Wednesday, November 30, 2011

JRC Chat on online comments

Good morning! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon.

Today we're commenting about, um, online comments and how they can be improved, how they can help journalism and how to avoid problems.

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#jrcchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

JRC Chat on Google for journalism

Good morning! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the (kind-of) weekly Twitter chat at noon.

Today we're talking about Google tools and how they can be used in the pursuit of journalism excellence.

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#jrcchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

Since this is about Google, I figured we could also try livestreaming a Hangout of the chat, if anyone wants in as well.

Monday, November 14, 2011

How to use Google Voice for a Sound-Off

Let's bring back the Sound Off, but this time using Google Voice!

It's an idea shamelessly re-purposed from fellow Idealab member Karen Workman of the Oakland Press in Michigan, and as she's shown, it can have many more uses.

Here's my initial plan: We'll ask a question every day, like the online poll. If you feel the answers are inadequate, you can expand your comments by calling this number:



We would then post your comments, with audio, online.

You can also answer in other ways, of course. Whatever makes it easy.



Here's a very rough way to show you how to do it:
First, you need a Google Voice account. Here's how to set one up (thanks, again, Karen, for the link).

Don't forget to add a phone widget for your site as well. Click on 'Call Widget,' give your widget a name and presto:

You can use download the file and use Audacity to edit and SoundCloud to post the file (both are free services). Or you can post the file directly from the embed code provided by Google (along with transcript!). Click on voicemails, at left, and click on more on the individual voicemails you want, and click on 'embed' to get your code.

Here's an example:



Note that, apparently, Google can't make a transcript of voicemails from heavily accented individuals.

UPDATE: Wow! I hadn't finish posting this and we already have to answers to the question:



And here's a nonanswer from a snarky editor in Trenton that I'm not going to name even though I know is Joey Kulkin of the Trentonian in New Jersey.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Election Day planning

I'm using my blog to test a new and faster way to publish election results. Here are some of the things we're planning to do at the Freeman:

We've created (still working on completion, so bear with us if there's stuff missing still) a spreadsheet that will constantly update election results as they come in. Here's a preview, with empty results, obviously.



All you have to do is hit refresh every now and then. But how do you know when results are in, right? For that, we'll have a CoverItLive container, with all the people at the Freeman who are working on Election Day stories, pretty much all of us. The best part is that CoverItLive allows YOU to chime in. I'll be moderating that as well, to include relevant comments and questions.


In addition, we're including a SeeClickFix Election Problems report widget on our site so that you can tell everyone if there is a problem at the polls. We'll be monitoring those as well.


Let me know what you think, what we can do better, or any other ideas you might have. And don't forget to vote on Tuesday.

Otherwise, the terrorists win.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

How to make a timeline with specific RSS feeds


Here's a nifty timeline made in a flash with Idealab-specific posts by members of the Journal Register Company group.


Let this serve you as a tutorial on how to make a timeline.
What I did: I added an RSS feed from RSS feeds to Dipity.
Done.

To do this:


Visit http://rssmix.com/.
Copy and paste all the desired RSS feeds (you can narrow your post even further by selecting RSS feeds from tags like, say, "Idealab"). Create the new RSS feed.
Visit dipity.com (join if you haven't).
The online timeline tool allows you to add events manually or automatically (Twitter, Google News searches, photos from Flickr or Picassa, videos from YouTube or Vimeo, RSS feeds, Yelp, Digg, you name it).
So add your newly created RSS feed.
Done. Serve hot with pinch of parsley in either Timeline, list, map or slide mode.

What is the meaning of Digital First?

You've probably heard us say 'Digital First' over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and such.

But (pardon me Double Rainbow guy) what does it mean?