ALJ301 reactions, thoughts and musings

RSS feeds, the “blogosphere” and all its technological spin-offs, Twitter, Tweetscan, social bookmarking… it’s a far cry from the trusty pencil and notepad of old reporting.

But as Stephen Quinn explains in New tools for reporting (can’t seem to find a link for you, sorry), some entrepreneurial journalists are using these latest technologies to scoop the opposition, find great stories and actually save time.

I’ve seen how handy RSS feeds (“really simple syndication”/”rich site summary”) can be when job hunting: the jobs come to you! For time-poor, information-hungry journos the concept is brilliant. Spend a few hours hunting down some decent blogs and then sit back and wait. As simple as checking the emails in the morning.

Of course, the big beef with blogs and homemade sites is whether they’re authentic. We even have some sneaky marketing companies masquerading as citizen journos to peddle products (”astroturfing“). Never fear, whois is here! Of course, the database of registered domains requires a little technological know-how and does take away from the quick and ease of an internet find.

But no one wants to end up like poor old Terry Lane… He sure could have used this.

– Koren

Oh – and if you’d like to see an interesting YouTube video on a solo journalist and his escapades in war-torn countries, armed only with a video camera and laptop, head here.