Online journalism:an introduction

Or…How the internet changed

everything

Ian Reeves

Journalism 2054

Key Launches□1989: World Wide Web created□1994: Amazon.com launches, a shop

based on personalised recommendations□1994: Daily Telegraph web site, UK’s first

national newspaper online□1997: Launch of BBC News Online□1998: Google, a search engine that treats

links as recommendations, launches□1999: Tivo unshackles TV from the

constraints of time

Key Launches□ 1999: Blogger, a personal publishing tool,

launches□ 2000: OhMyNews launches, first mass Citizen

Journalism site□ 2001: Wikipedia launches□ 2002: Friendster launches, first social networking

site□ 2004: Flickr launches, for sharing images□ 2005: Youtube launches, for sharing videos□ 2006: Facebook launches□ 2007: Twitter launches, heralding the ‘real time’

internet

Key News Events□ 1997: Death of Diana – mass email tributes sent

to BBC site□ 1998: Drudge Report and Monica Lewinski□ 2001: World Trade Center attacks – demand

causes internet crashes for news orgs□ 2003: Invasion of Iraq – The Baghdad Blogger□ 2004: Rathergate – Bloggers as watchdogs of

mainstream media□ 2004: Asian tsunami – footage from holiday

videos□ 2005: London tube and bus bombs – Mobile

Phone Content goes mainstream□ 2007: Dave Winer’s bet comes good□ 2008: Twitter starts breaking stories – Mumbai

massacres

Where does all that leave journalism?

The dinosaur view:Robert Fisk: “to hell with the web, it’s got no responsibility”

The apocalyptic view:□ http://www.robinsloan.com/epic

See also:“I have seen the future. And we’re not in it.”

Where does all that leave journalism?

□“This is the start of the medium’s new golden age. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Kurt Anderson, New York magazine, Feb 07

Stages of the web □Web 1.0: the net as library Roughly 1989-2001. Static pages with

hyperlinks. Dial-up connections. Personal web sites. Geocities. Framesets. Proprietary.

□Web 2.0: the net as conferenceRoughly 2001 – 2009. Dynamic pages that

users can change. Broadband connections. Blogs. User involvement. Youtube. Content sharing. RSS feeds. Open source. Unstructured.

Stages of the web

□Web 3.0: the net as butler2010 - . The semantic web. Contextual

search. Learning from user’s choices. Mobile devices. Personalised experiences. Structured content. Web sites become web services. APIs.

New journalism skills

□New storytelling techniques□Non-linear narratives□More than just the inverted pyramid□New editing styles□Involving the audience in research□Working with ‘unofficial media’□‘Crowdsourcing’ news□Using databases□Mashups

Creative storytelling techniques

□Borrowing from Hollywood: Cody’s Rescue

□Hamming it up: the singing reporter

Notable multimedia

□http://www.simonhoegsberg.com/we_are_all_gonna_die/slider.html□http://gaza-sderot.arte.tv/en/#/time/95□http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2008/edgeoflife/□http://specials.washingtonpost.com/timespace/inauguration/□http://hotzone.yahoo.com/□http://www.latimes.com/news/local/photography/la-111807_gang-main2-fl,0,3893242.flash

Skills to learn

□ Video, audio and text□ Understanding basic programming concepts□ Multimedia authoring – Flash and Silverlight□ Social tools – networking and bookmarking□ Wikis□ Database journalism□ Tagging and ‘folksonomy’□ Distributed journalism□ Online investigative techniques□ Structured information – computerised

storytelling

Assorted free online tools□ Technorati: Paul□ Delicious: Eva□ RSS Reader□ Wordpress: Alister□ Drupal□ Flickr□ Twitter□ Digg: Sophie□ StumbleUpon: Sara□ GoogleMaps□ Newsvine: Nicola□ GoogleDocs□ Google Wave: Dean□ CoverItLive: Sarah

□ Mechanical Turk: Jason

□ Tumblr: Joe□ Reddit□ Photopeach: Angela

□ Diigo : Melanie□ Vimeo: Harriet□ Dipity: James A□ Dapper : James W□ Audioboo: Ella□ Yahoo pipes: Danielle□ Vuvox: Alex□ Friendfeed □ Google Buzz: Dan

Techie TLA bingo

□ HTML□ URL□ FTP□ PHP□ API□ CSS□ CMS□ RSS□ SEO□ HTTP□ XML

Hypertext markup languageUniversal Resource LocatorFile Transfer ProtocolHypertext PreprocessorApplication Programming InterfaceCascading Style SheetsContent Management SystemReally Simple SyndicationSearch Engine OptimisationHypertext Transfer ProtocolExtensible markup language