The wiki may be the most flexible, yet underrated tool in modern newsrooms. A collaborative system for sharing news and information has an infinite number of uses, yet many fail to use wikis in a journalism context. No more excuses. Here are a few reasons you should create a wiki right now:


1. Share contacts

Gone are the days of the bulky Rolodex or the dusty clip files. The best way to keep track of sources is to create a wiki that anyone in the newsroom can access. The wiki can store simple information such as phone numbers or email addresses, but also can be a place to collect notes on each individual: what they know, who interviewed them before, what time they are usually available, etc. It's either that or continue to get calls at 4 a.m. asking for your source's telephone number.


2. Gather information from your audience

Because a reporter never knows everything about a subject, chances are there is a reader or viewer who knows something that could greatly enhance a story. Public wikis are a great way to aggregate information from the people who know the subject matter best and is perhaps the best use of a wiki in today's modern era of journalism.

For example, The Globe and Mail uses its Public Policy Wiki to get suggestions from readers about public policy issues. Citizens of North East England can use Wiki North East, hosted by ncjMedia, to share news on the area.

Wikis don't have to solely serve the newsgathering process either. Entertainment Weekly has its own Harry Potter and Heroes wikis where users can share details about the entertainment franchises.




3. Keep track of important dates

Never miss an important city council meeting or press conference when you add the event to a newsroom-wide wiki. A calendar wiki can also be used to remember recurring events such as festivals and holidays or to catalog awareness months such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month or International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Of course, a wiki isn't the only way to keep track of upcoming events. Consider using collaborative calendar tools like Google Calendar.


4. Share multimedia tools and tutorials

Many news organizations are training their staff in the latest multimedia techniques, but it's usually a one-shot deal. Reporters are then left to fend for themselves armed only with their notes. A wiki is a great one-stop destination for sharing notes on multimedia tutorials as well as general reporting tips.

If your newsroom doesn't have such a collaborative resource, try the Digital Research Tools Wiki, The Society for News Design's Tools for News and the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies' Directory of Learning Tools. All of the aforementioned wikis are publicly available and list tools that journalists can use to enhance the presentation of news online.


5. Build the big story

You know the story: the one that requires months of research and several staff reporters to create. Make life easier by sharing notes and details in one place that those involved can access at any time. A wiki can cut down on overlap and show everyone what has been done and what is left to do.


Now that you know why you should create a wiki, here's how to create one. Like most online technologies there are a number of free services for creating wikis. Some of the popular online solutions include PBWiki, WetPaint and Wikispaces. Those who wish to host a wiki on their own server should try MediaWiki (a comprehensive tutorial can be found here).

For more ways to create your own wiki, check out Mashable's list of wiki solutions. If you're still debating whether to create a wiki for your newsroom, read this post by Paul Bradshaw that weighs the pros and cons of creating a wiki.


Thanks to @robroc, @jenconnic, @StevenWalling and @starshine_diva for their help in creating this post.

Labels: citizen journalism, wiki

The power of the net to provide more innovative political coverage than what is possible in traditional forms of media has never been more evidenced than in this political season. Major news organizations and citizen journalists alike have harnessed the power of the web to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the US presidential election than has ever been possible. Here are some of the best ways to follow the political landscape online:

1. perspctv

If there weren't 14 other sites on this list then perspctv would be the one stop for any election news seeker. The site culls the latest news, blog posts and tweets and provides insightful charts and maps as well as an embeddable widget for keeping track of it all.

2. Patchwork Nation

We know the candidates are campaigning all over the country, but who are they campaigning in front of? The Christian Science Monitor has the answer. The site's analysis shows both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama spent a good chunk of their time in wealthy suburbs and big cities.

3. Election '08 Twitter Chatter

Everyone knows Twitter is abuzz with political views, skews and insights, including the observations of Twitter stars FakeSarahPalin and CNN's Rick Sanchez. Twitter Chatter is one way to wrangle these conversations as well as to see on a map where they are coming from.

4. FiveThirtyEight.com

FiveThirtyEight.com is the dream of any political statistics hound. The site has the latest polls, the latest news, the latest charts, graphs, statistics, hypotheticals...the latest everything. It's like a political rabbit hole...check it out only if you have time to spare.

5. Map of 2008 Presidential Contributions

"Show me the money!" Okay it's 2008, not 1996, but if you're curious to know where the campaign money is coming from, Political Base has you covered with a well-designed Google map as well as a list of big name contributors and a handy search form.

6. Tube the Vote!

Tube the Vote strives to provide a balanced view of issues that are affecting this year's presidential election by scouring the web for video, blog posts, Flickr photos and more that celebrate or repudiate either side.

7. Candidates' life journeys

Get to know the presidential and vice presidential candidates a little better by following the milestones of their lives on a Google Map. Anyone can follow the journey of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden.

8. PolitiFact's The Attack Files

Voters tired of the spin and searching for the truth will appreciate PolitiFact's analysis of recent campaign assertions. Was Sen. Obama referring to Sarah Palin when he mentioned "lipstick on a pig?" No way, says PolitiFact. Does Sen. McCain support tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas? Not that simple, according to the site.

9. Election 08

iPhone users will be glad to know that they don't have to be at a computer to track the latest on the 2008 presidential race. The iPhone application is a great source for tracking the latest polls as long as you don't check to often — Election 08 is sometimes behind in its updates.

10. McCainPedia/Obamapedia

To say these two wikis are unbiased would be a big misstatement — the former is run by the DNC, the other is populated by Obama fans. Still, using modern technology to encourage citizen participation is never a bad thing.

11. What Would You Say to the President?

This genius bit of citizen participation encourages everyone to not only speak their mind to President Bush, but to presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama as well. Recent responses — which are themselves wholly interesting and telling — are displayed on each page.

12. Google Maps (campaign trail)

This Google map knows where the candidates will be and when and makes that information at the click of a button. Campaign appearances for both candidates are listed in reverse chronological order as well as marked on a map.

13. Google Maps (video)

Video of campaign speeches from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain are tracked and mapped on these map mashups that incorporate video from YouTube.

14. Everymoment Now

Everymoment Now uses a unique graph to chart the number of times a candidate was mentioned on any particular day since August of this year. Clicking on a bar in the chart reveals news stories that were published that day as well as more detailed charts and graphs.

15. ABC News' Match-o-Matic

If you plan on voting in the upcoming US election, but still don't know which candidate to vote for, the Match-o-Matic is sure to help. The humorous, interactive quiz gives the user two quotes — one from Sen. Obama and one from Sen. McCain — and the user selects which one they agree with most without knowing who said it. The final tally reveals which presidential candidate's platform the user is more likely to side with.

Labels: citizen journalism, database, maps, mobile, photos, social networking, video, widgets, wiki

Video editing doesn't have to mean shelling out tons of cash for Final Cut Pro or limiting oneself to iMovie or Windows Media Maker.

After the news of Jumpcut's demise, Motionbox remains the next best online video editing tool. Motionbox users can upload up to 300 MB video to the site (100 MB at a time) and edit it as they wish. Users can stream the completed video for free, but must upgrade to the premium version ($29.99 a year) for downloading capabilities and unlimited upload space. Motionbox is not a substitute for professional video editing, but it is a cheap and easy alternative.

JayCut lets users upload video from their camera, webcam or mobile phone and edit it on an iMovie-esque interface that is incredibly user-friendly. The finished video can be hosted by the service, downloaded to a PC or embedded on video social networks such as YouTube or MySpace.

Kaltura is where YouTube meets wiki. It offers a web-based platform where many users can collaborate on the editing of one or more videos using a Flash-based editor. Kaltura is geared toward businesses and the created video can be embedded on your site.

If your video is nice and edited, but was captured on a less than stellar device such as a cell phone, commercial digital camera or webcam, FixMyMovie can quickly improve its quality. The site will increase the video's resolution, remove noise, and brighten any darkness. Users can either use the site's upload tool or send the offending video via email. The process can take up to an hour depending on its size. After the video is scrubbed clean, FixMyMovie will email you a link to the enhanced version where it can be downloaded or embedded on the web.


Also on 10,000 Words:
• 9 Telltale signs of amateur video
• Tips for shooting better video for the web
• Video tips and tricks for the financially challenged
• Newspapers on YouTube: Dos and Don'ts

Labels: video, wiki

Wikipedia has published its 2 millionth article since its inception in 2001, according to Reuters. While there are still doubts about accuracy, there is no denying wikis playing a major role in how information is distributed on the internet.

The wiki, which got its name from the Hawaiian bus system, can be used both internally in a newsroom, or on a news site. Martha Stewart has put the wiki to good use with her recently announced Marthapedia. Stewart is short on details, but the wiki, which is still in development, will be an encyclopedia of tips from Martha Stewart as well as user contributed information.


Wetpaint brings entertainment junkies to create wiki entries on their favorite tv shows, movies and video games. Check out this Heroes wiki from Entertainment Weekly as well as the Project Runway and Halo wikis.

Rifling through yellowed scraps of newspaper or blurry microfiche in the newsroom library can be a drag. Instead of stuffing clips into file folders or hunting through multiple internal webpages for a oft covered subject or source, try creating wiki pages for themm. WikiSpaces and pbwiki for businesses are paid services that are best used for newsrooms who want to share information among reporters. All the information is there on one page and since the information would come directly from the newsroom, there is little chance of it being inaccurate (unless of course the story was inaccurate to begin with.)

PikiWiki knows that the story isn't always told with text. Its drag and drop feature lets users add pictures, video and text onto a blank canvas. TV newsrooms can use PikiWiki to aggregate reportage on a specific subject or reporter. The service is currently free, but will likely monetize sometime in the near future.

Labels: wiki

Mention the word Wikipedia around most newsrooms, and you're likely to get a look of disgust and a few rolled eyes. While the collaborative encyclopedia should not be the final destination or the end all and be all of information it does have its uses as a starting point for sources.

From Wikipedia's entry on itself:

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. As of July 25, 2007, Wikipedia has approximately 7.9 million articles in 253 languages, 1.91 million of which are in the English edition. This makes it the world's largest, most extensive, and fastest growing encyclopedia ever compiled. It has been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world and the vast majority of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Steadily rising in popularity since its inception, it currently ranks among the top ten most-visited websites worldwide.

Wikipedia's users are often smart and lightning fast. The entry on Anna Nicole Smith announced her death hours before many news sites did. The Hurricane Katrina entry lists 119 sources (thanks Brady). The site also includes specialized entries not seen in any regular encyclopedia, including my favorites Capoeira in popular culture, songs about California and the now non-existent "Competing films with similar plots" (it was removed because it was biased and unverifiable).

Despite its strengths, Wikipedia does have its very well-known weaknesses. Anyone is allowed to edit the entries, though many are corrected eventually by millions of users with a keen eye. A red flag should be any entry with a shaded box with the warning "This article does not cite any references or sources." These are more likely to appear in less popular, theoretical or highly debated entries.

Labels: wiki

When breaking news happens, it helps to have a map that points out where the incident happened. FMAtlas is one of many third-party applications that allows users to simply plot points on a Google Map and embed it in any website. In addition, the site also has wiki functionality so users can add and edit points on the map (optional). A complete tutorial on using FMAtlas after the jump:


Setting up the map

To begin, go to fmatlas.com and click "Create an account" and create a username and password. After the form is completed, a map will appear. Before plotting points, click on "Edit Map Properties." A window will appear that offers several options including enabling user contributions, which can also be moderated, enabling wiki-style editing and moderating user contributions.

Another option is to show or hide the sidebar, which is a list of the headlines of points that are plotted on the map. Whether it is turned on or off depends totally on the project.

The next step is define the width and height of the map. By default, FMAtlas pads the map with 25 pixels. So if you want a map with a width and height of 400 x 300, you should enter 375 x 275.

You can also input values for the info window width and height. This controls the size of the balloon that pops up when a point is clicked. Ideally, these dimensions should be large enough for the window to be legible, but small enough so the window doesn't cover the entire map.

FMAtlas offers a number of icons to be used on the map. Smaller icons should be used for small maps or maps with numerous points. You can create different icons on the same map by plotting the first point(s) and then clicking "Edit Map Properties" again and changing the icon.

Another important option is "Zoom Control." The "large" option enables a slide tool to zoom in and out of the map. The small control uses + and - as controls.

Once you are done with the map settings, click save.


Plotting points

You can zoom in or out, move the map and plot points simply by clicking on the location you desire. If you are not sure where the point should be or want to add a specific address or intersection, type the location into the input box near the top of the screen. Latitude and longitude can also be plotted in this box ex: (37.874881, -122.259730)

Points can also be plotted in FMAtlas using a CSV file. To create this file, create an Excel spreadsheet that contains the addresses to be plotted. In the file menu, click "Save as..." and select CSV.

In FMAtlas, click "Bulk Upload" above the map. Give the map a name and in the second field, locate the CSV file to be uploaded. Select "Add."

FMAtlas also allows the user to search by business name, but as there are billions of businesses in the world, some with the same, this is a less reliable option. Even less reliable is the Wikipedia option which allows the user to search Wikipedia entries and plot them on the map.

Embedding the map

Periodic saving is encouraged. Give the map a name and click save near the bottom of the screen. When the map is finished, click Embed. FMAtlas offers an URL and a KML (Google Earth file) that you can link to. Most importantly, the service offers an embed code that can be placed into an HTML file.

The map can be changed and updated at any time without changing the embed code, unless the dimensions of the map are changed.

Labels: maps, wiki