#Tip: Digital portfolio options for journalists

Copyright: Thinkstock

There’s no hiding from the digital revolution and for years journalists have been building their own online portfolios. The results have been mixed, occasionally tragic, but developers cottoned on to many hacks’ lack of advanced programming skills long ago and the proliferation of available platforms has swamped the internet.

Thankfully, Poynter has just published a handy and detailed guide to some of the best, looking at features, archive size, backup options and more.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – setting up Newsbeat for analytics
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – using Geocommons to map data
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Seven steps for building an online community
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Read this advice on interviewing for video
• Poynter: How to set up Newsbeat, real-time analytics tool for news sites

#Tip: Pointers for growing your Twitter following

By D.Hilgart on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

While it may not all be about quantity, journalists and news outlets alike are undoubtedly keen to grow a large, and engaged community on social networks with which to share and discuss their content. This how-to by David Beard on the Poynter Institute website runs through  a list of “eight ways to attract more Twitter followers” looking at both the content being tweeted as well as the way the tweet itself is constructed.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – writing better headlines
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Using lists on Twitter
• 12 hours worth of radio interview tips from @NewsLeader
• A guide to newspapers on Twitter
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – tools for beginner data journalists

#Tip: How to become a better interviewer

As a journalist you have no doubt interviewed hundreds of people. But no matter how experienced you are it is worth a read of this post on interview tips on Poynter.

For example, one of the tips in the post by Chip Scanlan is to “capture how people talk”. And he includes a useful illustration:

The most powerful quotes are short, sometimes just fragments of speech. In a story about a two-car collision that killed two Alabama sisters traveling to visit each other, Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times used simple quotes that illustrated what the Roman orator Cicero called brevity’s “great charm of eloquence.”

“They weren’t fancy women,” said their sister Billie Walker. “They loved good conversation. And sugar biscuits.”

Just 11 words in quotes, yet they speak volumes about the victims.

Similar posts:

• NYTimes.com: The Sugar Inc. ‘little media empire’
• NYTimes.com: Exec editor takes NYTimes reader questions
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving self-editing skills
• FollowtheMedia: Murdoch and Berlusconi in a battle of the media titans
• FishbowlNY: Atlantic Media announces 2010 Michael Kelly Award finalists

#Tip of the day for journalists: Read this advice on interviewing for video

Poynter has published a guide headlined ‘What journalists need to know about interviewing for video‘.

It contains advice on audio, lighting, framing a shot and the interview itself.

It is worth reading and bookmarking this link.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to improve video with shot sequences
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – framing your images
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – interviewing victims
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – five photo types for audio slideshows
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving your video journalism skills

#Tip of the day for journalists: Read this advice on writing explainers

Image by Artful Magpie on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Journalism site Poynter has published a post on how journalists can create better explainers.

The article discusses why it is necessary to go beyond Google when making sense of a complex story for readers, and it has advice on crafting the explainer.

The article is at this link.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day for journalists: Radio journalism pointers from a Wannabe Hack
• #Tip: Videonotes can streamline online research
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – digital security advice for reporters
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Twitter tools and ideas
• #Tip of the day for journalists: News app guidance from ProPublica

#Tip of the day for journalists: Save this list of research databases

US site for journalists Poynter has compiled a list of research sites you can use when working on an in-depth story.

The post explains that many academics are publishing their research online as “the world of scholarship is creeping toward greater openness”.

The post’s author John Wihbey states:

It’s also important to acknowledge that conventional web searches — just Googling it — won’t necessarily turn up the best research materials; search algorithms don’t always prominently highlight studies and reports that are seldom linked to or visited.

Wihbey recommends a number of sites, including Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search. Some sites are US specific. The full list is at this link.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• MediaShift: Why news organisations should use ‘linked data’
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk: Using Facebook, Twitter and Storify for political coverage
• PDA: ‘Algorithms will replace journalists’
• Google announces new Chrome extension to block ‘content farms’
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Search for open government data

#Tip of the day for journalists – multimedia reporting pointers

Poynter has a “career chat” with Ball State University professor of multimedia journalism Jennifer George-Palilonis, in which she outlines ‘tips on what tools you should learn and the skills you should acquire’ for multimedia reporting, as well as training tips, according to the site.

See the full post here.

Journalists also interested more generally in digital journalism tools can check out Journalism.co.uk’s topic page which collects together features on such tech.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Twitter techniques for journalists
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to deal with email overload
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk: timing your Facebook posts
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – teaching multimedia
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Save this list of verification tools

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – ethical considerations when using Facebook

In a Poynter how-to Kelly Fincham hears from digital journalists such as Liz Heron from the Wall Street Journal and Lauren McCullough of Breaking News about what ethical considerations and dangers journalists should be aware of when using Facebook. She produces a list of seven tips as a result.

See the full post here which offers some detailed guidance.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

Similar posts:

• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving use of audio in multimedia reporting
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – 11 pointers on Facebook pages
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – avoiding common mistakes in web writing
• #Tip of the day for journalists: Using Facebook to find stories
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – live streaming on Facebook

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – carry out a corrections audit

On Poynter Craig Silverman, editor of the Regret the Error blog, runs through some pointers on how to carry out a corrections audit at your news outlet, to help you figure out common mistakes and try to prevent them happening again in the future as much as possible.

He also helpfully lists some tips on how to avoid making common errors, such as wrong spellings of names or incorrect titles, and being prepared to re-contact a source to double-check information.

See the full post here, which uses Poynter’s own correction audit as a useful example.

If you’re interested in hearing more from Craig he will be speaking at our digital journalism conference news:rewired – full stream ahead in London on Friday 13 July, as part of a panel on verification and corrections.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – dealing with corrections
• #Podcast: Best practice pointers for handling online news corrections
• Jon Slattery: Corrections of corrections of corrections
• Regret the Error editor starts business column
• Reuters Handbook of Journalism: Don’t scoop the wire

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – training journalists in social media

On Poynter Mallary Jean Tenore runs through some tips for those working in journalism and social media training, from training style to the resources you make available to trainees.

Read the full post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

Similar posts:

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving political reporting with social media
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk: building social media presence
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to write scripts for radio news
• #Tip of the day for journalists: How to avoid errors on social media when covering election
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – publishing data online