Any journalist can do this. Really.
Bill Dunphy manages WebU, a training facility created to put 500 managers and staff from Metroland West Media Group through a week-long Web boot camp. Cool, huh?
He posted this list on his blog for WebU; the list is called Seven Steps to Writing Like a Digital Native:
- Are there original documents you can link to?
- Are there any photographs (related videos, sound files, slideshows)?
- Can you map it?
- Can you gather past stories together and link to them?
- Can you post the audio or video of an interview or a performance or a meeting?
- Can you direct readers to an authoritative (external) site for more info?
- Can you invite comment or start a conversation?
That’s not so hard, is it? I mean, any reporter can ask and answer these questions about any story.
I think that for most stories, you ought you be able to answer yes to at least two of the seven. That would be a great start. (In the original post, Dunphy elaborates on what each one means.) Now, if each reporter would think of an answer to these questions before she left the building to work on the story … that would be even better!
According to his bio at API, Dunphy has spent 26 years in the news business — editor, copy editor, columnist, and reporter — at newspapers in Toronto and nearby Hamilton, Ontario.
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