Lincoln meeting

Several from our unit are attending a sharing meeting with several of our colleagues from Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas. Please ask Mary Lou, Nancy, Deb, Steve, Randall or myself what they learned and what ideas they came away with. It's always fun to see what others are doing and learn from their successes or mistakes. It is also good to see their resources (OK, I'm drooling over the HDTV studio and truck here...but also their gator).

Blogging important for today's journalists

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits: Please read this item from Amy Gahran of Poynter Online. Amy talks about the why blogs are critical for today's journalists. I agree with her and hope you will all consider blogging about your writing or production work. Our work is important...giving people the whole story, not just the finished product, can help us move ahead with convergence and our online news presence.

And it may be important personally for you. See the relevant word...its there. Read on...

"Journalists at any career stage who hope to keep working and stay relevant (regardless of the fortunes of any or all news organizations) should aspire to be as findable as possible. The easiest way to achieve this is to use your very own blog to build a strong, persistent personal brand."

Presentations made easy

Check out these notes on how to do a presentation. I think Nancy Duarte has some great pointers for people who stand up in front of a crowd and present information. Many of us are required to do this as part of our jobs...let's try and make our presentations informative and interesting for our audience. Hey, if she can help Al Gore, she can probably help all of us.

Sharpen your writing skills

Roy Peter Clark from Poynter Online writes about his seven favorite propaganda detection tools. In times like this (political news, economic turmoil, energy policies) pay attention to these propaganda pitfalls to tighten your writing. Learn about name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonials, plain folks, card stacking and predetermined ends or the band wagon.

Chickens

Thought you would all enjoy this post from the NY Times about free range chickens in New York City.

I'm all a twitter...

I've been thinking about how we at Kansas State can use twitter in a practical way. I'm planning on starting a news feed twitter, where people can subscribe to our twitter feed to find out about news stories we have written or produced. We can also let our followers know what we are working on. If you take a look at my delicious links, I have posted one that shows all the news organizations that are using twitter. If we can help information seekers find the news they need in the social media platforms they are using, that's great. Twitter seems to be an easy, simple platform for us.

This makes me sad...

YouTube Payola: Is Anyone Paying For Views?: "YouTube has always been very clear about the separation of editorial content and sponsored ads on its site: While the site is eager to sell advertising, placements as 'featured' or 'promoted' videos -- incredibly valuable, high-traffic spots on the homepage -- are not for sale.

The 'featured' and 'promoted' videos on the homepage are chosen by editorial criteria, and, in theory, are not influenced by who is spending money to advertise.

Or are they? Advertisers say that 'promoted' videos are routinely negotiated into advertising deals on the site."