Session Descriptions

THURSDAY WORKSHOPS
Note: These workshops are open to all conference attendees, but they each cost an additional fee. For more information on registration, please click here.

Dynamic Websites for Newsrooms: A Ruby on Rails Workshop with IRE
You've heard the hype around Web frameworks like Ruby on Rails. Now see why. Investigative Reporters and Editors will host a one-day bootcamp that takes you from the basics to a fully functioning data-driven application in Rails, the Web framework that drives eye-catching projects like Hulu, Scribd, Twitter and parts of several news websites, including the L.A. Times, N.Y. Times and The Associated Press. This bootcamp is geared toward those who already have some advanced skills and are interested in writing database-driven applications for the Web or for their own internal intranets. It's a soup-to-nuts course, in which you'll start with a blank slate and wind up with a fully functional, near Web-ready application. You'll go through a series of hands-on sessions that walk you through every step of the process. The bootcamp will be limited to 20 participants.

Because it's an advanced sequence, please make sure you meet the following prerequisites before signing up:
* Experience with a programming language including PHP, ActionScript or Javascript
* Familiarity with Web database concepts is recommended.

Cost: $150 Non-ONA members, $100 ONA members Register: Click here to register online! Only 20 spaces available. NOTE: Participants MUST bring their own laptops to participate. This workshop is NOT being held in a multimedia classroom.

Like Minds: Tailored Workshops for Newspapers, Magazines, Broadcast & Standalone Websites
Are you wanting to spend some quality time with others like you, digging deep into issues and challenges facing your Web space? On Sept.11, from 1-4 p.m. at the Capital Hilton, you get this chance. The session will start with Anthony Moor, an ONA board member and online chief from the Dallas Morning News, providing a "State of the Industry"presentation. Then attendees will break into groups for focused conversations. Invited leaders of each session: Catherine Sharick of Time.com for magazines; Dale Steinke of KING5.com for broadcast sites (TV & radio); Jennifer Carroll of Gannett for newspapers; and Neil Budde of DailyMe.com for standalone sites. These people or their co-leaders will be in touch with people who sign up in advance, so that you can seed the conversation with relevant case studies. The size of the smaller groups (10-20) will allow people to share specific examples, best practices and solutions to your particular challenges.

This session is designed to deliver results, for veteran online leaders, but also to involve their counterparts who are also working to stengthen their product -- and their own skill set and mindset. (Note: this session earlier was called "Social Networking & Beyond: Workshops for Newspaper, Magazine, Broadcast & Standalone News Leaders.") Cost: $30 Non-ONA members, $20 ONA members Register: Click here to register online! Only 80 spaces available.

J-Lab: Playing the News
When does a news "experience" tell the story better than a news "story?" This daylong workshop focuses on what's happening in the world of news games from election, budget, environmental and other exercises. We'll look at the creation, usefulness and ethnics of news games and searchable databases. And we'll hear from both the journalists and the programmers who build the games. Produced by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism Funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. Cost: $60 non-ONA member, $50 ONA members. (Both J-Lab sessions: $80 non-members, $70 ONA members) Lunch included. Register: Click here to register online! Only 100 spaces available.

J-School Entrepreneurship Bootcamp What should we teach aspiring journalists these days: Writing and copyediting? Multimedia productions? They need the right mindsets as well as skill sets. Learn how journalism programs around the country are seeding innovative ideas, launching hyperlocal news sites and breeding new media entrepreneurs. Cost: $30 ONA members, $40 Non-ONA members. Light dinner included. (Both J-Lab sessions: $80 non-members, $70 ONA members) Register: Click here to register online! Only 65 spaces available

ONA Video Workshop
Chet Rhodes Chet Rhodes of washingtonpost.com will give a workshop on how to integrate video into your organizations website. Reporters and site managers will come away feeling like video is less daunting and more do-able. "Chet Rhodes of Washingtonpost.com did a great job of removing the specter of fear from online video. A much less apocalyptic vision of the future. Thanks!" -- Sam Wood, The Philadelphia Inquirer, who attended Chet's workshop at a recent Philadelphia workshop. When: Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Lunch included Register: Click here to register online! 

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY SESSIONS

TRACK: How'd They Do That?
With seven hour-long sessions, this track will walk participants through some of the most innovative online news projects over the past year. Topics include the Las Vegas Sun redesign, msnbc.com’s bridge tracker, the New York Times’ election coverage, National Geographic’s site design, a look at some of the most innovative online video, the online news coverage of the Washington Independent, and how the L.A. Times set up its multimedia newsroom.You'll walk away with working code, a development roadmap and more.

Session 1: Las Vegas Sun: Site Redesign
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: What happens in Vegas, goes online. At least, that’s the case at the Las Vegas Sun. Learn how the Sun’s team was able to rebuild their site completely from scratch in just a few months. It went from a flat generated page, to a dynamic site with rich multimedia, data-driven interactives, and high-definition and mobile video. Learn how they did it.
Panelists: Josh Williams, Las Vegas Sun, new media projects editor; Tyson Evans, Las Vegas Sun, editor

Session 2: MSNBC: Bridge Tracker
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: In January, msnbc.com published a report on bridge safety inspections that included a groundbreaking interactive map enabling users to enter a route and then view data on every bridge along the way. The map, which used data from the latest National Bridge Inventory compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, featured every bridge that handles at least 10,000 vehicles a day. See how they put it together. Link: http://bridges.msnbc.com/
Panelists: Bill Dedman, msnbc.com, investigative reporter; Phil Zepeda, msnbc.com, interactive producer

Session 3: New York Times: Election Guide
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: On Super Tuesday, for the first time ever, the top page on the nytimes.com was NOT a story. It was the Times’ data-driven election results map. The New York Times is using data in new innovative ways, while integrating raw information with analysis. Learn how the New York Times built the Election Guide and how they’re approaching data-design.
Panelists: Aron Pilhofer, New York Times, Editor, Interactive News Technology; Matthew Ericson, New York Times, deputy graphics editor

Session 4: National Geographic: Web Design
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: When it comes to innovative online design few news organization can match National Geographic. This year, National Geographic Magazine Online took home Webby Awards for best online magazine, best use of photography NGM.com and the People’s Voice award in the magazine category. In this session learn how they approach design as they step you through one of their projects.
Panelists: David Braun, National Geographic, news director; Katie Parker, National Geographic, senior web designer; Jim Webb, recently technical design manager for National Geographic digital media

Session 5: Fireside Chat: Online Video
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: In the news industry, online video has often been seen as just another platform for distributing traditional TV packages. But photographers, videographers and digital journalists are starting to explore new ways of using video online. From shooting in unconventional ways to integrating it on a page, learn how one organization is taking video to the next level.
Panelists: Sanjay Trehan, chief executive officer of NDTV Convergence Ltd.; Garrett Hubbard, video journalist at USA TODAY.

Session 6: The Washington Independent: Cutting-Edge Online Coverage
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: The Washington Independent launched in January 2008 with the goal of putting national news in context. The site’s staff of professional editors and reporters quickly began experimenting with new forms of story telling to create a first-of-its-kind webpaper. The innovation paid off. In just a few months, the site made its mark in the crowded Washington news field, picking up mentions in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, on MSNBC and on numerous political blogs. Learn how the TWI staff created buzz by turning traditional journalists into web-savvy writers, who offer original reporting, insight and voice in every story and blog post.
Panelists: Allison Silver, The Washington Independent, editor; Laura McGann, The Washington Independent, managing editor; Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent, national security reporter; Sridhar Pappu, The Washington Independent, national politics reporter; Mary Kane, The Washington Independent, finance reporter

Session 7: L.A. Times: Setting-up and Streamlining a Multimedia Newsroom
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: It’s one thing for a newspaper to produce great content, it’s another thing to make that content work online. In this session, we’ll learn how the L.A. Times is improving it’s multimedia newsroom. See how they’re improving traffic, keeping up profits, recruiting the right talent, finding the right tools and integrating with the traditional newsroom.
Panelist: Meredith Artley, L.A. Times, executive editor of latimes.com

TRACK: Emerging Tech & the Newsroom
This track features seven sessions focused on the future of online news and how to prepare for what's coming next. Think you know metrics? Online advertising? The Web? Think again! Our experts will show you all that's on the horizon and how to adapt new tools and trends for your newsroom.

Session 1: ACAP: Should publishers adopt a new standard?
ACAP is a joint initiative of the European Publishers Council, the World Association of Newspapers and the International Publishers Association. For the first time ever, the newspaper, magazine and book publishing and search engine industries in Europe have worked together on a joint standard. Many aggregation websites have chosen to adopt a liberal attitude to copyright - "it's OK until someone tells us it isn't" - which means there is an enormous amount of infringing material being hosted by major companies. Leaving aside the question of whether or not this is reasonable, ACAP gives a way for publishers, or any content providers, to make permissions for their content known to aggregators in a way they can easily understand. European publishers have already started to implement and use ACAP. Could it work in America? What does that mean for the largest aggregators - and publishers - in the U.S.?
Panelist: Marik Bide, Project Director of ACAP

Session 2: The Next New Metrics
Friday, Sept. 12
How do you measure success? Easy, page views. Or time spent. Or click through. Okay, maybe not so easy. This panel takes a hard look at Web site metrics and will show you new and emerging methods of audience tracking.
Panelists: Sumita Singh, senior vice president of marketing of Thomson Reuters Media; Dorian Benkoil, founder, senior vice president and senior consultant at Teeming Media; Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics for Nielsen Online; Matt Cutler, vice president of marketing and analytics, Visible Measures.

Session 3: Optimize and Monetize
Friday, Sept. 12
Master the art of online advertising and understand what works for your site. Are you using excess inventory to your advantage? What do advertisers need? What do marketers think when they decide what to spend and where to spend it? Where are you going wrong?
Panelists: Ken Doctor, news industry analyst for Outsell; Mark Rose, director for sales strategy, Tribune Company; Bob Benz, partner, Maroon Ventures.

Session 4: Hello, Semantic Web!
Friday, Sept. 12
See the future with Apture and OpenCalais. Learn all about the next iteration of the Web, the Semantic Web, and start to understand how that will affect your news operations. We'll showcase Apture’s layered approach to searching the Web and a new content management integration tool called Calais.
Panelists: Tristan Harris, CEO of Apture; Tom Tague, VP, Clearforest Calais; Tiffany Shackelford, Consultant

Session 5: This is Your Brain on News
Saturday, Sept. 13
Learn what catches people’s attention and keeps it. Discover how people actually interact with the Web, and how you can use that information to your advantage when designing and programming your site.
Panelist: Kathy Sierra, master trainer for Sun MicroSystems and founder of javaranch.com.

Session 6: 10 Tech Trends You’ve Never Heard Of
Saturday, Sept. 13
See 10 emerging technologies that you've probably never heard of, learn what's coming next, and understand how all of it is impacting journalism. We’ll introduce them, explain how they work and demonstrate how they can be adapted for use in online journalism. Everyone will leave with software betas/demos, explainer sheets for each technology and a whole new appreciation for tomorrow.
Panelist: Amy Webb, Principal Consultant at Webbmedia Group

Session 7: Mobile Platforms
WAP is so yesterday. More and more people are relying on their mobile phones for digital content, while most news organizations have yet to adapt their journalism and their business models for mobile platforms. How are the iPhone and other mobile devices are changing the way we consume media? And what can we do now to prepare for the next wave of mobile devices?
Panelists: Steve Safran, founder of lostremote.com; Erik Schwartz, CEO and founder of Foneshow; Frank Gruber, principal product manager for AOL People Networks group; Jeffrey Litvack, director global products development, Associated Press.

Be An Evangelist!
This track features six 45-minute hands-on sessions that look at the most pressing issues facing online news and how to be a voice of positive change in your newsroom. Panels will address newsroom mergers, content distribution, user-generated content, design research and new technologies.

Session 1: Merging Newsrooms, Managing Drama
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Throughout the industry, print, broadcast and online are mixing like oil and water… and more oil. What are the best practices around newsroom restructuring and editorial training? See how Wikis are being used to share information inside the newsroom. Are journalistic standards evolving or devolving?
Panelists: Anne Saul, news systems editor, Gannett Co., Inc.; Chris Krewson, executive editor for online news, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Lee Banville, editor, Online NewsHour; Peter Horrocks, head of the multimedia newsroom, British Broadcasting Company.

Session 2: Content Distribution in Emerging Markets
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Increasingly, publications overseas are launch their first companion Web sites. When they do, they open doors to previously-untapped markets. Many are looking for English-language content partners and new distribution schemes (mobile Web, SMS, and more). We’ll explain the digital shifts happening in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe and how other news organizations might find new business partners abroad.
Panelists: Emilio Aliaga, Content and New Media Director for Televisa Digital; Hiram Enriquez, programming director, Yahoo! Hispanic Americas.

Session 3: Mobilize Your Audience!
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: You’ve got an audience: use it! Learn how to build and integrate user-generated content (UGC). Find out why UGC is more important than ever before and how it can help save traditional media.
Panelists: Leonard Brody, Chief Office and Co-Founder, NowPublic; Ellyn Angelotti, interactivity editor, Poynter Institute;

Session 4: Research that’s Relevant: What DiSEL Studies Advise about Everyday Usability and Design Decisions
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Reprising a hit panel from last year, Nora Paul and Laura Ruel, will share their latest findings on usability and digital design issues.
Panelists: Nora Paul, Institute for New Media at University of Minnesota; Laura Ruel, University of North Carolina

Session 5: Catalyze Your Newsroom!
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: The only thing many journalists fear more than a fast-approaching deadline is new technology. But that need not be... Learn how to motivate your staff, cultivate young talent and adapt tools for your newsroom today!
Panelists: Doug Mitchell, Project Leader, NPR's Next Generation Radio

Session 6: Legal Issues
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Forthcoming
Panelists: Forthcoming

My Digital Beat
How can you better cover a particular beat or topic area using digital tools? These 75-minute panel presentations will feature how-to’s, available online tools (databases, etc.), best practices and ideas for new projects/publications. Plus, meet and network with others covering the same beats online!

Session 1: Free Fact Checking Online
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Did someone say free? Learn the secrets to using the Web to gather data and check your facts. We’ll tell you what you should be scraping now to use for fact checking later. State voter registration rolls, crime reports and court records are only the beginning. Plus, we’ll share some tips about how to organize your information once you get it.
Panelists: Emi Kolawole, staff writer, FactCheck.org; Meg Smith, researcher, Washington Post; Sandeep Junnarkar; associate professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism; Chrys Wu, National Producer, CBS TV Digital Media Group.

Session 2: Using the Web to Generate Story Ideas
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: If one thing has become clear in the last few years, your personal journal is no longer hidden under your red shirt in your third dresser drawer. Online communities exist around photos, videos, neighborhoods, schools and more. How can journalists tap into these communities to develop new story ideas? And how far is too far? Should you really be pinging and friending your councilmember?
Panelists: Eric Janssen, Online Director, The Commercial Appeal; Jose Antonio Vargas, reporter, Washington Post; Alan Rappeport, staff writer, CFO.com; Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix.

Session 3: Beyond Green
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Over the past year, reporters covering a diverse range of topics found climate change creep into their coverage. This panel considers how any (or every) reporter can get the data needed to make sense of how climate change is influencing his or her beat.
Panelists: Kate Sheppard, Reporter, Grist; Richard Graves, Founder, Fired Up Media; Adam Glenn, co-founder I, Reporter; Bud Ward, Editor, The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media.

Session 4: Making Crime Pay
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Mapping crime data is so easy it should be, well, a crime. But that doesn’t mean you know how to do it. Our experts will explain how to get clean crime data and map it.
Panelists: Katy Newton, Video Journalist, Los Angeles Times; Laura Cochran, Senior Web Producer, washingtonpost.com; Sean Connelley, Web Developer, Los Angeles Times.

Session 5: Using the Web to Cover Healthcare
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Healthcare reporters have heaps of data at their disposal. The question is, how do you get it and what can you do with it? We’ll show you which online tools can be used to cover hospitals, nursing homes and more.
Panelists: Kristen Kurland, Faculty, Carnegie Mellon University; M. Asif Ismail, Reporter, Center for Public Integrity; Matt Chittum, Data Delivery Editor; The Roanoke Times; Scott Hensley, Contributor, The Wall Street Journal Healthcare Blog.

Session 6: Digital Media in Spain and Europe
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: What lessons can be learned from the online news operations that publish their websites in Spanish? What obstacles are there to reaching international audiences? Learn about digital media trends in Spain and Europe from a panel of international journalists.
Panelists: Daniel Garza, co-producer and host of Agenda Washington; Lydia Aguirre, Director, El Pais Digital; Ferran Clavell, Head of Content, TV3 Digital.

Teaching & Learning
This track offers five 75-minute sessions and an Ethics Town Hall session focused on teaching online journalism and teaching online journalists. We're going to focus on adapting trends in digital media for the classroom and how to keep journalism education current.

Session 1: So You Want to Teach? Ha!
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: There’s a little more to this teaching stuff than guest lecturing. A former journalist and current college professor walks you through creating a syllabus, navigating your first teaching gig and dealing with students. With handouts on adjunct pay, information on teaching resources, and ideas on using technology in the classroom, this session is for any journalist who thinks he/she is ready to put down the pencil and pick up the chalk.
Panelists: Amy Eisman, Director of Writing Programs, School of Communication at American University; Andrew Mendelson, Associate Professor and Journalism Department Chair, School of Communications and Theater at Temple University; Angie Chuang, Assistant Professor, American University's School of Communication; Christina Pino-Marina, Video Journalist.

Session 2: Putting Universities to Work: Opportunities for Collaboration Between Industry and Academia
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: This session will examine how industry and academia are collaborating, and how such collaboration could be expanded and improved. In the so-called “hard” sciences, academics are leading the commercial industries in research and development. How could journalism benefit from a similar model? In this session, newsroom managers will gain a better understanding of how industry-focused research in academia functions. Academics will find better ways to integrate applied research opportunities into the classroom.
Panelists: Jay Rosen, Faculty, New York University; Paul Volpe, Deputy Politics Editor, washingtonpost.com; Retha Hill, Director of the New Media Innovation Lab and Professor of Practice, Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism; Ryan Thornburg, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina.

Session 3: Integrating Web Journalism into College Curriculum
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: The way many programs have “integrated” Web journalism is to create an extra course or two. That doesn’t cut it anymore. This session will explore ways to go beyond that approach and to make sure that all students – whether they are taking a Web journalism course or not – have an opportunity to learn about the importance of the Web as a news medium, practice the kind of journalism that it demands, and learn the skills they’ll need to pay off their college loans.
Panelists: Jim Stovall, Edward J. Meeman Distinguished Professor of Journalism, University of Tennessee; Mindy McAdams; Regina McCombs, Faculty Member, Poynter Institute; Chris Harve, Faculty, University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Session 4: Sharing the Research
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: This panel connects The Industry with The Academy. Four academics give the quick-and-dirty version of their latest and best findings from research on online journalism. Research ranges from online business models to social networking modeling to surveys about Web feature use by young people. Then a short discussion will follow during which the audience can offer ideas for future research. Please come with your ideas!
Panelists: Leslie-Jean Thornton, Assistant Professor, Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University; Marcus Messner, Assistant Professor, School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University; Michelle I. Seelig, Professor, Journalism and Photography, University of Miami; Sue Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Susan Keith; Donica Mensing, Associate Professor, Reynolds School of Journalism.

Session 5: The A-Plus Blog
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Some of the most prolific and effective bloggers write from one sentence to 100 words per post, posting 10-15 times per day. Some teachers expect their students to submit essay-length posts, which is easier to grade, but might be teaching them how to be “bad” bloggers.
Meanwhile, students who have a hard time blogging sometimes say that they’re not as clever/funny/interesting as the other people in the class. How do you teach good blogging skills? And how do you grade someone’s blog without grading their personality?
Panelists: Lou Rutigliano, Assistant Professor, DePaul University; Steve Fox, Faculty, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Barbara K. Iverson, PhD., Faculty, Columbia College Chicago; Leslie Walker, Knight Visiting Professor in Digital Innovation, University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Town Hall Session: Developing an Ethics Framework
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Roll up your sleeves and get ready to help shape an ethics framework for online journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists!
We're hosting a moderated discussion between a group of panelists and audience members outlining a handful of the ethical conundrums we all face today. In this special town hall-style session, the audience will have as much input as our panelists. After about 45 minutes of discussion, we will hone in on five bullet points to develop as a starting point for an ethics framework. A few weeks before the conference, an ethics wiki will launch, and we'll invite you to contribute, network and weigh in with your own thoughts.

(Here it is! Visit the wiki, http://www.onlineethicswiki.com/, before and after the conference to take part in the discussion.)

Some of the key issues we'll discuss:
* As the crowded media landscape becomes even moreso with the growth of bloggers and citizen journalists, how are we all handling ethical dilemmas? One point to consider – this session is not meant to be a finger-pointing exercise. In order to create any real framework, we must accept that online journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists operate under the same “media” umbrella.
* But, as we have seen numerous times during the past year, readers have been left scratching their heads. The Eliot Spitzer story broke on the New York Times Web site with a single, anonymous source, but spread like cyber wildfire. And, a citizen journalist for Huffington Post’s “Off The Bus” project broke the “bittergate” story but questions about conflict of interest and identification swirled around how she obtained that information.
* Are journalism ethics being called more into question today than in the past? How can we help shape a framework that anyone working in media can consult when they run into an ethical dilemma?
Panelists: Forthcoming

Multimedia Learning Lab
Join us for 10 hands-on detailed micro training sessions that will take participants deeply into a specific topic, from working in audio to (gasp!) working with text! You'll walk away from each 60-minute class with a brand-new skill and practice exercises to take back to your newsroom for continued training. NOTE: classes are limited to 22 participants each, so make sure to show up a few minutes early to reserve a computer station.

Session 1: Making Great Intros/ Outros For Your Podcast
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: This beginner-level class is for anyone who is just starting to podcast, or wants to make their podcast really sing. You will learn how to make a professional intro/outro for your audio giving the content the “wrapper” it needs to take it up a notch.
Instructor: Merrilee Cox, Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News Radio

Session 2: Creating Detailed Runners and Graphics for Web Video
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: This intermediate-level class will teach folks that are already producing videos to kick their content up to the next level with easy-to-use graphics and overlays for lower-thirds, credits, intro slides and more. Give your content the legitimacy it deserves by adding the professional bells and whistles of the bigs.
Instructor: Jody Sugrue, Independent Designer

Session 3: Advanced Photoshop Techniques
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Ten tricks that will truly enhance your Photoshop skills.
Instructor: Esti Gerson, Independent Designer

Session 4: Make your own interactive map
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Want to use Google Maps for more than directions to this weekend’s party? This beginner/intermeditate class will start by teaching you how to make a simple mashup on Google by adding pinpoints “by hand.” Then we’ll use an RSS feed for an auto-populated map that feeds your site fresh content.
Instructor: Brad Heath, USAToday.com

Session 5: Audio Post-Production and Mixing
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: This advanced hour-long training session helps audio regulars solve the top 10 post-production problems with easy fixes radio pros use everyday.
Instructor: Doug Mitchell, NPR

Session 6: Your First Facebook API
Friday, Sept. 12
Description: Got an idea for a Facebook widget, but don’t know where to start? We can help. Start by taking this class and learn the basics of Facebook widget-making.
Instructor: Deryck Hodge, washingtonpost.com

Session 7: Video editing basics
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Use your default video editors (iMovie and Movie Maker) to turn 15 minutes of tape into 60 seconds of gold. This is an intermediate class for folks who have some experience with shooting video.
Instructor: Tiffany Campbell, seattletimes.com

Session 8: Put the bling back in your blog
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: Is your blog “flat?” If so, you need to let fly the inner marketer. We’ll show you how to make a widget, pull in feeds, flesh out your blogroll, beg for link love, scare up som SEO, create a vlog and more.
Instructor: Jesse Thomas, CEO of JESS3

Session 9: Using twitter to Liveblog
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: In 140 characters, you can write well and overcome some minor technical hurdles when posting from a handheld or from a feed.
Instructor: Leslie Bradshaw, President of JESS3

Session 10: I have this Excel spreadsheet. . . .
Saturday, Sept. 13
Description: A beginner class that will step you through using an open source javascript library to transform a small, simple Excel file into a working, searchable, filterable, sortable page (and maybe a Google mashup).
Instructor: Troy Thibodeaux, database editor at AP