Megan Taylor

In my 7:25 a.m. editing class today (I can't possibly convey how much I hate getting up at 6:30) we had to design a page of print newspaper on a dummy sheet, including photos, headlines and cutlines (captions).

Everything has to be a rectangle. Each story makes a box, and if it includes a photo, that box must include a photo. A surprising amount of thought, pencil-work and math goes into figuring out how big the headlines will be and how to structure the page.

But I'm an online media gal.

I do think it is important to see how print layout works, at least at a basic level. But what works in print does not necessarily work online, and I notice a lack in my classes of discussing how to lay out individual elements on a Web site.

Sure, we kind of know, from being online all the time. When I designed my blog, I thought,
"OK, well, there should be two or more columns, the main column should contain the blog posts, the others should have navigation and extra info."

But why? Well, cause that's what blogs look like.

I want a class that gives me a better answer than that. I'm admittedly not a graphic artist. That's just not where my strengths lie. But I'd like to answer that "Why?" question with something other than "Because."

I've seen too many news Web sites that were clearly designed without any understanding of how to place elements on a Web site. I get the feeling that these are being produced by people whose lives aren't online; they're in print. And to overcome that, the Webbie needs to explain how and why the print structure doesn't work for the Web.

The Setup:

Much of what I've read since I started blogging (and thereby reading more online journalism blogs) says that journalists and students of journalism should blog. But according to a survey conducted by my editing teacher, out of 60 or so students (three sections) only about 5 blog.

The Problem:

My cash costs for this blog are almost nil, but the time cost is heavy. I try to post at least once a day, and that means coming up with a post idea (usually through my RSS feeds or classes), how to approach it, searching for references and relevant information, writing the post, coming up with a title (headlines are my weakness), and editing. I'm also constantly looking for ways to improve the site as a whole, via design or information.

The Solution?

Tumblr

A "Tumblelog" is The Flash compared to traditional blogging. Each post will have a different format based on what information you're posting: a longer blog post, a photograph or graphic, a quotation, a link, a conversation, or a video. You don't have to write commentary, there are no comments to check. Just post and go.

Even better, the Tumblr bookmarklet automatically detects what kind of site you're on and will format the post accordingly. I'm assuming this auto-detect isn't perfect, so you can change the type easily as well.

You can also set Tumblr up to directly publish posts from an RSS feed or your cellphone.

Maybe not:

Here's the drawback: no comments = no community. If you follow the theory that journalism needs to get ueber-local, and journalists need to learn how to participate in their communities, maybe Tumblr isn't the solution for the time-bound. Maybe you should just take a few extra seconds to post to a blog that does allow comments. Maybe the time investment is worth the possibility of mind-opening and engaging conversation; building your own community.

Something Different:

Perhaps the challenge lies in the format. How long is a story, anyway?

P.S. This post took me about two hours. I had help on the details on Tumblr from Lifehacker.

Philadelphia papers offer summaries for really busy readers - New York Times
The idea for Inquirer Express and Daily News at a Glance came from former readers who had said they canceled their subscriptions "because I feel guilty that I never get to read the whole paper," says a spokesman for the papers. "This is an attempt to say, 'If you can't get to the whole paper, that's okay, here's a summary.'"
(Romenesko)

I need this.

My Editing class requires that we read the New York Times and The Gainesville Sun every day. Each week, we are quizzed on current events. Unfortunately, since all my news comes through RSS and I have over 200 feeds a day, the information doesn't always stick.

The UF Newsies are moving from The Undertone to our own blog on the Gainesville Sun site.

This is great, because the site will be geared towards what we write about rather than just filling in space.

However, I'm already seeing some problems with the CMS (content management system).

Rather than uploading a full-sized image into the blog post, the best you seem to be able to do is add a thumbnail to the post which people have to click on to see the full sized image. While videos, podcasts, and photos can be uploaded to the blog, they are not
integrated well with the blog posts themselves.

The photos at least, show up nice and big in the RSS feed. (That's right, we have an RSS feed now!)

I don't know what program is powering the site.

I've seen this a few times now, where the CMS that a company is using just doesn't lend itself to facilitating the use of multimedia. It makes me want to go back to old-school HTML editing. (Not just because it would increase my own marketability.)

I even have trouble with WordPress occasionally, though to be honest some of that is because I haven't had a chance to go through my CSS and PHP with a microscope yet.

Is there a favorite CMS among media companies that makes this easy?

I am not a communicator by nature. At least, not on a one-to-many level. Excepting a close circle of people I've known for 6 years (or more) I tend to keep myself to myself, opening up on rare occasions to someone new. When I try to recount a story to my friends, there is a lot of backtracking and explaining, because I know what happened and I'm too busy reliving it to tell the story.

Then why am I a journalist? Why do I think I can tell stories for a living?

I'm a good listener. I may not open-up, (and thus jeopardize my networking skills) but I watch and I listen and I understand people.

I know the shifty, nervous, over-enthusiastic look of someone who knows a secret. And the sound of a story that isn't sure it's worth being told. The sparkle and jingle of the perfect quote.

I'm also a good writer. Writing slows me down so that I can tell the story well the first time. I may stumble over my own tongue, but my fingers on the keyboard are agile.

But can I show the story, instead of telling it?

I don't know. I'm afraid that I'll graduate, able to do all kinds of nifty things with technology, and not be able to communicate the story.

Learning HTML, CSS, audio editing, Photoshop, Flash, etc., is fun and exciting and necessary. BUT, it's also useless if I can't tell a story to begin with.

What if, in the desperate and fearful dash toward technology, the story gets left behind?

The same video, edited with Windows Movie Maker.

Neatorama posted the 11 most important philosophical questions today. While I read through them, I thought of how each could be applied to journalism.

• “The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates (470-399 BCE)

The unexamined isn't news. But, almost anything, once examined, is news. Everyone has a story, and it is a reporter's job to find out what that is and what's interesting about it.

• “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily” – William of Ockham (1285 - 1349?)

Applies more to Web design, but since newspapers are learning how to do that: Remove all unnecessary design elements. Simple is better.

• “The life of man [is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” – Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679)

Sure. But relate it back to the first one. Even if everyone's life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," there's always something unique and interesting that warrants inclusion in a story.
The quote originally describes man in his or her natural "uncivilized" state. The dissemination of news is part of what we like to call a civilized society. Thus, news prevents the life of man from being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

• “I think therefore I am” – René Descartes (1596 – 1650)

I am, therefore I write. I think, therefore I have something to write about.

• “To be is to be perceived (Esse est percipi).” – Bishop George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)

To be written about is to be perceived.

• “We live in the best of all possible worlds.” – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716)

Maybe, but bad news sells papers. And there always seems to be plenty of that.

• “The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.” G.W.F. Hegel (1770 – 1831)

You never know what the real story is until you sit down to write it.

• “Who is also aware of the tremendous risk involved in faith – when he nevertheless makes the leap of faith – this [is] subjectivity … at its height.” – Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855)

Decisions, in writing, reporting and editing, are not always crystal clear. Sometimes you just have to take the risk.

• “God is dead.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

Print is dead? Not yet, but it's on the way out. A healthy dose of skepticism is good in a reporter, but cynicism can ruin a good reporter.

• “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” – Albert Camus (1913 – 1960)

There is but one truly serious ethical problem: Do you print it as a suicide or not?

• “One cannot step twice in the same river.” – Heraclitus (ca. 540 – ca. 480 BCE)

You can't write the same story twice. There is always a new angle, a change or some background you didn't know about the first time around.

I've got an editing dilemma. My editing teacher is a big fan of the word ever. As in biggest ever, longest ever, best ever.

I, on the other hand, argue that 'ever' in that context is redundant and unnecessary.

What's your take on this?

In today's Editing class, Professor Rodgers talked about the media monopolies and shriveling newsrooms.

The Boston Globe is closing three foreign bureaus. Other papers are restricting international and national coverage. The newsroom is getting smaller as media companies like Times cut budgets and lay off employees in a rush to increase profits and concentrate on the Internet.

Over the past 10 years, the number of major media companies has gone from 50 to 5.

I guess the CEOs figure that the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and AP wire can handle the in-depth, large-scale reporting. They've become more obsessed with profits, despite the fact that newspapers still provide a better return on investments than any other industry.

But one of the principles behind the free press is the "marketplace of ideas." If papers trade in their own voices for those of larger outlets, the number of voices in the arena, the number of perspectives heard by the public, is reduced. And we, the public, won't stand for that. Instead we'll retreat even further into the Internet, searching for the news and voices we want.

We've already started to shift our loyalties to bloggers (vloggers, mobloggers, etc.) and alternate sources of news. That's why you, Mr. Media CEO, are getting rid of seasoned reporters and recruiting newbies with online capabilities.

Way to shoot yourself in the foot.

On the other hand, I've heard and read a lot about the future of newspapers being hyper-local. This suggests that people are more interested in what goes on in their neighborhoods than across the ocean. The social implications of that are just scary.

I want to know what's going on down the street from my house. I also want to know what's going on on the other side of the world. And I want to hear it from the left, the right, the middle, the opinions, the facts, the stories. Because that's the only way I can decide what my world is like.

From Micro Persuasion:

The Dallas Mavericks have a wiki where fans are encouraged to document games and submit photographs. This may be the first wiki in professional sports.

From MavsWiki:

The Official MavsWiki is a collaboration of Mavs history, official stats and the all important FAN perspective. Editing of this site is open to all and we encourage everyone to share thoughts, comments and photos of their experiences with the Dallas Mavericks.

Now that's citizen journalism. What would happen if the same idea was applied to online news?

My editing class began today. Here are a few helpful resources:

• Exercises from the Copy Editor's Handbook for Newspapers
• The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
• The Scriptorium - our class blog
• Exercise Central for AP Style
• ACES Online Quizzes
• Your Dictionary
• A Spelling Test
• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
• The Grouchy Grammarian
• The HyperTextBook

I really think the key to good editing is focus more than anything else. I've always read a lot, and that gives me a good sense of what looks right or wrong, and my background in Linguistics helps to identify complex parts of speech. But unless I force myself to slow down and really look at each sentence, I still make sloppy mistakes.