The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Online Journalism!
Journalism is an innate talent. It is a gift that the lucky few are born with. It cannot be taught in schools and it is certainly not for everyone. Moreover, it cannot be ‘picked up’ by a few simple tutorials found on an obscure website on the Internet. Mindy Mc Adams of the University of Florida, however, begs to differ.
Ms Mc Adams, a former journalist and now a teacher of online journalism, has created a website entitled ‘Online Journalism Examples and Tips‘. On it, she posts advice and tips on how to successfully write online, explaining that online journalism needs to be kitchy and to the point, since “web users do read, but they do not read giant scrolling blocks of text.” [Mc Adams 2006].
Navagationally speaking, the site is pretty well laid out. The site contains both internal and external links. Internal links include ‘tips on writing for the Web‘, which explains the required elements essential for successful Web publishing. In addition to this ‘online media types‘ is another informative link. Here, Ms Mc Adams defines each media source, provides charactersitcs on each and injects her own little comments at the end as to where these media sources may be found or in what physical form.
External links ‘online storytelling forms‘ and ‘teaching online journalism‘, which links directly to Ms Mc Adams’ teaching blog.
Regarding interactivity, when you click on the navagation button deceivingly marked interactivity, you beleive that the ability to communicate your views or difficulties with the material through forums or message boards. Instead, a long list appears of all the texts that dealwith the issue of interactivity. I found the lack of interactivity very disappointing, particulary due to the fact that this woman is attempting to teach online journalism, with one of the major advantages being the ability to interact with the journalist.
In conclusion, I feel that posting this information publicly on the Internet in the hopes to educate Joe Soap on being a successful online journalist is absolutely ludicrous. It would be similar to providing art classes to someone who can’t draw. I reiterate the fact that journalism is a gift and is not something that can be taught in a twelve step programme.
