Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter Goals

To introduce you to the practice of online journalism
To discuss the advantages of online media for practicing journalism
To discuss the basic types of online journalism sites
To provide basic criteria for evaluating online journalism sites
To discuss the economic challenges facing journalism and how these challenges affect online journalism
To outline the organization of this book

QuickLinks

The Long Tail: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

U.S. Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov/

Tampa Bay Online: http://www2.tbo.com/

Patch: http://www.patch.com/

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/

Pew Project State of the News Media: http://stateofthemedia.org/

Chapter 2

Chapter Goals

To introduce basic issues involved in the online journalism production process
To discuss the concepts of convergence and modular content as they relate to online journalism
To discuss new forms of online journalism, including news aggregators, blogs and hyperlocal sites, that are supplementing traditional forms
To illustrate the wide range of online journalism organizations by looking at case studies of large, medium and small legacy Web operations

QuickLinks

Marcy Wheeler’s Blog: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/

Project for Excellence in Journalism: http://www.journalism.org/

SourceMedia Group: http://sourcemedia.net/

NewWest.net: http://www.newwest.net/

"We Media" Report: http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php

The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com

Michael Shear's Mitt Romney video: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/08/02/VI2007080201294.html

The Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/index.html

DispatchKitchen: http://www.dispatchkitchen.com/live/content/index.html

13abc.com: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/index

Chapter 3

Chapter Goals

To discuss various types of audience participation in the journalistic process, from acting as sources to citizen journalism
To provide an overview of mobile devices and their potential for users and journalists
To provide an overview of social media and their potential value to journalists and journalism organization

QuickLinks

Public Radio International: http://www.pri.org/

Public Insight Network: http://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/

Watchdog Blog: http://www.news-press.com/section/SS15/Watchdog

iReport: http://ireport.cnn.com/

NYT’s Recession Photos: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/02/business/economy/economy-user-photos.html

Pictory Mag: http://www.pictorymag.com/

The Guardian’s MP Expenses: http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/

The Forum: http://forumhome.org/

AnnArbor.com on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnnArborcom

Chapter 4

Chapter Goals

To provide an overview of the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web
To introduce the basic applications that allow information exchange over the Internet, both with and without the World Wide Web
To discuss the attributes and advantages of digital media
To survey the basic types, formats and resource requirements of digital media
To discuss the basic hardware and software considerations related to producing and consuming online journalism

QuickLinks

Wired Magazine Article: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1

Pitch Interactive’s Mashup: http://www.pitchinteractive.com/usbudget/

Google Docs: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=1209600&continue=http://docs.google.com/&followup=http://docs.google.com/&ltm

DocumentCloud Commercial Appeal Article: http://www.documentcloud.org/home

Chapter 5

Chapter Goals

To examine the general process for using online sources for journalistic stories
To discuss the use of e-mail, newsgroups and listservs as potential tools for journalists
To provide an overview of Web page–based information, including general reference sources, specialized sources for journalists, search engines, directories, online journalism sites and databases
To explore the basic techniques of evaluating online sources using both technical and journalistic skills

QuickLinks

ProfNet: https://profnet.prnewswire.com/CommunicationProfessional.aspx

National Press Club: http://press.org/

Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ): http://www.spj.org/

U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/

Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/

Amy Webb's Webmedia Group: http://www.webbmediagroup.com/

InterNIC: http://www.internic.net/index.html

Chapter 6

Chapter Goals

To provide an overview of the basic structure of HTML, including standards for tags and attributes
To discuss the most common tags for document structure and working with images and links in HTML
To introduce the use of cascading style sheets for formatting text in HTML documents
To introduce the basic operation of HTML authoring programs, such as Adobe Dreamweaver
To provide an overview of JavaScript programming for adding interactivity to Web pages
To provide an overview of the process of managing websites with a content management system

QuickLinks

W3C: http://www.w3.org/

W3C CSS Standards: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/

Chapter 7

Chapter Goals

To discuss the basic design structure used on most online journalism sites
To introduce the principles that guide visual design for the Web
To discuss the effective presentation of text, color and graphics on Web pages effectively
To show how cascading style sheets can be used to create design grids for Web pages
To discuss how differences among Web browsers and computer platforms affect Web page design

QuickLinks

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/

MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com

ESPN: http://espn.go.com/

Adobe's Kuler: http://kuler.adobe.com/

Chapter 8

Chapter Goals

To discuss the concepts of chunking and distilling for online content
To examine how headlines, subheads and summaries can be effectively written
To discuss how online story organization and structures can aid scannability
To provide an overview of how online stories can be updated with new information

QuickLinks

WikiLeaks Coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/statessecrets.html

Google AdWords: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Chapter 9

Chapter Goals

To discuss the concept of curation, wherein news organization gather, organize and present existing online information as part of the reporting process
To show the basic techniques of creating links in HTML
To discuss the process of selecting links to use in online stories
To provide an overview on presenting links in online stories, including main story links and sidebar links
To introduce issues involved in linking, including legal and ethical concerns, and link maintenance

QuickLinks

Vannevar Bush’s Memex article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/

Mary Ellen’s Will: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2006/4949swiss/

Chapter 10

Chapter Goals

To provide an overview of media elements, specifically graphics, sound, video and rich content, and how they can be used in online journalism
To discuss how mashups work and the role of application program interfaces (APIs)
To show a sampling of Web-based journalism using multiple media elements and advanced interactivity

QuickLinks

NewsU Language of the Image: http://www.newsu.org/courses/language-image

NewsU Telling Stories With Sound: http://www.newsu.org/courses/telling-stories-sound

JQuery: http://jquery.com/

EveryBlock Chicago: http://chicago.everyblock.com/

API Directory: http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory

Suburbified: http://www.suburbified.com/

Casino Map: http://www.lasvegassun.com/history/map/

Girl in the Window: http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece

Haiti Earthquake: http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Events+and+Awards/In-depth+Coverage/Haiti+Earthquake

Heritage Music Trail: http://www.roanoke.com/webmin/news/musical-heritage-trail-gains-national-distinction/article_239918f6-5890-51d4-9576-50d744e2f560.html

Budget Balancer: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2007/03/budget_balancer/

The Garbage Game: http://www.gothamgazette.com/games/garbage.php

Chapter 11

Chapter Goals

To introduce the basic processes of gathering images, audio and video for online journalism
To discuss equipment used to gather and edit images, video and audio
To discuss technical and aesthetic considerations and preparations

QuickLinks

Shutter speed demonstration: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

Sound pick-up demonstration: http://hhpcommunities.com/onlinejournalism/sounddemo.html

Effective use of natural sound: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252214

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Chapter 12

Chapter Goals

To discuss issues of responsibility for libelous material, especially how they affect Internet service providers and journalistic websites
To discuss the issues of obscenity and indecency and how they apply to online content
To examine aspects of copyright on the Internet, including the concept of fair use and digital copying
To introduce the issues involved in online journalism sites’ user agreement contracts
To discuss the concept of reporter’s privilege and how it applies to “non-traditional” journalists such as bloggers
To introduce ethical issues involved in blogging, commenting, linking, publishing secret information, and editing images and sounds

QuickLinks

Communications Decency Act: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=104_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ104.104.pdf

SPEECH Act: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.3518.IS:

Circular 66: http://nightmist.us/stuck/EL/COPYRIGHT/circ66.pdf

Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/

Model Code of Ethics: http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000215.php

Shield laws by state: http://www.citmedialaw.org/state-shield-laws

RTNDA Code of Ethics: http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct48.php