Newsrooms: Divvy up Web duties

This week’s tally:

• Four audio slideshows (1, 2, 3, 4)
• Two videos (1, 2)
• One podcast (1)
• One new blog (1)
• An assortment of online photo galleries
• The creation of daytime, Web-only reporting shifts
• A smooth-going second week of copy editors handling Web duties

For us, this is a huge leap forward. What makes me especially excited is that the workload for these projects was spread out over the entire staff:

• News reporters worked day shifts
• Features reporters came in for their weekly Film Forum review show
• Sports reporters blogged
• Videographers shot and produced the Film Forum episode and a post-game wrap-up video
• Photographers shot and edited their slideshows
• Copy editors tossed out the shovelware precedent in favor of a new system incorporating outbound links, related story links and a Web-friendly mentality

Though our Web department is still set off on its own (not necessarily a good thing), we can’t do it all on our own. (Our Web staff includes just four people; our total staff is around 150. You do the math.)

Takeaways from this week:

• A multimedia series can keep momentum up.
  Our audio slideshows were each paired with a features section story. (Props to Matt Buxton, our photo chief and deputy editor, for organizing the visual side of this series.)
• Your “rationalizations” can be your worst enemy.
  I put off integrating Web and print editing duties for longer than I should have as Web editor, arguing that it just wasn’t the right time, the right CMS, the right something or another. Our copy desk has done superbly in their new roles, and they probably would have been just fine had they been given them a couple weeks earlier.
• Web-first daytime reporting can be a tough sell.
  I’m having trouble filling my 10 shifts for day reporters. This could be for a variety of reasons: scheduling conflicts with class, not enough pay, not understanding the value of Web skills. I’m sincerely hoping the culprit is a combination of the first two and not the third. Either way, I’ll keep on recruiting.

A question: What recruitment/motivation techniques have worked well for reporters specifically at your news organization?

Multimedia Immersion: A sampling of projects

Colin Mulvany over at Mastering Multimedia posted about a program called Multimedia Immersion. It’s a boot camp of sorts run by the National Press Photographer Association that teaches journalists how to create video for their publications’ Web sites. Mulvany is one of the coaches at the event, which was held in Louisville, Ky.

The Multimedia Immersion site just went live, and I figured I’d check it out and pass along my impressions. Here were some of my favorite projects; others can be found on the Multimedia Immersion site by clicking on the Menu tab at the top and then clicking on the Stories tab.

Stellar topic choice

Kathleen Bryan’s video on the Learning Center at the famed Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville struck me because of the topic. The center provides English language classes and personal finance education for so-called backside workers, or the manual laborers who work at the track. 

It’s certainly not a story I’d expect, and it’s quite different from the other stories on the site from Churchill Downs. In this video, she shows employees both on the job and outside of their daily work routine, playing scrabble.

Clear, attention-grabbing narration

Garrett Cheen’s audio slide show on some adorable monkeys (at least I think they were monkeys) had perfectly clear narration from the animals’ handler. The opening narration got you hooked right away — go check the slide show out to hear what I mean.

His photos are also composed really well. I’m a sucker for a shot of a kid with his nose pressed up against the glass of an animal’s cage.

Plus, he got a newsy element into the story: Because only a hundred or so of these animals are around, offspring from the three at this zoo could potentially have a significant effect on the overall population.

Well-matched nat sound

Michael Fox’s audio slide show on a cancer survivor and her beloved dog has some great nat sound at the beginning. The background noise of scissors snipping and water rushing as Sophie, the dog, gets pampered is nicely matched with photos giving the right visual to match the audio.

Solid overall storytelling

Cory Olsen’s video on an quarry-turned-swimming-pool tied up all the loose ends. I knew what this pool was about, why people liked it, how people’s families carried on the tradition of working there. I heard from young lifeguards, swimmers, parents, managers, everyone.

On top of that, every interview clip he showed was shot in a different way. That variety, along with an assortment of powerfully composed action shots, created a solid overall package.

Just for fun

Paul Kitagaki’s video on a baby barn own — which looks and sounds like it belongs in “Jurassic Park” — is rather funny, I must say. Any time I can see a tiny, quasi-fuzzy creature tip over as it falls asleep, I just have to giggle.

And he got this gem of a quote: ”I’m not real fond of people,” said by a woman with a serious passion for animals. The video really brought out the personalities of those interviewed and kept it light-hearted.

And those are just five of the nearly 50 videos and audio slide shows on the site. Think I was way off base and others deserve to be highlighted? Leave a comment below.