UWOJ732

Hi gang:
These three readings are terrific "hands-on" pieces that discuss and document effective ways to write online news. Please give them a read. I think you'll enjoy them.


Jonatham Dube’s Writing News Online – A Dozen Tips

Writing News Online

Writing for the Web by Joe Marren

Writing for the Web


The Craft of Online Editing by Joe Marren

The Craft of Online Editing

I think Danielle made an excellent point about this weeks readings. The experimental conditions are not really comparable to your average web search. The subjects were given a time limit and told to search for specific information. In all probability they used the scanning method and looked for keywords. Although I have done this from time to time (for research projects and such) it is not how I usually read the news on line. I am not saying that the results have no value, merely that we have to consider them within the context of their experimental design.

Caroline

There was an interesting article in the Chicago Tribune last week about blogging as a stepping stone to a career in journalism: "An unlikely new source of writing talent: Blogs."

Hi gang:
I've had a few questions about the assignment this week. Here are some answers that may be helpful.
Yes, you can write your report as a story. You can also write it as a report. I only ask that you do not write it as an academic essay. Use the skills you have learned so far. Clear writing. Active voice. Plain language over ornate language. And, of course, make it interesting!
Yes, you can quote people you interview.
Yes, you can use a non-Canadian site.
Hope that helps,
Paul

A quick note to Kelly and others who've had technical difficulties with the blog... You can delete and edit your previous posts. Next to each of your posts in the lower section of the window (below the text box where you type new posts), there is a link that says "edit." Click on that, and you'll have the option to change the text or get rid of the post altogether. So you can delete repeated ones, etc.

I think an important point about the usability test in this week's reading is that the test subjects were instructed to find specific information. They were given a question and they had to find the answer. To me, it makes sense that they found the answer faster when they didn't have to wade through 12 whole articles, or "jump blindly" into articles with only the headlines to go on. The summaries gave them enough of a clue to figure out in advance which article was likely to contain the info they were after.

The problem I see here is that I don't usually approach a news site, or a print newspaper for that matter, looking for an answer to a specific question. I don't think that's how people tend to read news. So this test's results are not really an accurate reflection of a news site's usability, in my opinion.

Danielle, I started my own blog because blogger was there and it encouraged me to write. I suppose that I could write my thoughts down by hand in a diary. However, writing and typing have become so synonymous to me that I find writing by hand tedious and counter-productive. I can easily erase what I type if I don't like it and make it better. I could just keep a diary on Microsoft Word, but the format isn't as nice and I would have to set it up all by myself.

Do you know what? I think that many people who have blogs do the same thing as me. They write out their feelings, not really thinking about the fact that they are now online. The internet is kind of an anonymous place, and unless I gave the internet address of my blog to someone, I am pretty sure that nobody I know will ever find it.

Maybe this is something that works against the "blogs as journalism" argument. Most people are using their blog as an online diary, not as amateur journalism. I certainly don't consider what I write on there to be journalism, especially compared to what we all do in class every day.

In answer to Angie's question last Friday, I was familiar with blogs prior to this course. I've been reading them for about 3 years, and I have one. My personal blog falls into the boring diary category -- the only people who read it are a few close friends. It is by no stretch of the imagination journalism, but it is not a confessional, here-are-my-deepest-emotions kind of blog either -- no soap opera appeal factor. Perhaps that's why my readership is so small.

I have a question for Heidi: why have a blog, online for all the world to see, if you don't want anyone to read it? I'm curious.

I, like many others, have to change my thin media site. My new site is MatthewYglesias.com.

This week's reading is very interesting. I wonder why the test subjects thought that summaries are better for finding information when they actually performed faster with full text? Maybe it is a perception - we think that something technological like a link is faster, but it really isn't. People's brains are smarter than computers. For instance, the grammar-checker on Word is completely useless compared to a human editor. We have an amazing ability to sift through information using our intuition and experience. A link can be deceptive and lead us to make a wrong turn on the information superhighway (spoken by someone who got lost 4 times during her travels through Southern Ont. this weekend). Perhaps, in the end, it is faster to skim the text and use our own skills.

About blogs, I guess you guys are right about the soap-opera-like appeal of people's lives. However, I really need to know the person in order to care about their lives. I have my own blogger blog. I hope that nobody I know ever reads it. EEEK. They might find some interesting stuff on there.

By the way Justin, I liked your description of soap operas. That was really funny! I was cracking up for like five minutes because a childhood best friend used to force me to watch Days of Our Lives with her. I was talking to someone recently about an episode that I watched in, like, 1993; it featured one woman who was posessed by the Devil and another who had been buried alive. Apparently, my 1993 knowledge of Days is still relevant to the show's storyline. That is really sad!

Two things.

Thing the first: My thinmedia project has switched to AfricaBlog, because the lazy gamers at RPGnet wouldn't get off their asses and email me back.

Thing deux: SoapOperaBlog. I'm picturing fanfic from the perspective of characters from Days (or whatever) based on the episode from that day put up as a diary. Different people would have different takes on what was really behind the characters' actions on that day's show and those would all compete, provoking a sticky mess of discussion. And giving the writers something to skim through for the real reason why someone's mummified half sister came back from Togo in a carton of dogsled parts to wreak havok on the dashing doctor's blindmute hermaphroditic child. Just to switch it up a bit.

Someone asked, "Are we doing anything other than blogs in this course?"
The short answer is yes. The other answer is we already have.
The course outline which you all have gives a sample of the topics we will be covering. The next few weeks are focussed on how to organize, structure and present "content" in an online environment. Naturally, the content we will concentrate on will be the written word, though graphics, photos and other elements will be discussed.
Blogging is an interesting development in the online media world. Is is important? Probably. Will it last? Who knows? Do you have to be a blogger to get it? No, I don't think so. The challenging thing about online media or "new media" is just that. It's new, and it's changing all the time. As I said at the start of class - there are more questions than answers, but, as this online discussion (okay, blog) shows, the debate and discussion around the questions is fruitful and interesting.
Paul

The new reading:

Reading Online News: A Comparison of Three Presentation Formats
Ryan Baker et al.

http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/42/depth.htm


Reading Online News: A Comparison of Three Presentation Formats