the kdmcinfo weblog

May 2011 Webcasts

By Scot Hacker, May 20, 2011

Our May 2011 Multimedia Workshop has come and gone, and was a smashing success. Our lunch and dinner presentations by prominent speakers are now available as archived webcasts.

Tutorial: Manage and protect your images with iPhoto

By Len De Groot, May 16, 2011

Step-by-step guide to improve the quality and organization of your photos.

In Search of the Perfect Twitter Client

By Scot Hacker, April 29, 2011

There are dozens of 3rd-party Twitter clients on the market, and they all take different approaches to the same problem. KDMC staff set out to find the best Twitter client to teach journalists on.

Better timelines through editing

By Len De Groot, April 7, 2011

Tough editing makes TimelineSetter interactive timelines more effective.

March 2011 Webcasts, Alumni Video

By Scot Hacker, April 1, 2011

Our March 2011 Independent Journalists Workshop has come and gone, and was a smashing success! Webcast archives from the lunch and evening public talks are now on line.

Tutorial: Building an Ad Platform with DFP

By Scot Hacker, March 22, 2011

Ready to up the ante with your publication's ad serving system? Our in-depth tutorial on Google's DoubleClick for Publishers will get you up to speed quickly.

Own the Census in your community

By Jerry Monti, March 3, 2011

News organizations are diving into the 2010 Decennial Census and the latest American Community Survey release. These orgs are spending a lot of time using some sophisticated (and frequently expensive) programs to develop the base information. Here's a plan on how to leverage that work to engage the community beyond the initial reporting and to create a new role ...

Census maps that resonate: Q&A with Bob Rebach

By Len De Groot, March 1, 2011

Interactive map led NorthJersey.com in page views for February.

February Webcasts

By Scot Hacker, February 24, 2011

Our February Web 2.0 workshop has come and gone, and webcast archives of our panel discussions are now online, featuring Len de Groot on Data Visualization, Kim Komenich on the multimedia shooter's tool belt, Jerry Monti on mobile, and presenters from the Davis Wiki.

Can Quora Become a Useful Tool for Journalists?

By Scot Hacker, January 25, 2011

Quora is an interesting combination of social network and knowledge base, optimized for finding answers to hard questions. But how useful is the site for working journalists?

January Webcasts

By Scot Hacker, January 7, 2011

Webcast archives from our January Multimedia workshop are now available.

Highlights from the Interactive Census Workshop

By Len De Groot, January 4, 2011

Webcasts and work examples from our first data visualization workshop.

Welcome to Our Web Site Redesign

By Len De Groot, December 13, 2010

Our redesign simplifies our navigation and makes scanning through hundreds of videos and tutorials easier. We also added new features to help you learn from the work of others.

Census Workshop Webcasts

By Scot Hacker, December 12, 2010

Our Interactive Census workshop featured a great lineup of speakers and presenters, and webcast archives are now online, featuring Dante Chinni of the Christian Science Monitor, William Frey of the Brookings Institute, Shan Carter from the New York Times, and Geoff McGhee, from Stanford University's Bill Lane Center for the American West. 

Behind the Scenes at NPR's Argo Network

By Scot Hacker, November 24, 2010

Is it possible to share stories and data seamlessly between a dozen separate sites without expensive commercial content management systems? Here's how NPR's Argo network uses Django to unify a collection of independent affiliate sites running on WordPress.

Telling Stories in Different Mediums (and answering other questions about journalism)

By Jeremy Rue, November 15, 2010

I was contacted recently by a woman from University of West Scotland who was doing an assessment on the role of journalists in multimedia newsrooms, and she wanted to get an educator's perspective. She sent me the five following questions. I thought my responses might have broader interest, so I decided to use them in this week's blog post.

Online News Association key training points

By Jerry Monti, November 4, 2010

ONA looks at where journalism is headed. KDMC supports and attends the conference to share what we know and to learn from industry leaders. KDMC will build many of the ideas we gather into upcoming workshops. Here's my list of key points that will get covered in our workshops. What would you add?

URL Shorteners: Handle with Care

By Scot Hacker, October 25, 2010

URL shorteners have become an essential tool on the modern web, but they come with their downsides. Scot Hacker explains when (and when not to) to use URL shortening services.

Flash vs. HTML5: What should journalists learn next?

By Jeremy Rue, October 20, 2010

There is a small war brewing in the multimedia journalism world between Flash and HTML5, and I'm not sure where things will end up.

Data, journalism and your career

By Jerry Monti, October 11, 2010

What can a journalist do that provides high value to the news organization? What is the next tech skill that you can learn that will make you a "keeper" if there are more cutbacks? One answer to these questions is Data.