and are much appreciated.

links for 2009-11-19

• MediaShift: “Profiles in Courage: Social Media Editors at Big Media Outlets”
  (tags: journalism socialmedia editors media onlinejournalism)
• MediaShift: “The Shutdown of UWIRE and the Implications for College Media”
  (tags: UWIRE collegemedia newspapers journalism wires)
• Multimedia Shooter: “5 Things Your News Org Should Check Out”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism media mapping RSS Youtube newspapers)
• Editor & Publisher: “AP Drops at Least Eight in Photo Staff”
  (tags: journalism layoffs associatedpress)
• Poynter: “Don’t Give Up on Online Video Yet”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism video multimedia)
• Steve Yelvington’s media weblog: “Keller’s list of 7 priorities should be every newsroom’s list”
  (tags: journalism newspapers future convergence web onlinejournalism)
• Steve Yelvington’s media weblog: “Some advice to designers of news websites”
  (tags: journalism newspapers design webdesign websites media)
• Idea Lab: “Changes in Media Over the Past 550 Years”
  (tags: journalism media change)

links for 2009-11-10

• Nieman Lab: “How a blog, a camera, and a court are feeding journalism’s long tail”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism blogging hyperlocal)
• Online Journalism Blog: “Five factors that foster innovation in the online newsroom”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism innovation newsroom media convergence)
• Editor & Publisher: “Newsroom Interns: Helped, or Hurt By Cuts?”
  (tags: journalism interns cuts businessmodels)
• Poynter: “Fort Hood Shooting Shows How Twitter, Lists Can be Used for Breaking News”
  (tags: twitter socialmeda twitterlists poynter news forthood)
• 10,000 Words: “5 Ways to find, mix and mash your data”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism database tools)
• Reportr.net: “The disconnect between newspaper execs and readers over paid content”
  (tags: newspapers businessmodels paidcontent readership onlinejournalism)
• Mashable: “How Social Media is Taking the News Local”
  (tags: journalism twitter socialmedia local)

links for 2009-11-03

• Romenesko: “@FakeAPStylebook creators ‘a bit surprised this little joke of ours took off'”
  (tags: apstyle journalism humor)
• Newspaper Next: “How newspapers are thinking about paid online content”
  (tags: newspapers businessmodels onlinejournalism online)
• Mashable: “4 Ways News Organizations are Using Twitter Lists”
  (tags: journalism socialmedia socialnetworking news organizations twitter twitterlists)
• Old Media, New Tricks: “The Google Wave news community”
  (tags: journalism innovation google communityjournalism)
• Mastering Multimedia: “Ten ways to make your photos better”
  (tags: photography photojournalism journalism advice)
• 10,000 Words: “7 Essential multimedia tools and their free alternatives”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism tools multimedia)
• Poynter: “Seattle Times, Hyperlocal News Sites Collaborate on Coverage”
  (tags: collaboration hyperlocal SeattleTimes Poynter news newspapers websites)
• Online Journalism Review: “Starting your news website: A checklist for students and mid-career beginners”
  (tags: onlinejournalism websites development)

links for 2009-10-29

• Editor & Publisher: “Report: Many Newspaper Journos Want a Faster Transition to Digital”
  (tags: journalism newspapers online digital)
• MediaShift: “The Right Way For Media Companies to Create Social Media Policies”
  (tags: onlinejournalism socialmedia socialnetworking policies)
• MediaShift Idea Lab: “The New Era of Media Development, Part II”
  (tags: onlinejournalism media MediaShift development)
• Multimedia Shooter: “10 Projects you MUST see, NOW!”
  (tags: multimedia onlinejournalism video storytelling)
• Advancing the Story: “12 Things I’ve Learned about Online News”
  (tags: onlinejournalism newspapers)

links for 2009-10-21

• Betatales: “5 simple ways to engage users on a small news site”
  (tags: websites onlinejournalism interactive)
• Poynter: “News Orgs Make Gradual Progress in Site Navigation, Use of Social Networks”
  (tags: onlinejournalism websites socialmedia socialnetworking)
• Save the Media: “A journalist’s guide to the ethics of social media”
  (tags: ethics socialmedia journalism)
• CJR: “The Reconstruction of American Journalism”: About This Report”
  (tags: journalism)
• Romenesko: “New York Times to cut 100 newsroom jobs”
  (tags: nytimes stateofmedia)
• E-media Tidbits: “High Cost, Low Quality Plague Newspaper Video Efforts”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism video)
• Nieman Journalism Lab: “New York Times, still uncertain on charging, sets seven digital priorities”
  (tags: journalism nytimes onlinejournalism)
• Romenesko: “Seattle Crosscut completes its migration to a new, nonprofit model”
  (tags: nonprofit businessmodels journalism)

links for 2009-09-10

• Romenesko: “Newseum to launch 10-part ‘Future of News’ TV series”
  (tags: Newseum future journalism news)
• Mashable: “The New York Times Syncs its Social Network With Twitter”
  (tags: journalism onlinejournalism twitter socialmedia nytimes)
• Nieman Journalism Lab: “Google developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers: ‘Open need not mean free”
  (tags: Google micropayments newspapers businessmodels publishing)
• Reportr: “US newspapers, not TV, seek web skills”
  (tags: web skills onlinejournalism)
• Reportr: “Study finds US news media use Twitter as shovelware”
  (tags: Twitter, online journalism)

Online Journalism Links: 8/18/2009

Here are some links to recent articles and posts about online journalism I found interesting:

–Editor & Publisher: “More than 170 dailies sign on with Journalism Online“:  More than 500 newspapers, magazines and other sites have agreed to work with Journalism Online, a company that plans to help news organizations monetize online content. Affiliates select their own pay models.

–J-Lab: “Five news organizations join networked journalism project“: Several news organizations including the Seattle Times and the Miami Herald agreed to work with at least five hyperlocal news sites or produces in their communities to gather ideas and lessons for future content collaborations.

–Inside NPR.org: “The role of research in the NPR.org redesign“: Read this to find out more about what went in to NPR‘s Web site redesign, including interviews, surveys and usability tests.

–NewsPay: “New York Times invites discussion of paid content“: Readers have joined an Insight Lab to discuss the Times and its endeavors.

Extras:

• E-media Tidbits: “Why news organizations need a Facebook strategy“
• MediaShift: “Four Minute Roundup: Facebook takes on Twitter; iPhone backlash“
• E-media Tidbits: “Journalism schools introduce new degrees focused on future“

Want more links to recent online journalism reads? Follow my GoogleReader feed.

Online Journalism Links: 8/11/2009

Here are some links to recent articles and posts about online journalism I found interesting:

–Poynter: “Business Insider looks at how people share content online”: This post highlights a recent chart that broke down how people share content online.  The highest percentage, 24 percent, of survey participants use Facebook. This kind of information, Will Sullivan points out, is useful for news organizations in understanding where and how people get driven to to their sites.

–Poynter: “Bloggers, reporters handle user comments differently on news sites”: This article highlights trends that bloggers are more likley than reporters to interact with their audience and engage particpants. This creates confusion for readers and unmet expectations, Patrick Thorton writes.

–MediaShift: “How computer-assisted reporters evolved into programmer/journalists”: This post examines the rise of computer-assisted reporting and the emergence of data as an important part of online journalism.

–Knight Digital Media Center: “Pitfalls of the paywall”: This post is one of many debating the benefits and disadvantages of paying for content online. Michele McLellan poses five questions local publishers should consider before constructing a paywall.

Food for thought

Here are some additional links with ideas for newsrooms to help improve their work online and across platforms:

• MediaShift: “Five ways to use mind-mapping tools in the newsroom”
• Mashable: “The Journalist’s Guide to Facebook”
• Landing page optimization: “30+ principles to a better landing page design”

A month hiatus from blogging: What I learned

Those of you who follow this blog more regularly may have noticed that I’ve been missing in action for the past month. While I blame this partially on my lack of Internet at my house, the intensity of my job in July and feelings reminiscent of summer vacation, I also wanted to take a break to reevaluate my media habits (Thank you, Jim McPherson).

Here’s what I learned about my media consumption in a month hiatus from blogging: