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On April 2, i attended an Excel workshop taught be Anthony in JC.
I always considered myself proficient in Excel, but at the conclusion of the workshop, i was surprised by how much i didn’t know about that program.
Some of the things that i have learned were:
* How to connect Excel to Access to get data for the dashboard
* How to create pivot tables from external data in MS Access
* How to make charts from data in pivot tables
* Putting the charts together in the dashboard (and adding form controls)
* Adding macros to control the dashboard (and refresh data, animate charts etc.)
* Final formatting touches to make it look better
Anthony seemed to be very knowledgeable and his commentary was always insightful and practical. In this training, he brings all his experience to teach us how to make better dashboards, charts, how to connect to external sources and how to manipulate pivot tables.

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During his presentation, Clay Shirky stated that there is not such thing as information overload, only filter failure. Briggs’s Chapter 9 “Data-Driven Journalism and digitizing your life” addresses the impact that onslaught of information has on most people.
This chapter was very useful because it focused on ways of utilizing technology to improve your own productivity.
The chapter listed a variety of useful tips such as how and why one should organize their email, picking the productivity tools that are right for you, and how to bring order to your work.
It urges readers to leverage existing resources to get the most out of their data and this chapter explains how to do just that.

Chapter 8 of Journalism Next tells the readers about how to convey your story with video.

The amazing story of Adam Bender who lost his leg to cancer at the age of 1 and despite all odds was a very good baseball player by 8, would not have been the same without a video. You can view the video by clicking here.

The tools of journalism have changed, but the game remains the same: its about telling a compelling story that connect the audience with subjects, people and issues.

The chapter explains how to use video on your computer, capture video highlights, how to use the software to edit video and many more.

Its very easy to learn how to make a digital video, and in contrast to previous years, it is now also inexpensive.
Moreover, you don’t have to be perfect. Quick and less polished video content on news sites often draws bigger audiences. The unedited videos would have been unthinkable a few years ago, and now they are becoming common.

For my second workshop I attended a lecture on how to switch from PC computer to a Mac.

I found it extremely useful because I have been thinking of making the switch myself. I currently have an iphone, itouch and an Ipad and the more i use them, the more i realize how useless my PC truly is.

I realized a lot of things that i would have to adjust to. Like adjusting to the MacBook’s keyboard. It’s missing keys I’m used to, a forward-delete key (the “delete” key on a MacBook actually functions like the “backspace” on a PC), PgUp, Home, End, and so on. All of the things these keys do can be accomplished by pressing various key combinations on the MacBook, but getting those new keys into your muscle memory takes effort.

There are also few differences between the operating systems. For example the finder vs. internet explorer. The dock is a start up menu on a PC. The instructor explained to us where to find the programs that are not on the dock and how to place the programs onto the dock if you so choose.

We went over the main differences between safari and other internet browsers.

Overall this was a very informative class, and it made me a lot more comfortable about my decision to switch.

Chapter 11 introduces the tips for building a digital audience for news.

“if journalists produce great stories, but no one reads them, how can news survive?” That quote reminds me of a Hollywood axiom “No audience.. no show.” No matter how good your story is, it still needs to be read in order to become news.

When a person searches for a particular piece of news, you are competing against thousands if not millions of other publications. Title, tag and description are your first impression to attract potential audience. Good writing is also extremely important, so is analyzing what you publish.

Part of analyzing what you publish is figuring out what your readers like and do more of it.

The chapter explains how to track your content, the concept of web analysis, search engine optimization, headline writing for the web and distribution through social media such as Twitter.

In further detail, the chapter explains what exactly to track and why it is important. It suggested tracking things like total news stories per day, podcasts, breaking news email alerts and many more. Web analytics software such as Hitbox, Omniture and Google Analytics make it very easy and affordable to be able to keep track of the traffic on virtually any website.

Chapter 10 explains the concept of managing news as a conversation.

It begins with a quote by Edward R. Murrow which says “The speed of communications is wonderful to behold. It is also true that the speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.”

News are becoming more and more interactive. According to the chapter, it is becoming a conversation. One of the main challenges that journalist are faced with is to manage, create and encourage that conversation.

Comments on news stories have now became a separate social network. People voice their opinions, interact with one another and have full conversations with the authors as well.

Conversation is important for several reasons. Community of people has a greater amount of knowledge than any one given individual. For that reason, forums are filled with useful tips, links and other additional information.
It gives journalists a chance to collaborate with their community and engage their readers.

It is also important to keep the collaboration accurate and ethical. The chapter provides several ways of being able to do just that. Some of the steps include setting the guidelines for the users, managing offensive posts and knowing your legal responsibilities.

Overall this has been a very informative chapter. I also believe that it was a very important one because of the changes that are happening in the way that news are being gathered and reported.