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How to get it done
Saturday, August 16, 2008 4:55 AM

Cut to video: the continuing path of on-the-job training

I’ve been doing video for more than a year, and now I’m teaching it?  But wait: I’m still learning. Go figure.  This is the world where we work.  More on that in a bit. Every time I work with video, I learn more. 
posted by RonSylvester | 2 Comments
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Monday, July 21, 2008 12:50 PM

Keep stories short and let the data shine

I spent last week wading in data for our second biennial package "Judging the Judges." It’s a survey I helped develop two years ago with our local bar association, getting lawyers to help evaluate judicial performance.  We also elect
posted by RonSylvester | 0 Comments
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Friday, July 18, 2008 1:58 AM

Good tips to read, remember and share with everyone in your newsroom

Good tips are worth remembering and repeating. Here are some from Bill Dunphy of Web U (via Mindy McAdams) Are there original documents you can link to?Are there any photographs (related videos, sound files, slideshows)?Can
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:40 AM

Listen and learn: lessons on blogging, Twitter and covering the news live

I listened to the podcast the Guardian posted the other day on The Future of Journalism: Blogging, Twittering and Live Video.  Fascinating and thought-provoking, it's 87 minutes long, so download it to your IPod and take it with you to
posted by RonSylvester | 3 Comments
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Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:52 AM

What I learned about crime reporting via Twitter

The Twitter trial was exhausting. But the response was worth it.  That’s what I’ve found is usually true in this business. The most difficult reporting brings the best rewards. I had to take a week’s vacation after the capital murder
posted by RonSylvester | 11 Comments
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Saturday, May 10, 2008 4:47 AM

Tweeting in courtroom provides a new way to cover a murder trial

The Twitter trial seems to be working.  So far. It's a modification of what we began last fall: live updates of a capital murder trial in the killing of a small-town Kansas sheriff. It was a way of live blogging from the courtroom. 
posted by RonSylvester | 8 Comments
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Friday, April 18, 2008 1:01 PM

A new multimedia project, in duet

Collaboration is to be the next step in my multimedia journey. It’s a natural progression, and a welcome one.  The past year of learning has at times been a lonely process.  But it’s been necessary.  It’s hard to work with
posted by RonSylvester | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:09 AM

A slide show before dinner, a video in an hour

A year ago, I sat in front of computer for hours, trying to make the sound synch with the movement of the lips in I-Movie, or make Final Cut Pro reach some sort of finality.  Usually, my frustration would hit its peak long before my wife sent
posted by RonSylvester | 2 Comments
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Friday, March 14, 2008 11:58 AM

Newsflash: A reporter brings back compelling video without eating up her day

Lisa Fernandez of the Mercury News recently blogged on News Videographer about a video she produced to illustrate a story she reported about a toddler who died in a pond.  Fernandez’s video is a great example of what reporters can do
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Friday, March 07, 2008 1:23 PM

Getting started: Moving to that place on-line, where we all need to be.

The latest edition of The Quill offers tips and tricks to surviving in an on-line world.OK, I did write one of the articles.But be sure and read the excellent tips on:Collecting audio by Vincent Duffy of Michigan Public Radio.Getting into video by Angela
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008 11:41 PM

Fitting multimedia into the workday

My multimedia goal now usually is to get home in time for dinner. I’m only partially kidding.  My first year created some long, hard hours of learning.  I knew I was straining patience when I would begin receiving text messages
posted by RonSylvester | 5 Comments
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Friday, January 11, 2008 3:32 AM

Ask for your 10 percent, or 20

Talk about workflow, Mindy McAdams has found an answer. Actually, she found BBC’s 10 percent answer, which came from Google's 20 percent solution Take 10-20 percent of your time and work on a project of your choosing.  This is
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Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:12 AM

Work must flow

We’ve had some fun, so far, diving into multimedia and online journalism.  But it hasn’t been easy.  We’ve spent hours of our own time learning the basics of audio and video to try to deepen our work. Now it’s time to put all
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Wednesday, November 14, 2007 1:30 AM

No. 4: Multimedia

The KBI was envious. The special agents of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation were assigned to courthouse security in tiny Eureka, KS, for the capital murder trial of Scott Cheever.  Cheever was accused of killing the local sheriff. They
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Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:23 AM

Point No. 1: 'Own breaking news'

I started my career as a sport writer, then moved to news.  It broke many an editor’s rule of “you need a hard news background first.”  It also made me able to file faster than most hard-news reporters, three decades later.. Many
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