New Web Strategies Revealed

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New Web Strategies Revealed

• WPI Training the Trainers
• Nora Paul
• Institute for New Media Studies

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What the Web isand isnt
Comprehensive

Vast
Full of valuable info.
Always reliable info.
Easy to get what you need
Easy to use
Inexpensive
Always free
Current
Retrospective
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Growth of Websites 1992 - 2001
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What you can find on the Web

• Communications chatrooms, listservs, newsgroups
• Search engines Google, Yahoo, Dogpile
• Reference materials encyclopedias, dictionaries,
  atlases, directories
• Documents and public records
• Publications magazines, newspapers
• Literature and art
• Advertising / promotional material
• Games, videos, music

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What journalists need to knowto use the Web

• The types of resources available
• What it is they need to do
• How to find different resources
• How to judge site credibility

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The Search Strategies Model
From Behind the Message, by Kathleen Hansen and
Nora Paul
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Where websites come from

• Individuals
• Institutions
• Businesses
• Government
• Associations
• Universities
• News organizations

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What each contributes to the Web INDIVIDUALS

• Newsgroup postings
• Mailing lists

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Quick lesson

• Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
• Differences
• How to use them
• Cautions
• Finding them
• Google Groups, Harley Hahns List of Newsgroups
• Tile.net, CataList

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Quick exercise 1

• Find a newsgroup and a mailing list related to
  your country

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What each contributes to the Web INDIVIDUALS

• Personal web pages
• Daffodils
• Walmart Blows
• Blogs

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Quick Lesson

• What is a Blog?
• Types
• Uses
• How to find them
• Blog Search Engine
• Blogarama
• Bloogz

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Quick exercise 2

• Find a blog from, about, or which mentions your
  country

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What each contributes to the Web INDIVIDUALS

• Stories / art / music
• Collaborative content sites (ie Wikipedia)

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Quick lesson

• The Wiki Movement
• Software
• Collaborative
• Collective intelligence (but is it edited?)
• Wikipedia

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What each contributes to the Web BUSINESSES

• Advertising / promotional materials
• Data, statistics, financial reports
• Stories / art / music / video
• Customer service support
• INTENTION Sales, promotion, information

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What each contributes to the Web GOVERNMENT

• Directories, contact information
• Background information
• Source documents
• Speech texts
• Data, statistics
• INTENTION Public service, information

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What each contributes to the Web ASSOCIATIONS

• Information and background
• Expert contacts
• Discussion areas
• Data, statistics
• INTENTION Public service, advocacy,
  information

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What each contributes to the Web UNIVERSITIES

• Experts directories
• Backgrounders / research papers
• Promotional material
• Course materials
• Library pathfinders
• INTENTION Promotion, information, research

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What each contributes to the Web NEWS
ORGANIZATIONS

• Current articles
• Archives
• Images / sound / video
• Chats / forums
• Advertising
• INTENTION Information, public service, sales

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Reporting tasks

• Get story ideas
• Keep up with a beat
• Get background on a topic
• Get fast facts
• Find people to interview
• Find source documents / data

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Types of reporting

• Breaking news
• Opinion pieces
• Second-day stories
• Analysis / roundup

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Quick exercise 3 What do you need to find?

• There is a massive infestation of cicadas in your
  town

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Reporting task STORY IDEAS/BEATS
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Resources to use for different tasks STORY IDEAS
/ BEATS

• Check newsgroups
• Google Groups
• Sign up for news / web alerts service
• Google News Alerts
• Google Web Alerts
• Join a listserv
• Find a mailing list
• Monitor blogs
• Locate a blog

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Quick exercise 4

• You will be covering one of these topics for
  the next few months
• Terrorism Death penalty
• Global Warming Hip-hop culture
• Find a newsgroup to monitor
• Create a news alert profile
• Find a mailing list
• Locate a blog to check

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Reporting task GET BACKGROUND
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Resources to use for different tasks GET
BACKGROUND

• Check archives of news articles
• News archives on the web Google News
• Find subject specific web sites
• Google it Infomine Internet Public Library
• Locate an association
• ASAE Directory
• Find guide sites linking to other sites
• Webrings Argus Clearinghouse

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Quick exercise 5

• The head of your towns police force has just
  resigned. He reveals he has been suffering from
  fibromyalgia . Find background material on this
  condition from
• An association
• A news article
• A personal website

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Reporting task Find Sources
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Resources to use for different tasks FIND PEOPLE

• Find experts
• In universities, associations, government
  agencies, businesses
• Experts and Sources Directory
• National Press Association
• Find people with experience
• They were there, theyve been through that, they
  know the person
• Where would you find them?

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Quick lesson

• Clever ways to use Google
• Use Advanced Search (to find domains)
• Dont know the term? Use define

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Quick exercise 6

• A nurse in a local hospital has been arrested in
  the deaths of 7 terminally ill patients. Her
  defense is that she was committing euthanasia.
  You need to speak to some experts, and people
  with experience. Find
• an academic expert
• an association spokesperson
• opinions from real people

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Reporting task FIND DOCUMENTS
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Resources to use for different tasks FIND
DOCUMENTS

• Often part of the hidden web

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Quick lesson Hidden Web

• Even most in-depth search site less than 15 of
  the web
• Not found database entries, material behind
  registration screens, .asp material, robot.txt
  excluded sites
• Source for links to hidden web materials
  Direct Search

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Resources to use for different tasks FIND
DOCUMENTS

• Use logic, who would have produced the document?
  Go to their site and search.
• Remember the good old library!

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Quick exercise 7

• Find the USA Patriot Act

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Reporting task FIND FAST FACTS
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Resources to use for different tasks FIND FAST
FACTS

• Gary Prices Fast Facts
• Bartleby.com
• Internet Public Library Reference
• Reporters Desktop

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Quick lesson Stop that myth!

• Purportal.com

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Quick exercise 8

• Convert 187 to your countrys currency.
• What is the distance between your countrys
  capital and Minneapolis.
• Who said They kill good trees to put out bad
  newspapers.?
• You get a message that women have been robbed in
  parking lots by people who have offer perfume
  samples that render the women unconscious.
  Should you send out a news alert?

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The Dead Web

• Citation links half-life of 1.4 years
• (Study by Daniela Dimitrova)
• Disappeared pages
• Googles cache
• WaybackMachine
• Disappeared sites CyberCemetery
• OpenTheGovernment.org
• Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism

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EVALUATING ONLINE INFORMATION

• SOURCE Who is the publisher?
• CURRENCY What is the publication date?
• BIAS What is the point of view?
• RELIABILITY Is this information correct?
• SCOPE What type of information is included?

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Quick exercise

• Youre covering a story about smoking bans and
  effects on restaurants you get these sites
• http//www.forces.org/evidence/files/ban-csr.htm
• http//www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5307a2.
  htm
• http//dallas.about.com/b/a/069229.htm
• http//www.kiiss.org/article_newyork.htm

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Quick lesson

• Make sure you have the address right
• www.whitehouse.gov
• www.whitehouse.com
• www.whitehouse.org

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Keep on learning
In a time of drastic change it is the learners
who inherit the future. The learned usually
find themselves equipped to live in a world that
no longer exists. Eric
Hoffer
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