SOPA – Stop Online Piracy Act & PIPA
Writing & Editing Online - Continuing significance of text: “The text is still what brings various media together” (Foust). - Culture of “instant” gratification à
“Think of your Web audience as lazy, selfish and ruthless. Web audiences are on a mission – they’re task oriented” (Michael Gold – Journalism Consultant)
- Quality of presentation still matters (grammar, spelling, etc.) - Fairness, accuracy, attribution, relevance, newness still matter
Writing & Editing Online ADAPTING TO THE RUTHLESS WEB AUDIENCE: SOME TECHNIQUES - Chunking - SHORT sentences with active verbs - SHORT paragraphs (no more than 3 or 4 sentences!) - Bullets - Headlines
- Fair, accurate, compelling, grabbing, short - Must have a verb (or clear implied verb) - Must use AP style: Only first word capitalized (proper
nouns also capitalized) - Straightforward (Avoid puns, wordplay, etc. à Nicks
nixes flicks / Mayor cuts funding for film festival) - Must be able to stand on own (Guilty! / Mayor guilty of
embezzlement) - Search engine optimization
- subheadlines/summaries/bold faced headers - Integration of multimedia elements! - Use links
Using Links in Online Stories à links second only to text in their ability to convey informa5on and meaning to the user. à no “correct” number of links in a par5cular story; number should be driven by content considera5on
à goal = not to overwhelm the user with sheer numbers of links, but present best links that help tell story & encourage further explora5on:
“Your site shouldn’t feel like an endpoint in the conversa5on. should feel like the beginning.”
“By sending your users to the best informa5on available on the Web, you’ll keep them coming back for more.”
àmost relevant, most reliable, most compelling links à link should generally incorporate no more than three to five words àavoid: “Click here to go to there”; [however, it is not always possible to write a main story so that link info will be clear w/o disrup5ng the flow of the main story] àClarity: It should be obvious to the user what lies on other end of link àshould links open in new windows, yes or no? àkeep links up-‐to-‐date
Using Links in Online Stories Different usesà
Background: info that provides basis for some part of your story; Backing up informa9on: Direct link to sta5s5cal source in your story; Alternate points of view: Linking to different points of view on issue; Further explana9on: Site that gives you more informa5on; Ci9zen journalism: Links to sites that give people chance to take ac5on;
Multimedia, mashups and APIs - graphics/produced graphics - Technical illustrations - Sound/Video - Databases and mashups
Multimedia, mashups and APIs
Complete Online Story Customiza9on Fonts: sans serif (like Arial or Verdana, not Times New Roman or Courier) Headlines: Come up with a grabbing headline -‐-‐ remember it must fairly reflect the content of your story Paragraph length: Use short paragraphs! You should not have any paragraphs longer than three sentences. Period. Bullets: Where appropriate, use bulleted lists. Subheads: Break up your text with boldface headers (a basic rule of thumb is about three headers for a 700-‐word story) Hyperlinks: Use hyperlinks! Service journalism: Point people toward helpful resources Basic edi9ng and proofreading: No typos, etc. please Visuals: You need these!
http://dailycollegelife.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/du-dining-debatable/
Word version
Wordpress
Homework BRING A DIGITAL CAMERA WITH AN SD CARD TO CLASS!!!!! (USB cord MIGHT be sufficient – but it might not mount on computer lab Macs) READ Foust, J. Online Journalism – Chapter 11: Gathering and Edi5ng Images, Audio, and Video; (pp. 249 -‐ 273) Briggs., M. Journalism Next – Chapter 6: Visual Storytelling With Photographs (pp. 142 -‐ 176) BB Discussion Board Post: PP/Slideshare.Net Goal Statement