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How to get it done
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:40 AM

Listen and learn: lessons on blogging, Twitter and covering the news live

I listened to the podcast the Guardian posted the other day on The Future of Journalism: Blogging, Twittering and Live Video.  Fascinating and thought-provoking, it's 87 minutes long, so download it to your IPod and take it with you to
posted by RonSylvester | 1 Comments
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Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:52 AM

What I learned about crime reporting via Twitter

The Twitter trial was exhausting. But the response was worth it.  That’s what I’ve found is usually true in this business. The most difficult reporting brings the best rewards. I had to take a week’s vacation after the capital murder
posted by RonSylvester | 8 Comments
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Saturday, May 10, 2008 4:47 AM

Tweeting in courtroom provides a new way to cover a murder trial

The Twitter trial seems to be working.  So far. It's a modification of what we began last fall: live updates of a capital murder trial in the killing of a small-town Kansas sheriff. It was a way of live blogging from the courtroom. 
posted by RonSylvester | 6 Comments
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Friday, April 18, 2008 1:01 PM

A new multimedia project, in duet

Collaboration is to be the next step in my multimedia journey. It’s a natural progression, and a welcome one.  The past year of learning has at times been a lonely process.  But it’s been necessary.  It’s hard to work with
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:09 AM

A slide show before dinner, a video in an hour

A year ago, I sat in front of computer for hours, trying to make the sound synch with the movement of the lips in I-Movie, or make Final Cut Pro reach some sort of finality.  Usually, my frustration would hit its peak long before my wife sent
posted by RonSylvester | 2 Comments
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Friday, March 14, 2008 11:58 AM

Newsflash: A reporter brings back compelling video without eating up her day

Lisa Fernandez of the Mercury News recently blogged on News Videographer about a video she produced to illustrate a story she reported about a toddler who died in a pond.  Fernandez’s video is a great example of what reporters can do
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Friday, March 07, 2008 1:23 PM

Getting started: Moving to that place on-line, where we all need to be.

The latest edition of The Quill offers tips and tricks to surviving in an on-line world.OK, I did write one of the articles.But be sure and read the excellent tips on:Collecting audio by Vincent Duffy of Michigan Public Radio.Getting into video by Angela
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008 11:41 PM

Fitting multimedia into the workday

My multimedia goal now usually is to get home in time for dinner. I’m only partially kidding.  My first year created some long, hard hours of learning.  I knew I was straining patience when I would begin receiving text messages
posted by RonSylvester | 5 Comments
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Friday, January 11, 2008 3:32 AM

Ask for your 10 percent, or 20

Talk about workflow, Mindy McAdams has found an answer. Actually, she found BBC’s 10 percent answer, which came from Google's 20 percent solution Take 10-20 percent of your time and work on a project of your choosing.  This is
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Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:12 AM

Work must flow

We’ve had some fun, so far, diving into multimedia and online journalism.  But it hasn’t been easy.  We’ve spent hours of our own time learning the basics of audio and video to try to deepen our work. Now it’s time to put all
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Wednesday, November 14, 2007 1:30 AM

No. 4: Multimedia

The KBI was envious. The special agents of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation were assigned to courthouse security in tiny Eureka, KS, for the capital murder trial of Scott Cheever.  Cheever was accused of killing the local sheriff. They
posted by RonSylvester | 13 Comments
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Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:23 AM

Point No. 1: 'Own breaking news'

I started my career as a sport writer, then moved to news.  It broke many an editor’s rule of “you need a hard news background first.”  It also made me able to file faster than most hard-news reporters, three decades later.. Many
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Wednesday, July 04, 2007 5:48 PM

The way it ought to work

I'm on vacation this week, kicking back at a lake in the beautiful hills of Arkansas, with my wife and the five children in our extended family. But I didn't want the blog to go neglected too long ... On my last assignment before vacation,
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Friday, June 01, 2007 5:15 PM

A hard day's night

I wrote a 27-inch story and cut five related audio slide shows this week. Then I gladly took some vacation days I’d scheduled to go out of town with my family. I needed it. I’ve spent some amount of time asking myself if it was worth it, as others
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007 5:13 PM

Be patient: The future isn't coming so fast you can't catch up

There are some days I yearn for the days of a notebook and a pen. Those days were relatively easy: jot down notes, write a story. Well, writing is never easy. “Just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein,” said Red Smith. Producing
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