How to post Soundslides presentation using Dropbox

Thank you to our journalism TA who wrote up instructions for posting a Soundslides presentation using Dropbox. Hopefully this will give students another option for keeping slideshows archived after they graduate.

Resources from Social Media 101

I have added new resources to the Social Media 101 handout:

Sree Sreenivasan’s Guide to Social Media: http://bit.ly/sreesoc

Sree Sreenivasan’s Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics: http://bit.ly/twitterideas

10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates (Mashable): http://bit.ly/4CPVaL

Eight Social Media Resolutions for 2011 (Bloomberg Businessweek): http://bit.ly/eT9fu8

10 Social Media Trends for 2011: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217772

How To: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready (Mashable): http://on.mash.to/hz531s

Facebook safety for parents and kids: http://www.facebook.com/help/?safety

ExecTweets.com: “Find and Follow Top Business Execs on Twitter”

Reflections from CJS’s “What We Learned Teaching Social Media” webcast

I recently chanced upon a webcast hosted by the Columbia Journalism School (@columbiajourn) on “What We Learned Teaching Social Media.” The syllabus for the graduate-level class is available for reference. The speakers were some of the best in the business:

• Zach Seward (@zseward), Outreach Editor, The Wall Street Journal
• Vadim Lavrusik (@lavrusik), Community Manager and Social Media Strategist at Mashable.com
• Jennifer Preston (@NYT_JenPreston), Social Media Editor, The New York Times
• Sree Sreenivasan (@sree), Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Journalism School

Having organized workshops for journalism students at the University of Washington on social media, I was interested to find out how other people are engaging student journalists and helping them discover the potential for social media in journalism.

During the conversation I asked via Twitter (hashtag: #cjsoc), “What’s the best way to teach social media to student journalists?” Jennifer Preston said she likes to have students work on a specific project or Tweet a specific event. Examples she used were election coverage and the aftermath of Haiti. I was reminded of the students in Prof. Roger Simpson’s class who live-Tweeted President Obama’s visit to boost Sen. Patty Murray’s re-election campaign.

Preston said the class debriefs after the event by having volunteers share their feeds and discussing what worked and what didn’t.

Each class also develops a list of social-media guidelines.

The shared syllabus is a wealth of resources and I encourage everyone to take a look at it. It includes tools, links to articles about journalism and social media, and links to case studies. It also includes links to articles about etiquette and metrics.

A few notable examples in the syllabus:

1. Examples of journalists using Twitter (http://sreetips.tumblr.com/post/87435969/twitter):

• Reporter Uses Twitter to Connect with, Provide Insight into Sources
• Teaching Twitter best practices to journalists
• 10 Ways J-schools are Teaching Social Media
• SteveButtry’s excellent guide, “Leading your staff into the Twitterverse”
• Tips on using Twitter in a newsroom, by @mthilmony
• 50 Twitter tools for writers and researchers
• Who controls a journo’s Twitter feed when he/she leaves?
• Social-Media Skills for Journalists

2. @mashable’s Twitter guide: twitter.mashable.com

3. See a collection of 80+ social-media policies, compiled by SocialMediaGovernance.com

4. 8 ways to use social media in the newsroom (by J.D. Lasica and Barbara Iverson)

5. The emergence of location.

• How Journalists can use location-based apps
• Using Foursquare (7 ways journalists can use Foursquare)

6. Journalists in the social media ecosystem: Journalist as curator, as community manager

7. What is a personal brand and why it is important (Poynter – Lavrusik)

8. 10 Commandments of Twitter Etiquette

9. How much of your life is too much to share online? (Verne Kopytoff,
S.F Chronicle, April 27, 2009)

Slides from Social Media 101

Here are the slides from Social Media 101:

An updated version is available by clicking “View on Slideshare.” The embedded version hasn’t updated yet, though I hope it won’t take too long.

Twitter for Communication Research and Information

http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf

Twitter for Communication Research and Information
- Watch more Tech Videos at Vodpod.

Twitter for Communication Research and Information, posted with vodpod

 

Last year I wrote a post called Twitter 101 for Educators. Since then, Twitter use by educators has really taken off. Hashtags such as #highered, #educause, #edchat and #edtech are widely used.

But I think in the academic realm, Twitter is underutilized for research and collaboration. For this reason I put together a Prezi called “Twitter for Research and Information” as part of a presentation to University of Washington Department of Communication graduate students and included people that communication researchers might wish to follow.

For example, I started with the National Communication Association (@NatComm) Twitter feed and from there looked at the follower list (unfortunately @NatComm hasn’t created any of its own lists yet). I did find one other user when I clicked on the #nca2010 hashtag – during the event will be a great time to find more people to follow using this hashtag – and also found a list as I went through the followers, which was called teamrhetoric. It was then that I realized #teamrhetoric is also used as a hashtag and found quite a few more Twitter users that way.

This process does take some time, but it should give you a great start on finding followers with whom you can collaborate and share research ideas.

Are you using Twitter for research? Please share your experiences.

Twitter for Research and Information on Prezi

Free screencasting tools and resources

I found a great resource on PBWorks about screencasting (a digital recording of computer screen output often containing audio narration) in addition to some tips for creating the content.

Screencasting is great for short tutorials when it is easier to show than tell.

The page lists a number of free tools for capturing and annotating screen images and short screen recordings: Jing, Screen Toaster, and Screencasto-matic. These tools allow for embedding of your presentation on your blog or website.

If you need to create a screencast that is longer than 5 minutes you might still need a for-cost solution: SnagIt or Camtasia Studio have lots of features.

Can’t wait to try these out!

Have you used any of these tools? What did you think?

Review: Twenty Ten, WordPress’s flexible new WordPress default theme, gives users control

The WordPress 3.0 release includes a new default theme called Twenty-Ten.

When I noticed the new theme I was in the middle of a web design for a global health journalism site with reporting from UW journalism students. (See a sneak peek of the site, Health Intersections.)

I was looking for a theme that would work with the Frontpage-Slideshow plugin and the Twenty-Ten theme fits the bill for a number of reasons.

• The plugin uses the WordPress API so it works well with the default WordPress theme.
• The theme has a number of customizations built in: multiple header images or create your own, change the background color or add a background image, custom menus, optional sidebars – everything in a user-friendly format.
• Can be used for a blog or for static content.
• Easy-to-use drop-down menus
• Intuitive page and category navigation

I think this is a great option for anyone starting out with a self-hosted WordPress site.

Planning your digital project: Finding the right tool for the job

As educators, it’s tempting to see an unfamiliar, yet “sparkly” new technology and to want to use it for the sake of doing something “cutting edge.”

This is a normal reaction (much preferred over hiding from new technologies and hoping they’ll go away), and one that can be and should be harnessed to expand our educational toolboxes. Like with any tool, however, we must learn when to use it and how. Would you use a bulldozer for your garden when a shovel will do?

Here are some questions to think about when planning a digital project.

1. As with any project, a digital project should have a defined goal. Is the goal to convey information? To engage? To inspire action?
2. Decide how you will measure your success in reaching your goal. Size of audience? Recommendations and comments of audience? Improved test scores?
3. Next, define your audience. What age group do you want to reach? What education level? How comfortable are they with new technology? Do they have the downloads and plugins necessary to view your material?
4. Will the project need to be maintained after launch? If so, how will this happen?
5. How will your project meet W3C accessibility guidelines? This is an especially important question to ask if your institution receives public funding (though really everyone benefits from accessibility principles). Public universities such as the University of Washington are required by law to make their information accessible. (Good accessibility improves the user experience for everyone – consider how some web sites are so much easier to navigate on an iPhone than others.) Examples of accessibility guidelines include:

• Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
• Don’t rely on color alone
• Design for device-independence (such as screen readers, non-mouse users, etc.)

With these things in mind, it’s possible to start sorting through that digital toolkit for the best tool for the job.

Is there a chronology that could be more easily depicted using a graphic or Flash? Are there images that could tell the story using a slideshow? Would a video collage give the best representation of your work?

If you are working on a web site and you want to reach a broad audience, you will want to limit the amount of high-bandwidth material, such as images and video, on the home page. Put users in control and only make them download information when they choose to.

Is there a way for blind or deaf users to get the content that is in your video? Or the person who isn’t allowed to watch video at work? Or the dial-up connection user who has disabled images and javascript?

What medium best illustrates your project? Photos, video, audio, the written word? Don’t force your project into a mold. Each project is different and should be treated as such.

When working on the web, don’t forget about the power of linking. Can you link to complementary resources? (Bonus: This also improves search engine optimization.)

Embed Soundslides into WordPress.com using VodPod

I took on the challenge of some of the COM students to figure out a way to embed Soundslides into their WordPress.com blogs. At first, I didn’t think it could be done. After all, Soundslides’ site says so. But then I noticed something new that WordPress was promoting called VodPod. It allows you to insert your own embed code so I thought I would give it a try. It works! The video I got didn’t have the play button included, but it plays when you click on it so it is functional.

Creating the code for your embed (create this in Notepad for copy/paste later):

1. Go to http://students.washington.edu/username/publish_to_web/small.html. (This will go to the smaller version of your presentation, which will fit into WordPress.)
2. Click View > Source.
3. Copy everything between the <object> tags (including the object tags) and paste into Notepad.
4. Copy the video url and end with the folder name (so without the small.html at the end). So http://students.washington.edu/username/publish_to_web/
5. Paste into your Notepad code in the two places before “soundslider.swf”

Using Vodpod to post to WordPress:

1. Drag the “Post to WordPress” button to your toolbar: http://vodpod.com/wordpress/
2. Go to the url with your Soundslides presentation: http://students.washington.edu/username/publish_to_web/small.html
3. Click “Post to WordPress” from your toolbar.
4. Click “Click if you’re having trouble” below the preview screen. (This will allow you to paste the embed code manually.)
5. Paste everything from your Notepad document into the box.
6. Fill in the rest of the blanks (blog url, username, password) and click Publish.

That’s it!

Review of Kodak HD zi8

I got to play with the Kodak HD zi8 this weekend and was impressed with the quality of the video. The ZI8 is competing with the Flip HD in the pocket camcorder market. Pocket camcorders are useful for our students because they can focus on telling the story rather than trying to figure out the settings on the video camera.

There are several drawbacks that keep me from recommending this camera to everyone.

Pros:

• HD video quality
• external mic input
• rechargeable batteries
• records up to 1080p, but settings can be adjusted to capture greater quantity of video or increase battery life
• connects to standard tripod
• connects directly to computer via USB to upload to YouTube or Facebook
• doesn’t require any special software to play video

Cons

• Big one for me was this records to .mov so you can’t edit this file in Windows Movie Maker without converting to different format (though Kodak does have its own software you can download from the camera if you want to use that on a personal computer).
• requires SDHC memory card – probably need at least an 8 GB card to get a decent amount of video before having to download it to the computer (allows up to 32 GB card).
• not as intuitive as Flip camera. There are more buttons and more settings (though I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to figure out – it might take 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds with the flip).
• round bottom means you can’t just place camera on table. You will need a tripod of some sort. (You might be able to get it to balance on a table if you take the wrist strap off.)
• batteries seem to run down quickly, though I haven’t used it enough to say how long they will last. Other reviews suggest they will last 1 hour, 16 minutes at 720p with image stabilization on.

If you like Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player then definitely stick with the Flip.

If you will be uploading most of your videos to YouTube  and you don’t mind paying extra for the memory card this would probably be a great camera for you. If you want to use an external mic, this is also the camera for you.