Ryan Sholin » flickr http://ryansholin.com The future of news. And more. No funny stuff. Thu, 24 May 2012 18:54:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 2006-2007 ryansholin@gmail.com (Ryan Sholin) ryansholin@gmail.com (Ryan Sholin) http://www.ryansholin.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com 144 144 Ryan Sholin on the future of newspapers, online news and journalism education. Ryan Sholin Ryan Sholin ryansholin@gmail.com no no Modernize your newsroom today http://ryansholin.com/2008/01/14/modernize-your-newsroom-today/ http://ryansholin.com/2008/01/14/modernize-your-newsroom-today/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:37:45 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://www.ryansholin.com/2008/01/14/modernize-your-newsroom-today/ Many employees at news organizations have a very easy time blaming out-of-date computers, front-end print publishing systems, and Web content management systems on such faceless, amorphous entities as “Corporate,” or perhaps “The Budget.”

Nevertheless, there are plenty of free or not-completely-expensive ways you can modernize your newsroom today.

Here are 5.

  1. Use Google Documents (or any one of many similar tools) to share notes and spreadsheets in your newsroom. This makes it far easier for you to move data between desks and access it from anywhere.
  2. Get every reporter and editor in your newsroom an IM account and ask them to stay on it throughout the day. If they’re in the office, this is how they should be sharing links to sources, documents, and references with each other. If they’re working from a laptop in the field, this is a dead simple way to stay in touch and keep each other updated on what they’re working on.
  3. Build an OPML file of local bloggers, news sources, and searches for your newspaper’s name. If your reporters and editors aren’t already using Google Reader, Bloglines, or another RSS reader, just import this file into a central Bloglines account and go around to all their computers bookmarking the “public” view of those feeds.
  4. Set up a Flickr account for your newsroom and make sure everyone knows how to upload to it. This is for more than just pictures that run in your paper or on your site, this is to post stuff from parties and conferences and events. Humanize your newsroom; make your readers feel like they can pick up the phone and call you.
  5. Get every reporter a cell phone or other mobile device with a built-in camera. OK, this one costs money, but if you’re serious about staying in business, you need to be able to publish the news as it happens, not hours or days later. A reporter with a cell phone camera can e-mail photos straight to the newsroom from the field, or when appropriate, straight to the Web. This can be an incremental investment. Buy two or three phones for reporters on cops, city, and general assignment beats at the start, then add more as necessary.

[This post is part of the January Carnival of Journalism, hosted graciously this month by Adrian Monck. Hit that link to see lots of great posts from the last two days.]

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2008/01/14/modernize-your-newsroom-today/feed/ 8 FlickrFan public beta http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/27/flickrfan-public-beta/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/27/flickrfan-public-beta/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2007 04:15:44 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/27/flickrfan-public-beta/ Dave Winer’s Flickr-to-screensaver app. Apparently there are other programs that get this job done, too.

FlickrFan public beta

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/12/27/flickrfan-public-beta/feed/ 0 Photos taken in Santa Cruz on Flickr! http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/21/photos-taken-in-santa-cruz-on-flickr/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/21/photos-taken-in-santa-cruz-on-flickr/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:22:45 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/21/photos-taken-in-santa-cruz-on-flickr/ New Places feature on Flickr is lovely.

Photos taken in Santa Cruz on Flickr!

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/11/21/photos-taken-in-santa-cruz-on-flickr/feed/ 0 Heathrow Protest: Correspondent Microblog |Sky News|UK News http://ryansholin.com/2007/08/13/heathrow-protest-correspondent-microblog-sky-newsuk-news/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/08/13/heathrow-protest-correspondent-microblog-sky-newsuk-news/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:02:54 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/08/13/heathrow-protest-correspondent-microblog-sky-newsuk-news/ Reporting live with Flickr and Twitter with a decent mobile phone. Not difficult, very effective, no need to re-invent the wheel. via Simon D.

Heathrow Protest: Correspondent Microblog |Sky News|UK News

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/08/13/heathrow-protest-correspondent-microblog-sky-newsuk-news/feed/ 0 Flickr Pro and the freemium business model for newspapers http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/#comments Thu, 24 May 2007 17:33:48 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/ Given the recent developments around our house and the logical uptick in uploading to Flickr, I went ahead and took the $24.95/yr plunge.

What I get for my money: Unlimited uploading, unlimited image storage, unlimited bundling and feeding of images, and all the old stuff that had been pushed out of my top 200 by the new stuff has come back to life, which means you can once again see any and all of my vacation pictures from the last few years. I know, it’s ahrd to contain your excitement.

But the fact that I finally laid down some cash for a service I had used for free for a few years started the wheels turning in my head.

The question, as always: What are your online newspaper readers willing to pay for?

I’ve bitched and moaned about TimesSelect being a backwards way to pull your opinion leaders out of the public forum and hide them behind a paywall, but I’m starting to get over it. After all, it’s the News that Everyman needs, and that stays out in public where he can get at it.

But when we want just a little bit more, there it is, available for a price.

Freemium.

It’s the business model that makes Flickr and Feedburner and WordPress.com viable and perhaps profitable.

Create a tool that millions of users can play with for free, but make sure there are premium features they can pay just a little bit more to access. Make them look cool. Call them “Pros.”

Sooooooo if you’re not a big regional paper with a stable of columnists you can pull behind a paywall, what are the features that can get readers to shell out that little bit of cash?

It’s a damn fine question. There might be easy answers when it comes to classified advertising, but not news content. What exclusive content are you willing to pull out of the hands of the masses?

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/05/24/flickr-pro-and-the-freemium-business-model-for-newspapers/feed/ 9 Flickr: Forums: FlickrHelp: Official Old Skool Merge Topic http://ryansholin.com/2007/02/03/flickr-forums-flickrhelp-official-old-skool-merge-topic/ http://ryansholin.com/2007/02/03/flickr-forums-flickrhelp-official-old-skool-merge-topic/#comments Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:16:12 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2007/02/03/flickr-forums-flickrhelp-official-old-skool-merge-topic/ The long forum thread at Flickr about why they’re screwing everything up at once.

Flickr: Forums: FlickrHelp: Official Old Skool Merge Topic

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2007/02/03/flickr-forums-flickrhelp-official-old-skool-merge-topic/feed/ 0 Best of Web 2.0 http://ryansholin.com/2006/02/27/best-of-web-20/ http://ryansholin.com/2006/02/27/best-of-web-20/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:21:27 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://www.ryansholin.com/2006/02/27/best-of-web-20/ “What’s Web 2.0?” you ask.

“We’re still working on Web 1.0,” you say.

Okay, whatever, check out this easy-to-read, plain-language list of useful tools you can find on the Internet these days. If you haven’t used Flickr or Delicious, now’s the time. If you’ve never seen a Google Map, check it out.

These are tools for searching, bookmarking, and collaboration. Sound educational? It should.

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]]> http://ryansholin.com/2006/02/27/best-of-web-20/feed/ 0 Flickr, Buzznet expand citizens’ role in visual journalism http://ryansholin.com/2005/11/16/flickr-buzznet-expand-citizens-role-in-visual-journalism/ http://ryansholin.com/2005/11/16/flickr-buzznet-expand-citizens-role-in-visual-journalism/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2005 05:21:15 +0000 Ryan Sholin http://ryansholin.com/2005/11/16/flickr-buzznet-expand-citizens-role-in-visual-journalism/ How Mainstream Newspapers et al are using Flickr-style sites to gather images & info

Flickr, Buzznet expand citizens’ role in visual journalism

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