Tips for success in journalism studies

By Andrew Gibson

Entering my emphasis area at the Missouri School of Journalism has always seemed so far away.

Well, it did until Halloween. That's when I registered for convergence reporting, the first class in my emerging-media emphasis. Although the course has a reputation for brutality, I feel strangely confident when gazing at my spring schedule. I realize now it's because of the amount I've learned in journalism-studies classes.

I can't pretend to be an expert on these classes. For one, I'm in one of them: Journalism 2150, Fundamentals of Multimedia. But I'd still like to share my advice about how to succeed in the four classes leading up to the Mizzou J-school initiation. I might forget if I don't.

ONA Mizzou going on Thanksgiving Break

Photo courtesy of antonellamusina

It's been a long semester, and the four ONA Mizzou student leaders are going home to eat turkey and watch football.

Andrew will tweet occasionally, and we'll have a blog post for you Monday. But please don't expect social media to fire at normal levels.

We want to thank everyone for a great semester so far, and we hope your break is relaxing and enjoyable. See you soon!

Live Blogging: ONA Mizzou Meeting 11/17/11

6:06: Thanks for coming to today's meeting. See you soon. Tweet @ONAMizzou with any questions.

6:05: Q: Flash is dead. Explain please. Weir answers with an important comment about mobile devices connecting to the internet more in the next year. It's more touch screen than hover.

6:04: Web 2.0 Tools are on slideshare and they can be Googled.

6:02: Weir- "To learn more join Hacks/HackersIRE."

5:58: Computer assisted reporting tools involve web browser, spreadsheet, and database managers

5:57: Working with data requires finding it then negotiating on how to investigate it. Then evaluate the data along with analyze it.

5:53: Weir goes into the history of Computer assisted reporting.

5:49: Pro Publica is a national organization and makes more journalism public.

5:47: "Web apps love data."- Weir. He shows an example from the NYT Election page and how candidates are raising money. The Election page is getting it's info from different sources, no one is inputting it.

5:46: Computer assisted reporting helps in many different facets of journalism.

5:45: David Herzog is know speaking about Data Journalism.

The live tweeting handbook

By Ashley Crockett

We've already covered how to verify the credibility of real-time news on Twitter. But what if you're the one tweeting live coverage?

During every ONA Mizzou meeting, our social media coordinator, Andrew Gibson, sits with fingers poised, ready to share the events unfolding before him with @ONAMizzou's Twitter followers. He even makes it easy to search specifically for live tweets by using the simple hashtag #ONAMizzou.

As part of an RJI collaboration with Illinois Public Media, student volunteers will help live tweet during a webcast event today, Nov. 15. Opportunities like this are a good way to show potential employers that you have experience using social media to deliver news and information for a professional news outlet.

Read on for guidance in the still-evolving art of live tweeting.

Calendar Alert: Don't fear tech tools! 5 p.m. November 17

Picture courtesy of Brett Jordan

Hey, journalist! Don't let the word "programming" scare you. With a little help from ONA Mizzou and our panel of presenters, you'll walk away feeling like you can take on the technology world! Bring friends, bring a laptop, and bring questions to Don't Fear Tech Tools!

5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, in Reynolds Journalism Institute 100.

Tweet us questions now, so we have a list before the event kicks off!

Here's a list of the technology experts that will be joining our conversation:

• Mike McKean, Futures Lab director, who will talk about mobile-app development for journalists.
• David Herzog, academic adviser to the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, who will talk about computer-assisted reporting.
• Rob Weir, Columbia Missourian digital-development director, will talk about programming and coding for journalists.

Digital attribution adds to transparency

By Ashley Crockett

"He said, she said" -- that's pretty much the extent of attribution in print.

But online? Link away!

By linking directly to articles or anything else that you're referencing, you give your readers the chance to go the next step in learning about something. If people have the opportunity to read one or all of the original sources you used, it helps them to make a better-informed opinion of the issue at hand.

As Steve Buttry of the Journal Register Co. writes, "Even when readers don’t click links, the fact that you are linking tells them that you are backing up what you have written, that you are attributing and showing your sources."

Linking to other pages can even help your piece rank higher in Google searches. Just like with headlines, the text you're using to link should include keywords that could draw in more viewers.

Another important detail is making sure each and every link opens up in a new tab or window. Why? So that even if your reader gets distracted by the content from a link, they won't lose your page.

Now, there is one caveat: not all links are good. If you're going to link to another page, it needs to be a "good" page. That means that you need to make sure the site you're linking to won't be shut down. If a site does go down, hopefully you've been periodically checking the validity of old links and can remove that one.

So remember: "Cover what you do best. Link to the rest." - Jeff Jarvis

How social networking is transforming television

By Addison Walton

Over the last few years, social networking has done many things for journalism. From Facebook Pages to Twitter click-throughs, many are aware of the wonders social media has done for journalism. What some people might be surprised to find out is that social networking is doing a lot more than we thought for television.

From basic cable to ESPN3, social networking is playing a huge role in all things television. A study from Nielsen recently revealed some interesting statistics regarding social buzz and ratings that might surprise some folks.

A "hashtagged" dugout in the most recent World Series.

The study found a number of interesting tidbits, including the fact that women ages 18-34 drive the ratings of certain shows more than men do. They also found that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the two most popular days of the week to talk about on TV on social networking sites. This statistic coincides with another interesting finding in the study. The word most associated with social buzz was winning (not bi-winning, sorry Charlie Sheen). Again, this makes sense because the most heavily watched reality shows ("American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "The X Factor" and "Survivor") air on these two days.