Steve Buttry, Digital Transformation Editor of Digital First Media, attended my Comm 351 class on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

“Communications is in an earthquake/tsunami,” Buttry said, who built his brand and identity by blogging.

Buttry has been in communications and writing/editing for the last 40 years. He opened his segment by telling us that the journalists in the class do not know what they are getting themselves into after college because journalism is “changing daily.”

Buttry said that journalists today need to be “multi-platform journalists” which are the skills that we are practicing and improving in our Online Journalism course.

“Journalists should create stories for digital,” said Buttry. “Writing for print…story has no links.”

On February 26, Joy Suh, librarian at GMU, spoke with our class about how to conduct research for our projects.

Suh’s goals during her 45 minute presentation was to help us find articles and online resources. Fairfax County Public Library Catalog was recommended by Suh to go first for ideas and information. Suh also showed us how to use the Mason catalog, which was not new information to me.

Suh wanted us to use “our topic and Fairfax County” (Hidden Fairfax) during our keyword search.

Lexis Nexux Adacemixc and Onlinenewspapers.com are websites she went onto to search for topics we are researching in class (transportation and hidden Fairfax for example).

Something new that I did learn was that the library has tools for students to customize map

GMU library also has coding and intermediate online research classes.

Chapter 6 discusses many elements of photography that are not new to me.

“Journalism without photographs is like writing without verbs.”

The main ideas that stood out were:

Compressing/re-sizing, chose the right pic/take a lot and blog layout.

The topic of compressing and re-sizing pictures was just covered in my Web Design course. It is important to have the proper size image, and to only edit the copied images–always keep the original!

Choosing the right picture involves a strong thought process. Our guest speakers, Alexis Glen and Evan Cantwell touched base on it.

“Take a lot of pictures for the post edit. Find wide angle, tight, and close ups,” Cantwell said.

Glen and Cantwell shot the Presidential Candidate rallys on campus. Glen wanted to  “focus on students and not the candidate” when capturing the moments.

An example picture they showed the class was of Romney, which they used quality of light to their benefit.

“It’s a lot about waiting and listening to get the right picture,” said Glen, who waites five to ten minutes for the right moment to capture.

Cantwell spoke on how photographer sometimes have to stay in one spot during an event, but it is important to move around for different angles.

“Same angle is like repeating a paragraph,” Cantwell said.

For our class project, Cantwell and Glen gave us a great tip when taking pictures-to find gatekeepers for good access to subjects.

The topic of multimedia is new to me. Videos, audio and slideshows enhance stories and are the up and coming neccesities of online journalism.

Tom Jackman, blogger at the Washington Post and professor of Media Coverage of Criminal Justice at George Mason University, visited my News Writing and Reporting class on Feb. 11th.

Jackman has been at the Washington post for 14 years and blogging for them for the past two. His blog, :”The State of NoVa”, started in 2011 with the idea of the editor. The idea behind the name of the blog is that Northern Virginia is essentially a state in itself because the community is so different than that of southern Virginia.

“There are 2.2 million people in NoVa, and 7 million in Virginia,” Jackman said.

I thought Jackman would be able to give insight into possible Hidden Fairfax ideas, but he was more able to give great insights into blogging and online journalism.

“I hate the term blogger,” Jackman said, who believes he’s not the typical blogger that writes in their pajamas and don’t go out to interview.

Jackman is highly involved in going out, meeting people and interviewing.

“I tweet like a crazy person,” Jackman said, which adds to the thought of the online journalism platform.

Jackman tries to stay away from politics and wants a “lively” blog with people to interact with. As far as the content he can write about, the articles are up to him. He gets his information from the public who have a relationship with him, reads for information and goes out and talks to people.

Jackman spoke a little on the difference between print and online. The difference between print and online deadlines is that online is open, while print normally has a 5 p.m, deadline. As far as editing goes, editors look at the articles once, and print gets at least three look overs.

Jackman’s knowledge of the online platform and blogging was beneficial. For our group, we can try to make our projects interactive–which is an awesome idea.

“We report, you decide,” was my favorite quote from Jackman.

When looking over the definition and examples of what collaborative journalism is, real life scenarios popped into my head. For example, the idea of publishing a question online and having others answer that question, or crowdsurfing, was an idea that was thrown around at my internship. My supervisor wanted to pose a question to the public about their views on alcohol moderation, but in the end decided against “crowdsurfing” to obtain information.

As far as seeking sources in an online community, I have been using Facebook and Twitter to track-down poets to interview for a story for my Comm351: News writing and Reporting course. The poets are the experts in this case, and using online platforms to reach them has been both a struggle and enlightening. Sometimes grabbing peoples’ attention through other people’s inquiries can be a struggle.

It is fascinating to see how journalism is changing. Collaborative journalism is used by everyone. From newbies to professionals, stories are formed outside of a traditional newsroom–which is awesome.