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Some Upcoming Courses

While WriteThru courses are slow this month, other educational sites are hopping. Some highlights:

Free How-to Sites

While WriteThru seeks to help journalists learn about the huge variety of technology options out there, there are more than enough topics to go around. Fortunately, there are plenty of mainstream sites that provide free tutorials as well as educational videos.

A relatively new player called Howcast, for example, offers short educational videos on a wide range of topics, reports The New York Times. While the site does not have a lot of depth yet, it is growing quickly.

Of course, the focus of WriteThru is technical knowledge, so after you have watched Howcast’s most popular video, How to Have Sex in a Car, there are also more relevant topics such as How to Install Google Analytics on Your Blogger Blog and How to Make Free Flash Animations.

Reuters Style Guide Online

If you are applying for a job that requires the Reuters stylebook, get a step up by checking out their online version. Of course, getting used to those strange British spellings might be a bit challenging.

The general style rules seem reasonably comprehensive: there are 174 entries under the letter “A” and 182 under “S.” Like The Associated Press Guide, there is a separate Sports Style Guide and a section called Specialised Guidance, which discusses among other things Reuter’s sourcing rules, Internet coverage and dealing with dangerous circumstances.

Hat tip to Ceela McElveny.

Live Citizen to Pay for Stories

Live Citizen, a citizen journalism site currently in beta testing, is offering $20 an article, according to its ad on JournalismJobs.com. The Los Angeles-based company wants journalists to sign up for 3-month contracts, which require 2 to 6 stories each week AND a video broadcast lasting from 5 to 15 minutes each. Stories are expected to be more than 350 words.

It’s easy to see why Live Citizen is looking for more journalists. The newest story on Business & Tech was almost two weeks old at the time I wrote this post. The World and U.S. sections seem more current, but do not have a lot of depth.

Contests ONA Extends Deadline to Enter

The Online News Association has extended its annual Online Journalism Awards deadline to Wednesday, July 8th.

The contest is open to journalists who maintain websites that contain original content or commentary. For general information on the contest, go here. Nonmembers and members may enter, though the latter pay a lower entry fee.

Below is the list of categories, or go here for detailed descriptions:

• Knight Award for Public Service – One award
• General Excellence in Online Journalism – Four awards
• General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English – Two awards
• Breaking News – Three awards
• Specialty Site Journalism – Two awards
• Investigative Journalism – Two awards
• Multimedia Feature Presentation – Three awards
• Online Topical Reporting/Blogging – Two awards
• Online Commentary/Blogging – Three awards
• Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies – Two awards
• Online Video Journalism – Two awards
• Community Collaboration – One Award
• Student Journalism – Two awards
• Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism – One Award

Note: Multiple awards correspond to site size based on readership.

So, You Want to Start a Blog…

Do you have a blog idea, but don’t know if it’s an unexplored niche or an overcrowded stadium? Then try this:

1. Got to the blog search engine Technorati.
2. Enter a topic in the Search Field.
3. Click Search.
4. When the results come up, filter your results using Search Blogs.
5. Click Search again.

Take note of the results. Now, don’t be disheartened if you discover there are thousands of blogs concerning your favorite topic. It is important to know what you are up against. (Believe it or not, you might make some friends if you start reading the best sites.)

In the case of gardening, there are about 17,850 like-themed blogs. Some are good, some are bad, some are probably dead.

Online Seattle Publication Closes

Just because it’s “hyper local,” doesn’t mean it will automatically work. Just ask Keith Vance, who recently announced he’s closing The Seattle Courant, his local online publication.

Fortunately, Vance offers some lessons learned:

The Courant failed because I didn’t have enough cash and I didn’t find someone who could handle the business side, such as finding customers, technologists and managing projects. The trick I had to pull off was to be able to fund the Courant while I not only built a newsroom, but also a technology firm to support it. I couldn’t do it all.