Networking for fun and profit

Well, my friends, it's time for our last class. It has been an honor to work with you this semester and you can be certain that this rookie professor learned just as much as he taught. I have thoroughly enjoyed our multimedia explorations, guest speakers and class discussions. You all should be proud of what you accomplished this semester. There were no slackers. Everyone worked hard, wrestling with technology to tell stories in new, exciting ways. Please send me links to your future projects. I know they are going to be great.

By popular demand we'll focus our last class on job hunting. The UNH Journalism program has compiled an excellent list of links. Here are three to get you started:

Top Ten Job-hunting Tips from the UNH Journalism Faculty

Links for job hunters

UNH Alumni Roster

The Alumni Roster will be part of our discussion on networking both in person and online.

There are some amazing tools for professional networking online. The best appears to be LinkedIn.

This page will introduce you to some of the tools LinkedIn offers for job hunters. But the site also offers an array of networking and professional development tools.

Here is an article from Folio magazine that describes how one journalist was discovered and hired through his blog. The reporter, Ryan Sholin, went on to help create Wiredjournalists.com, a professional networking site for online journalists. And, to complete the circle, here is a link to a forum on the site where journalists can seek jobs and news managers can hire.

NECN's Mike Nikitas to visit April 30

Mike Nikitas, a longtime anchor of New England Cable News and a UNH grad, will join us on April 30.

Here's a link to Mike's official bio:

Mike will spend the first hour of class talking about what he does as an anchor; his career path from news director of WUNH to now and the changes that are shaping cable news.

"Not all is bad in my business, as a matter of fact, I take the opposite view," he says.

He also promises a very funny blooper tape.

We'll spend the second hour looking at your video projects and Mike said he can stick around and offer some pointers. I'm also expecting Jane Harrigan and Sandy Marsters to be in attendance.

So get those videos done!

Free video editing software

For those of you who want to use a more sophisticated video editing program than Windows Moviemaker or iMovie you can get a free download of Adobe Premiere. This is the video editing program Don Himsel at Nashua uses. I'm going to download and play around with it a bit to see how it works.

Please view this

As students studying multimedia in New Hampshire you really need to see this Pulitzer Prize winning project done at the Concord Monitor by photographer Preston Gannaway and reporter Chelsea Conaboy.

Remember Me tells the story of Carolynne and Rich St. Pierre, their three children and Carolynne's ultimate death from liver cancer. We may not get to view this in class and I'm not going to quiz you or test you on it. I just recommend it to you as a moving story and a fine piece of journalism.

If we have time ...

... we'll talk about the following Soundslides and videos in class tonight.

The Ninth Floor, Jessica Dimmock

Same project as a still photo gallery

Are EPA coal emission standards strict enough? From the Las Vegas Sun

Dave Wedge, of the Boston Herald, chases a senator up the statehouse stairs

York High School music students speak out

David Hurlburt from WMUR visit confirmed

David Hurlburt, WMUR Executive Producer, coordinates the crossover between on air coverage and coverage on the web. He'll visit our April 16 class to discuss how web publishing is impacting how broadcasters do their jobs and the changes broadcast newsrooms have made to their workflow.

A relatively new, WMUR afternoon web-only broadcast just came to my attention yesterday. Click here to check it out. It's very good.

Here's what David has to say about it:

"The web reports kind of just happen now that we've been doing them for a while.
The show producer from the noon breaks down the stories that were in our noon newscast... we look through it quick, then tape it right after the noon and link it up.

"We do the same with weather 3 times a day... new updates go on right after Daybreak, After noon and after 6pm.

"We also will update weather more frequently if something serious is going on. We also do web update whips on breaking news if it's significant and offer that on the web as well."

Notes for class of April 16

By now you should be working on your final video project. I'll be looking for an update when we meet for conferences Tuesday and Wednesday.

There are some really good blogs focused on shooting news videos for the web. Here are a couple of blog posts that may help you focus.

The following tips were posted by Colin Mulvany of the The Spokesman-Review.

Speed up the pacing.

Define your story — in the first 20 seconds.

Start it with a very strong visual.

Start it with natural sound.

Stop zooming and panning already! What are you, 12 years old?

Use a wireless microphone.

In and out, in and out: Mix natural sound in with narration.

Be diligent in the fight against wind noise.

Shoot creatively.

Edit to include surprises.

Leave the viewer feeling fulfilled.

Here is a link to Mulvany's complete post. As someone guilty of panning in my first video I got a particular kick out of this observation:

"There is too much zooming and panning going on out their in newspaper videoland. Stop. All that zooming and swishing is making me seasick. Say after me: “Wide, medium and tight, wide, medium and tight.” Remember to hold each shot of at least ten seconds. Zoom with your feet, not your finger. If you shoot sequences correctly, you won’t need to use a zoom or a pan. Only occasionally will a zoom or pan be effective. Use it sparingly."

Check out some of the blogs linked on Mulvany's site under the "Blogroll." You'll find the thoughts of some of the best and brightest there.

Here's an article by Regina McCombs from Online Journalism Review: Shooting Web video: How to put your readers at the scene

If you want to get inspired by some top quality video checkout the Media Storm website.

See you at conference.