For Advisers Only

Logan Aimone, MJE, executive directorNational Scholastic Press Association

For Advisers Only

Today’s TechLet’s start with a quiz!Keep score at your seat,

or just keep track in your head.If you’re really techy, you’ll add

your points on your iPhone.(Thats’ you, Sandra.)

For Advisers Only

1. Mobile5 points: You have a Web-enabled mobile device (BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.3 points: You have a cellphone with text message capability (that you use)1 point: Cellphones can do that? Yours is just for actual phone calls.0 points: No cellphone.+3 Bonus if you have a Web-enabled phone and iPad

For Advisers Only

2. E-mail5 points: You check your e-mail account(s) on your computer, iPad and phone.3 points: You use only a computer to access e-mail.1 point: You have to print your e-mails to file them.0 points: No e-mail.+1 if you’re on Gmail. -1 if you still use AOL.

For Advisers Only

3. Microblogging5 points: You have a Twitter account and regularly send tweets.3 points: You set up a Twitter account but never send tweets.1 point: You have at least heard of Twitter.0 points: You think the only “tweets” are from birds.+1 Bonus: You Tweet from your phone, or if you know and use TwitPic.

For Advisers Only

4. Curated Links5 points: You have an account on Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Publish2 or another social bookmarking site.3 points: You’ve seen these sites.1 point: You’ve forwarded a link.0 points: You thought curating was for museums.

For Advisers Only

5. Social Network5 points: You’re a Facebook expert (pages, groups, photos, links, apps).3 points: You’ve seen these sites.1 point: Your main Facebook activity is Farmville.0 points: No active Facebook.+1 if you manage a fan page or a group. -1 if you have MySpace.

For Advisers Only

6. Websites5 points: You own your own domain name and manage the site.3 points: You’ve dabbled online with HTML or WordPress.1 point: You are mainly a user, not a creator online.0 points: You think the Internet is a “series of tubes.”+1 if you access on your phone. -1 if you use WebTV.

For Advisers Only

7. Flickr5 points: You have a Flickr account and post images regularly.3 points: You’ve browsed Flickr.1 point: You know Flickr exists.0 points: You’re wondering why this candle term is misspelled.+5 if you know about Creative Commons and have abided by a CC license.

For Advisers Only

8. Video5 points: You’ve created and uploaded a video to YouTube or another site.3 points: You’ve watched multiple YouTube videos.1 point: You’ve maybe seen a couple videos online.0 points: You didn’t know YouTube was an online video source.+1 if you have seen the Old Spice ads.+5 if your question was in one.

For Advisers Only

9. MiscellaneousBonus Points:+2 if you use RSS feeds+2 if you read Mashable.com+2 if you have apps for news+2 if you have apps for lifestyle+2 if you’re on LinkedIn+2 if you’ve made a Google Map+2 if you use Google Docs

For Advisers Only

Scoring35+: Impressive! You’re techy. You probably already tweeted your score.25-34: Not too shabby. You’ll probably update your Facebook about this later.11-24: You’re somewhat techy, but you could to kick it up a notch. Ask your students how.10 and under: Time to start living in the 21st century.

For Advisers OnlyWhat does today’s adviser

need to think about?Logan Aimone, MJE, executive director

National Scholastic Press Association

For Advisers Only

Print• Although it has faced challenges from

broadcast media, it remains the most common, widespread and portable form of mass media.

• What is the impact on the school community when printed media are eliminated?

• What should be printed?

For Advisers Only

Pixels• While the printed page has been the

dominant medium in scholastic journalism, online publishing has started to take off.

• More student newspapers — and even magazines and yearbooks — are turning to the Web for a variety of reasons.

For Advisers Only

Pixels• The Internet allows for instant publishing

of content rather than the infrequent publication of print.

• Compared to the expense of printing an edition of the newspaper, a website is dramatically less expensive — maybe even free.

For Advisers Only

Convergence!• The term convergence means a “coming

together” — and that’s what you have available to you today.

• Members of Generation Y (your students!) are comfortable with and operating in a converged media environment.

For Advisers Only

Convergence• Online tools allow a media staff to combine

multiple media to deliver content in the most appropriate format: text, audio, images or video.

• Online networks like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Delicious, Flickr and Twitter allow users to build a community and to customize and share content.

For Advisers Only

Convergence• Ultimately, you and your students need to

answer this question:

• What is the most appropriate format to use to tell this story?

For Advisers Only

Tools• Ultimately, it’s the content that matters.

• You have to be in a position to deliver the content in the most appropriate format and platform.

• So, what can you use to do that?

For Advisers Only

Social Media• Because teens are comfortable in this

environment, you need to shift your focus to take advantage of where your readers/viewers are.

• Engage your readers in a way that helps them (they get news) and helps you (you get tips for more news).

For Advisers Only

Social Media• Do you have any idea how big of an impact

social media are having on every aspect of our lives?

• Let’s watch a short video and see…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng(Social Media Revolution 2, May 5, 2010)

For Advisers Only

Social Media• A few highlights from the video:

• Nearly all of you (96%) are on a social network.

• That’s the #1 Web activity.

• More than 500 million people are on Facebook. (More on that in a minute.)

• Fastest-growing segment is women 55-65 (is that you?).

For Advisers Only

Social Media• More highlights from the video:

• 80% of Twitter use is by mobile device.

• That’s instant discussion, good or bad.

• Studies show Wikipedia is more accurate than Encyclopedia Brittanica.

• But that’s not an excuse for using it as your sole source.

For Advisers Only

Social Media• More highlights from the video:

• 78% of people trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust ads.

• 25% of Americans watched a short video in the last month on their phone.

For Advisers Only

Facebook• In June 2009, the average United States

user spent an average of 4 hours, 39 minutes on the site per month (~9 minutes per day), according to Nielsen Media.

• In January 2010, the average U.S. user spent more than 7 hours per month (~14 minutes per day) on Facebook.

• That’s more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon — combined.

For Advisers Only

15 Things to Think About This Year

Improving your operation in 2010-2011

For Advisers Only

1. Be excellent• It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say

it anyway: Strive for excellence.

• Excellence isn’t settling for pretty good.

• Good enough is not good enough.

• Set goals to improve with each edition or deadline.

For Advisers Only

2. Get out there• You can’t really get a story unless you get

out and talk to people. In person.

• Yes, in person!

• You can always tell the difference when a writer has observed and interviewed in person.

• E-mail or chat interviews fill a need, but they are not as effective as being there.

For Advisers Only

3. Find stories• Establish a solid beat system in place to

gather the routine news.

• Expect that each beat will yield some briefs and longer stories.

• Demand enterprise from reporters (editors, too). That means digging around to find something newsworthy and writing it in a compelling, interesting and useful way.

For Advisers Only

4. Show us• Probably the most widely read (and most

liked) stories are those that tell interesting stories about people.

• Your school and community are full of these stories.

• Localize national issues with the stories of people around you.

For Advisers Only

5. Get a Website• There’s really no excuse today for not

having at least a basic Web site.

• Basic: You could post a PDF version of the printed paper.

• Advanced: You could update news throughout the school day.

• An online presence opens up a new universe of multimedia opportunities.

For Advisers Only

6. Get social• MySpace and Facebook accounts are free.

Interact with readers by posting links to stories and by getting tips from readers.

• With 60 million Facebook status updates daily, you can monitor what’s happening or ask them to let you know about events occurring outside school (or at school but not known).

• Let readers submit photos, letters, etc., to you through these pages.

For Advisers Only

7. Start Tweeting• Twitter is a free “microblogging” site that

works in 140-character messages.

• As you gather “followers” you will be able to pass along messages to a wide group of people. That means instantly informing your followers when news happens (sports scores, lockdown, free burritos at Chipotle).

• Use hashtags (#word) to label and search.

For Advisers Only

8. Get Delicious• Delicious.com is a social bookmarking site

that is, guess what, free.

• You can post links there that will be useful to others.

• The links can be labeled and sorted in a number of ways.

• This is a way to enhance content beyond the printed page.

• You can also see what others bookmarked.

For Advisers Only

9. Use Flickr• Flickr is an online image-sharing service.

Yep, it’s free for a basic account.

• You can make your images available for people to browse.

• Through a Creative Commons license, you can get images to use (free and legal!).

For Advisers Only

10. Use YouTube• YouTube is a solution to upload videos.

• It might be blocked on your school’s computers.

• However, it’s not blocked on mobile devices or at home, which is where most people will probably access the videos anyway.

• If you need a site to get by school filters, try SchoolTube.com instead.

For Advisers Only

11. Do multimedia• With a website, not only can you update

news and information as frequently as you want, you can improve the content.

• The newspaper can showcase one or two images from an event. Online, you can have dozens — with audio and captions.

• Yearbook staffs can promote the book through “sneak peeks” or extras that are posted online.

For Advisers Only

12. Be the #1 source• Be serious about being the top information

source for all things about your school.

• If someone wants to know a fact, score, date, record, time or whatever — be the place they turn for that information.

• Own sports stats, especially JV and lower squads.

• Scoop the local paper. Doesn’t it feel good when that happens?

For Advisers Only

13. Do fewer…• Horoscopes and advice columns

• Superficial columns (carpe diem, senioritis, slow drivers, etc.) that could be in any year

• Double-truck stories on “hot topics” that aren’t tied to a news event. Make sure you have a news peg if you’re committing that much space.

For Advisers Only

14. Follow the law• Obey copyright.

• Only use “fair use” images or get permission. Flickr lets you search for Creative Commons images.

• Use copyright-free music unless you pay a royalty.

• Saying it’s “for education” doesn’t let you off the hook.

• Know privacy rules. Know your rights.

For Advisers Only

15. Remember…• The role of student media is to inform and

enlighten your audience.

• You and your students have a responsibility — an obligation, even — to take that seriously and to do it well.

• Your audience needs you to tell them the things no one else will tell them.

For Advisers Only

Thanks!Twitter: @NSPA

Facebook:National Scholastic

Press AssociationAny questions?