Norgdom

Yesterday, I did my first Skype podcast. While doing the Podcast was relatively easy, setting it up was not as simple as I was led to believe. So I thought I’d share my little lesson with everyone out there, because I would love to see more people have a go at doing one.

First off, there are other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) products out there, but I had a Skype account already so this is what I decided I would use to conduct and record my phone interview.

Skype, for those of you who aren’t aware, is a great way to make phone calls over the internet. If you are calling someone who has a Skype account then that phonecall is free. What you will need though, is either a built-in microphone on your computer, or preferably a headset with microphone - like they wear in call-centres and bank ads these days.

The person I was interviewing did not have a Skype account and while I was keen to say “well get one” I took the plunge and paid for $16 credit to make a call from Skype to a landline. $16 is the minimum credit I could purchase, but given that the two-phone calls I have made have cost be a grand total of 4c it’s probably going to last a while
That was the method by which I was going to conduct the interview all sorted out. Now I had to figure out how I was going to record it. Foolishly, I had thought this was something Skype itself does, but that is not the case. Hint Skype people, this would be an awsome future feature (yes I am fully aware they are not actually going to read this :P)
To record the interview I was pointed in the direction of Audio Hijack Pro, which cost me AUD$43.58. There is a demo version, but it limits you to recording 10 minutes and since I want to be doing more podcasts I thought it was worth the investment.

From what I know about it, what it does is “hijack” the audio from a number of different applications  and record it for you. But before it can record both you and the person you are interviewing in Skype you need to install Soundflower (which is free), which just runs in the background and allows both audio streams (you and the interviewee) to be recorded. I realise this is  a very basic explanation about how it works and why, but it just works … well it did for me anyway.
The final part of the podcasting equation is then to edit it if you like. Personally I went for the raw thing, but as my skills get better this will be an area I will pay more attention to. I was recommended Audacity for this job and from the little play I had with the program this seems pretty simple to use.

Then it was a case of hosting the podcast somewhere so I could provide an audio link for the norg. I found Podbean to do the trick and those of you familiar with WordPress should find this pretty simple as well.  It did take a while for it to upload the file, but once it had it was all pretty easy.

If your head is spinning (mine was for a while) Richard Giles also recommended the Gizmo Project to me, which is a Skype alternative and rumoured to be easier to use and record with. Neither of us have used it though, but if anyone has, be sure to tell us about it.

Any other far more experinced podcasters out there be sure to drop us a line here. Also if you like the idea of podcasting and are interested in having a go the place to get inspiration is The Podcast Network, set up by Cameron Reilly.

On that note, I hope to hear all of you around the norg ….

PS. I work off a Mac so I’m not sure all my instructions translate to Windows …

We are chugging along with Phase II development on the site and hopefully we’ll have those features ready for you soon. I’ve already compiled a long list of things to start developing soon after.

You may have noticed some of the things around the site already, like our advanced search feature, which I realise needs a little tweaking - my search for audio files recently brought up a rather strange bunch of results. But I’m assured that has been fixed. So if anyone comes across some unusual search results let me know.  My developers love being nagged by me :).

We have also completed our advertising management system, which gives full tracking and reporting to advertisers on the site. I actually have had quite a few inquiries about advertising since our launch, but until I could get the system developed there was no real way of giving our advertisers solid reports. Now we can.

There’s one last ace up my sleeve that I can’t really write about yet. But I hope people have come to expect exciting things from us.  This one I can’t wait to announce. But I’ll have to…

Hope to see you around the norg …

And remember to tell your friends about us - they’ll love you for it!

You may have noticed the addition of a Cit J ranking in your profile.

Basically, it is a way of getting some reward for all your Cit J work here at PerthNorg.

All Cit J’s start off as cadets and work their way up to a Cit J 8, which is the most senior position on the Norg
You increase your ranking by adding stories to the site, from votes you recieve for those stories and also for the number of comments you make. We are just finalising a few extra features for the ranking system and then I will tell you all exactly how it works.

Thought I better mention it though, since I have had a few questions from Cit Js out there who have noticed it.

My blog has been sadly neglected while I have been busy finalising some other features that will be added soon.

In the meantime, I hope to see you around the norg … and keep that original content coming it’s fantastic!

This is worth a watch. Love that dry humour …

Well, the big news in the blogoshpere yesterday was that Tim Dunlop, who many might know from his long-time Australian blog The Road to Surfdom, will now be blogging for news.com.au with a new blog Blogocracy.

This sort of move on popular blogs from mainstream media (MSM) has happened overseas before, but I think this is the first high profile instance in Australia.

Tim says the move will give him the chance to get better interviews because he is writing for a recognised media organisation. I’m not too sure if I agree entirely with this. In fact, often writing for MSM can dampen the chances of getting interviews. A lot depnds on your pitch to the interviewee.

I’m wondering what the pay would be to blog for a site like news.com.au - anyone have any idea?

The other option bloggers have taken in getting more exposure is by joining a blogging channel, which usually have revenue sharing models. One example is b5media.
I do think it’s good for blogs to be part of a community and I have said before I am interested in developing our own blogs here at PerthNorg. They remain in the control of their owners and our bloggers have a revenue sharing model with us. For me that appears to be the best solution, but I would love to hear others thoughts on the matter.

And ofcourse, if you have an idea for something you would like to do, drop me a line at bronwenc@perthnorg.com.au - I’d love to hear from you.

Another important point about Tim’s move, and one I pointed to in my previous post is that new media does open doors for you The evidence is in.
I did my stripes on the Narrogin Observer reporting on sheep auctions and the like. There’s a new less smelly way to break into MSM journalism … and a myriad of other opportunities. After all, MSM, is not the ultimate objective anymore
UPDATE: Note to self - Try not to write posts when you have had four hours sleep. And learn to touch-type!

I wrote before that I was giving a talk to Curtin students about PerthNorg and new media. Well the event was last Tuesday night at the Victoria Park Hotel.

Victoria Laurie of The Australian couldn’t be there, but David Hummerston, who is Saturday editor and editorial counsellor at The West, came along to represent print media.

We had a lively discussion at times about the future of journalism, but we were there to inform the propsective journalists about their future career options.

I had a great time and I was impressed with the level of determination among the students to break into the media industry.

I was not surprised that the same lecturers were still telling the students that chances were most of them would not get a job in media. Wake up Prof, you don’t need a job at The West, ABC or any of the commercial channels to get a foot in the door anymore.
New media is where people are getting noticed.

Well, since a lot of the conversation was off-the-record here is a written copy of my speech:

I like to describe the norg as a news site with a twist. The twist is that there are no editors and infact there are no journalists.
All the news on the site – from the links, to original articles, photos, videos and podcasts are submitted by our members who register as citizen journalists – which we call Cit Js.
The norg is just one example of a growing movement in the media that is about user-generated content or citizen journalism.
It is not something that is going to go away and it will very much effect the industry, which you are all just entering.
It was just last week, after Australia announced its ‘old media’ new media laws, that David Kirk CEO of Fairfax came out and said that the future of newspapers is online.
But it is not just newspapers that are affected by the growth of new media. The internet allows for news to be seen through video, heard through podcasts at a time of the audiemces choosing– so it has an impact across the media landscape.
The evolution has in part been brought about through the growth of blogs and podcasts, which have enabled news to become a conversation. This is opposed to the traditional media model where news is a lecture.
The internet, through publishing platforms such as Blogger and Wordpress, has given many people with very limited technical ability the chance to publish their thoughts and views to an audience.
How big that audience is becomes less relevant because the market becomes fragmented as smaller audiences move away from mainstream media to niche media that appeals to them.
It also becomes we media – the media created by the people formerly known as the audience.
So where does the norg fit into this and I was I driven to found it?
There was a defining moment for me when I realised the future of media as we have always known it was about to change.
It was during the Iraq War that I started to hear about the rise of the Baghdad bloggers who were reporting about what was really happening in Iraq.
I came across a few after some searching, and in particular was influenced by Baghdad Burning and Baghdad Blogger.
While most of the mainstream media were reporting from their hotel rooms, these bloggers became the definitive voice for many about what was happening on the streets of Iraq. It was one of the first high profile examples where people were telling the world directly about what was happening around them and just as importantly people were listening.
The norg is my attempt to bring this conversation into the mainstream. Or bring the blogosphere to the broadasphere.
The way people interact with the news is changing. People want real authentic voices with which they can share and exchange ideas.
The facts are checked by the crowd, based on the theory that there is “wisdom in crowds”.
We had a case a few weeks ago where the local PR rep for McDonald’s submitted a story on McDonald’s “Make up your own mind” campaign.
And in fairness to him, he was honest in coming forward and admitting who he worked for, but there was a lively debate between the corporate McDonald’s and other Cit Js. Where else could this conversation take place?
PerthNorg is also about building a community. The more people who join our community and create and upload content the better we become.
So where does this leave all of you as future journalists?
Mainstream media will always have a role to play in society.
But the landscape is changing and it is important that all of you learn how to engage in this new space that is new media. Not only as journalists, but as authentic voices.
In a traditional newsroom, the internet will continue to have a big impact.
As a journalist you may not only be required to file story for the 6 o’clock news in the future, but you may also need to report it for the online news site. There will also be more of a demand to report on site what is happening, as online news needs to be fed 24 hours a day.
Print journalists will also have to master the art of video reporting and live scene reporting, previously more of a demand on radio and TV journalists.
In the mean time, there is nothing stopping you from getting online and taking part in this evolution. I think it is a great opportunity for you to get noticed, because mainstream media is watching.
I hope to see you all around the norg.
Also, thanks to everyone who sent me some ideas for my talk. There was a lot of ground to cover so I hope it wasn’t too all over the place!