We have received several comments about putting together a newsroom manual for multimedia based on our tutorials and the workshop components. I was wondering, what types of things would people in newsrooms find valuable in such a manual/guide? Our tutorials are so specific to the workshops we hold and the software we teach. I'm wondering, how can we keep it general enough to be applicable to newsrooms, but specific enough to really help in the industry.

I was thinking: 1) Reporting -- How do write out storyboards; conceptualizing shells and multimedia projects; theory and 'larger-picture' considerations regarding multimedia.

2) Video -- What to look for in purchasing video cameras. Common setup techniques (interviews, clipping lav mic, etc.) Fundamentals, getting b-roll, a-roll, composing shots, holding shots, thinking about the editing process, etc.

3) Audio -- What to look for in purchasing audio recorders. Common setup techniques (holding microphone, recording in quiet settings, ambient noise, etc.)

4) Photography -- What to look for in purchasing photo cameras. Common techniques (wide-shots, medium-shots, closeups. Shooting for sequences and photo stories. Looking for design elements.

5) Web design -- Introduction to Flash with common scripts. Introduction to Dreamweaver and Web design fundamentals.

Now this type of guide would completely neglect Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro -- both of which are exclusively Apple programs. I'm wondering if they should be included... but then we would have to include the latest Adobe Premiere and probably Pro Tools or Audacity.

Feedback?

I'd be very interested in a google maps tutorial, including, or at least introducing xml. There's a lot of stuff online but the help docs I've found are fragmented and difficult to adapt for a newsroom environment (at least for me).

I wrote up a manual for a class I'm teaching, and I found it actually doesn't work as good as I thought it would. People were half-following the manual, half-paying attention to me.

Also, it seemed more of a distraction than an aid. Some were trying to follow along the outline while we were moving along and would miss something I was showing on the screen.

Although, it DID seem very beneficial when they went home for the day and followed it to review for the next class.

Maybe we need a "print all" for our online tutorials?

The more tutorials you post, the more like a dependable and relied upon resource the site becomes.

What are you looking for in a tutorial? I'm about to post an Advanced Flash tutorial. We've also played with the idea of an Audacity tutorial in a few months. Any requests?

@jrue I'd love a tutorial on Audacity and I'll try and help give suggestions. I'm using it to help give my team a leg up in working w/ SoundSlides. The key is to focus on sound quality, as its exports to mp3 really affect quality.