New look for site

I changed the look of the site.  Was really getting tired of the plain blue heading.  I’ll change the photo when I find something suitable.

 

Status report on new Corsair structure

We’re a month into the new Corsair organizational structure and it is working beyond my wildest dreams.  All the teams have taken ownership of their sections and I’m seeing some great results.

Continuous news has three writers and an editor and is posting something nearly every day.  One post, on a Dylan and Costello concert in Georgia, received 900 page views the day it was posted.  I think that might have had something to do with the College Publisher Network, but that’s still way more than what we normally average. 

We did have to hire a managing editor for Continuous News.  They are so busy writing that they haven’t had time to keep the calendar and messages up to date.  The managing editor manages workflow, not staff.  When a story idea comes in, she funnels it to the correct team or posts a quick story online.

For Enterprise Projects, we chose topics at the beginning of the semester, mainly to help the print edition meet deadlines.  Students from the journalism classes are free to choose story ideas within those topics or to cover something for Student Life.  We have already produced a package on a Pensacola Superfund site, and the current issue covers environmental issues on campus and recycling.  The great thing about planning these packages is that the students have time to think about art and additional information to include with the stories.

BTW, we are making this work without an editor-in-chief.  The five team leaders have formed an interim editorial board and they like it so much, they would like to change the structure permanently.

If there’s an area where I would suggest improvement, it would be to bring more campus-related news to Continuous News.

 

Decisions in the field

This is one of the most thought-provoking articles I’ve read recently, and a divergent viewpoint from a Pulitzer prizewinning photojournalist in a world where photoj’s aren’t quite ready to embrace video:

 The Shift. by Kim Komenich.

Found via Newspaper Video Yahoo group.

Komenich thinks the time is near that reporters and photojournalists will be working for a web company that produces a newspaper a few times a week.  His reasoning, in part, is the environmental impact in producing the newspaper:

the concept of paying a guy to drive a logging truck into the woods (at $3 a gallon) to cut down a tree and drive the log to a paper mill (at $3 a gallon), then pay some other guy to drive a train or truck full of newsprint out of state to a newspaper’s printing plant (at $3 a gallon), then to pay some other guys to drive big trucks full of printed newspapers (at $3 a gallon) to a distribution point where some other guys (some driving cars at $3 a gallon and some on foot or bicycle) deliver the newspaper to the reader — wouldn’t get you much venture capital for your 2007 startup.  

But the key concept he promotes is this:

Today’s journalist is (or soon will be) a “field producer” who is trusted as the person on location who will decide how the story will best be told (be it in stills and words, or stills only, or words only, or audio and stills, or audio only, or video — the possibilities are endless). This journalist then sets about to tell the story with the curiosity, empathy and originality by practicing his or her core skill as a photographer, reporter or videographer.

From my personal experience, Komenich makes sense.  I can’t tell you how many times I covered a story and thought, “I wish people could hear the passion in this person’s voice” or see his facial expressions as he chokes back a tear or struggles to find the words.  I wish I had a recorder or video camera as part of my toolkit.

The method of storytelling might change, but it’s still the reporter and photojournalist at the core, relating the story.  It wouldn’t be journalism any other way.

 

CICM workshop

We just finished the Future of Journalism workshop in Nashville and it was fabulous!  The video session with Angela Grant, multimedia producer at the San Antonio Express-News was probably my favorite as we had plenty of hands-on time, learning to edit video, in addition to some great tips on collecting video.  She promised to post her notes from the session on her blog, so check her site in a few days.

Jason Levine truly is an Adobe Evangelist and quite entertaining with his sound effects.  We got hands-on training in Adobe Audition during his three-hour session.

And who knew there were so many helpful Google tools, like Google Docs and Spreadsheets?  Jack Lail, managing editor/multimedia for the Knoxville News Sentinel knows.  He co-taught a session with Emory University’s Lee Clontz  on 21st Century newsgathering and mobile/digital journalism.

We also had a surprise visit from John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, where the workshop was held.  He received a standing ovation and the room was ablaze with cameras flashing.  The students were in awe!  He gave a brief interview after speaking to the students and the video is on the Innovation in College Media blog.  Check back to the blog for more interviews from the workshop.

All in all, it was a very productive couple of days. Our three students have already met to plan to implement some of what they learned.  Should be exciting times ahead for eCorsair.com!

 

CICM’s The Future of Journalism workshop

I’m very late in promoting this workshop, but I think there are a few seats left.

 The Center for Innovation in College Media is offering a new media workshop March 29-31 in Nashville.  On tap are extended sessions on collecting audio, video and online journalism.  A fourth session includes breakouts.

I’m very excited that Angela Grant, a multimedia producer for the San Antonio Express-News will be there.  I’ve been following her blog, InTheCircle,  for a few months and can’t wait to attend her session.

I’m going with PJC journalism instructor Julie Ruengert and we are bringing one, possibly two, students who will still be with us in the fall.  They will help us boost our online efforts and mentor other students as we add our New Media Technologies course to our curriculum.

Note:  the workshop ends at 5 p.m. Saturday and the availability of flights out is limited, at least to the Pensacola area.  So the trip might include an extra night in honky-tonk heaven!

 

a test post

We’re testing this post as part of the Let’s Blog It class at PJC.  We will learn to post stories, add photos and hyperlink text.