Notes from the Edge

Observations on digital media by the faculty and staff of the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley.

See also: The News Leadership 3.0 weblog by the Knight Digital Media Center at USC Annenberg.

Tutorials Available in PDF Format

By Scot Hacker, May 5, 2008

We've added a new feature to our multimedia and digital media tutorials -- Save as PDF. While we've always offered a "Print" view from our tutorials, from which Mac users can easily generate a PDF with OS X's built-in Print To PDF capabilties, Windows users without the full Adobe PDF creation suite had no easy way to obtain ...

Finding longitude and latitude of a location using Google Maps

By Jeremy Rue, May 2, 2008

Using Google Maps, you can find the longitude and latitude coordinates of any location. The trick is to center the map on the point you want to retrieve and type some javascript code in the URL.

Interactive Map on Dangerous Intersections

By Paul Grabowicz, April 24, 2008

The Bay Area Newspaper Group has an interactive map on dangerous intersections for which users are generating the content, and there's quite a lot of it.

Here's the map.

And here's their story about it and how people are contributing to it.

Online Startups by Former Newspaper Staffers

By Paul Grabowicz, April 24, 2008

Former staffers at the St. Louis Post Dispatch are launching their own online newspaper - the St. Louis Platform. Here's a story about it in the Chicago Reader.

We're beginning to see a trend here - reporters and editors quitting their newspaper jobs or taking buyouts and launching online alternatives to their former employers. MinnPost, founded by a former Minneapolis ...

Design Notes from the NY Times

By Scot Hacker, April 22, 2008

The NY Times has posted an interesting interview with Design Director Khoi Vinh, who discusses some of the more  obscure/hidden aspects of the Gray Lady's online presence.  One of the things that's always struck me about nytimes.com is its choice of a large-ish, serif'd font - something about that choice has always seemed a bit anachronistic ...

Knight Foundation Broadband Initiative in Local Communties

By Paul Grabowicz, April 11, 2008

The Knight Foundation has announced a $35 million project to expand broadband access in several dozen communities around the United States.

This could provide an opportunity for experimenting with more sophisticated multimedia and social networking ventures, especially in under-served communities. Some details are in the Knight press release and at the web site for the project. I'll post more ...

First Tech Training Workshop a Success

By Scot Hacker, April 3, 2008

The Knight Digital Media Center's first-ever Tech Training for Editors workshop has come and gone. Judging by comments and reviews by the participants, our first effort at teaching map mashups, podcasting, micro-blogging, and  other internet technologies to  editors  was a  success (though there's always room for improvement!) Program director Lanita Pace-Hinton assembled this multimedia slideshow picturing the fellows hard at work.

Palm Beach Post - Data and Discussions on Neighborhood Level

By Paul Grabowicz, April 2, 2008

The Palm Beach Post has a Backyard Post section that provides databases, map mashups, news and online discussions organized down to the neighborhood level.

A great combination of hyper-local with a variety of information sources (thanks to Technolo-j for the tip on this)

Multimedia Workshop Deadline Extended

By Jeremy Rue, April 2, 2008

The deadline for the May 2008 multimedia workshop has been extended by a week. The new deadline is now April 11, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. Remember our system allows you to save any application you start and return to it later. You can also rollover any application you have previously filled out from a previous workshop.

What has art got to do with it?

By Jerry Monti, March 17, 2008

Can an art exhibition in New York help news organizations adapt to a 21st Century audience? 

Video Vs Photo Slideshow

By Paul Grabowicz, March 9, 2008

A lot of news organizations are debating whether it's better to shoot lots of video for their web sites or focus instead on using a camera and audio recorder to produce photo slideshows.

The answer we give in our multimedia workshops is simple - let the story tell you the medium in which it's best told.

What we mean ...

Can BuddyPress Break Down the Garden Walls?

By Scot Hacker, March 6, 2008

Obviously, it makes more sense to implement a social network on your organization's own web site rather than sending users off to Facebook or MySpace -- but does it still make sense if users have to re-create their relationship networks on each new SN they visit?  A new project from Automattic - who run Wordpress.com and have a ton of experience leveraging the power of "the hive mind" - appear to have an ace up their sleeve that could address the problem. Will BuddyPress give organizations the social networking tools they need while mitigating the "walled garden" effect?

Technology Workshop Now Open

By Jeremy Rue, February 21, 2008

We are pleased to announce our newest addition of two technology training workshops slated for March and April. The March workshop, which is geared for editors, will focus on database-driven map mash-ups, blogs, audio and video podcasting, using Wiki's for story collaboration and other great Web 2.0 services. The April workshop, geared for reporters, will focus on map mash-ups, accessing remote public databases, using GPS for hyperlocal news, and learning to use web-based tools from Google and other providers. Find out more here, or click the "Apply Now" button to the right. Apply soon, the deadline is Feb. 1.

New Web Site Launched

By Jeremy Rue, January 22, 2008

We have officially launched our new Web design! This new site works just like the old one, and we have preserved all of the information including the tutorials and applications. We have also added some new features including a discussion forum for questions and suggestions.

Please be patient as this site is in a continual state of improvement. If you notice any sections are not working, please let us know using the contact link at the top of this page. Internet Explorer users might also notice a few glitches. We are working hard to fix the situation.

January Webcast Schedule Posted

By Jeremy Rue, January 8, 2008

Our January workshop is under way and the live webcast schedule from all of our speakers can be viewed during the times posted below right here. Even though these webcasts are live, we archive each one for posterity where they can be viewed and downloaded. Please allow 3 business days after the workshop has concluded before the archives are posted.

December Webcast Schedule Posted

By Jeremy Rue, December 12, 2007

Next week we will be holding our last Multimedia Workshop for 2007. It has been a great year, and we are in the midst of gearing up for next year's first workshop. We have just posted the schedule for speaker presentations. These presentations are open to the public via live Webcast. (Apple's Quicktime Player is required.) To view them, visit our Webcast page.

December and January Workshops Closed

By Jeremy Rue, November 21, 2007

The deadlines have been reached and the candidates have been selected for the December and January workshops. Everyone who has applied should have been notified by now.