How can algorithms and machine learning help you in the newsroom?
Two editorial developers will discuss how they are using algorithms in the newsroom. Justin Myers of The Chronicle of Higher Education will talk about how he uses institutional characteristics to generate lists of “similar colleges,” while Chase Davis of the New York Times will explain his work on machine learning and political coverage.
Join us June 10 from 7-9 at the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. The event will be held in the Art Gallery Lobby on the second floor. Light refreshments will be served. RSVPs are required and there is a $5 admission fee.
This event is sponsored by The Chronicle of Higher Education and George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs.
Hope to see you there!
— Matt and Tiffany
WANT TO HELP?
Volunteer to work the door, photograph or blog the event by emailing Matt (matt@northwestern.edu). Volunteers receive complimentary entry even if the event sells out.
Have an idea for future ONADC topics, speakers and events? We are always looking for cool suggestions, as well as places to hold meetups. Let us know if you have thoughts about topics or if you want to host!
You know how to network for jobs on LinkedIn. But do you know how to milk the site for story ideas, contact sources, get traffic for your stories and track the moves of top executives on your beat? We’ll learn tips about the best ways to make use of LinkedIn as a journalist in a meeting at the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The meeting starts with refreshments and schmoozing, then moves to a high-level presentation by LinkedIn’s journalism community manager and San Francisco State University associate professor Yumi Wilson. And as a bonus, attendees will get 1 free year of LinkedIn Premium.
ONA-NYC and the duPont-Columbia Awards explore the opportunities and challenges of independent documentary film making today on the web and in theaters. We bring you an eclectic group of curators, directors and producers influencing the way we tell non-fiction stories.
Topics will include uses for and limits of innovative digital technology, cross platform storytelling, immersive transmedia projects, and new funding models. Our speakers will inspire and also provide practical advise about producing documentaries for the web and/or the theater.
Moderator: June Cross, Filmmaker; Associate Professor, Columbia University @junecross
Plus, we will have special guest Alexander Reben, artist and robotist. He is the mastermind behind the BlabDroid, an adorable filmmaking robot. He collaborated with Brent Hoff to make “Robots in Residence,” the first documentary directed entirely by robots and featured at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes installation. Don’t miss this chance to learn more about the project and be interviewed by a BlabDroid.
This meetup will be taking place in the Lecture Hall on the 3rd floor of the Pulitzer building (formerly known the Journalism building which is at 2950 Broadway, NYC 10027).
The event is free but you still need to RSVP here on meetup in order to attend the event. It is required that you bring a Photo ID with you that matches your registration name for security purposes. Please provide your full name and the full names of your guests.
Follow @ONANYC and use this hashtag: #ONANYC when tweeting about our events. We encourage you to take photos and videos and share them here on Meetup! Please visit http://journalists.org to find out more about the Online News Association, become a member, and attend our fall conference in Atlanta!
More about our co-host: The duPont-Columbia Awards honors outstanding broadcast and digital news. Enter by July 1, 2013 for the 2014 Awards. For more information:www.dupontawards.org. Follow @duPontAwards.
Thank you to our supporters:
NewsCred puts content at the heart of every business. As the world’s leading content marketing and syndication platform, NewsCred provides brands and publishers with seamless access to fully-licensed articles, images and video from more than 1,500 world-class sources.
Digital First Media manages MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media and reaches 61.5 million Americans each month through more than 800 multi-platform products across 18 states.
Since 1998, The Harnisch Foundation has been a catalyst for sustainable social change, funding and implementing innovation in the fields of philanthropy, coaching and journalism.
Almost two years after ONA last visited the old Inquirer building to hear about major plans from our city’s biggest media company, Join editors from Philly.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News to discuss the role that all three of their web presences play in parent company’s Interstate General Media’s digital future.
Leah Kauffman, executive producer for entertainment and lifestyle at Philly.com, Frank Wiese, senior editor for multimedia projects at the Inquirer, and Josh Cornfield, digital editor at the Daily News, will discuss their individual websites and how they’re working together to expand the reach of the region’s largest website and daily newspapers.
Wiese and Cornfield will discuss the recent launches of their respective members-only websites, which seek to improve the newspapers’ relationship with their audience, while Kaufmann will discuss Philly.com’s move toward becoming more of a portal site with its own distinct voice.
Come around 6:30pm, we’ll get started at 7pm and wrap up by 8pm for a Happy Hour. Details to follow.
Raleigh’s online hometown newspaper has a new home on Glenwood Avenue. Come tour the office, located in a historic building in one of Raleigh’s most scenic neighborhoods, and meet the staff of this growing nonprofit news organization. Refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at SFSU and
Pacific Media Workers Guild Freelancers Unit
Saturday, May 4
at SFSU
Admission is $20 in advance, $25 at the door (Students $10/15, Guild and CWA members free).
The conference runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and includes sessions on:
Breaking into radio with Ben Trefny (KALW), Raul Ramirez (KQED), Queena Kim (Marketplace)
Advanced FOIA and public records, with Seth Rosenfeld (“Subversives”)
Creating great visuals, with Carrie Ching, recently of the Center for Investigative Reporting
Cell phone videojournalism with Ken Kobre
Getting work into magazines with editors of California, Afar, San Francisco and California Lawyer
Multimedia on the cheap with Pulitzer Prize winner Kim Komenich
Covering technology with tech writers Harry McCracken and Chris Null
Digital storytelling on deadline with Mike Kepka of the San Francisco Chronicle
Niche reporting with writers who cover technology, healthcare and music/culture
Making the most of internships with Yumi Wilson
The business of freelancing with Dan Fost and Bill Snyder
Smartphone photography with Len Cook
Carol Pogash will keynote: “The Unscripted Life,” how a long-time Examiner staffer surprised herself and became a successful freelancer. Click here to learn more details and to register.
Lunch and a post-conference reception is included.
Hope to see you there.
For questions, please email freelance@mediaworkers.org
What is the role for humor in journalism, from hard news to politics to tech and pop culture? When does it work better than being straightforward? When should journalists strictly avoid it? What does its prevalence in new media reporting and social media say about where the media industry is heading? We’re bringing together a panel of funny journalists to tackle these questions and others, and hope you’ll join us. We may have one more name to add to the panel soon, so stay tuned.
NewsCred puts content at the heart of every business. As the world’s leading content marketing and syndication platform, NewsCred provides brands and publishers with seamless access to fully-licensed articles, images and video from more than 1,500 world-class sources.
Digital First Media manages MediaNews Group and 21st CMH and reaches 61.5 million Americans each month through more than 800 multi-platform products across 18 states.
Since 1998, The Harnisch Foundation has been a catalyst for sustainable social change, funding and implementing innovation in the fields of philanthropy, coaching and journalism.
Opportunity to get a crash course in coding coming up in May. The workshop is put on by Code with Me, a series of programming workshops for journalists across the United States.
A workshop for beginners: Learn to code with a mentor by your side. You want to learn how to program, but the newsroom always needs you to do something else instead. Maybe you’ve even tried on your own, but it’s hard without someone there to help. At Code with me, a two-day workshop, we pair one professional with every two students, and teach you how to code from the ground up.
We’re designed for journalists without coding experience. You’ll always have the attention of a dedicated teacher so you can learn at your own pace, and never feel lost. With seventeen mentors total, you’ll join a supportive learning community that will continue on after the workshop.
Plus, you’ll have fun. You’ll learn HTML, CSS and Javascript by building your own interactive project. Our goal is to make this your turning point — an experience that not only teaches the basics of code, but gives you the skills and confidence you need to keep programming on your own and in your newsroom.
Polls are common currency in Washington debates, and journalists are the primary referees of which polls pass muster and what stories they tell.
But how do they actually work? What makes a poll reliable, and how can you find out?
Scott Clement of the polling firm Capital Insight and the American Association for Public Opinion Research’s journalist education program will pull the curtain back on modern polling. Topics include the key questions to ask when judging a poll’s legitimacy, the role of new technologies, the role of the Internet and new technologies in polling, and strategies for writing and presenting survey data.
While the talk will cover the basics, be sure to check out the Poynter NewsU and AAPOR’s free self-directed course on Understanding and Interpreting Polls for a complete tutorial.
Schedule
6 p.m. — Doors open
6-6:30 p.m. — Mingling and networking
6:30-7:30 p.m. — Polling presentation
7:30 p.m. — Final networking at a nearby bar (location TBA)
We hope you will join us at The Washington Post auditorium for this event. The $5 entry fee covers your first drink at the bar after the presentation!
See you in April!
— Matt and Tiffany
WANT TO HELP?
Volunteer to work the door, photograph or blog the event by emailing Matt (matt@northwestern.edu). Volunteers receive complimentary entry even if the event sells out.
Have an idea for future ONADC topics, speakers and events? We are always looking for cool suggestions, as well as places to hold meetups. Let us know if you have thoughts about topics or if you want to host!
Code With Me is coming to Austin and you’re invited! Learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript in this weekend workshop. May 18-19 at the Statesman. The cost is $85, and space is limited. Preference will be given to journalists and journalism students.
Learn to code with a mentor by your side. Code With Me was started by Sisi Wei of ProPublica and Tom Giratikanon of New York Times. They’ve held events in Washington DC, Miami and Portland (scheduled for May 4-5) and now Austin.
You must fill out the application on the site to be considered for the workshop. You won’t be able to RSVP here on Meetup. All information, including application can be found at codewithme.us/austin/. Follow @CodeWithMe on Twitter.
The International Journalism Festival gathers together leading journalists, aspiring journalists and those interested in the role of media for a sprawling 10-venue, 217 event conference in Italy’s region of Umbria. It’s a five-day, open—and free—invitation to network, learn and converse with some of the best of world journalism.
In Times of Transition: A Vision For Moving Forward
With the pressure to break stories first on Twitter getting more intense and traditional ladders and mentorship structures less vital, what do new paths to the top look like? As media institutions and markets change, how might we re-envision news structures of the future?
Presenters:
Eric Carvin, AP (as moderator)
Greg Galant, Muck Rack
TBD
What’s the ROI of Your Reporting?
The importance of social media in the newsroom is unprecedented. With a breadth of analytics and a stronger understanding of user behavior on social and the web, determining the impact and social value of your reporting has never been easier or more important. Explore the best tools and strategies to measure the impact of every story.
Presenter: Anthony De Rosa, Reuters
Ethical Aggregation
With the drive for more content, aggregation reigns. But when are you aggregating too fast, too much or too close to the original story? Join a discussion on the art of ethical aggregation.
Presenter: Steve Buttry, Digital First Media
Workshops
Free (or cheap) tools for digital journalists
You are a selfstanding web journalist, or you work in a cash strapped newsroom: we will bring you on a tour of free or almost free tools that will let you stream live video, edit digital photos, become a social media power user, create HTML charts, analyze search keywords, embed polls and create interactive slideshows.
Instructors:
Carlo Felice Dalla Pasqua, Editor, Il Gazzettino Online, Venice
Mario Tedeschini Lalli, Deputy Director, Innovation and Development Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso
Mobile tools for the multimedia journalist
Your smartphone goes beyond point and click recording. Your tablet may be all you need to produce great video, audio and picture projects, both on deadline or at a leisure pace. Come and discuss the apps and equipment that will make your mobile device your number one tool.
Instructor: Rosa Maria Di Natale, freelance multimedia journalist, Journalism teacher University of Catania
Twitter masterclass: advanced tools and tricks for journalists
You are a journalist with a Twitter account, you follow a number of people, you actually tweet each day, but you don’t really know how to go to “the next level”. Come and learn how to best use “lists”, and “hastags”, how to filter sources: all the hints you need to gather and validate information, to actively take part in the conversation without drowning the web under links to your own stories.
Instructor: Barbara Sgarzi, freelance journalist, blogger and author; social media trainer.
Ben Jones of Tableau will join us for this month’s Hacks/Hackers and ONA-Austin meetup to demonstrate their free data visualization tool, Tableau Public, and show how journalists and others can use it to explore data and make visualizations that help tell stories.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for hors d’oeuvres and socializing, with the presentation at 7 p.m. Tableau will host a social afterward at a nearby bar venue to be determined.
The meeting will be in the first floor conference room of the Austin American-Statesman office building at 305 S. Congress Ave.
(For those interested in a more in-depth look at Tableau, they are hosting a 4-hour workshop during Data Day Texas on March 30th. Austin Hacks/Hackers can get a 20% discount by using the code “hacks-hackers-20″ at http://datadaytexas.com.)
We are looking to bring to content creators and web developers/coders/programmers together for a hack day, the challenge – create an app or website to promote/advance open government. This challenge will give us the chance to create something new and innovative. Just example to get you thinking, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom’s new book highlights some great apps that promote open government. Check them out here.
Friday – April 26, 2013
1 p.m. – Check in/Registration
2 p.m. Journalism Crash Course – Programmers learn the basics of journalism. Learn what makes a story, how to keep your audience engaged, and what people are interested in.
2 p.m. Programming Crash Course – Journalists learn the basics of programming. At the end of this class you will be familiar with how coding works, the amazing things you can create, and what elements you need to create a successful program.
7 p.m. – Mixer/Meet & Greet, Teams Announced
Elbow Room Bar & Grill – 5225 Kearny Villa Rd, San Diego, CA.
Interested in serving as a student leader for ONA Mizzou? Email onamizzou@gmail.com for an application. Available positions are president, vice-president/treasurer, secretary and social media coordinator.
Dan Oshinsky, a convergence and Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow alum, is joining to talk about creating content that makes people want to share it. Oshinksy is the founder of Stry.us and currently works for BuzzFeed and will be join us by Skype to answer your questions.
Andy Whalen co-founder of personalized news aggregator Delve News joins us Via Skype to talk about the changing ways consumers filter, find and share news. Come hear about Whalen’s experience working for a news startup and how journalists use their entrepreneurial skills.
Please RSVP via the WHYY signup here. (This event is $5 for non-members of WHYY. )
The second week of March is Sunshine Week, “a nationwide discussion about the importance of access to public information and what it means for you and your community.”
In Philadelphia, WHYY is hosting an event with the editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation – and once Inquirer Reporter – Bill Allison. The event will include a discussion with WHYY reporters Dave Davies and Holly Otterbein, who will share stories from the trenches. The panel discussion will be led by WHYY’s Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue, Chris Satullo.
Data and open gov are hot topics in journalism technology right now, so this is a great time to learn more about the open records and information laws already on the books.
Do you feel alone? Missing your friendly ONADC pals? Worried we had forgotten you? Don’t you fret. We’re here with a hug and a smile and a plastic cup of sweet sweet wine to get you through the week.
The March meetup will take us back to Medill’s fabulous DC office for a presentation from local startup, ProConIt, a social evaluation platform.
More information to come, but snag your spot now! Do it.
Teenagers really are over Facebook. In a deep report published on Tuesday, Pew Research explains that teenagers departing the social network’s blue confines are looking for something more… authentic. Which, ironically, was the initial draw of Facebook, and has become something of a calling card for Tumblr and Twitter. Somewhere, Marissa Mayer is smiling.
