In Lab 8, we’re gathering audio using digital audio recorders, editing audio using Audacity, and uploading our audio onto our WordPress blogs, all in real time. Below is a list of instructions to guide you through the process » Read the rest of the entry..

We’re providing handouts with photography and Photoshop instructions in Lab 7. Below is a full run-down of those instructions. » Read the rest of the entry..

Had some requests this week that we post our lab notes/instructions for last term’s lab on widgets, maps, interactivity, and tagging. Glad to do it.

The full instruction is after the jump: » Read the rest of the entry..

Just a quick suggestion for all students taking the online journalism labs:

If possible, best to bring a memory stick and headphones to each lab. I’m seeing students frequently run out of space on their desktops to save video/audio files, and without headphones, it makes listening to your video and audio footage a tad difficult (i.e. impossible).

We’re discussing the fine art of tagging and using widgets this week. Below are a few helpful resources:

One definition of tags and how and why we use them.

What exactly are widgets? One definition is here. Widgets are comprised of HTML. Remember HTML?

One slideshow on how to use your internal WordPress widgets.

Cover It Live is one example of an external widget that you can download.

And, further proof of why to make your content as easy to find as possible.

In Lab 4, we’re discussing how people read online content, and effective ways to write for the online audience. Here’s a few resources we’re covering in the labs:

Eye-tracking visualizations: See how online readers read.

More on how people tend to scan online data, from MediaBistro.

25 tips for better online writing, from the Poynter Institute.

A quick run-down on online writing from the online magazine Orato.

Winners of the 2009 Webby Awards for best news websites.

“Engage with your readers,” and other good online writing tips.

» Read the rest of the entry..

By now most of you in my online journalism labs seem to be comfortable with the basic functions of your WordPress blogs, but if you need some additional guidance, these WordPress tutorials might come in handy. » Read the rest of the entry..

Just a few follow-up items regarding the first round of Online Labs that we facilitated in the past two weeks:

For those of you who need an FTP to work on your blogs from home, our “Getting Cozy With FTP” handout suggested FileZilla for PCs or CyberDuck for Macs. Keep in mind that while we trust them, in general you install all freely-downloaded software at your own risk.

If some of you are still searching for that perfect theme for your blog, remember that you can download them, using your FTP, here.

For those of you who had your labs with me (Gary Moskowitz), here are links to some of the online stories we discussed:

We talked about the Torture Playlist as an example of incorporating audio to help tell a print journalism story in different ways online. Most of my labs also discussed Epic 2014, which is an online story about the history and possible future of the Internet.