HELP FOR SURFERS

Tip for those who do Web sites: offer the poor surfer as much information as you can about your pages.

Tonight, I clicked on a link in a Wall Street Journal article and, when nothing appeared to be happening, I clicked it again. And again. And once more. (Okay, I never claimed to be the shiniest nickel in the collection plate.)

It was only after the fourth click that I glanced down at the status line of the Web browser and saw the link was to a PDF. Sure enough, my downloads panel showed four PDF downloads in progress.

Web users have expectations -- when they click a link, they get taken to a different page or another section on the same page. When you go against expectation by linking to something else (a PDF, audio file, hi-res image, video, etc.), let us know.

10:08:07 PM    

PEOPLE MAKING NEWS

Not surprisingly, TBO.com, a joint Web site run by several Tampa Bay media outlets, has extensive coverage of Hurricane Charley, which ripped across Florida 12 days ago. Strong coverage, as you would expect from professional media.

Of particular interest is the "Your Voice" section (scroll down to access it): links a series of amazing photographs submitted by readers, as well as reader-written articles on "Rising out the storm" and "Damage reports."

Although this is being increasingly done, its still newsworthy when media asks its readers to become partners in the process of telling the news. The news organization gets hundreds of more eyes on the ground to bring back real, personal stories and photographs. In return, the story is fleshed out in ways that traditional reporting can't touch.

Original tip to this from Dan Gillmor's We the Media Web site.

8:55:39 PM    

UNDERGROUND MUSIC

Joe Weiss at Multimedia Storytelling has come up with links to another great bit of on-line journalism.

Striving to make music under the streets of NYC is an MSNBC story that looks at a few of the "more than 100 official subway musicians performing in at least 25 locations throughout the 468-station New York subway system."

(NOTE: The music starts playing as soon as the site opens.)

The piece combines an article by Daniel Strieff and Jon Sweeney, accompanied by a sound-and-photos profile of five of the musicians who make a living playing for the commuters. The profiles feature brief interviews with the artists, samples of their music and Sweeney's photographs.

(My favourite quote from the piece is from accordionist Mitu Busioc, asked why he plays underground. "Because I have five kids.")

8:14:38 PM    

CHECKING FACTS

Nicole at A Capital Idea reports that the Dayton News Journal has started to randomly fact check articles.

She reports:

The managing editor for operations, Bruce Keuhn, is mailing a form to people who were quoted in randomly selected articles, checking on fairness and accuracy.

The form will ask:

• Were there any inaccuracies in the article, headline or picture caption?
• Was there anything left out?
• Is there anything you think should be followed up in another article?

Then it asks for additional comments.

At a time when media is taking a beating over high-profile incidents of plagiarism and invented stories, it never hurts to reach out a little and, in effect, say to the public "we realize we're human and may make mistakes. Help us out."

7:48:49 PM