ONLINE JOURNALISM 101Starting off on the right foot

WHY SHOULD I TAKE MY PAPER ONLINE?

Reasons for a Online-First PublicationBreaking News

Endless Space

Vibrant Color

Constant Workflow

Innovative Technology

Social Media

Affordable

Inclusive

Scooping the Competition

The Future of Journalism

Take a Look at the Facts from 2012~ 93% of teens 12-17 either have a computer or have access to one.

~95% of teens use the internet.

~78% of teens have a cell phone. 47% of those have a smartphone.

~ 74% of teens describe themselves as mobile internet users.

~ 23% of people surveyed (all ages) stated they read a print newspaper yesterday. In 2002, it was 41%.

~ 55% of New York Times readers use the online site instead of print. 48% of USA Today readers use the online version.

~ In the 18-24 age bracket, 41% of respondents stated they saw news on a social network. In 2010, it was 14%.

Data from: Teens and Technology 2013 Mar 13, 2013

by Mary Madden, Amanda Lenhart, Maeve Duggan, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser

In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012

What this Means for our PublicationsOur students are online.

They come to school with mobile devices in hand.

The are avid consumers of social media and the internet and use it to get their news.

Social networks and online news sites are the places to go to reach young readers.

HOW DO I MOVE MY PAPER ONLINE?

Know your Online RightsIdentifying Minors Online: “There are no federal laws that require school officials to prohibit or restrict student journalists from publishing the names or photos of students in their online publications when that information is lawfully obtained, accurate and newsworthy.” ~ Naming Names: Identifying Minors A discussion of the legal and ethical issues concerning publishing minor names and photos in student media © 2011 Student Press Law Center

FERPA: “FERPA penalizes schools that indiscriminately release certain student "education records" to third parties.Where the policies directed at student media miss the mark is that FERPA only restricts the release of information by school officials or those acting for them. Outside parties — including student reporters, who are neither state actors, employees nor agents of the school— are not restricted by the law.” ~ Naming Names: Identifying Minors A discussion of the legal and ethical issues concerning publishing minor names and photos in student media © 2011 Student Press Law Center

Open Forum: “Where a public high school has established a ‘policy or practice’ of allowing a publication to operate as a ‘public forum’ where students express themselves freely, the administration's ability to censor student speech is more limited.There is no reason that the same rules would not apply to the online context.” ~ Student Media Guide to Internet Law Part One of a two-part update on the answers to the most common Internet legal questions © 2004 Student Press Law Center

Get Administration On Board

Pick a Platform

Wordpress: Bryan Murley from College Media Innovation and Aaron Manfull from JEA Digital Media analyzed the platforms from the 2013 Online Pacemaker sites and found that 70.4% and 94% respectively use Wordpress.

Started out for bloggers but now is versatile and intuitive. Needs very little technical expertise.

Has a wide range of plugins and themes that are easily adaptable. Tons of free theme options.

Joomla:

More complex than Wordpress but fairly intuitive after some reading.

Allows more flexibility than Wordpress. Users can change almost everything.

Also has an extensive theme and plugin selection.

When selecting a platform pick one that both you and your students can use. As the adviser, you need to understand the site after they are gone.

Pick a Platform

Drupal:

Requires the most technical understanding but produces very advanced sites. You will need to learn the software.

Most challenging to set up.

Strongly integrated social networking features

Dreamweaver:

You really need to know what you’re doing with html coding

Just reading the descriptions made my head spin and my husband is a coder.

When selecting a platform pick one that both you and your students can use. As the adviser, you need to understand the site after they are gone.

Set Up your NewsroomYour online editorial staff should work solely on the website.

Split Staffs Creates a focused, specialized team. Can create rivalry in the classroom.

Both staffs in the same class.....Combined Staff

Team is less specialized which can slows down all productions. Classroom is much more team-oriented and learns all aspects of your journalism class.

Separate classes for print and online.....Team is specialized and focused on the one publication being produced.

Rivalry will exist, but not with students in the same period.

Depending on your school, could require a lot of students to fill both classes.

Invest in Quality Equipment

DSLR camera with video

Audio recorder

Microphones

Video editing program

Make Online Unique from PrintUse multiple story forms

Use tools on the web to tell stories visually as well as through words. Don’t be afraid to chunk information, post an entire story in photos, use sound and video exclusively or post infographics.

Use your site to break the news happening at your school.

Stories don’t need to be complete- if it’s breaking news get it posted as it’s happening as long as it’s accurate. Post brief stories and update when more information is available.

Make Online Unique from Print

Content should be constant. Don’t have “dump days.”

Try to upload a few stories every few days. Every day is ideal.

Avoid repeating your print stories on your website.

Print and online can and should work in tandem to present different angles of the same story.

Don’t write stories that can be found other places on the web.

Why would a reader come to your site to read a review when he/she can go to the NYT?

Package your StoriesEvery story should have:

Copy with multiple sources. Aim for shorter stories.

One or more visuals- try to avoid publishing without a visual.

Hyperlinks

Begin with the end in mind. Decide on story packages before the process begins. You need to make sure that you are using the right media to tell your story.

Great stories use additional media including videos, podcasts, slideshows, soundslides, infographics, pull quotes, etc. Be sure to provide points of entry.

Go Beyond Merely Posting StoriesGreat sites become the hub of information for a school. Try to find ways to include:

Sports scores and events

Vital information (school closures, testing days, schedule changes)

School activities

Polls

To-do reminders- especially for those seniors

Student-created blogs

Reader generated content

Links to other organizations and advertisers

Important DosMonitor the homepage every time you post and check for unplanned white space or awkward column jumps.

Pick one category for each post. A story shouldn’t be in news and features. It also shouldn’t be on your homepage more than once.

Include features to guide readers to new or important content on your site. The most important category, probably the news, should have prominence. Also consider providing areas for most recent posts and/or most visited or popular posts.

Create publication standards and teach your editors how to enforce them. Stories don’t get posted unless they meet all the standards

Select EICs that you trust and let them run their publication.

Important Don’tsAvoid adding features that merely take up space- weather, Twitter feed, etc.

Don’t use vertical pictures on your homepage as the featured image. Vertical pictures lead to unfortunate decapitations or awkward spacing on your homepage.

Don’t embed your print paper on your website. If you have an account such as Issuu, put the link to your paper on your navigation bar with Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Don’t put your Twitter feed on your homepage. Twitter usually drives traffic to your site… not the other way around.

Integrate Social Media

The Grading Monster

I find this one of the harder parts of my job as an adviser.

My online students are graded on the amount of work they publish on the website.

Every grading period they have to earn a certain number of points to receive an A.

My editors will be sure that nothing is published if it doesn’t meet our journalistic standards.

If it isn’t published, they don’t get points.

QUESTIONS?

DANIELLE RYAN, MJEJournalism Adviser

Email: danielleryan15@gmail.com

Twitter: CbadNewsTeacher

Website: www.thelancerlink.com

Slideshare: http:www.slideshare.net/danielleryan15