DFM Chat on 2012 projects

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. Once again, note the name change: It's no longer #jrcchat but #dfmchat, to reflect the inclusion of Media News Group into Digital First Media, which also manages Journal Register.

Today we're talking about journalistic projects for 2012.

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 "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

Journalistic predictions for 2012, the serious, the bad and the tweets

You know you're a digital journalist when ...

DFM chat on Digital First journalists

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. Note the name change: It's no longer #jrcchat but #dfmchat, to reflect the inclusion of Media News Group into Digital First Media, which also manages Journal Register.

Today we're talking about, well Digital First journalists: What does that mean, how we do it and what to expect. And a few surprises.

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 "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

How to make QR codes work, really

JRC Chat on news initiatives

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 talking about news initiatives for 2012: What we're planning, how to do it and what to expect.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

JRC Idealab on Dipity.

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?

How to make an Election Day problems widget with See Click Fix

Visit http://seeclickfix.com/widget

At bottom, click on “Generate Map Widget Now!”

Add your desired location. (600 for JRC sites or 600 for this blog, for instance). Make sure you select “Report Form” on “Make a primary tab”

Add your contact info.

Click "generate widget", get your code and post in your site.

As I was told by my managing editor, "it's so easy, even an editor can do it." It should look like this:





The best part? You can share it with your blogger networks and everyone else. A true crowdsourced effort. What do you think?

JRC Chat on open journalism

Hello! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are currently taking part on the weekly Twitter chat, which started at noon.

Today we're talking about open journalism: Opening the newsroom (physically), story budgets, contacts, even API!

But what's API? Exactly.

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.

JRC Chat on live blogging

Hello! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are currently taking part on the weekly Twitter chat, which started at noon.

Today we're talking about live blogging news events: what to cover, how to do it and what are the best practices.

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.

Digital journalism chat at SUNY New Paltz with Ivan Lajara ... Wait! WHAAAAAAAAA????

I'm going to be a guest journalist/speaker/panelist/something at the SUNY New Paltz Journalism 2 class with Adam Bosch (of the Times-Herald-Record-Gazette-Advertiser-Chronicle-Journal-Thing-Stuff) and Professor Nancy Meyer Heiz (who leads the Little Rebellion) to talk about digital journalism awesomesauce.

The guys over at the Little Rebellion are covering the event live, so they can chronicle a potentially epic failure.

It should be fun. The event takes place at 8:30 a.m. sharp. So don't miss it!

Or miss it and the read the transcript later.

Or don't.

Whatever, man.

JRC chat on live blogging

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 talking about live blogging news events: what to cover, how to do it and what are the best practices.

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.

Journalism and social media at #140confHV

JRC Chat on Facebook changes

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 talking about Facebook changes and what it means for journalists and journalism.

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.

Twitter word cloud

Word cloud of my Twitter feed made with http://www.tagxedo.com, my new favorite word cloud tool.

Election planning

This document was updated constantly during yesterday's primary elections

Basically, all you would have had to do to get new result was hit refresh.

The document is an iframe (think of a window) of the Ulster County Board of Elections site.

I don't think you can get live results faster than this.

What do you think about doing something like this for the general election?

JRC Chat on Storify: The Storify recap

If you are new to Storify, I recommend CHECKING THIS STORIFY!

JRC Chat on Storify

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 talking about Storify, an online tool which aims "to help journalists, bloggers and experts curate and present the best of the social Web’s real-time content."



I've been using the tool for about a year now, and I've found that curation is but one use. I'm hoping we can use the chat to dredge more uses (and tutorials) and share them.

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.

Digital First Media, the beginning

Journal Register Co., the parent company of the Freeman, announced Wednesday the creation of Digital First Media Inc. Here's some news and reaction from the web.

JRC Chat on disaster coverage

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 are talking about storm coverage in the aftermath of Irene.

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.

JRC Chat on breaking news and social media

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 are talking about breaking news and social media. What we've done, how to do it and OMG! QUAKE!



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.

Journalism at Social Media

I was a speaker at the #140confHV, the 140-character conference at the Seven21 Media Center in Kingston today. I met many of the tweeps that I follow, in person, and it was an overall enjoying and enlightening experience.
My talk focused on Journalism and Social Media (and yes, I grab my hair a lot when I'm nervous and I say "uh").





Here are the slides. I'll post the transcript later because I know nobody understands a word I say.

Journalism and social media

Here's the transcript:


The newspaper business model is dead.

And you have killed it.

I said this not because I’m a masochist. But because it is true.

And I say this not with morbidity, but with excitement.

We used to have ‘readers’: People who, after we decided what was news, would come to us, read our stories and maybe later write a letter to the editor that we would later decide whether if we wanted to publish or not.

The conversation was driven by us (or at least we would tell that to ourselves).

And so the agenda was set by us.

But when this thing called the Internet came around and the readers began writing and taking photos and the viewers picked up their cameras and phones and posted them in their blogs and social networks, the newspapers’ model was broken.

Newspapers realized that their consumers have become their competitors. And newspapers panicked.

This was awesome.

It was awesome because it meant newspapers have finally seen the writing on the wall.

Newspapers had to transform and evolve in order to survive.

It is in that context that we have tried to reinvent ourselves.

But we could not have done it without you. Because this change represented a humble realization:

We can’t be everyone.

We can’t cover everything.

But you are.

And you can.

So, humbled, we came to you, and we asked for your help.

Not as consumers, or as viewers, or as readers, or even users. But as partners.

We are all members of this community, we all contribute to this community.

So why can’t we work together?

I have to be clear. This does not mean outsourcing our job to you. Partnering means listening, collaborating, and mutually benefiting from an open and transparent process.

But OK, that’s a lot of nice and fancy theory. But at this moment you are probably asking: OK, buddy? But what have you done at the Daily Freeman?

And my reply, is to show you, some of the things that you, and we, as a community, have done.

For instance, when of the Daily Freeman’s reporters, Patricia Doxsey, we live-tweeting a murder trial, we not only opened a window into our writing process, but also invited you to comment, to post questions, to challenge our reporting.

And you did.

Sometimes you corrected us. Sometimes you asked for clarification. Sometimes you offered clarification about posts that we or others had posted.

The experience became more informative because of this collaborative process.

In another instance, one of the Daily Freeman reporters, Paul Kirby, held a livestream forum with the mayor of this city in which the questions were asked live by the reporter, and by you.

Most recently we held two debates with all the candidates for mayor of the city of Kingston and the questions, once again, were asked by you in advance and while the livestream was taking place.

We have partnered with area bloggers to increase their visibility in our community. And the roster is growing and expanding. They cover everything from politics to dogs, food, film, photography, theater, sports, business, mental health, and, yes, even social media.

We have partnered with a venue here in Kingston, Stella May, to bring you livestreams of benefit concerts and events, so you can enjoy them and participate even if you can’t be there physically.

We have cultivated our Twitter and Facebook presence, not to push links, although we do some of that, but to hear from you, to have a conversation.

Now let me step back a little bit, and admit this: We are not perfect. As a matter of fact, we have no idea what we are doing.

First of all,

I personally sit on a desk most of the day and monitor and participate in the conversation online while doing pages, writing and creating web features. But that hardly constitutes shoe-leather journalism.

Fortunately for all of us, we do have real journalists in our staff who do the heavy lifting with old school practices and new media readiness.

When I have gone out to do some livestreaming and such, I have messed up.

Big time.

Numerous times.

And guess what? I’m probably going to do it again. Because we’re learning as we find new ways to tell stories.

Some of the story-telling tools that we are now using, like Storify, a social media curation tool, are no more than a year old.

We have told stories with

Ustream, Scribd, CoverItLive, Google Maps, docs, forms, spreadsheets, ManyEyes, Photaf, Photosynth , Timetoast, Dipit, Batchgeo, and of course, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Myspace, Formspring. The list goes on.

But we haven’t used these tools because they’re cool. And, believe me, they are.

We have used them to bring you the context that you rightly have demanded from us.

..

On a personal note, I was chosen last year by the Journal Register Company, the parent company of the Freeman, as a member of the Idelab, a selected group of people that received tools, time and money to experiment for 10 hours a week in order to improve our journalism.

Most recenetly, the company’s CEO, John Paton, released the company’s rules for social media. And I think they deserve much consideration.

These rules have had great impact in our mission. These ‘rules’ have given us the freedom to be unafraid and creative and, yes, to fail on occasion.

Unbound by an invisible duty to serve the newspaper god of a dead tree, we are finally free to do what we signed up to do:

Journalism. True and new journalism.

That means that the standards for excellence still apply. Report the fact, Be fair, etc.

But we also listen. And we are part of and take part on the conversation, via text or email or tweet or post or story or any other media.

Bottom line is the medium doesn’t matter.

The journalism does.

And crappy journalism is crappy journalism in a newspaper or a phone or an iPad.

So we have refocused our mission and our journalism. And social media is a big, integral part of that.

Has it worked? So far, many indicators point to this.

Our web traffic and presence has skyrocketed and I’ve heard from many members of this community that our credibility and scope of coverage has improved. Because we are not just in the community, we are OF the community.

So where do we go from here?

And the simple answer is I don’t know.

And I couldn’t be more excited about that.

Thank you very much.

BONUS! An earthquake pays a visit to the conference:

Steve Buttry at the Daily Freeman

#140confHV replay

The Hudson Valley's 140 Characters conference took place today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Seven21 Media Center on Broadway in Kingston.

The focus was "The State of Now." Our friends at Dragon Search Marketing livestreamed the event and I have shamelessly taken it from their Facebook page.

Full disclosure: I'm a speaker and I embarrassed myself at 3 p.m.

Here's the replay.



















And here's the Twitter stream.

JRC Chat on online initiatives

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 are talking about successful (and not-so successful) online initiatives that newsrooms can steal replicate. What's worked recently, what hasn't, what we're struggling with and hopefully a surprise or two.

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.

Freeman Sessions epilogue

I was encouraged to say a few words about the Freeman Sessions with Stella May on Tuesday during the livestream. So here's the highlight.

JRC Chat on tools and tricks, and a year of Idealab accomplishments

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

Today we are talking about newer tools, tricks of the trade and a year of Idealab accomplishments.

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.

Freeman sessions update

UPDATE: New York Sen. Chuck Schumer's office says the senator endorses the event. And Kirsten Gillibrand sends her "greetings" to attendees. (!!! and ???)

gillibrand

Also, attending and manning the phones during the livestreamed telethon will be ALL seven Kingston mayoral candidates — Hayes Clement, Shayne Gallo, Andi-Turco Levin, Ron Polacco, Rich Cahill, Jean Jacobs and Steve Ladin — Ulster County legislators Jeannette Provenzano, Michael Madsen and David Donaldson; and Kingston Alderwoman Shirley Whitlock.

JRC Chat on data journalism

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

Today we are talking about data journalism, how awesome it is, how we don't have time to do it, and how to do it when you don't have time.

That's how we roll.

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.

Data journalism

As you've recently seen at the Freeman, we've been trying to improve our offerings of data journalism. We've used maps, stats, data sets and the like to give you a better experience (and to let you decide for yourself).

So I'm playing a bit with Crime Reports in an attempt to visualize the data, if possible, other than the most excellent map form provided at the site. Here's some data.



After a bit of playing, I realized I didn't need to do anything, because everything is already done by the service. Seriously. Check it out.

Here's some visualization for the last six months:


MOAR:

Debt Judgement Day countdown

Social Media Yearbook

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by Flowtown via

JRC Chat on our future and the future of journalism

Good morning! Let's rock the boat!

Because it's Wednesday! And that means that members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and anyone who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon.

As you might have heard, our parent company, Journal Register Company, was bought by Alden Global Capital. Freak out time!
So what does this mean to our Digital First mission, and to journalism itself?

The industry has been paying attention to this, so I figure what better way to let it know what we journalist are up to, warts and all. So you better bring your projects and your concerns.

Because that's how we roll at JRC.

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.

As always, you are welcome to participate at anytime you want.

And yes, trolls are welcome.

Do You Need a Social Media Detox?

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by Column Five Media via

Forum on civic engagement highlights

Forum for Engagement live at 6 p.m. Thursday

(Editor's note: This post is a completely lazy copy-and-paste job from a previous post. But now it includes a live feed and chat)

A small group of area activists, politicians and journalists (and yours truly, for some reason) will gather in Kingston on July 14 with the goal of creating a vibrant community through "A Forum for Engagement," an event which aims to focus on turning vision into action.

I'll be representing THE EVIL MAINSTREAM MEDIA OF DOOM AND DESPAIR AND DECADENCE and will try, with the rest of the group, to find a way for you to easily participate with matters that, uh, matter to you. In short, my role will be, with your help, to figure out ways for us at the Freeman to collaborate and improve our coverage of issues that are important to you. I'll also be adding some needed DOOM AND DESPAIR AND DECADENCE, because that's how I roll.


The forum takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. on July 14 at Stella May Gallery Theatre, 5 Sterling Street, Kingston.

Scott Tillitt, who organized the forum, explains:

Engaging with the audience, the group will use an organized creative thinking process to explore the issues that matter most and, more importantly, act on them. Following a discussion moderated by Brian Mahoney, editor of Chronogram, the group will break to organize the discussion into major themes. Then they’ll reconvene with the audience to focus on the most important issues, break them down further into actionable projects, and form teams to work on them.

Audience members are encouraged to engage with the group in the discussion and the action-focused process. But even if you go to just listen, your presence is participation enough, the organizers stress.

To bring more folks into the process, organizers will stream the event live online and monitor chat and Twitter during the discussion. Audience members and those who can't make it can submit comments and questions before the event and follow the action live on Twitter using the hashtag #civickingstonny.

The group is schedule to include: Kevin Cahill, NY State Assemblyman and person I like to make fun of; Michael D’Arcy, Kingston Neighborhood Watch; Elizabeth Hare, ReadyCollective; Tom Hoffay, Kingston Alderman and person I like to make fun of; Brian Mahoney, Chronogram; Rebecca Martin, Kingston Land Trust; Tillitt of BEAHIVE and me, of THE EVIL MAINSTREAM MEDIA OF DOOM AND DESPAIR AND DECADENCE.


The event is produced by BEAHIVE, sponsored by Chronogram and Freeman, and hosted by Stella May Gallery Theater.


Space is limited. Refreshments will be provided. Event details and RSVP are at http://on.fb.me/civickingstonny7-14.


You can also join the Civic Kingston NY Facebook group (http://on.fb.me/civickingstonny)



Video streaming by Ustream

Ivan Lajara vs. cat