So we started this thing called online journalism at the beginning of this semester. Broadside posted its brand new site, Broadside Online, sometime over Winter Break and it has yet to really get much of a foot off the ground.

Why?

Because the Broadside Online staff consists of three over-worked reporters with little web background.

How can we improve? Oh let me count the ways.

1. Enlist staffers with journalism and Internet know-how. Broadside has yet to think in terms of: okay so we have this story, what audio/video/etc elements can we add on to make it worth posting on the web. I can understand why we're just posting print stories on the web page. We have basically no staff to create new content every week and print reporters often run off to conduct their interviews without Broadside Online in mind. Starting this summer, when my grand reign begins, I hope to arm every print reporter with some recorder or video camera for all their interviews. It's imperative that we not just repost items anyone can read in the print publication, but have a little something extra to make visiting Broadside Online worthwhile.

2. Irregular updates. The current Broadside Online staff does not update the site nearly as often as needed. Take Mason Day, for example. I took pictures. Greg took pictures. Numerous style section journalists were at the event grabbing quotes and talking backstage with the performers. Scott and April were on-site interviewing students with a video camera. Where is all this new interesting content? Not on Broadside Online. In fact, I bet Jeremy loads it on MONDAY, the day that the print Broadside debuts in student hands. I want to do it myself, but I can't do everything at this point. Uploading items is awkward without Jeremy's consent, and I do have other priorities (like work, school) that I've been neglecting throughout the semester. But I'll stop here, before my frustrations run away with me.

3. User feedback. At least with this I can say that I've taken great strides at providing. Broadside Online currently has a web developer working on a database that will allow for more organization in storing articles and easier uploading. Once the database is assembled, a backend can be created for user registration and comments.

4. Organized Web Design. Log onto Broadside Online and you'll see what I mean. Trying to find a particular article? Confused about which are the leading headlines and which have been there for weeks and weeks on end? You're not the only one.

5. Advertising. The current Broadside budget is dismal. Broadside Online can be the salvation of many a staffer's salary. Why aren't we taking advantage of this new opportunity? We don't even have a site counter to provide hard statistics to interested advertisers.

I can go on.

The main concern I felt when speeding down 66 toward Virginia Tech was how the thousands of mourners would react to a hand full of strangers with cameras and recorders.

Granted, we were donating nearly 2,000 candles and a large bouquet of flowers to the candlelight vigil, but our presence was fueled by ulterior motives.

We wanted to cover the story and to bring back a little piece of hope to the stricken Mason community.

Armed with a massive video camera and microphone, I tried to confront students that weren't crying and were in groups, thinking that two interviewees could draw strength from each other in retelling their stories. The last thing I wanted was to upset anyone in the thousands' plus crowd. To my surprise, every person we approached was welcoming and grateful to have Mason's support.

It didn't seem like the other professional news groups were having the same luck.

One cameraman approached a student singing loudly in the crowd. Spotting the camera, the student rushed right up to the lens and said, "Turn it off, let us mourn in peace." Afraid that he'd notice the big bulky black contraption perched on my shoulder, I whirled about and hid the camera, hiding my gaze.

Apparently ethics in journalism is not limited to reporters' printed words. A video camera can seem more invasive than a questioning soul with a small notepad and pen. Broadside tried their best to cover the story in an understanding and compassionate manner, and I think we were successful.

And Mason students got the inspiring video they needed. For proof, look at Broadside's coverage, here.

Tonight is just not my night.

I spent an hour compiling xml lists for my final project slideshow, only to completely save over it. Frustrated, I crept outside to smoke a cigarette and spent the whole supposedly relaxing state staring out at the street and wondering at the creepy noises in the bushes to my left and right, the strange car clunks down the street, and the feverish howls of a neighbor's dog.

What scary things await me in the shadows? Hopefully not the Ring girl. Or this horrifying Pan's Labyrinth demon...

(I scared myself by just posting it).

I can't say that my week wasn't spectacular. I covered the Monday night candlelight vigil at Mason. Tuesday I ventured down to VA Tech for their vigil. Wednesday I secured a USA Today internship. But the week has been so rushed and breathless that I couldn't stop to enjoy a bit of it.

[corny]Alas, I must cover the news, come storm, or ebola plagues, or premature heart attacks.[/corny]

I just spent 16 hours in the Broadside Office and elsewhere on campus covering the Virginia Tech shootings. All I wanted was to go home and pass out.

Now that I'm here, I can't sleep.

I saw far too many bloody photos, watched too many CNN worst-school-shooting-in-US-history video clips, listened to too many "I'm thankful fors" and wrote too many 'Are you okays" in Facebook profiles.

It's strange how in a campus of nearly 30,000, 30 students seems like twenty times too many. Haven't I seen enough gory movies and YouTube videos?

Throughout the day I was running on a reporter's high; psyched about covering all the breaking angles and viewpoints. But now ...? In the middle of the night, I'm still a college student in, apparently, a perilous state, with a campus full of potential shooters and casualties and heroes. Yeah so Tech's four hours away and I never even applied there. Is my life in immediate peril? Hell no.

But frankly, I'm afraid.

The interactive circus elements are up on Broadside Online, finally. I finished the slide show earlier this week, but was unable to embed in Dreamweaver due to some strange coding difficulties.

But all's well now. Check it out here.

Next item to preview: protestor Hannah Shaw sound bytes.

I walked across campus and found her standing on the side of Braddock Road with about a dozen of other protestors. They raised their signs, complete with anti-circus slogans, at the passing cars, and even elicited a few honks.

What else was I supposed to do? I grabbed Jeremy's recorder, ambushed her by the George Mason sign, and forced her to talk. Note: above narrative may be a bit exaggerated.

Here are the tracks.

Track 1: Why is she so against the circus?
Track 2: What circus horrors she discovered.
Track 3: She talks about the responses she's received from those who've seen her protests.

After a weekend's worth of trying to learn Adobe Flash, I tossed the program aside and picked up SlideShowPro. This helpful little sucker costs only $25 bucks and allows you to work through Flash to create a saucy-looking photo slideshow.

Don't believe me? Check here. You can open the slideshow alone here, but it looks a little larger than I intended.

All you need is the SlideShowPro pdf guide and some common sense. Yet difficulties can still arise. I'm having difficulty embedding the slideshow in my blog entries. This isn't the first time ... so perhaps it isn't a SlideShow Pro bother, but LiveJournal's fault.

Or maybe I'm just a bit lacking in the common sense department.

Atlas is a free tool that allows users to plot points on google maps and add video, audio, image, and wikipedia info in the captions. You can then embed the map in your blog for your readers to use. But the best thing about this new tool? Readers can also contribute their own markers on the map - leaving you with an ever-growing, ever-dynamic personal atlas and reader interaction.

I'm having difficulty embedding my "neighborhood" map in this blog entry, yet I was able to do so in Blogger without error.

Here's a link to "neighborhood" for those interested. My neighborhood.

The previous installment guided readers through the preliminary blog-creating process. Now for a closer look at what to post - and what to avoid.

Part 3. Putting Forth a Face Even Your Future Employer Will Love

You've got the tools. The audience. The mind-blowing ideas and a spectacular prose set to match. The internet world trembles at your toes.

Don't mess it up.

The internet provides an array of opportunities to promote personalities and ideas. Yet without caution, the same tools can lead bloggers into a spiral of infamy. Here's a look at how employers and Mason administration use the internet - possibly to your detriment.

Botching the Application Process
Say you're applying to USA Today. You send in a stellar cover letter, resume, portfolio and references. The interview lasts five days and you emerge, sweaty and a bit cross-eyed, but secure in the belief that you've just landed the job.

Out of curiosity, your interviewers Google your name, finding last weekend's drunken antics and years of teenage rants. They never call you back.

It happens more than you may think.

According to a National Association of Colleges and Employers study, more than one in ten employers visited social networking sites in 2005-2006 to gauge candidates. Another 40.5 percent are considering the option.

AfterCollege claims that of over 750 employers, 40 percent conducted generic (Google/Yahoo) web searches, while 37 percent said they wouldn't hire an individual if they unearthed questionable material.

But don't let it discourage you from blogging.

"I know folks who have received job offers because of their weblogs, because they've written interesting stuff that gained them readers and respectability. Blogs can be advantageous if you write good, quality entries and have a great attitude about the whole thing. Good blogs exude confidence, enthusiasm, intelligence, and responsibility, all attributes that are good to have in terms of career."

Catherine McCormick, assistant director of Career Services, provided a few tips to avoid offending potential employers:

1. Be wary of profile photos. Even if your photos are free of alcohol or any other illegal activity, they could provide grounds for discrimination.

2. Password protect. Use 'friends only' and 'private' entries to keep out wayward eyes.

3. Remove anything that can be misinterpreted. Racy rants included. Organize and omit content as though writing for your mother.

Applying for University
Watch what you include in your application.

Students are giving out their Facebook and MySpace addresses to university admissions. They offer email addresses like FoxyGurl56667 or BigFuzzyHunk23. Why?

It's because students don't see the internet as an "onorous, dangerous world," said Andrew Flagel, Dean of Admissions at Mason. "Applicants are putting their infomation out there to socialize with friends, not expecting it to be held against them."

According to Flagel, Mason Admissions doesn't investigate applicant social sites for the following reasons:

1. Social networking sites are "less reliable than Wikipedia." An insufficient judge of character. Anyone can post anything about anybody. It's more difficult to sort good info from bad info when so much is available, said Flagel. Admissions hopes to become a model for students by being skeptical of online information.

2. Invasion of privacy. "It seems horrifically seedy," said Flagel. He added that the responsibility of the university was to encourage student development and to get counseling for the student, if needed.

This doesn't mean that admissions personnel won't look at a Facebook or MySpace profile if given to them. It does, however, mean that it takes a lot to phase the Admissions department.

While Flagel might cringe at BigTitsHunny@hotmail.com, he'd only find concern with a profile depicting negative feelings against racial groups. "Like one with swastikas all over it," he said. Even then, he said he'd contact the student first to ascertain the validity of the profile, and that no one else had created it.

A small note: Mason Police and Party Advertisements

A sophomore _____ major advertised an off-campus party on Facebook. She didn't give a location, telling party-goers to call her for directions. The day of the party, she updated the advertisement to include a meeting in the back of Lot F. That night a Mason police officer was situated in the back of the parking lot.

Yet Detective Thomas Bacigalupi denied the use of Facebook and MySpace among Mason police officers except use in identity theft and suspect aprehension purposes.

Out of boredom, out of necessity, I created a NetVibes page.

What's on my NetVibes page? Items that I sometimes (or only rarely) look at. The thought is that I'll gradually coax myself into reading them daily, at high-fast, full-absorbing, critical ways.

1) A too-long to-do list.

2) BoingBoing: for a slew of wonderful things.

3) Wired News: for an assortment of strange internet follies.

4) Washington DC WEATHER: so I can stop relying on what I see out the window (often incorrect).

5) Blog and image search.

6) Dexly: my new go-to for new sites and new tools. Followed by Killer Startups, Basement and Mashable.

7) USA Today's Top stories and Tech headlines.

And a few others. Every time I look at the page, I suddenly feel overwhelmed and think: there's no way anyone can read all of this in a day. And then I prove myself wrong.

The previous installment discussed the manner and expertise with which Mason students, faculty and alumni use internet networking and blogging services. Don't have a blog? Feeling left out? Worry not, this segment is for you.

Click. Publish. Mason's Online Endeavors Part deux: A Beginner's Guide to Blogging and Reader Interactivity.

A blog is an online publication authored by one or many that details a particular interest. It is the easiest form of expression short of standing atop a cafeteria table and yelling to the lunch crowd. Yet a blog is more effective, what with an entire blog-reading internet audience awaiting your daily, weekly, monthly tirade.

BLOGGER ADVICE: Students should own a blog because ...
"It helps develop writing skills, connects you to new people, allows you to express yourself freely," said Jeremy Boggs, Mason graduate instructor and author of _______. "Blogging is a fantastic way to meet new people that share common interests."

Students shouldn't own a blog because ...
"If done right it can definitely take up a lot of time. If done wrong (meaning if you write bad stuff), what you write can get you in trouble, either with friends and family, or with folks you've never met before but might in the future," said Boggs.

The difficulties arise in the details. What should you write about? What blogging service should you use? How often should you update? Help - I don't know any HTML!

Calm down. Take a deep breath. We'll take this one at a time.

Content
Pick an interest. Try underwater hockey, Jennifer Lopez, or George Mason athletics. Can't commit to one? Try to write about a slew of wonderful things.

"If you're going to get started blogging, blog about your passion," said Greg Bouchillon, _______ and author of _________.

Many bloggers choose to write about their daily lives. This is one option, however, CAUTION: unless you live in a disaster area, on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, or in a ship orbiting the Earth, not many will want to read about your daily toil. So if you aim to amass a large readership, focus on a single, or a handful of interests.

BLOGGER ADVICE: "I follow the tech news that happens on a daily basis around the net and post various articles or finds on my site," said Joel Housman, _____ and author of _____. "Try to make yourself post at least once a day. A dynamically updating and constantly changing blog will make people come back to your page often, whereas if you post once a week, people are less likely to be repeat visitors. My site gets about 5,000 hits a month, with 350-500 unique visitors."


Blog services
This is the easy part.

The internet holds a wide assortment of blogging services for your choosing. Here are a selection of free, easy-to-use blogging services:

BLOGGER: One of the most popular. Newly updated with more template, font, and color options, drag and drop toolbars, and privacy settings. For those of you without web design experience, there are dozens of sites that host free copy-paste Blogger skins.

LIVEJOURNAL: I've used this for 7 straight years. Great for creating communities and keeping track of friends' blogs. It offers pre-made blog templates for the web design retarded, as well as the option to dive in and dedicate a weekend for unique customization. Privacy settings allow you to identify each post as either 'private,' 'friends only,' 'public.' Want to gripe about your friend, Johnny? You can create a special group that allows all your friends (except Johnny-boy) to see your rants.

XANGA: Blog rings, subscriptions, and E-Props.

WORDPRESS: May be a little more difficult for the novice user without HTML, CSS and Javascript knowledge. Yet this site offers a wide variety of design options - if, of course, you know the scripts.

Other sites: VOX and TUMBLR.


Adding Interactive Flair To Your Posts

Technorati tracks 72.8 million blogs. You want yours to stand out. It's easy to go to all the trouble of creating and updating a blog, only to find that your mother's the only subscriber.

The internet provides a slew of free interactive tools. To use your blog to its full potential, it's integral to take advantage of these.

PICASA: A Google photo gallery tool. Users must download a photo organizer onto their computer, but it's a quick and easy process. Use this for photo hosting (good for posting in blog entries). Also provides a collage-maker, screen saver slideshows, timeline view, and movie creator. But when it comes to embedding slideshows into your blog posts, this isn't the way to go.

SLIDE.COM: But this is. Easy to upload photos. User account and registration not necessary. Provides a variety of themes and styles. Captions included. Embed in blog entries with a single line of copy-paste code.

YOUTUBE: Upload your own videos and then link to or embed them in your blog.

AUDACITY: For PC users. Record your own sound files, edit, and upload to blog. For Mac users: use GARAGE BAND.

SCRIBD: Aspiring writer? Want to post your prose on your blog? Use this embeddable PDF player to maintain formatting and impress.

There are plenty of other blogging guides for your use. If you've a question beyond what I've explained, feel free to email me at wrhodes@gmu.edu, or browse the following links.

10 Tips for Bloggers: Things to keep in mind when writing blog entries.

Creating a Blog - Dot Net Zone: Guide to Blogger and WordPress.

Dan Cohen's Creating a Blog From Scratch: Advantages and disadvantages of using popular blogging services. Check out his other parts for a more comprehensive look at blogging.

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