Here’s a PDF with the wiki page instructing you on how to post to the live coverage project for ToilTown (for those of you who can’t access the wiki directly).
Category Archives: Resources
Syllabus Update: Prepping Your Pitches & Video Clips
Folks – a couple of preparatory notes for tomorrow’s live newsroom simulation. And to make things all the more fun, we’ll be joined in the classroom by our very own Dean Shephard tomorrow, who’ll be observing the class throughout much of the afternoon.
1) To save time, make sure to be prepared with details of your best couple of multimedia clips. If I ask you the best soundbite, you’ll know it. If I ask you about the quality of the audio, you’ll be able to describe it. If I ask you whether the subject had a good anecdote, you’ll be able to cite it.
2) To avoid a bottleneck during the simulation, please make sure you know how to transcode your video from your smartphone to FinalCut. This is especially important for those of you with Android or other non-iPhone smartphones. Remember – It is your individual responsibility to know how your phone works. We just can’t provide tech support for the many models you all have.
If you’re not sure how to proceed, here’s one suggestion that may work for Android phones – try the process used for transferring from the school’s Canon 60D camera (link – see Step 3, transcoding using MPEG Streamclip). If you’re still stymied, check your phone manual or online site for how to transfer video material. Or check with your peers who may have had success with such a transfer!
Good luck gathering and preparing your clips. See you at 1pm sharp!
Calendar Reminder: Tuesday, Nov. 22 Class
A reminder, as you may have noticed in our syllabus, that our class the week after next is to be held on Tuesday, Nov. 22 instead of Thursday, Nov. 24. It’s a school-wide policy that Thursday classes be held in place of the usual Tuesday classes that day, due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Make any travel plans accordingly!
That Elusive “Voice”
A few of you asked me during our one-on-ones about the idea of “voice” that I mention in my grading rubric. Here’s a nice chat on the writer’s voice – inspired by music – from Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute, a great writing coach I trained with years go: How to incorporate tone, rhythm & voice in your writing. Roy also has a piece on the blogger’s voice: From Pepys to Your Peeps, Finding Your Voice as a Blogger. Let me know what you think of these pieces – good or bad.
There’s also available, free through the Research Center, Poynter NewsU webinars like this one: Write with Voice and Tone: Poynter Writing Series. If anyone’s interested in watching the webinar in a small group, so that we can discuss it together afterwards, I’d be more than happy to arrange and join in.
Social Media & Journalism
ProPublica’s post for social media editor a few hours ago (full text below) includes this useful notable perspective:
“Extensive social media experience is required, but candidates will foremost be excellent journalists.” [emphasis added]
It also mentions:
“You will be expected to implement projects using HTML and CSS, and be familiar with web analytics, basic project management, and Photoshop.”
Plus, ProPublica’s new social media editor, interviewed on 10,000 Words blog
EZ: How does one land a gig as a social media editor? What are the must-have skills that someone aspiring to be a social media editor needs?
DV: Most importantly, you should think of yourself as a journalist first, and a social media nerd a very distant second.
Exemplary ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Photojournalism
For those of you who’ve been shooting this story, or plan to, a great collection of images from photojournalists can be found here at “Facing Change: Documenting America.” Thanks Bob Sacha. Enjoy!
Canon PowerShot G12 Manual
Here’s a PDF of the abridged G12 manual we walked through in class – canon_G12_quick_start_manual.
And here’s a link to the camera product page, where you can find the full, unabridged manual and other resources.
Devigal Links
Some cool projects from the talk a couple of weeks back by NYT’s Andrew Devigal:
- Autism piece
- Audio slideshow/video about the family of a soldier serving in Afghanistan.
- The 9/11 Tapes: The Story in the Air
- Panoramas of Joplin Before and After the Tornado … – New York Times
- Picturing the Inauguration: The Readers’ Album
- Fiscal Puzzle: Balancing Wilmington’s Budget
- The Death of a Terrorist: A Turning Point?
- Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami
- A Buoyant Milan: New Designs From the Furniture
How To: Upload Photos from an SD Card
Uploading photos, or video, from an SD card is easy. The best and simplest method is the Drag and Drop.
Insert the SD card (the memory card inside the camera) into the slot on the left-hand side of your laptop.
An icon that looks like an SD card will appear on your desktop.
Create a folder in the desired destination for your photos. Example: Your project is Jobs. Your project folder is named Jobs. Create a folder inside “Jobs” named “Jobs Photos.”
Open both “Jobs Photos” and the SD card in Finder. Inside the SD folder should be a DCIM folder — this is where you files are. Select all your files. Drag them into “Jobs Photos.” The files will transfer. You’re done!
Additional TA Support
In case you missed this in your CUNY emails – take advantage of this tremendous resource so we can establish its usefulness for future years.
Mitch Trinka and Vish Persaud from the class of 2010 are the technology producers and graduate teaching assistants on staff this semester for the Interactive Department. As technology producers and multimedia consultants, Mitch and I are here to help you develop multimedia projects (if you’re taking Interactive 3) and personal portfolio websites to display your work. That means you can come to us with any technology or multimedia related questions you have (i.e. Final Cut Pro, Flash, WordPress, etc.) We’re here to help both first and third semester students with their tech issues.
You can check out my personal website at vishalpersaud.com and Mitch’s at mitchtrinka.com (they’re both still in development, but it might give you some ideas for your own websites that Mitch and I can help with.) You can also take a look at our Interactive 3 projects that we worked on last year for more inspiration: Mitch’s: parksunderpressure.com and Vish’s: thewagedivide.com
Mitch Trinka is available during the day from 12 to 4 p.m. and can be reached at mitchell.trinka@journalism.cuny.edu. Contact him to set up appointments.
Vish Persaud will be available from 6 to 11 p.m. (after 8 p.m. on Monday nights) for help. You can reach him at vishal.persaud@journalism.cuny.edu.
We look forward to helping all of you develop some great projects and websites.