Links for the weekend | Links para o fim de semana

I have been ill for the last couple of days  (third time this Winter) which kept me from doing any exhaustive work, but the least i can do is to share some links i found interesting. Another  thing that  is bothering me is that my Google Reader is not having the same numbers as before. I have more feeds, but less posts to read each day. Are people blogging less? What do you think about this?  I have to check it out.

Tenho estado doente por estes dias ( a terceira vez este Inverno) o que me impediu de trabalhar mais, mas o mínimo que posso fazer é partilhar alguns links que achei interessantes. Outra coisa que me anda a intrigar é ver menos posts no meu Google Reader do que tinha antes. Tenho mais feeds mas menos posts para ler a cada dia. Bloga-se menos? Qual é a vossa opinião? Tenho que investigar  isto.

"The end of print? We think not!" Whatype

• The end of print? We think not!, Whatype – via Mediascópio
  

Our challenge for you is to print as much as you want/can and post them where you think they can make a difference – newsrooms (outside and inside), near distribution points, etc.

By supporting your newspaper you will fight for your own voice. By telling what you want and expect from a newspaper, one that’s worth both your money and your time, you will be fighting for a better world.

You can download the posters here, here, here and here

• BBC launches Virtual College of Journalism, BBC News

Every aspect of online training that is currently available to 7,500 BBC journalists will be open to the public.

The Virtual College – a network of microsites that talk to each other – will go live to the public in a number of weeks. It already has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Ning.

Journalism learning is also available across BBC language sites.

• Get Off the Bus – The future of pro-am journalism, Columbia Journalism Review

OffTheBus discovered a niche market. Our market was defined by our access to on-the-ground information that other news outlets lacked, and collaborative, crowd-powered methods of newsgathering that made some traditional journalists uncomfortable. Private fundraisers, official campaign conference calls, volunteer meetings, and rallies—where mainstream reporters found themselves stuck in pens—were our specialty. We wanted to tell stories inaccessible to the national press. This required replacing objectivity with an ethic of transparency—we would never have broken Bittergate if we had not.

• Developing a breaking news plan, Innovation in College Media

When news breaks, does your newsroom have an efficient coverage strategy in place? I’m in the process of developing one for the Mustang Daily as part of our structural changes that come with switching to WordPress (more on that later).

In our newsroom, it works like this: One person gets wind of breaking news, whoever is available frantically tries to run out on to the scene, scrounging for batteries for an audio recorder. There is no structure, just chaos. The idea is that an efficient plan will result in better content. Of course, the following guidelines will change based on your resources:(…)

• Why media must charge for web content & How to charge for online content, Reflections of a Newsosaur

It’s a journey publishers absolutely have to begin. After years of giving everything away for free on the web, it won’t be easy for them to start charging for at least some of the content they spend small fortunes to produce. But there is no other choice.

If the news media don’t start getting paid for at least a portion of what they produce, some outlets simply aren’t going to be around to provide it. It’s already too late to save the Rocky Mountain News and probably too late to save the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Tucson Citizen, which each face shutdown unless last-minute buyers emerge to rescue them.

• Avoid the traps of e-reporting, Associated College Press  – via Innovation in College Media

Despite its growing popularity, some veteran journalists scoff at interviews and research conducted entirely by “e-reporting,” arguing — I think somewhat persuasively — that email and other forms of written, electronic communication miss the nuances, depth and spontaneity of an in-person interview. Even telephone interviews allow a reporter to hear changes in the speaker’s tone or voice inflection that e-mail and its close cousins don’t pick up very well. A written, “Of course he did it” is much different from the same statement when said sarcastically or with a chuckle.

As a source frequently on the receiving end, I find that e-mail interviews have their ups and downs. On the up side, they do allow for greater flexibility, allowing a source to respond to a reporter’s query at his or her convenience. They also allow time to reflect on one’s answer and provide a concise, often more thoughtful response. On the other hand, providing written responses to a dozen broadly worded questions can take much more time, doesn’t allow for ready follow-up or clarification questions by reporter or source and does seem to have a bit of an antiseptic feel as the words are so carefully honed — both in the question and the response — that the interview loses a bit of the human touch.