I’ve learned quite a bit since starting Sunset Park Chronicled six months ago. Certain questions that plague the startup entrepreneurial journalist or blogger were easy to answer. It was a “hyperlocal” blog, so I had an audience—the neighborhood. Few news outlets cover this part of Brooklyn, and there is demand for news. And I knew my subject well. It is my “beat” at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Getting a blog up and running is easy as well. I started with WordPress.com, which is free, and offers good looking, flexible templates.

Then comes the learning curve and the growing pains. As an individual trying to cover a large and complex community, I don’t have the luxury of taking off one hat and putting on another. I wear them all at once–I aggregate news and I write it. I fix funky links and embed video. On occasion, I editorialize.

I do it imperfectly. Nobody really knows what the news landscape will look like in ten years, or even tomorrow. We do know it’s changing. Anyone can make news, and report it. This is what I have learned:

• Be consistent. Whether weekly, twice a week, or every day, make sure to set a blogging schedule and keep to it. Remember that morning paper that once landed on your doorstep? People like to know they can find something new when they go to your site and these days, people are hungry for as many updates as you can serve up. While a flurry of updates is always nice, consistency and quality pay off in the long run.
• Take a picture. Or a video. Or make a map. Try to create an interactive environment. Get people involved, even if only through watching and clicking.
• Use tags and pingbacks. Tag those posts like the A-train in the ‘80s. Tags help direct traffic. People still fish for news erratically, and you want to catch them in your net.
• Learn search engine optimization. Painful as it is, clever headlines are quickly becoming a thing of the past. You have to put key terms in the headline—like the tags, it helps put you on the radar of Google, Bing and the like. Save your quips for the lede.
• Talk to people. Respond to your readers. Ask questions. Engage thoughtfully with critics to create good dialogue, but don’t get defensive. And don’t take things personally. Doing so tends to take everyone off topic.
• Make a comments policy, and stick to it. You need to figure out what you are willing to put up there. My policy was to  write back to commenters asking them to remove offensive language, but I chose not to do it myself. If they’re not willing to reword their comment to get the idea up there, then it was likely a fleeting thing.
• Use the blog for story ideas. I have learned a lot from writing back to commenters asking them for more. Some speak on the record, some off. Some don’t respond at all, but you never know what you will find until you reach out.
• Shameless blog promotion. A news blog provides a service, an articulation of goings-on and issues, but it can’t work properly if no one’s reading it. Use Twitter. Tell people about the blog in person (gasp!). Then let the viral nature of word of mouth do its work.
• Use your analytics, but not too much. As an editor/publisher/marketer, stats are key. You can get a sense of who is looking and when, and what they want to read and like to look at. I originally used the data embedded into wordpress.com. Now I use Google Analytics, which offers a wealth of information, some of it still opaque to me. That said, there are stories, good stories, important stories that will never get the traffic that a cute cat video on YouTube pulls in an hour. That’s okay. Cute cat coverage does not a good reporter make.
• Be transparent. Don’t pretend you are something you are not. You are helping people understand their environment better. Let them see who’s talking.
• Link. For the love of god, link. Show people where you get your information. You are an educator as much as a reporter. Help them see how the job is done. You’ll build trust and credibility, hot commodities in our information age.
• Use your resources. One of my favorites is Google Alerts. It keeps me abreast of news and blogs, and offers story ideas. Twitter works too. And there is, of course, nothing like shoe leather reporting. It’s the best part anyway.
• Do your best. Life is busy. The news is fast. Blogging is a huge responsibility. Learn how to balance it all to keep quality high, readers interested and stay sane. Technical issues can be fixed, typos corrected, but a stain on your journalistic credibility is harder to clean up.

11 Multimedia Sites for Journalists

I hope these 33 sites (collected on a Delicious.com bookmarks page) prove useful for those transitioning to digital journalism as well as those keeping ahead of the curve. It’s not enough for today’s journalists to understand AP style, principles of fairness, and other such basics. We now have to master the new tools of the trade if we want to keep up with our craft. We benefit from mastering Web tools that help us A) gather information and stories, B) make sense of what we find, and C) share the information and stories we produce with our audiences in creative ways. That’s what these 33 sites are about. I’d love your feedback about sites on this list, or those that should have been included instead. Add comments below, or e-mail me directly at the following URL:

http://scr.im/caplan

[P.S. I guess that's site #34: Scr.im is a cool tool that lets you post your e-mail address without attracting spam robots.]

23. Flavors.me
Create a personalized Web page drawing from your blogs, feeds, etc
ALSO TRY: card.ly, gizapage.com

24. Carbonmade
Publish a portfolio of images or flash files to share your work
ALSO TRY: issuu.com, krop.com

25. Vimeo
High-quality, well-designed video publishing service with useful groups and projects to inspire new ideas
ALSO TRY: tubemogul.com, blip.tv

26. Animoto
Create instant, impressive video/slideshows out of your photos and video clips
ALSO TRY: vuvox.com

27. Google Voice
Streamline your multiple phone numbers; add features to your phone
ALSO TRY: skype.com, recordmycalls.com, tokbox.com

28. Prezi
Publish and present ideas with this post-Powerpoint, innovative interface
ALSO TRY: slidesix.com, 280slides.com

29. uStream
Shoot and broadcast live video from a mobile device
ALSO TRY: qik.com, twitvid.com

30. Weebly
Create a simple site quickly and easily
ALSO TRY: wix.com, jimdo.com, wordpress.org, Squarespace.com

31. Doodle.com
Schedule meetings and group projects
ALSO TRY: meetomatic.com, timetomeet.info

32. Bubbl.us
Mind mapping for idea generation
ALSO TRY: mindmeister.com, cacoo.com

33. Picnik
Online photo-editing tool; great features, sleek, easy-to-use interface
ALSO TRY: photoshop.com, picasaweb.google.com

The key is understanding the available tools. My previous post listed the first 11 sites in a three-part workshop (held recently as part of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s January Academy) about essential sites for journalists. All 33 sites are bookmarked on this Delicious.com bookmarks page.

The first group of sites focused on finding, managing and organizing info. This second group of sites, below, is all about blogging, publishing, storing and sharing information. Below each site’s description, I’ve noted a couple of related sites you might also find useful.

12. Posterous
A brilliantly simple tool for blogging by e-mail. Some journalists use it to streamline their work by sending a single e-mail and having Posterous post the material (text, pictures, video, audio, whatever) simultaneously to a blog and to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. Posterous also enables group blogging and crowdsourcing – some publications have used it to publish moderated e-mail (text and photo) contributions from readers.
ALSO TRY: soup.io, ping.fm

13. Tumblr
An elegant microblogging tool. Accessible to anyone who has never blogged or published before. Numerous available themes so you can present yourself in a professional way without knowing anything about HTML. Easy to use and well-designed.
ALSO TRY: blogger.com, wordpress.com

14. Google Docs
For many wired journalists, Google Docs has replaced Microsoft Word, because it enables you to easily access and edit your documents from anywhere. You can type and then instantly publish your documents as Web pages if you want to, for live coverage. You can also use Docs to organize data and info about sources into neat lists and spreadsheets. Read this post for more about how Docs can be useful for journalists.
ALSO TRY: docs.zoho.com, officelive.com, ommwriter.com, darkcopy.com

15. Google Forms
Create instant surveys and polls. Automate information collection. Create a simple link that you then e-mail to people or post to a Web page or to Twitter or Facebook to invite and tabulate responses automatically. To show you how this works (and how it can be used) here’s a sample 3-question survey you can take that was created in two minutes using Google Forms. [URL: docs.google.com/forms]
ALSO TRY: polldaddy.com, polleverywhere.com, doodle.com

16. ZeeMaps
Build maps to supplement stories or to add geographic info to blog posts. Supplements Google Maps.
ALSO TRY: umapper.com, communitywalk.com

17. drop.io
Create a collaborative workpace to share and publish materials. Read this post for more detail.
ALSO TRY: dropbox.com, skydrive.com, glidedigital.com

18. Google Moderator
Collect ideas and questions. Enable voting and moderation. [URL: google.com/moderator]
ALSO TRY: allourideas.org, Wridea.com, kindlingapp.com

19. SeeClickFix
Track local issues and community complaints. Embed local reports.
ALSO TRY: outside.in, fwix.com

20. bit.ly
Shorten URLs and monitor responses and references to your stories.
ALSO TRY: fur.ly, cl1p.net, snipurl.com

21. Ning
Create and participate in niche social networks about subjects or communities of interest. One group worth joining if you’re interested in keeping up with digital journalism is called Wired Journalists.
ALSO TRY: grou.ps, groups.google.com

22. FriendFeed
Monitor people and subjects you’re interested in, keep track of RSS feeds (blog posts, photos, videos, news, etc), and publish updates to your network. (Recently bought by Facebook).
ALSO TRY: digg.com, linkedin.com, analytics.google.com

Here’s a printable PDF of the handout for this workshop:

11 MORE Sites for Journalists

The first 11 sites, below, are primarily for reading, gathering, organizing and managing information. For each site listed, I also suggest below a few related sites that I’ve found useful.

I put together the list as part of a workshop for the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s January Academy. I created a Delicious.com bookmarks page for the sites; for those who prefer old-fashioned paper, here is a free print-ready PDF I used as a handout, listing these first 11 sites. More to follow separately.

1. Google Reader
An inbox for RSS feeds, blog posts, pictures, videos and other materials
Also Try: feedly.com, bloglines.com, igoogle.com

2. Delicious
Save, organize and share links and discover new sites. Search by subject tags to find relevant pages
Also Try: Diigo.com, Publish2.com, Facette for Delicious

3. Evernote
Organize notes and Web research
Also Try: Google Docs, Zoho Notebook, Backpackit.com, MIT’s List.it

4. Instapaper
Save stories to read later
Also Try: Laterloop.com, readitlaterlist.com

5. Readability
Make articles and sites more legible
Also Try: Tidyread.com, printfriendly.com, readable-app.appspot.com

6. Alltop
Create a custom page for subjects you want to research or keep tabs on
Also Try: popurls.com, OriginalSignal.com, EuFeeds.eu, digg.com, stumbleupon.com

7. NY Times Prototypes
Innovative formats: How tomorrow’s journalism may look
Also Try: labs.digg.com, fastflip.googlelabs.com, SI tablet video – and one from Bonnier

8. The Internet Archive
Find open-source material and look back at historical Web pages
Also Try: creativecommons.org, flickr.com/commons, Life Magazine’s photo archive

9. Spezify
Track Your tracks. Monitor social media references to your work or topics you cover
Also Try: socialmention.com, google.com/alerts, viewzi.com, pipl.com

10. Scribd
Find and share documents and presentations on subjects of interest
Also Try: Slideshare.com, Docstoc.com, issuu.com

11. Muck Rack
Journalists on Twitter. Find colleagues and collaborators to track on Twitter. Monitor subjects.
Also Try: monitter.com, tweetdeck.com, wefollow.com

33 Sites Every Journalist Should Know - Part I

Please share your comments about these 11 sites or the alternatives listed.

Part 2: Sites 12-22 – Posterous.com, Tumblr.com etc.

Part 3: Sites 23-33 – Vimeo, Google Voice, Picnik etc.

Be prepared before the speakers/panelists even begin speaking:
1. Have panelists’ names and titles typed out and ready to use. (Find bios that you can link to).
2. Have the name of the companies, government agencies, NGOs ready too.
3. Have a graph about what the event is about and why it is important enough for you to cover.
4. Have some historical info about the event (how many years has this been going on? Or why was this event being held?)
5. Find links to articles that provide insight for readers leading up to the present.
6. Check if others are live-blogging this event. If you do find others, discuss with them how they plan to tag the coverage.
7. And don’t forget to link to their posts.

What Live-blogging is not necessarily:
1. It is not about transcribing ALL that you hear.
2. It is not wall-to-wall description of ALL that you see.

So what is Live-Blogging?
1. It is about capturing and conveying the essence of the moment to your readers or viewers.
2. It is also about your initial thoughts or reactions to that moment.
3. It is about providing your audience multimedia to give them some sense of being there too.

Here are things you should try to include in your posts:

Describe the atmosphere of the event:
1. Who is in the audience–anyone who adds color or relevance.
2. The location–again if it adds color or relevance.
3. Reactions by the audience while the event is unfolding–both people around you and those at a distance.
4. The interaction between the panelists and audience.
5. The interaction between the panelists themselves–especially moments of tension, interesting exchanges or anything interesting.
6. Look for personal touches!

Link and more links:
1. In addition to those you might have met before the event began, check if others are live-blogging this event (perhaps virtually). If you do find others, link to their posts.
2. Link to sites that have related posts or material.

Multimedia:
1. Break up the text with multimedia.
2. Post raw multimedia–from photos, audio and video that depict some of the atmosphere or show relevant interaction.

Writing Style:
1. Keep your writing conversational–simple and brief. You are not writing a research paper here.
2. While it does depend on the style of the publication, you are less beholden to spelling and grammar issues while the event is unfolding.
3. HOWEVER, REPORT THE FACTS AND NAMES ACCURATELY. If you make a factual error, strike it out and fix it. But for the sake of transparency, don’t expunge it!
4.Don’t worry about punctuation (upper case-lower case), contractions etc. You can come back and fix these later.
5. You can clean ALL this up later–just remember to tell people early on that you will be doing cleaning up later but that at the moment you just want to convey what’s happening around you as fast as possible.

Layout:
1. Create a consistent layout.
2. Include a time-stamp before each entry.
3. You might want to include a bold subhead–that summarizes in a few words what the entry is.
4. Do one or the other of the following but stay consistent: Break down each time stamp into a separate post with its own tag OR have all the time stamped entries under one post with a set of tags.

Live-blogging doesn’t end when the programmed portion of the event ends:
1. Interview people in the audience about their reaction and thoughts.
2. Interview the speakers or panelists with questions that weren’t asked or follow-up questions.
3. Post photos, audio and video of things happening away from the center of the scene.
4. Has your audience been asking questions in the comments section? Get the answers and respond to them.

Technical & Logistical Issues:
1. Make sure the batteries for your equipment (cameras, laptops, video, audio recorder) are fully charged.
2. Bring an extension cord and multiple point electrical sockets for charging all your equipment if this is an all day and is likely to last into the night.
3. Get to the event early so you have a good seat–unobstructed view of the stage (for photos or video) and good sound quality for recording.
4. Find out if there is a common tag recommended by those hosting the event. If not, confer with other bloggers to settle on common tags. Social media will help get your posts more readerships.
5. Get there early so you can determine whether there is a wi-fi connection available!

What if there is no Internet access and you don’t have a broadband card to connect? That is a very likely scenario! This is the best you can do:
1. Do all of the above but do so in a word processing application like TextEdit or Microsoft Word.
2. The moment you have access, post it!
3. Here are some free applications that allow you to blog while offline and then directly beam to your site once you are online: ScribeFire for Firefox and Journler.
4. Here are some applications that are not free: Ecto (less than $20) and MarsEdit 2 (about $30).

Here are some examples of live-blogging posts that put many of the things listed above into action:

NYTimes.com: Steelers v. Cardinals

• Guardian.co.uk: Snow disruption in Britain – live
• WSJ: Live-Blogging Tim Geithner’s Confirmation Hearing
• Huffingtonpost.com: Obama’s Inauguration Video, Liveblog, Photos, Information
• News Busters: White House Press Briefing Live Blog
• Chicago Tribune: Live blog: Chicago City Council debating budget

• Think Progress’s Live-Blogging The Senate Iraq Filibuster
• News.com’s Live blog from Macworld 2008
• EW.com’s The Super Bowl commercials live-blog
• BuzzMachine’s Davos08: Bono and Gore
• TVSquad’s Live Blogging The Screen Actors Guild Awards
• Pollster.com’s Super Tuesday Live Blogging
• NYTimes.com’s Live Blogging the L.A. Debate

Here is a framework, however, for a blog writing style that works if you are trying to do more than links out to articles by others:

–Readers want your opinion!

–Keep it short and sweet: no more than 150 to 200 words.

–Write in a breezy and conversational style.

–Write a compelling headline that lives up to its billing.

–Post regularly and frequently–your audience now expects new material on your site often and regularly.

–Sprinkle links liberally throughout—to sites that have written on the same topic or a related topic.

–Link to news articles that report in detail on a topic that you are commenting upon.

–It’s okay not to know everything and to even admit it. Just admit it when you don’t have every single fact. Tell your readers that you’re looking into it. Don’t forget to ask if they have a lead for that info.

–Write like you really care about the subject.

–Use keywords that search engines can pick up.

–Use lists, subheads, indents and such to make it more scan-able.

–If you made an error in a post that is live for only a few minutes, edit it. But if that error has remained on your site for some time, strike it out and also insert the correct info.

–Develop a consistent style. People will come back to your blog because they are interested in your opinion and they like the way you express that opinion.

–You can end a post by asking a question that draws readers to react to your post with a comment.

Blog writing does not end there.

–You need to visit other bloggers who write about similar topics and post comments on their blogs. Not to post a link to your site, but to join and be a part of a conversation!

–Respond to readers who have posted comments in your blog.

Examples:

• Livesinfocus: High risk behavior
• DailyKos.com
• WSJ.com’s law blog
• CNN.com’s health blog
• Lessig Blog
• New Yorker’s George Packer