About Paul Grabowicz

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Paul Grabowicz is Senior Lecturer, Associate Dean and Director of the New Media Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and teaches classes in multimedia reporting, new media publishing and video game storytelling.

He is co-author of "California Inc.," a book about how the entrepreneurial spirit shaped the politics, culture and economy of California, and has written extensively about issues in online journalism and digital technology.

A professional journalist for more than 25 years, he spent most of his career as the investigative reporter at The Oakland Tribune. He also served as night city editor and acting city editor and developed an early prototype of a Web site for the paper (it was rejected).

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, he began his journalism career in 1973 working for local papers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Bay Guardian. He has written for publications such as the Washington Post, Esquire magazine, The Village Voice and Newsday.

In 1995 he began setting up the New Media Program at the Graduate School of Journalism. He also was the driving force in creating the Knight Digital Media Center at the school.

Stories

Digital media stories published elsewhere by Paul Grabowicz:

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Writing

Content on this site written by Paul Grabowicz (includes contributory writing):

  • Projects

    • Demo Project
    • Demonstration project for the KDMC "Shell Generation" system.
    • Topic Shell Demo
    • Test project for new shell system. Test project for new shell system. Test project for new shell system. Test project for new shell system. Test project for new shell system. ...

  • Tutorials

    • Taxonomy of Digital Story Packages
      Published Feb 28, 2013
    • Online story packages take a variety of forms on the Internet. Some borrow heavily from old media formats, others try to define what kinds of storytelling are native to a ...
    • Sony HXR-NX70U
      Published Aug 24, 2012
    • This is an instructional tutorial on how to operate the Sony HXR-NX70U. This camera, also colloquially described as simply Sony NX70, is a portable high-end consumer level camera that is also ...
    • Premiere Pro CS6
      Published Aug 8, 2012
    • Premiere is a popular video editing program made by Adobe that works on both Windows and Apple computers. It is comparable to Apple's Final Cut Pro video editing program.
    • Notary Publics
      Published Jul 23, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on how to access information from a notary public.
    • Coroner's Office Reports
      Published Jul 23, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on the documents that are publicly available as part of a coroner's office investigation into a person's death.
    • Immigration and Passport Records
      Published Jul 22, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on government agencies that keep immigration and naturalization/citizenship records and passport records.
    • Military Records
      Published Jul 22, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on finding military service records.
    • Businesses - Regulatory Agencies
      Published Jul 18, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on finding public documents on businesses that are licensed or regulated by federal and state agencies. In most cases the agencies keep an online ...
    • Legislation
      Published Jun 21, 2010
    • This is a guide to finding legislation on a federal, state and local level, including government websites with searchable databases of legislation.
    • Election Results
      Published Jun 21, 2010
    • This is a guide for finding government websites that post election results on state and local elections.
    • Lobbyists
      Published Jun 21, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on finding information on lobbyists and companies that employ lobbyists.
    • Civil Court Lawsuits
      Published Jun 21, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on what kinds of public documents are available in civil court lawsuits.
    • Property Tax Collector's Office
      Published Jun 20, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on how to research property tax records at a county tax collector's office.
    • Building Inspection and Permit Records
      Published Jun 20, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on using a city building inspection department to research records of construction permits and code violations on properties.
    • Recorder's Office
      Published Jun 9, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on using a county recorder's office to research property records.
    • Assessor's Office
      Published Jun 5, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on how to research property records at a county assessor's office.
    • Jail and Prison Records
      Published Jun 3, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on accessing information about jail and prison inmates.
    • Databases of Statistical Information
      Published May 5, 2010
    • This is a directory of online databases of demographic and other statistical information that are publicly available on the web. The directory is organized topically, and includes database with national, ...
    • Nonprofits and Charities
      Published Mar 13, 2010
    • This tutorial shows reporters how to find public records on nonprofit and charitable organizations such as foundations.
    • Bankruptcy Court Records
      Published Feb 28, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on how to acces U.S. Bankruptcy Court records.
    • Vital Records
      Published Feb 28, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters on how to access vital records - birth and death certificates as well as marriage certificates and divorce filings.
    • Professional Licenses
      Published Feb 28, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters to finding public records on licensed professionals.
    • Voter Registration Records
      Published Feb 25, 2010
    • This is a guide for reporters to what voter information registration information is publicly available.
    • Campaign Statements
      Published Feb 2, 2010
    • This tutorial describes how to check campaign statements politicians file when running for office, which detail who contributed to their campaigns and how the money was spent.
    • Public Records Act Requests
      Published Jan 24, 2010
    • This is a guide to resources on filing public records act requests to obtain documents from federal and state government agencies.
    • Financial Disclosure Statements
      Published Jan 23, 2010
    • This tutorial covers statements of economic interest filed by politicians and other public officials that detail things like income, investments and property ownership of the office holders or public officials. ...
    • Business and Corporation Records
      Published Jan 6, 2010
    • This tutorial describes the different kinds of public records and directories reporters can use to find out information on businesses and corporations.
    • Criminal Court Records
      Published Jan 6, 2010
    • This tutorial describes for reporters what records are available in criminal courts. It also provides a general overview of the criminal court procedures so reporters can better understand what records ...
    • Spreadsheets
      Published Jan 6, 2010
    • This tutorial covers the basics of creating and doing calculations with a spreadsheet. It is based on using Google Docs spreadsheets, with notes on some differences with Excel spreadsheets.
    • Lexis Nexis
      Published Jan 6, 2010
    • This is a tutorial for reporters on using the LexisNexis service to locate news stories and some public records that are in its databases.
    • Police Records
      Published Jan 6, 2010
    • This tutorial describes what records are available to reporters from law enforcement agencies investigating criminal cases. It also generally outlines criminal case procedures, based primarily on the workings of the ...
    • Picking the Right Media for a Story
      Published Aug 23, 2009
    • How do you decide whether to take a video camera, a photo camera, an audio recorder or just a good old reporter's notebook on a story? This tutorial gives you ...
    • The Transition to Digital Journalism
      Published Jan 30, 2009
    • This is an overview of the transition to digital journalism that many news organizations and individual journalists are undertaking. The guide provides background information, data and history on the trends ...
    • Dreamweaver
      Published May 16, 2007
    • Dreamweaver is a Web page design program that lets you type text and add media elements directly into a page, much as you would with a word processing program like ...
    • Digital Still Cameras
      Published May 16, 2007
    • There are two basic kinds of digital cameras: Digital SLR (single lens reflex) and non-SLR. Digital SLRs are generally more expensive and more accurate than non-SLR cameras, and include more ...
    • Soundtrack Pro
      Published May 16, 2007
    • Soundtrack Pro is an audio editing program designed to work in concert with the Final Cut Pro video editing program. It can be used for more fine tuning of audio ...
    • Minidisc Audio Recorders
      Published May 16, 2007
    • A minidisc recorder is a digital audio recording device that saves audio onto a minidisc. Each minidisc holds up to about 80 minutes of recorded audio.
    • Compact Flash Audio Recorders
      Published May 16, 2007
    • A compact flash audio recorder is a digital audio recording device that saves audio onto a compact flash card - the same kind of card used with a digital photo ...
    • Final Cut Pro
      Published May 16, 2007
    • Final Cut Pro is a sophisticated video editing program made by Apple. It is the editing software of choice for multimedia journalists using Apple computers, and is comparable to Adobe's ...
    • iMovie
      Published May 16, 2007
    • iMovie is a simple, easy to use video editing program that comes free with the Apple operating system (it has no Windows PC version). Despite its simplicity, iMovie offers many ...
    • Video Techniques
      Published May 16, 2007
    • People invariably make the same sets of mistakes when they first start shooting video: Trees or telephone poles sticking out of the back of someone's head; interview subjects who are ...
    • Sony PD 150/170 Video Camera Accessories
      Published May 16, 2007
    • This tutorial covers accessories related to the Sony DSR-PD170 or DSR-PD150 video camcorder. There are several accessories you should have with your camera to improve the quality of the video ...
    • Sony PD 150/170 Video Cameras
      Published May 16, 2007
    • This tutorial covers usage of the Sony DSR-PD170 or DSR-PD150 video camcorder. It is also an overview of video camera principles and hardware.

  • Blog Posts

    • Is Twitter Journalism?
    • Eye-witness postings on the Mumbai attacks to Twitter have provoked a debate over whether Twitter is a form of journalism and news. For two views, see Mathew Ingram  (pro) and ...
    • NAA Report on Online Video
    • The Newspaper Association of America has a really good report on how newspapers are and should be using online video. Lots of interesting data and examples, advice on how to ...
    • Interactive Map on Dangerous Intersections
    • 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 ...
    • Online Startups by Former Newspaper Staffers
    • 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 ...
    • Video Vs Photo Slideshow
    • 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 ...

  • Presentations

    (only presentations with slides or webcasts are listed)