I recently had the opportunity to teach a MOOC on Data-Driven Journalism for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas along with four other data journalism experts in the field. For journalism educators seeking to jump into the MOOC world, I share my insights on this experience in this recent PBS MediaShift article.

When we think of the social media industry, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may come to mind, but what about Pinterest? You may be surprised to know how big of a social media contender they have turned out to be. Pinterest, launched in 2010, remains a big player in the social media market. Experian Hitwise US, ranks the photo-sharing platform as fifth in terms of social media traffic as of August 2013 with over 35 million visits. Pinterest is no small contender. According to Business Insider, they now have 25 million members and they are currently valued at $2.5 billion. So, is Pinterest still relevant for the news industry to use?

This week I highlight some of the news organizations that are using Pinterest for innovative purposes and shedding light on new ways that Pinterest can open the door for nonprofit news organizations to use the platform to build new audiences and engage with the community. Read more on the INN site >>

Finding the right person to join your news organization can be a challenge. The recruiting and hiring process can be lengthy but if you take the right steps, it can make all the difference when you have that great staff member join your team. This week I will be sharing tips on how to find that great hire. Read more on the INN site >>

Social coding events like coding workshops, codeathons, and hackathons seem to be happening on a weekly basis in the United States and around the world. Do a quick search online and you will be surprised to see the number of events being held in your own state or city. The premise of these social coding events is to bring people together with different skills sets (e.g. designers, developers, journalists, etc.) for a few hours to a few days (depending on the event), to learn (code or new skills) or to build something (an idea, an app, a platform, a data visualization, etc.) and in the process, network with each other, build community and hopefully have a good time. This week I take a look into what it takes for a nonprofit news organization to implement its own social coding event. I had the opportunity to talk with three coding event experts who share their insights on what news organizations need to keep in mind when deciding to host a coding event.
Read more on the INN site >>

Collaboration has become the norm in many newsrooms today. A newsroom cannot function without collaborative processes, a solid team and digital tools that can help support that collaboration. This week I offer some digital tools that can help facilitate collaboration in the newsroom whether you are an editor, designer, coder or reporter in the news organization. Read more on the INN site >>