Thanks for two great years

Photo by Mark Hinojosa

From the Board

It's hard to believe that it's been two years since we were first elected to serve on ONA Mizzou's executive board. In that time, we've flown drones, brought a world-class storyteller to campus, encouraged self-care and more. We hope that you all have gotten as much out of ONA Mizzou these past two years as we have, and as we move onto new jobs and experiences in new cities, we wanted to take this chance to say goodbye.

Jessica Abel: The perfect fit

By Emerald O'Brien

You may have heard that Jessica Abel is coming to Mizzou on Wednesday, March 23. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, try checking out our TL;DR video about who she is and why she is coming here.
For those of you who have a little more time, I wanted to give you some insight into why the rest of the executive board of ONA Mizzou and I wanted to bring Jessica Abel here.

Last year, I had the opportunity to see Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich speak at Washington University in St. Louis. After the event, one of my first reactions (other than “OMG OMG OMG”) was, “why haven’t we had any podcasts or radio shows at Mizzou?”

Blogging the way to existential disrepair: Part two!

I think about this picture on the regular.
Photo courtesy of Mike Licht/Flickr

By Emerald O'Brien

Around this time last year, I dutifully shared my tips for successful blogging, tips which I learned through several disastrous years of blogging experiences.

A year later, I am finally through with my days of required academic blogging.

So, what have I learned on the other side? Pretty much nothing, but check out the amended version of my old blog for a few extra nuggets. New additions are in italics and a sassy but gracefully matured voice.  

Choosing the right portfolio site for you

Photo by The City College First-Year Writing Program

By Maria Davison

So you want to build a personal portfolio site, but you're not sure where to begin? Picking the right platform to best showcase your work can seem like a daunting task, if only slightly less daunting than coding it yourself. But an outstanding online portfolio will help you out when it comes to applying for everything from your first internship to your dream job. The key is picking one that showcases your work at its best and makes it shine.

I asked a few ONA Mizzou Exec members and some other friends of ONA Mizzou to share the pros and cons of several common portfolio sites. Here's what they had to say:

Homecoming 2015: Grads come home and share some advice

By Emerald O'Brien

Photo by Ryan Levi

While the football game may not have gone the way Mizzou fans would have liked, this year's Homecoming was still a great experience as alumni from across the country came home to Mizzou. In between reminiscing about old times and introducing themselves to the new dean, we caught up with a few alumni to chat and asked them about what they've learned since they left Old Missouri.

Six takeaways from ONA15

By the ONA Mizzou Executive Board

Photo by Sarah Darby

The Online News Association's annual conference is recognized as one of the premier conferences for all things related to digital media and the future of news. Every year, huge numbers of journalists travel to the conference to learn about new journalism technologies and to discuss ways to advance the industry.

If you're like our executive board, you couldn't make it to the conference in Los Angeles last week for ONA15. But, we're always interested to see what happened, and one of the best things about an online organization is that they're really good about putting things online. As we dug through the conference content, here were a few of our favorite sessions.

5 tips for creating content with intergenerational appeal

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Japanexperterna.se

by Emerald O'Brien

The other day, I explained to a 60-year-old what it means to call someone or something "bae." I began by explaining that it started out as an acronym for "before anyone else" and has devolved into a pet name for any kind of significant other, with "other" not being confined to a living being (e.g. Netflix, the USA, the cute barista at Starbucks).

This isn't the first time I've been faced with this type of generational disconnect. Earlier this year I taught an older couple about the word ratchet. This is the same couple whose IBM computer, which has been gathering dust since it was given to them in 2005, is now in my possession so that I may teach them the sorcery that is the Internet.

Generation Y (Millennials) grew up with the Internet at its fingertips. While it isn't embedded in us quite like the new generation (Gen. Z), we are the first wave of adults – and journalists for that matter – who will create a world that has never not known technology. But until we say our final YOLO, we have to be aware of and cater to our audiences who may be less tech savvy than we are. 

Here are some things to keep in mind writing for those who defeat the phrase "user-friendly" by shocking lengths, as well as some tips for writing to an audience with iPhones where hands used to be.

Welcome to our new board!

By Katy Mersmann

This is my last post as the president of ONA Mizzou and I'm sad that my time is at an end. I've had a great time with our events and Open Newsrooms. I'm thrilled to introduce our new executive board (they should look pretty familiar), and I'm so excited to see what they do!

Sarah Darby, President:

@_SCDarby

Hello, my name is Sarah Darby, and I am excited to be the new president of ONA Mizzou! I am currently a junior convergence journalism major and entrepreneurship minor, and I am originally from the Kansas side of Kansas City. My love for digital media began when I helped launch my high school newspaper's first website. I saw how engaging online content could reach audiences in new ways, and I pursued a number of digital news internships in college as a result. I have worked at news startups in the Midwest and in Buenos Aires. I have also worked as a social media coordinator for ONA Mizzou and Mizzou's Women in Engineering Center. This summer I hope to further develop these skills and interests as a digital news intern at the Kansas City Star.

Blogging the way into existential disrepair

by Emerald O'Brien

A photo of the author after finishing this blog.
Photo courtesy of Mike Licht/Flickr

Are you in a journalism class that requires you to blog for a grade? Are you masochistic enough to be writing a blog just for fun? (Or are you really just blogging because its a class requirement?)

Well, you are in luck because in my 7 years of forced blogging experiences, I have collected a pool of invaluable blogging tips, and I'm here to share them with you.

Robot journalists are taking over the news industry (sort of)

Photo by Flickr user Windell Oskay

By Emerald O'Brien

This post was not generated by a computer (unfortunately). But, if you are getting your news from the AP, you just might be reading a robot’s handiwork.

After employing these metal-handed journalists for more than six months, the AP is cranking out around 1,000 stories a month with non-human bylines (well, no bylines at all).

But what does this mean for journalism? Is this where journalists get phased out like some factory workers? Or does this just provide the relief that journalism school students everywhere long for?

Some tips from home and abroad

Image from Flickr user Paul Downey

By Ryan Levi

The end of this semester is a time of transition for ONA Mizzou. Three of our executive members (Maria Davison, A.J. Feather, and myself) are getting ready to study abroad in the spring while three more (Emerald O'Brien, Madison Feller, and Sarah Darby) are preparing to return from overseas and take their spots. We have all learned a lot this semester and we want to impart some of what we learned to you all.

Four pieces of soccer journalism not by Ann Coulter (and two by Ann Coulter)

By Emerald O'Brien

Creative Commons photo from Flickr user daniandgeorge

Whether the completion of the World Cup on Sunday will bring you infinite joy or put you in a four-year depression (or maybe you stopped thinking about soccer altogether after last Tuesday), it is the last time many Americans will really think (or write) about soccer until 2018. 

That being said, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching both the World Cup and Americans yelling at each other about whether or not soccer is stupid while the rest of the world ignores us.

This year’s buzz began with Ann Coulter’s article condemning the sport and all who enjoy it. And while it is an...interesting (ahem, hilarious) read, here are some other things that happened in soccer journalism in the last month.

Meet the 2014-2015 ONA Mizzou student leaders

President: Katy Mersmann

I'm Katy Mersmann and I'm a current junior and international convergence journalism major. My first love is the written word (I came to Mizzou to be a print reporter) but quickly discovered the flexibility and excitement of working with different platforms to get the story out. I'm passionate about the potential for social media crowdsourcing to provide richer narratives and different perspectives on the news we see everyday.

I'm originally from Olathe, Kan. (although I've never liked the Jayhawks!), and I just spent a semester in Washington, D.C., interning in the medical unit at CNN. After graduation, I dream of taking my skills on the road as a "backpack reporter" and covering stories that don't get much traction.

Outside of the j-school, I like to eat, run, watch Mizzou football and talk about Harry Potter with anyone who will listen.