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Guardian crowdsources MP’s expenses
The Guardian put out a great crowdsourcing project in the aftermath of the MP expenses scandal in the UK,...
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Richard Florida explores the characteristics of America’s leading social media centers.
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When you think of social media, two products immediately come to mind: Facebook and Twitter. If you’re in the technical world, you’d probably also...
Facebook: A Profile of its ‘Friends’
In light of the Facebook IPO, we rounded up highlights of our data on adult Facebook users. What do Facebook users do on the site? How many friends they have? What are their social and civic lives like?
Some fast facts:
- 229: The average number of friends a person has on Facebook
- Women average 21 updates to their Facebook status per month while men average 6
Facebook, on an Average Day:
- 15% of Facebook users update their own status
- 22% comment on another’s post or status
- 20% comment on another user’s photos
- 26% “Like” another user’s content
- 10% send another user a private message
Read the full portrait for more on the social and civic characteristics of Facebook users and the privacy management habits of social networking site users
It’s early still but that doesn’t mean we can’t think ahead. And thinking ahead to the 2013-2014 academic year is what we’re going to do.
If you’re a journalism undergrad or grad student, the AP-Google Scholarship is offering six awards for $20,000 each. The deadline to apply isn’t until February 2013 but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a head start know.
This is especially true because much of the application require online portfolios and digital work so you have nine months to clean up, organize and put your best foot forward.
Via ONA:
The AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship Program fosters new journalism skills in undergraduate and graduate students developing projects at the intersection of journalism and technology.
The program is targeted to individual students creating innovative projects that further the ideals of digital journalism. A key goal is to promote geographic, gender and ethnic diversity, with an emphasis on rural and urban areas.
Have you created original journalistic content with computer science elements? Are you thinking up new ways to tell a story with technology? Are you a “techie” who knows how to construct a journalistic story through multimedia? We’re looking for students pursuing studies at the crossroads of journalism, computer sciences and new media. If you’re on the cutting edge of digital media beyond the classroom, this scholarship is for you!
Application materials and requirements are available at the Online News Association.
To get a sense of what they might be looking for, take a look at this year’s winners.
As Google wrote on its blog when the winners were announced:
These students have big plans that range from producing hyperlocal data-driven stories, to developing open-source apps that allow for democratic news gathering and greater collaboration, to data visualization for current events and entertainment, to producing political news games and teaching journalists how to code.
Columbia to distribute $2 million in grant money to find ‘best practices’ in digital media
The focus is on three areas: “Impact: measuring how new practices and tools affect audiences and newsroom resources; Transparency in journalism: focusing on public data—what’s available, what’s not, and what’s useful and relevant to people’s lives; Data visualization: examining which visuals work best in informing and engaging readers.”
Yesterday, Gawker published an article by their newest contributor, “The Fox Mole,” a long-time employee of the network.
In it, the mole outlines his or her long list of grievances and then gives a behind the scenes account (and video) of pre-interview chatter between Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity where they talk horseback riding, primping and Donald Trump.
Today, Fox confirms to Mediaite that they know who The Fox Mole is. In a terse statement they write, “We found the person and we’re exploring legal options at this time.”
So is the Fox Mole a new type of animal?
Social media and news consumption: Facebook and Twitter are sill relatively small driver of news consumption, according to PEW’s State of the News Media 2012.
Only 9% of digital news consumers follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter. Of those 9%, more follow recommendations from Facebook:
More than twice as many digital news consumers follow news recommendations from Facebook than follow them from Twitter. And that remains consistent across different digital devices (computers, smartphones or tablets). In all, on any device, 7% get news on Facebook very often, compared with 3% who do so on Twitter. Those populations may grow, or at least involve a broader universe of casual users. Another 19% say they get recommendations via Facebook somewhat often, and 4% via Twitter somewhat often.
News Orgs: their Fans and Followers, March 2012
The Onion, holding its own.
Data in the Newsroom
The Data Journalism Handbook is a free, open sourced reference book that’s being released at the end of April at the International Journalism Festival in Italy.
If you want to be alerted when the book is released you can do so here.
This poster was created by Lulu Pinney based on illustrations in the book by Kate Hudson.
H/T: Jonathan Gray.
Knight News Challenge: iGeoQuiz: Delivering International News through Social Game Platforms
1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]
Create the iGeoQuiz (w.t.), a daily mobile and online game based on the popular GeoQuiz segment from PRI’s global news program, The World.
2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]
Newsrooms create…
Help this poor man get iGeoQuiz for his communicator.
(Photo from startrekpropauthority.com)
A really great list (with supporting resources). Here are the first four:
- Pinning book covers. Many librarians are capitalizing on the visual power of Pinterest to show off book covers, especially those from new books, special collections, and kid-friendly material. It can be a great way to attract readers to books they might not have otherwise checked out.
- Showcasing historic archives. Libraries often have much more than books in their archives. Take the San Francisco Public Library, for instance. They’re using Pinterest to show off amazing historic images of the city, from photos of old library branches to some unbelievable WWII images of the bay.
- Creating reading lists. Pinterest makes it simple to create visually appealing reading lists for just about every topic under the sun. Some common lists include books made into movies, librarian recommendations, and kid-friendly fare.
- Sharing new acquisitions. Want to keep patrons in the loop about the library’s latest books and media? Pinterest is turning out to be a great way to do that, and many libraries are logging on and sharing their latest and greatest. Fullerton Public Library is one such library getting on the Pinterest bandwagon, and they have boards for new acquisitions in fiction, non-fiction, young adult, children’s, and downloadable media.
Recent PEW survey reveals when it comes to news, “brand matters on every device” and the first stop for the majority of people is still a news outlet’s website. Search is second on the path to news, followed by aggregation sites, with social media “not an overwhelming driver of news.”
