By Mindy McAdams

Elton John ringtonesBilly Currington ringtones

Teaching Online Journalism

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Notes from the classroom and observations about today’s practice of journalism online

Archive for December 2006

Soundslides explained, by Joe himself

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Joe Weiss, creator of Soundslides, was interviewed for a podcast at PopPhoto (see the writeup by Jack Howard or hear the MP3). There’s ALSO an illustrated tutorial! Not that you will need one — but if you’re curious about what “ridiculously simple” really means … (Found via Richard, in my del.icio.us network.)
I will be taking […]

5 things you didn’t know about me

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Thanks to Bryan Murley, I’m obligated (what obligates me, I’m not sure) to tell you these things:

I took two computer science courses in the days before the Web: A 1-credit course in FORTRAN (1978), and a 3-credit course in (hold your breath) microprocessor architectures (1984). I learned to write assembly language in the latter. I […]

My university in the Times

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The Foundation for the Gator Nation (thanks, Sue!) –
If there is any goal that the University of Florida has pursued as fervently as a national football championship for the Gators, it is a place among the nation’s highest-ranked public universities …
To upgrade the university, Dr. Machen is seeking a $1,000 tuition surcharge that would be […]

Happy anniversary, blog

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

A year ago today, I started this blog. It’s been really interesting. We all learn best by doing, and I have certainly learned a lot through this experience.
One of the more interesting things I have learned: About 26 percent of the blog’s visitors each day find it via a Google search for a few keywords. […]

The Year in Pictures

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

MSNBC.com’s annual collection is always one of my favorite, favorite things in online journalism. This year, there’s a new design. The photos are nice and big, and there’s no bifurcation — no “Editors’ Picks” and “Readers’ Picks”! Exceptional picture editing. Stunning presentation. Brilliant pacing.
I laughed, I cried, I said “Oh my gosh!” out loud […]

Open your eyes, see what works

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The days of “throw it at the wall and see whether it sticks” must come to an end in the newspaper business.
What works on the Web? YouTube, Craigslist, MySpace, etc. Why? Because we get to do stuff. We can play. We can contribute. Never mind that only 1 percent actually do contribute — that’s okay […]

Size matters for multimedia

Monday, December 18, 2006

I have my main work computer’s screen resolution set at 1024 x 768. That’s a measurement in pixels, for all the non-designers in the crowd. But don’t run away. This is important.
Take a look at the two screenshots below. They are both captures of the same page in an excellent package from the St. Pete […]