SPJ's Quill offers good 'toolbox tips'

Jamie DeLoma's "Digital Media" column in a recent issue of Quill magazine, published by the Society of Professional Journalists, offers eight solid suggestions.

"The web offers journalists countless free opportunities to enhance their reporting," says DeLoma, a Hearst copy editor and Quinnipiac Unievrsity jorunalism professor. "The biggest hurdle facing them is knowing where to find the most relevant and timely information. Google should be part of every journalist's e-toolkit."

He outlines and explains Google highlights Reader, Uncle Sam, Squared, Patents, News Archive Search, Trends, Flu Trends and Labs.

"Journalists should also build the most popular social media entities, including Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, into their own custom wire services with news coming in about the subjects they are most interested in," he continued. "New, more dynamic sites are developing by the day, and it is critical to stay connected with the latest sites and applications in the news-gathering arena. Don't fear the developments, but embrace them."

Advice for J students from OJR

Incoming journalism students should take a science lab course, learn about business and network, according to writer Robert Niles (at right), whose tips appear in Online Journalism Review.

The laboratory science course can implicitly teach the scientific method, which can help aspiring journalists appreciate the goal of being "objective" -- or at least complete, fair and accurate.

Involvement in a business or even a student organization can expose students to the nitty-gritty of dollars and (financial) sense.

And networking extends from access to opportunities to developing sources.

"Without sources, you are a novelist," Niles writes. "(Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Use your non-journalism classes to build your personal network. Publish on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. Blog. Video blog. Make meeting and conversing with people your addiction. Fail to network responsibly, and all the smarts in the world won't help you succeed."

Pulitzer Prize winner here Thursday

A longtime Chicago journalist who shared in the Tribune’s 2001 staff Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the airline industry will visit a few classes and take part in a Brown Bag It Q&A with students featuring free pizza and soda on Thursday, Nov. 11.

Patrick Olsen, who also worked for the Los Angeles Times, is a good example of a journalist who works in multiple media. Now Editor-in-Chief at Cars.com, Olsen oversees an editorial staff of almost 20 journalists reviewing cars, writing blog posts, and shooting photos and videos.

Olsen spent 11 years at the Tribune, including six years as the Page One Editor, and more than three years launching and helping to run RedEye, the Tribune’s tabloid aimed at 20-something readers. The winner of numerous journalism awards (including for Investigative Reporting, Professional Performance, Headline Writing, and Design), Olsen will briefly visit two 11 a.m. classes taught by Mohammad Siddiqi and Pearlie Strother-Adams in Simpkins rooms 214 and 309, respectively. At 12:30 p.m., Olsen will be in Simpkins room 327 for a casual "Pizza with a Press Professional" hour or so of Q&A mixed with slices and pop.

WIU's PRSSA chapter is co-sponsoring the appearance along with the department of English & Journalism.

100 best blogs for journalism students

The posting is more than a year old and "consider the source" suspicious (coming from "bachelorsdegreeonline.com"), but there are plenty of reliable, provocative and sensible web logs listed in the list from "Learn-gasm" (ahem).

Number 1? PoynterOnline: a no-brainer.

Solid suggestions? No. 12 is Columbia Jouraism Review and No. 14 is the Nieman Journalism Lab.

Novel ideas? Six blogs from other journalism students, dozens of "new media" sites (including Mark Briggs' Journalism 2.0, brilliant and fun innovator Rob Curley, and Mark Glaser's Mediashift), the indispensible Romenesko, and The Newspaper Guild.

Areas of interest? Investigative reporting and photojournalism each have multiple sites.

(No, The Bulldog Edition hasn't made it yet.)