What I pledge to do to save my future as on Online Producer

Inspired by this blog post at Journalistopia from Danny Sanchez (@dannysanchez) of the Orlando Sentinel, I was forced to come face-to-face with reality.  As an online producer, what I do isn’t exactly technical rocket science. I am lucky to have a job at a transition time when most people have not had the chance to keep up with the online learning curve. And for most people, it’s no fault of their own, in my opinion.  Reporters are busy digging up dirt, driving to crime scenes and going to press conferences. I can understand how it would be difficult to use down-time to putz around teaching yourself the necessary online skills to survive in this business. Lucky for me, I am needed as the liason between print and online. But, as Danny points out, it is only a matter of time before new reporters will trickle into the newsroom already fully equipped with the skills that I use. Eventually the middle-man will no longer be needed. His post gives insight and encouragement on how to stay ahead of the game.

In the spirit of this, I am making a committment to myself to use at least a few of his 10 things we can do to protect our jobs.

1. Writing this blog post is one of them, which I do using WordPress and host myself at my own domain name. Soon, this blog will be the landing spot for MalloryColliflower.com, and include my Flash and Web portfolio.

2.  I’m still debating on which Lynda.com class to enroll in, but that is at the top of my list. Any input from journalists on which script would be most helpful for an online producer like myself would be greatly appreciated.  I have yet to delve into my ActionScript 3 book. Between the untouched book and a Lynda.com class, that might be a good place to start.

3. I would like to be more of a fly on the wall in the graphics department at The Miami Herald. There are a lot of sharp, creative minds buzzing around there and even kindly eavesdropping on upcoming projects can’t hurt my own creative juices. Though my skills are modest at best, I would like people to know that I have them.

4. Lastly, I need to do more independent journalism. Being an online producer doesn’t give me the opportunities to keep my clips fresh and my portfolio well-stocked. If it entails taking more photographs with my Nikon D40x and using my eye a little more stategically when shooting, or borrowing my dads digital camcorder on days off just to get some practice, I need to do more. Putting together a Soundslide every once in a while takes little effort but can show editors my journalistic abilities. I’ve also got my own publishing outlet right here under my fingertips.

**Addendum**

What are you doing to improve the staying power of your online media job? What classes or courses have you taken to stay on top of your skills? I’d love some feedback in the comments!

If I was in school, this would be my first big exam

The 2009 Presidential Inauguration.

We’ve been prepping for the event all this week and will be continually adding new content to the homepage of MiamiHerald.com through the big dance on Tuesday. We will be staffed with five producers all assigned to different tasks to keep new info coming cleanly and smoothly. I’ll personally be tweeting from my own account (@malcolli) and you can catch all headlines from @MiamiHerald.  Stephanie Rosenblatt (@steph_rose) is building a graphic to contain all the good content from our inauguration page, similar to what she helped build for our ‘Cuba: 50 Years’ special report.

For now I’m assigned to attach links to new stories and moderate the comments sections, which I’m most excited about.  Being a “community moderator” is a role that pops up more and more on the job boards so I’m intrigued as to what monitoring comments will actually entail in real time.  I wasn’t lucky enough to be on staff during election night, which from what I’ve heard, was a newsroom party until five in the morning, but I don’t mind settling for this.  We’ve also been on the watch for a certain former Cuban dictator to pass away after back-and-fourth reports of his continuing failing health issues. In South Florida, that’s about as big as the news can get.

If I was back in school, the upcoming week would be like midterms, only nothing to study. But I’ll learn a lot, no doubt.

Mallory Colliflower: Online producer

After a long and patient wait spent folding clothes at Banana Republic, ladies and gentlemen, I have landed a job. Actually, I’ve been at said job for about a month now and every week gets more and more exciting and challenging. You know all the stories and photos and videos that are posted on your favorite newspaper’s Web site? Well there isn’t some robot there posting all that content.  Computers aren’t doing it either. Producers who monitor, edit and select content make sure things on those Web sites are fresh and newsworthy. Luckily, in the state of this economy and the state of the industry of journalism as a whole I can be proud, thankful and relieved to call myself an online producer at the Miami Herald. Gotta give mad props to my classmate and good buddy Adrian Ruhi who also works there who recruited me for the spot.

I’ve learned a ton so far working with the McClatchy content management system and tweaking my news judgement, which is what I’m trying my best to work hardest on. My boss, Shelley Acoca, has been coaching me to put myself in people’s shoes. “What are people thinking and talking about today?” That has been helpful so far. I even polled some peeps on Twitter to see if they thought news judgement was learned or innate. Got some confidence-boosting answers that mine could improve over time if I work at it.  I think I just need to find my niche. Having control over something so public and wide-read is a little jarring at first, but networking with other online producers on Twitter and getting to know everyone in the newsroom is making me more comfortable.

So that’s the 4-1-1. It’s likely that if you’re reading this you found it via Twitter, but if you didn’t, you’re much more likely to keep track of my happenings there (@malcolli).

We’re also working to tweet more from our Miami Herald twitter account (@miamiherald) so follow us to stay on top of your South Florida local news.

Stuff I miss about college

City-bus rides to campus with a thermos of hot coffee, great tunes blasting in my iPod and reading The Alligator.

Tailgates

All of my friends living in the same city

The kind janitors who worked in the CSE building who always made my day a little brighter

Dodging students during class changes while driving the UF Video & Collaboration Services van

Cheap beer

Satchels

Sitting outside at the Swamp for lunch dates on beautiful blue Gainesville days

Homework. Yes, I miss homework.

Tim Tebow sightings on campus

Long drives down the Turnpike during sunset to get home.

Midnight trips to TCBY

Weimer Hall and Gannett Auditorium, room 1064.

Etc, etc.

Three days in New York City

I had a few proud motherly moments during my trip to New York City this weekend.  Not that I’m in any way as cool as Mary’s own mom, but that we’d grown so close that it felt like my own little chickadee was spreading her wings, and that made me happy.

Mary is one of my closest friends and my roommate in college.  We were randomly assigned to the same dorm room for our freshman fall semester at UF and I couldn’t have been luckier to get such an awesome roommate. We lived together for three years in college and now she has thrown caution to the wind and moved to New York City to live out her big-city dreams, and her friends get to come spend a wistful weekend in the city with a free place to stay.

We ate some delectable food. In the East Village we had greasy but authentic savory Venezuelan arepas at Caracas, which tasted even better with a brown-bagged Corona to wash it down.  The place sat about six people total so we munched our dinner in the park.  The next day and right around the corner Colonel Sanders was put to shame by the fried chicken I had at The Pink Tea Cup. Soul food at its finest. What I was most looking forward to as far as pleasing my palate was concerned were the famous cupcakes of Magnolia Bakery.  They were good but a little dense and crumbly for my liking.  It’s hard to knock a bakery that cranks out fresh cupcakes until 12:30 at night.

Other than that we mostly just moseyed around, shopped and people-watched. The feelings of independence I gathered from living out Mary’s life in the city with her, even if it was only for three days, was just the motivation I needed and wanted to get out of my short trip.