The Flint Hills Publications Workshop isn't exactly right around the corner, but I find myself thinking about it as I try out new technologies in my own job covering the Legislature for The Topeka Capital-Journal. For those who were in my class last year or are thinking about taking part in the advanced writing class (you should), I'd love to hear your thoughts about incorporating more new media topics into the writing session at camp while keeping the focus on writing and reporting. You can e-mail me your feedback at barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com.
Until then, here's a short list of some things I use all the time in my job:
*Twitter: I'm not breaking any new ground here, but I like using Twitter to augment my coverage of the Kansas Legislature. During hearings, press conferences and speeches, I've used Twitter to update readers on the action. It's a good service to readers who want to follow certain topics and helps drive traffic to stories once I post them to the newspaper's Web site. Twitter fits my goal of finding technology that augments what I already do but doesn't eat up a lot of extra time. You can find my posts at twitter.com/CapJ_Barb. And yes, I think Twitter can be used effectively in high school journalism (see my PowerPoint here). Judge for yourself if your classmates actually use Twitter.
*bit.ly: I use bit.ly to shorten html links to my stories and other Web references. What I like is that by having an account with bit.ly (free), I can tell how many clicks I got on the stories I linked from my Twitter posts.
*twitpic: With Twitpic (twitpic.com/photos/CapJ_Barb), I can post related photos to Twitter. When there is a lull in the action of whatever I'm covering, I find it only takes a few minutes to post a picture.
*Google Alerts: I've become a big fan of Google Alerts. With them, Google sends me regular e-mails with new search results on my requested topics. I use alerts to find stories on Kansas politicians I'm covering. For high school journalists, I think it could be a great way to get news updates on notable alumni or keep tabs on all the times your school is mentioned in the news. Check them out at www.google.com/alerts.
Hope you're having a great school year.
Barbara Hollingsworth
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