Investing in Online & the Future of Journalism

[Alex Klein]

Hello all,

Fun stuff! The Duke Chronicle is looking to spend some money on our Online Department, because we currently have no office space, no special software, and no hardware of any kind. 

I'm looking for a few items from anyone who's willing to provide them:

1. How much does all your Online Department stuff cost? (hardware, software, even things like tables, chairs, etc.)
   
2. What do you have? (computers, audio/video equipment, software, gadgets, monitors, etc.)
   
3. Where can we find the most cost-effective stuff?
   
4. What are 3 things we MUST have?
   
5. How many people are in your Online Department?
   
6. How much space do you get in the office? (as a percentage or in square feet)

Thanks, everyone. Also, anyone who wants to provide strategies for recruitment is welcome to do so! A/V and developers are our main priorities.

Alex Klein

Editor for New Media

The (Duke University) Chronicle

[Melinda Bardon]

1. Online Dept. cost: Besides my stipend of $300/month, nothing in the online dept. costs anything. We (the entire Vanguard) tend to rotate people to computers depending on our needs for the year, so the Mac I've got this year was not the Mac that last year's online editor used, and may or may not be the one next year's uses. We also all share software, office supplies, etc.

2. At my desk I've got a single-monitor Mac running OS X with CS3's Photoshop and inDesign on it, Safari and Firefox. I also make heavy use of the sticky notes function on the Mac for writing out code and regular use of a large whiteboard for ideas and project scheduling.

3. For computer hardware I would recommend newegg.com, they are almost always the lowest price with high product quality and customer service standards.

4. I can't help you with 4, I'm still figuring out essentials for my dept. Curious to know what others have to say about this.

5. Just me!

6. I get a desk, and the wall directly in front of the desk, and the back of a filing cabinet next to my desk that I use as a pseudo-wall for magnets.

--
Melinda Bardon
Portland State Vanguard
Online Editor
cell: 503.784.7249
office: 503.725.3883

[Emily Ingram]

The Daily Nebraskan got a decent chunk of money a while back and the then-Web head honcho bought a lot of really, really nice equipment. If I could go back and change that I would.

It's not that I don't like having nice equipment. It's that much of it is so advanced that most reporters are scared away from trying it out (and they tend to graduate just as they finally figure out how to use it).

In my view, your student newspaper is a place to learn: Don't make technology stand in the way of that learning. Don't feel like you need to go from 0 to 60 right away.

Note: I'm sure others will disagree with me on how nice of equipment newspapers need. They likely have very valid arguements. I'm just speaking from my experience.

How much does all your Online Department stuff cost? (hardware, software, even things like tables, chairs, etc.)

Not sure, to be honest. We've had six people in the same position over the course of three years, and the equipment we have has been collected over those years. Tables, chairs, etc. also rotate based on who needs what each year.

 
What do you have? (computers, audio/video equipment, software, gadgets, monitors, etc.)

Note: For audio slideshows and whatnot, we use Photo Department's cameras, lenses, etc.
Devices:

• 2 computers (Power Mac G5 and iMac, both running OS X)
• 2 monitors (Dell) hooked up to the Power Mac
  
• 1 Panasonic DVX100B video camera
• 1 Zoom H4 audio recorder

Software:

• Adobe CS3 Design Premium (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Bridge, Flash)
• Final Cut Express HD
  
• Soundtrack Pro
• Soundslides

Microphones:

• 1 Rode NT2A condenser microphone
• 1 Electro-Voice condenser microphone
• 1 Electro-Voice dynmaic omni microphone
• 1 Audio-Technica lavalier mic

Miscellany:

• More chords/stands/chargers/adapters/etc. than I know what to do with
• One big, sturdy desk
  
• Another big, not-so-sturdy desk that people constantly bump into and make me nervous
  
• Plenty of advanced audio mixing technology that is meant for recording studios that no one really knows how to use. (This is the stuff I'd rather trade back in for some Zoom H2 audio recorders that I could send any reporter out with to collect audio.)

Where can we find the most cost-effective stuff?

I haven't bought a ton of stuff, so I don't have much experience to give advice based upon.

What are 3 things we MUST have?

Note: I'm with Melinda on this one: I don't really know what the absolute essentials are, and if anyone has a hard and fast answer on this, I'm open to hearing it. I'm still trying to figure stuff out, too, but here's my one recommendation as an absolute essential because it's a good jumping-off tool into multimedia:

Audio recorder - My recommendation: Zoom H2. (See Mindy McAdam's post about them here.)

I like these because they produce good sound, are fairly cheap and are easy enough to learn.
For editing software, you can use Audacity for free. If you have money for editing software, I don't have any recommendations as I don't have enough experience on various software to really recommend one over another.

How many people are in your Online Department?

It fluctuates from semester to semester. Bare minimum is usually a Web director and four or so people who upload content to the Web (each working one night a week or so). This semester I have another assistant who is focusing on video and another who is focusing on interactive projects.

How much space do you get in the office? (as a percentage or in square feet)

We have two rooms: 8' x 10' room has computers and equipment storage in it. Other room is maybe 12' x 12' or so and we are in the process of setting it up as a studio for recording vidcasts and whatnot.

Sorry this reply is so long, but I hope it helps!

Emily Ingram
Web director
DailyNebraskan.com
(308) 991-0639

[Rick Martinez]

1. How much does all your Online Department stuff cost? (hardware, software, even things like tables, chairs, etc.)

We get a lot of our stuff for Student Media from the surplus department at the university.  Right now I mainly work off of my laptop and don't have a computer for myself.  But I have brought a monitor from home to the office and use that for my desk and hook up my laptop.  A keyboard "borrowed" from another section is where I input my codez and that's pretty much my work environment.  We did buy a few Flip HD video cameras on black friday and are starting to use those to do some video.

2. What do you have?

For online only, just a few Flip HD cameras and we use the photo department computer as our "multimedia" center.  It has Adobe Premiere installed and that's where we edit.

3. Where can we find the most cost-effective stuff?

tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, slickdeals.net. And find out if your university has a surplus department for free extras!

4. What are 3 things we MUST have?

A video camera, video editing software, and a CMS.  That's all you need to run your online publication and do multimedia. I'm sure your paper already has cameras that you can share for photos.

5. How many people are in your Online Department?

We have our own editor-in-chief (me) and I have a person in charge of video stuff.  We are currently also looking for someone to head up our Flash developments to do multimedia package type deals.

6. How much space do you get in the office? (as a percentage or in square feet)

I have an office but it's really far from the newsroom in the building so I barely use it, so I just have a small desk where I do most of my work so I can be in proximity to the section editors and other staff.

As far as recruitment, hire someone to be in charge of just recruitment.  It's very helpful.  They'd be the person (or team) in charge of visiting classes, putting up flyers, talking to department heads, etc. to find students who might be interested in working.

Also, we are starting to require our new staff to check if they qualify for federal work study to ease our hemorrhaging payroll.

Best,

Rick

[Andrew Roland]

Washburn just started developing it's online/multimedia offerings this year.

1& 2. Not much. We've got 2 consumer grade video cameras (Canon ZR900's, I think), 2 sets of wireless lavalier mics, 2 copies of Final Cut Express HD. All told, definitely less than $1000.

3. We bought our gear from B & H photo. We got a cheap tripod from a friend of mine at RadioShack for cost.

4. Camera, Computer, Software. The Canon's I mentioned work great. We share two iMacs with the print folk, and the final cut express software.

5. Aside from me, there are 4 regulars and others from the broadcast journalism department that freelance occasionally.

6. We share two computers on two desks with the print folk. So, we don't really have anything outright. Probably 10 square feet.

Recruitment: I handled recruitment myself. Washburn runs it's own live cable news show, so I recruited some of them and others with filmmaking experience.

Andrew Roland

Editor in Chief

Washburn Review Online

andrew...@washburn.edu

www.washburnreview.org

[Greg Linch]

For The Miami Hurricane:

1. Cost is hard to say, but No. 2 probably gives a good idea. The webmaster gets a stipend per print issue (because that's how all the all newsroom stipends are allotted) and I'm usually unpaid since my role (editor at large for online and multimedia) is mostly advisory.

2. Equipment

• Two 24-in iMacs with 4 gigs of RAM for online and multimedia
• Five design computers (iMacs and Mac G5s with 20-in Apple cinema displays) that can double for whatever on non-deadline days, as can photo G5 (We usually get 1 or 2-year-old G5s from the School of Comm. We beought the iMacs on our own last summer)
  
• A couple terabyte drives for video editing/storage
• A Web server with a battery backup and backup hard drive (500 GBs), with WordPress and SlideShowPro Director installed
• Two Canon HV20 kits from the School of Communication (kits include a shotgun, extra battery, filter)
  
• Two EV hand mics
• Two Edirol R-9s
• Two Sunpak tripods
• Copious mini-DV tapes
• Two Beachtek XLR adapters (give you two channels, oh yea)
  
• Final Cut Pro (on the multimedia iMacs)
• Adobe CS3 design premium (on all Macs)
• Two desks and two chair for online/multimedia (already were in the office)
• Misc video equipment

I may be forgetting other things, but that's a pretty comprehensive list.

3. I echo NewEgg and would B&H, Amazon, etc.

4. Big picture: the right people, full support from other newsroom departments and a budget (made possible by an awesome business office). More specifically, a robust/customizable CMS, audio/video gear and the requisite software.

5. People in our online department depends on how you calculate. Here's a rundown:

• Webmaster: manages the site, handles IT, add non-story content and does various other things), two multimedia editors (video, audio slideshows, etc.)
  
• Assistant webmaster: currently filled by visual editor because it's a developing position
  
• Me: advise, run Twitter account and help out in other situations).
  
• Somewhat less formally, the editor in chief: who also runs our blogs and essnetially oversees all breaking news

All the section editors add stories to WordPress (for next semester, I'm pushing for writers to do this directly). Also, regarding titles, the goal is make more of an online editor who can handle site maintenance and story editing, when necessary. Currently, the webmaster has less of a hand in the online reporting element.

6. Space: the two online/multimedia desks, located in the newsroom with the section editors, take up about as much room as one section editor's desk because have a small newsroom with very little room to expand. This will change when the new student union is completed in a few years. The design office is about one-fifth the size of the editorial office (newsroom). The business office is roughly half the size of the newsroom. Also, the design office is partitioned with less a quarter comprising a small office for the business office's graduate assistant, which doubles as the server room.

There's been talk about converting the old photo lab into a multimedia office but, given that we're expecting to move in a few years, the cost of converting it doesn't make much sense at this point.

Recruitment is something that definitely need to improve because we're expanding and increasing emphasis online.

Good luck!
Greg


--
Greg Linch
Editor at Large for Online and Multimedia
The Miami Hurricane
www.themiamihurricane.com
www.greglinch.com

Twitter: greglinch

[Joey Baker]

First off: woah. Very cool topic of conversation here.

Second: I can give some answer for The Daily Orange.

• How much does all your Online Department stuff cost? (hardware, software, even things like tables, chairs, etc.)
  

• God, no clue. I can say that just like every other desk in the paper, Online has a theoretic budget $500 per semester. But, with tough times and as a new department, that money may not really be there.

• What do you have? (computers, audio/video equipment, software, gadgets, monitors, etc.)
  

• The "Evolution Dept." Specifically has very little gear.
• The Photo dept has 2 iMac 20" that have Final Cut on 'em that can be used if it's later or early in production
• We'll be buying a bunch of flip cams this semester
• Most editing is done on the Video Editor's personal laptop
• We use the in house server, which is industrial quality. Several terabytes of storage, all backed up, etc.

• Where can we find the most cost-effective stuff?
  

• other nailed this one. newegg.com is great. Also check out pricegrabber.com

• What are 3 things we MUST have?
  

• I tweeted this earlier, but: competent people. This is far more important than any equipment you could ever buy. Spend your time and money on recruitment before anything else. re-training your current staff is part of that equation.
  Don't think of yourself as the online dept. Everyone is on that desk. Your area should be web-only content.
• Good audio is the most important thing. A good USB mic for recording podcasts, and several good field mics are critical.
• A workflow. 

• How many people are in your Online Department?

• see above, but we have one guy who edits video, a few people who shoot it (unpaid), and me, who is mostly advisory now.

• How much space do you get in the office? (as a percentage or in square feet)

• really? none. We've been working out of the conference room.

—Joey

[Rick Martinez]

I completely agree with Joey that competent people is a huge necessity
to get something like an online department off the ground. The first
and third things of his "3 things you must have" is incredibly
important to your success.