New site

The confines of Blogger have burst open and I have my own site. It is here.

This will stay up for the archives, but there will be no more updates. 

Na shledanou, Blogger!

Moving to a new place, getting new ideas

The start of a new semester always bristles my brain with new ideas, ambitions and projects. It's a natural high. Here's what's on the plate:

• I'm getting my own site! Still deciding on a name. As much as I love journalism, I realize I need more room for my ideas to stretch that aren't all about writing and journalism. I'm so much more than a journalist and I'd like to share it. Update: I have the domain name! It's EverydayJournalist.com but I'm in the process of setting it up ....
  
• Crocheting at least 50 percent of my presents to family and friends from now until Christmas. Or sewing, if I can get the hang of it.
• I'm no longer the weekend reporter for the Chico Enterprise-Record after Aug. 24 (the regular person is back), but I will be doing some profile pieces for Lifestyle and anything else I can get my ink-drenched hands on.
• I am also now vowing to do a video project that I've been wanting to do: a tribute to "Where the Hell is Matt?" I swear by the time this semester is through, I will do it!
• Also: story writing. Short stories, novellas, novels. How are they constructed? Can I wrap my journalistic-bound arms around something as free form (or not) as fiction writing? We'll see!
• Get the CNPA scholarship and figure out where I want to work after I graduate.
  

Also, profile on the blind sculptor and the Warped Tour concert review went well. The articles will only be up for a few weeks before they hit the archives, so view now!

Loving both Twitter and Plurk - applications

I've been looking for social media applications for my two favorite social media sites, Twitter and Plurk. I've found a few and need something to support both.

They are two different communities to me. I love the conversations in Twitter with who I've chosen to follow - media types, people in my community and other interesting folk. With Plurk, I've got more casual and oversea plurkers I follow than anything else, with my sister joining the fun, too.

But I use both. I've been using Twhirl, an Adobe AIR application, to track Twitter, but now I need something for Plurk. I wanted an application that covered both Plurk and Twitter. Here's what I found and liked (all AIR apps).

• Plurkit - a strictly Plurk application. Feels a lot like Plurk but no profile pictures and no option to choose silly emoticons if you don't know the keyboard characters.
• Social Addict - this fulfills having both Twitter and Plurk, along with Bright Kite, MySpace, Facebook and six other social media sites. For Twitter, it fails because it doesn't update often enough or tell me when it has updated. There's also no special category for direct messages or replies. However, I like the other features for the sites I use. Made by the same person who made Plurkit, TwisterMC, and so the Plurk feature is essentially the same.
  
• Twhirl - this is my favorite Twitter application. It sits in your tool bar when you minimize it, alerts you of updates and has separate sections for direct messages, replies and a way to view profiles.

Keith Hanson is also promising a Plurk application to launch into beta soon, so keep an eye out.

I now use Social Addict and Twhirl. Plurkit is nice, but it's included in the Social Addict package. But if you want just Plurk, it works fine.

Any more suggestions?

Note: TwisterMC's site was working for me this morning, but was not upon posting this. Hopefully he's just having a little server trouble.

Where to be in social media and how to get community help

The answers to the many questions put in my previous post are not easy. But after thinking about it, I think I have an idea.

A reporter should chose whatever networking tools they are comfortable with - for me this is Twitter, Plurk, Facebook and a handful of others.

Next, decide what's personal. To me, Facebook and Plurk are personal. This blog and LinkedIn are professional and Twitter is a combination. I use Flickr and del.icio.us but only my own use - not much for networking.

Then come the connections. Connect to people in your area of coverage, in your line of business and those you just find interesting. Don't meticulously read every single Plurk of ping you get, but glance over them. Would I have known that the Great Google's mail service went down for about an hour yesterday if I hadn't been paying attention to Twitter? No.

These kind of platforms are more casual than previous professional networking systems and so talk of not-too-personal topics is all right. People can get to know you and like you.

Try the new social media sites, too. Just don't overdo it or there will just be too much information to process.

By establishing these networks, you can bounce ideas off other people, find different points of view and also ask the community for help when you need it.

Getting this kind of relationship with the readers of a publication is harder, but it should come from letting them know you appreciate their input by having smaller stories ask for opinions, ideas and leads. Then people won't be surprised if a publication asks for leads on an investigative piece.

Community investigative journalism - how and when is it acceptable?

Investigative journalism is something that is time consuming and not done as often as it should these days because of the amount of work journalists have to do.

Paul Bradshaw's article, "Blog Investigations Not All Dogs Dinner," for the Press Gazette talked about involving the community in coverage of something bigger than a paper can handle. By asking citizens to take part of the process, it makes journalists' lives easier and allows for deep investigation.

I agree completely. My question is this: When do journalists, editors, photographers or whoever ask the community to connect with them? Also, how should they connect? Twitter, Facebook, forums, IRC, comments? And what about contacts you've met in real life for other stories?

The biggest issue is knowing who to connect to online. Other journalists? Potential sources? What does the journalist cover? What interfaces are they interested in using professionally? If you interviewed someone, does that mean you should add them on Facebook?

The interesting thing about social connecting applications, with perhaps the exception of LinkedIn, is that people use the sites for business and personal use. Is that professional? Should you be completely professional all the time?

I realize I have a lot of questions with few answers. I am going to contemplate these and get back with another blog. In the mean time, feel free to leave suggestions.

Satisfaction, photojournalism and stereotypes - an interesting day

Three things today:

1) There's always a sense of satisfaction when I fill up a reporter's notebook. I flip through it and realize I scribbled all that down in midst of conversation. And some of it is lost, never to be in a story. I suppose that's one of the main reasons I don't like typing my notes. Delete it and it's gone. The only downside about written notes is they can be used in court. Although in my case I doubt anyone could read them. After a few days, I don't even know what most of it says.

2) I'm interested in practicing some photojournalism but don't have the right kind of camera. It needs to have manual control of aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc. One like this and in that price range. Any suggestions? It has to be digital, which kinda sucks actually. I've always been a fan of dark rooms. I'm mostly interested in composition, but that will come either from a class or my own personal study. I've always liked photography.

3) I was told by an interviewee that I didn't look like a reporter. I'm dressed fairly professionally (too professionally and people think I'm advertisement salesperson or in PR). Perhaps it was my age and cheerful demeanor. What do stereotypical reporters look like? I have a gripe about reporters portrayed in Hollywood, but that's another blog.

No internet=no posts

Comcast made a mistake and I haven't had internet for the past week, and won't again until this Tuesday. Sorry for the lack of notice, but I haven't been able to get online.

I'll be back up and running next week.