Behind the Scenes

Got something to say? We know you do. That's why we post a TalkBack online discussion forum with at least one commentary in every issue of Education Week. We're also planning to let readers post comments to all Education Week articles. We want to know what interests our readers, and we consider TalkBack one gauge of popular interest. But maybe it's not a good yardstick. Maybe you don't have time to participate even if the topic does interest you. Maybe the people who post responses are only those who like to hear themselves talk (or type...).

As we've mentioned before, we're working to add even more multimedia storytelling to the site-via podcasts, photogalleries, and audio segments. Besides reading and watching education news, talking about educational issues with other readers may be even more productive. Our online chats give you a chance to send questions to featured guests, including policy wonks, researchers, educators and members of the media, and read their answers live or in our chat transcripts. We hope that our "In Other News" blog will give you an enticing taste of some of the slightly offbeat stories and goings-on we may not include in our regular coverage. TalkBacks provide the opportunity to discuss issues with other readers. Comments on every article would expand on this, giving you the chance to respond to any article you wanted. Would this be helpful? Or just distracting? We're curious.

Some people say technology is creating a more isolated world where every interaction is separated by two monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, a video screen. This type of removed conversation may be instantaneous, critics say, but it's less meaningful, less personal. Plus, who can resist the smell of fresh newsprint, the definitive turning of a page, the rustle of a creased paper, the safe place to rest your coffee mug on your desk or kitchen table? We know it's hard to compete with old faithful, The Printed Word. But, the way we see it, we're not competing, we're enhancing. Edweek.org is your touchstone, your town square, a place to voice your opinions and meet with the rest of the education community. So enjoy your weekly fill of education news with paper in hand. But, when you're done, stop by for some conversation. Raise your hand, pass a note, talkback.

And thanks for dropping by.

Rebekah Lewis
Online Producer
Edweek.org

Posted by at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Podcasting. Heard of it? Maybe you have (it's been in popular use since 2004). Do you know what it means? You probably do have a fair idea by now, but this link will help you out, too. Do you know how to create a podcast? This might be more of a test, but don't worry, we're not entirely sure ourselves yet, although we're a lot closer to knowing than we were six days ago.

I recently attended the inaugural PodCamp in Boston to glean as much information as possible about podcasting; how to produce them, how to choose good content, and how to get them out to your public. We are working to produce a podcast for edweek.org subscribers that would provide you with content from all areas of our site, as well as milking the knowledge and expertise of the more than 30 staff writers, editors, and producers working here at EPE towers.

Of course, before we crank out the podcast, we need a solid idea for good content. That's where you come in. Yes you, our readers. What would you most like to hear from an edweek.org podcast? We have some ideas of our own, but you are the ones who would be listening to the show, so if you have ideas, please forward them to me at cstone@epe.org. If you want to sample other news podcasts as a taster, here are some picks:

• CNN
• MSNBC; and
• Jim Lehrer's NewHour podcast.

For the past five years I have produced most of the audio on the edweek.org site, and I believe podcasting is our next step to further enhance our product. No longer will you have to be at your computer to read, listen, or view a news story or feature from edweek.org. Our idea is for you to be able to take edweek.org with you in the car, or on the bus, train, or even along on the short walk, or hard run home from the office.

As my colleague Cheri notes below, we at edweek.org strive to deliver content to our users in ways that are innovative but, more importantly, useful. This past year we have added an RSS feed to the site, produced video content to accompany stories, added various blogs, and continued to provide creative audio and photo galleries to enhance Education Week stories and edweek.org original content.

Quite soon, the edweek.org podcast will add to this mix.
Cheers

Craig Stone
Senior Online Producer
Edweek.org

Posted by Craig Stone at 12:29 PM | Permalink

You might have heard the term "multimedia storytelling" before. It has been around even before broadband connection was available to consumers. Now, with broadband connection at almost 60 percent of U.S. households, multimedia is everywhere. You can hardly visit a major news site without seeing something labeled as “multimedia” (or sometime categorized as “interactive”).

What Is It?
Multimedia combines traditional storytelling formats (i.e. text, audio, video, photo etc) to more effectively tell a story and thus enhancing users understanding and experience. However, a multimedia piece might not necessarily include all the traditional formats (sometimes even just one format). What separates this format from other traditional formats is non-linear storytelling. Multimedia is (or should be) interactive and it allows users to control how they go through a story. Interactivity—doesn’t it sound like something made for the Web? And it has been propelled largely by the development of the Internet.

Multimedia at edweek.org
At edweek.org, we’ve been producing multimedia content for a while now. For instance, we regularly produce audio/photo slideshow galleries, and interactive graphics.

We would like to do more. We'd like to offer content that fully utilizes the potential that multimedia storytelling and the Web provide. This was the motivation for me to attend the University of North Carolina Multimedia Bootcamp last month.

A First Attempt
The Bootcamp was a 6-day workshop hosted by UNC at Chapel Hill that focused on multimedia storytelling. It was intense, with 12-hour days (hence the name “bootcamp”). Presenters were experts in their fields (i.e., video, audio, info graphics, etc). Participants were made up largely of photojournalists (what I used to be) and also videographers, newspaper editors, and online producers/designers (what I am now).

The fun part was actually producing stories in various media. In order to do “multi”-media, one would first need to know how to produce each medium (and produce it well), right?

Below is a video clip produced by me and three other participants at the Bootcamp (click play button please).

Each of us took turns shooting video footage and later edited the 20-minute footage to a 1-minute clip. This is no Pulitzer (clearly) but a humble first attempt. We hope to bring more multimedia content to you in the future, be it audio, video, interactive graphics, or all of these.

Cheri Hung
Online Producer and Designer

Posted by Cheri Hung at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)