Technology Tools Training for Journalists Workshop

December 15 - December 19, 2008
Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley

About | Agenda | Speakers | Fellows | Resources

About the Seminar

The Knight Digital Media Center at the University of California, Berkeley brought 20 editors and reporters to attend training sessions that combined practical instruction in current and emerging technologies that impact news gathering and reporting with in-depth exploration of issues in online publishing. Readers increasingly hit the web for breaking news. Sites at the top of Google News, DIGG or the Drudge Report get thousands of new unique viewers and the corresponding revenue. The Technology Tools Workshop trained fellows to use the latest hardware and software for competitive advantage.

This Tech Tools Workshop presented the progression of media used in fast-changing stories—starting with quick text posts and moving through photos and video and finally ending with a full Flash feature presentation. The workshop provided hands-on training using Twitter for reporting, GPS-coded photos for generating news maps, dynamically updating a blog for breaking news, publishing photo galleries and audio slideshows, and generating video blog posts using Google Video and YouTube. The workshop will showcase successful examples incorporating user-generated content. The workshop also trained fellows to use Facebook and MySpace widgets for news distribution, and present the specific essential technical elements for ensuring that Google finds and indexes the story.

During four days of intense, hands-on instruction the fellows selected for the Technology Tools Workshop:

• Blogged breaking news using Twitter, YouTube and Google Video.
• Coded photographs with GPS information and post the photos in interactive news maps.
• Produced and published photo galleries and audio slideshows.
• Used templates and production automation to rapidly publish Flash stories.
• Incorporated user-generated content in breaking news stories.
• Used Facebook and MySpace widgets for news distribution.
• Learned technical specifics for optimizing breaking news rankings in Google.