Important Stories (iStories) share their knowledge, techniques, skills, code and the apps we use for stories. For Russian-speaking journalists.
Topic: Tools and Technology
Tips for Hosting Online Conversation
Looking for an alternative to face-to-face events in the time of Coronavirus? People have been experimenting with synchronous online convening for years and the tools continue to improve. Here are some suggestions based on experiences of the Journalism That Matters team.
Documented on WhatsApp
Documented Weekly includes a summary of the most important immigration news of the week in their weekly, Spanish newsletter. Subscribers are able to contact Documented reporters to ask questions and make suggestions about what news is of greatest interest to Spanish-speaking New Yorkers. They’ve recently done Q&As regarding health care access, tenants’ rights, immigration procedures, labor rights, and fake news (with Univision). More from API.
Community Advisory Boards
How can advisory boards help newsrooms stay in touch with what matters most to their communities? And what are some best practices for setting them up, recruiting members and making the time useful? Join Elizabeth Stephens of Columbia Missourian, jesikah maria ross (JMR) of Capital Public Radio, and Kim Bode of News Deeply to find out.
Mapping Information Ecosystems to Serve Local News Needs
A media desert is geographic area that is lacking access to fresh, local news and information. This condition may be a result of a lack of content, access, language barriers and other issues. This guide focuses on asset-based framework, digital ethnography, and geomapping tools to address ecosystems that are lacking news and information, and how to appropriately assess and fulfill local news needs.
Nextdoor for Journalists
You might use Nextdoor to keep up with neighborhood crime, gossip and lost pets. But have you used it as part of your journalism? In this video chat hosted by Beth O’Malley of St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Joe Lanane of Community Impact Newspaper, we’ll talk about how journalists are using Nextdoor and what they can learn by experimenting on platforms that are new to them.
Reddit for Journalists
Let’s talk about the when, the why and the how of using Reddit as part of our journalism. Bring your questions and experiences, and prepare to be guided by Bobby Blanchard of The Texas Tribune, Dominick DiFurio of The Dallas Morning News, and Gene Park – Embedded of the Washington Post (fresh off a session on this at ONA last month).
How the UO Combined Public Forum and Interactive Technology to Deepen Engagement
Don’t Wait for the Quake was a community event hosted by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). The event featured a panel of earthquake and emergency preparedness experts as well as informational videos produced by SOJC students.
Audience-Focused Election Coverage
Does your election coverage provide what your community needs? How do you know? Fresh off their ONA talk on this topic, Ashley Alvarado of Southern California Public Radio and Julia Haslanger of Hearken will bring tools and strategies to help your newsroom better serve your audience.
Story Map: Visualization Tool
Story Map is a mapping tool that uses in-story geocode integration to highlight the direct geographic relevance of news coverage. The Austin Monitor aimed to use the tool to increase site traffic and turn readers into subscribers. Though subscribers didn’t increase, visitors spent significantly more time on the site. Learn more about this project from INN and NiemanLabs.
Making Connections: Public Legislator Database
Drawn from a report by the Institute for Nonprofit News and Dot Connector Studio. In 2016, The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting created a searchable database on local lawmakers’ private financial interests, sponsored legislation, and committee appointments to make this information more accessible to the public. Learn more in their guide and the original announcement.
Ghost Boat
In June 2014, 243 refugees fled Libya on a boat bound for Italy. The boat never arrived. In 2015, Medium launched the Ghost Boat project, a crowdsourced “hackathon” effort to find out what happened. The cornerstone of the Ghost Boat project is a website where investigative journalist Eric Reidy posts in-depth articles documenting the search. Interested contributors are given guides and a repository of information gathered so far. The investigation was suspended in December 2016 pending additional leads. Learn more.