Online Journalism: Principles and Practices of News for the Web [3 ed.] 1934432172, 9781934432174

Table of contents :
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
About the Author
To the Student
1 Introduction to Online Journalism
What is Journalism?
Fairness
Attribution
Accuracy
Relevance
Newness
Advantages of Online Journalism
Audience Control
Time and Place Access
Nonlinearity
Box: Online Journalism and the “Long Tail”
Storage and Retrieval
Unlimited Space
Immediacy
Multimedia Capability
Audience Participation
Types of Online Journalism Sites
Evaluating Online Sites
Who Is Producing the Site?
What Is the Content of the Site?
Is the Information Accurate?
How Often Is the Information Updated?
What Does the Site Look Like?
Journalism’s Economic Challenges
Declines in Legacy Media
Online Funding Models
Beginning Your Journey Into Online Journalism
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
2 Online Journalism Structures
Producing Online Journalism
Who’s an Online Journalist?
24/7 News Cycle
Convergence
Modular Content
Alternate Journalistic Forms
News Aggregators
Hyperlocal Sites
Blogs
Content for Other Devices
Online Journalism Organizations: Three Case Studies
The Washington Post
The Dispatch Printing Company
13abc.com
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
3 The Audience: Involved and In Motion
Types of Participatory Journalism
Sources
User Feedback
User-Generated Content
Crowdsourcing
Citizen Journalism
Mobile Devices
Types of Mobile Devices
Mobile Advantages
Online Journalism for Mobile Devices
Social Media
Online Journalism and Social Media
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
4 Tools and Terminology
The Internet and the World Wide Web
Internet Basics
Accessing the Internet With the World Wide Web
Accessing the Internet Without the World Wide Web
Syndication: From Pull to Push
Box: Sharing Data Through APIs
Digital Media
Understanding Digital: Bits, Bytes and the Like
Types of Digital Media
Hardware
Bandwidth
Computer Considerations
Software
Browsers and Plug-Ins
Feed Readers
Authoring Software
Blogging Software
Editing Software
Cloud Computing
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
5 Using Online Reporting Sources
The Internet as a Reporting Source
E-Mail–Related Sources
Newsgroups and Forums
Listservs
Web-Based Sources
General Reference Sources
Wikis
Specialized Sources for Journalists
Search Engines
Databases
Social Media Sites
Directories
Online Journalism Sites
Searching the “Deep Web”
Evaluating Sources
Evaluating Top-Level Domains
Evaluating Personal Web Pages
Other Evaluation Criteria
Proceed With Caution: External Links and Hackers
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
6 Creating and Managing Web Content
Box: HTML 5
Basic HTML
Structural Tags
Specifying Colors
Tags for Graphics and Links
Text Formatting with CSS
Box: Separating Content and Formatting
Using Authoring Programs
Web Creation and Management
Basic Program Operation
Text Formatting
Links, Images and Multimedia Elements
Using Javascript for Interactivity
Putting Your Files on the Web
Content Management Systems
Understanding Databases
CMS and Databases
What’s Next
Activities
Endnote
7 Web Page Design
Basic Online Journalism Design
Layout Grids
Page Dimensions
Usability
Principles of Design
Unity
Contrast
Hierarchy
Consistency
Using Text
Font Classifications
Text Alignment
Line Length
Text Techniques to Avoid
Color and Graphics in Design
Color Considerations
Graphic Design Elements
Using CSS to Lay Out Web Pages
Designing the Page Layout
CSS Positioning Basics
CSS Positioning in Dreamweaver
Box: Many Browsers, One Page: The Dream of Web Design
What’s Next
Activities
Endnote
8 Writing and Editing Online
Chunking and Distilling
Writing Headlines, Subheads and Summaries
Headlines
Subheads
Summaries
Writing Stories
Story Organization Online
Short Sentences and Paragraphs
Section Headings and Bolding
Bullet Points and Lists
Adapting Content from Other Media
Writing for Blogs
Updating Online Stories
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
9 Using Links in Online Stories
Curation
Box: Vannevar Bush, the Memex and Journalists
Box: Creating Named Anchors
Box: Creating Links Using HTML
Selecting Links
Link Functions
Paring Links
Presenting Links
Main Story Links
Sidebar Links
Linking Issues
Permission to Link
Link Maintenance
Taking Users Away from Your Story
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
10 Using Multimedia, Mashups and APIs
Types of Media Elements
Graphics
Sound
Video
Rich Content
Databases and Mashups
Examples of Interactive and Multimedia Content
Box: Online Resources for Multimedia
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
11 Gathering and Editing Images, Audio and Video
Equipment for Gathering Images and Sound
Cameras
Microphones and Audio Recorders
Gathering Images and Sound: Techniques and Aesthetics
Visual Basics
Video Aesthetics
Gathering Sound
Preparing and Editing Images and Sound
Still Images
Sound
Video
What’s Next
Activities
12 Legal and Ethical Issues
Libel
Libel Liability
Forum Shopping
Obscenity and Indecency
Copyright
Creative Commons
Fair Use
Copyright on the Internet
User Agreements
Copyright and the Online Journalist
Linking Law
Deep Linking
Inline Linking
Associative Linking
Linking to Illegal or Infringing Material
Legal Implications for Online Journalists Who Link
Ethical Issues
Commenting
Linking
Blogging
Publishing “Secret” Information
Reporters’ Privilege
Editing Images and Sounds
What’s Next
Activities
Endnotes
Appendix Common CSS Selectors
Glossary
Index