In defense of PowerPoint

An article in Politico today notes that Paul Ryan, the Republican candidate for vice president, recently used PowerPoint in a campaign appearance. The story’s reporter, Roger Simon, takes that opportunity to lash out at Microsoft’s software:

Conducting a PowerPoint presentation is a lot like smoking a cigar. Only the person doing it likes it. The people around him want to hit him with a chair.

To be sure, PowerPoint can be a terrible tool in the hands of a bad presenter. A common problem is a presenter who reads each bullet point directly from the slide. No one likes to sit in a classroom or a conference room and endure that.

But PowerPoint can also be effective when used well. It’s among the tools I use in my courses. My goal with PowerPoint is for each slide to illustrate one idea or example. I also want each slide to be the starting point for discussion in class.

Bashing PowerPoint is a popular sport. So is bashing Twitter. People who dislike these ways of communicating information should look to the person using them, not the formats themselves.

UPDATE: Simon’s article is apparently a misguided attempt at satire. I didn’t get it. Regardless, my stance on PowerPoint is serious and unchanged.

Dubious assertions in today’s “Mallard Fillmore”

The comic strip “Mallard Fillmore” frequently takes aim at the news media. On occasion, it goes after journalism education, usually under the title of “Meanwhile, at a journalism school near you…”

Today’s variation on the theme contains two dubious assertions:

• The news media have trashed Mitt Romney’s Mormon beliefs.
• Journalism professors wear ties.

I haven’t seen much evidence of either. Therefore, I respectfully request a correction.

What I did this summer

As a professor, I am sometimes asked: “What’s it like to have summers off? That must be nice.”

Indeed, the academic calendar is a kind one, especially compared with the night/weekend/holiday schedule that I worked for many years at newspapers. But summer in the academic world is not a long vacation consisting of sitting on the beach and drinking margaritas.

Summer brings a different sort of work, a lot of this and a little of that. Here’s a look at what I did this summer at UNC-Chapel Hill:

• Revised and expanded a textbook chapter on copyright law that will be published soon in the North Carolina Media Law Handbook.

• Judged entries in a contest that honors the best in travel writing.

• Wrote a book review for Journalism & Mass Communication Educator.

• Wrote posts and conducted interviews for this blog.

• Served as “editing coach” for 100 Gallons, the latest edition of the Powering A Nation project.

• Organized and moderated a panel discussion for  journalists visiting from South Korea.

• Met with colleagues who are going up for tenure and promotion this year, offering guidance about their CVs, teaching statements and letters of recommendation.

• Learned about my new role on the campuswide Faculty Grievance Committee.

• Led a discussion on headline writing for the student staff at WhichWayNC.

• Made a presentation on alternative story forms to Triangle-area writers and editors.

• Taught a session about online headlines and Twitter at the North Carolina Newspaper Academy.

• Wrote questions for the new grammar and usage test that students will take this fall.

• Served as one of three instructors at an editing bootcamp in Chicago sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society.

• Oversaw the inaugural ACES Award for Research in Editing.

• Organized and moderated the annual Breakfast of Editing Champions at the AEJMC conference.

• Learned Sakai, an online teaching tool that UNC is using in place of Blackboard.

• Revised my syllabus (.pdf) and handouts for my editing course.

• Prepared to teach my first online class, Writing For Digital Media, which is part of a certificate program in technology and communication.

It’s been a busy, productive summer, and there’s still a week to go before the fall semester begins. And there still might be time for a beach day and a margarita before autumn’s chill arrives.

A week in Chicago

This blog will be quiet for the next week or so. I will be in Chicago to attend two events:

• An editing bootcamp sponsored by the American Copy Editors Society. I’m one of three presenters at this all-day workshop.
• The annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. My main task there is to serve as moderator for the Breakfast of Editing Champions.

It’s my first trip to Chicago in 15 years, and I’m looking forward to it. While I’m there, I’ll avoid tired references to the Windy City, but I may try one of these lesser nicknames.

Perhaps I will see you there. If not, I will be Tweeting on occasion, and you can follow the conference overall there with the hashtag #AEJMC12.

Words and water

For the fourth consecutive summer, I am part of the Powering A Nation project at UNC-Chapel Hill. My role is editing coach, helping with anything to do with words. The project, part of the News21 initiative, gives students a chance to experiment with storytelling techniques.

In an approach similar to last year’s focus on coal, the student team this year chose water as its theme of the site, called 100 Gallons. Unlike last year, however, this iteration of the project returns traditional story text to a prominent role.

100 Gallons also has alternative story forms, interactive graphics and video. One challenge for the editing team was to write dozens of captions that pop up when the viewer pauses the video that serves as the hub for the presentation.

As in past years, I enjoyed the chance to work with talented, passionate students. I am proud and grateful to be a part of the Powering A Nation effort, and I’m happy that words, in display text or story text, are still essential to journalism.

Q&A with Jonathan Jones, editor of Carolina Blue Magazine

Jonathan Jones is the editor of Carolina Blue Magazine, which focuses on athletics at UNC-Chapel Hill. A recent graduate of UNC, Jones was sports editor at The Daily Tar Heel and had internships at CNNSI.com and The Gaston Gazette. In this interview, conducted by email, Jones talks about his job at the magazine, his use of social media and print vs. online journalism.

Q. Describe your job at Carolina Blue Magazine. What do you do on a typical week?

A. I’m the editor of the magazine, which typically means I’m an overseer. But really I like to get my hands dirty and do a lot of everything with the magazine.

A typical week during, let’s say football season, includes going to Larry Fedora’s press conference on Monday and talking to players throughout the week to get enough quotes for an advance on Saturday’s game. That’s when the express edition comes into play. Our online subscribers get a weekly PDF emailed to them known as an express edition. That recaps the week that was while looking ahead to UNC’s next opponent.

Just because I’m a magazine editor doesn’t mean I don’t do game stories like the other print/online writers. While I put together the express editions, I’m communicating with freelancers, planning the next issue of the magazine, designing the current magazine and putting together longer, more broad articles that can occupy the monthly publication. It slows down in the summer, but when basketball and football overlap come late September/early October, I’ll be underground.

Q, You’ve worked for both print and online publications. Which medium do you prefer?

A. It has to be print. I’ve known I wanted to go into sports writing since I was 5, reading The Charlotte Observer back home and subscribing to Sports Illustrated a few years later.

I have an affinity to print, and that undoubtedly makes me biased. Along with that, no matter how many articles I write, there’s always something special about seeing your byline on paper, and you just don’t get that same feeling online.

Furthermore, I like having a word/inches count. On the Internet we can all ramble, but print places a premium on your words, and I feel like some of that may have been lost in the shift from print to online.

Q. When you were at The Daily Tar Heel, you wrote columns that irritated fans at East Carolina University and N.C. State. What did you learn from that reaction?

A. The Russell Wilson article happened first, and I really wasn’t prepared for the reaction. I had gotten hate mail before, but in the past I had always known it was going to come. I wrote that column and honestly forgot it was in the paper the following day until Twitter started blowing up.

What I realized after that column was that I didn’t touch on every possible counterpoint. Rightly so, the critics exploited those holes, and from that I learned to cover the other side of the argument better when writing something that may irritate folks.

The reaction from the ECU column was huge. I had learned from the amount of comments on the NCSU column that I couldn’t, nor should I, respond to everyone. So that day as my email piles up with some thoughtful (and not so thoughtful) messages from folks, I didn’t respond. I also didn’t get into any Twitter arguments. It just wasn’t worth it.

That’s not to say I don’t interact with those who critique me. In fact, quite the contrary. Since my days from the Gaston Gazette in 2005 until now with Carolina Blue, when I get emails from readers wanting further explanation or what have you, I do take my time and get back to them with what I hope to be a thoughtful response. For the ECU column though, there was no calming the masses, and individual emails wouldn’t have done any good. I made a folder specifically for messages regarding that column — it has 103 messages, some of which are still unread.

Q. You are active on Twitter. What is the role of social media in sports journalism?

A. When I was the sports editor of the DTH, I had everyone on my staff get a Twitter. Some of them hated it because of the notion that Twitter is all about quick status updates on your day/life.

Twitter is an incredible tool for sports journalists. I’m about to go on vacation, and every time I get away, I tell myself I’ll stay off Twitter. But it’s so difficult because once you get invested, you feel like you’re so far behind when you miss a day.

So much content is shared via Twitter (if you follow the right people). Those I follow are mainly sports journalists in the ACC, but I also follow plenty of national writers who create and share interesting articles, YouTube links, pop culture commentary, etc.

But as a sports journalist, you have to find the right balance. I’ve tweeted less than 10,000 times, and I’ve had my account for three years now. If you factor in my live-tweeting during games, you’ll find that I appear on your timeline a lot less than people I follow.

Just like with the print product, I try to place a premium on my tweets. When I live-tweet football or basketball games, I try not to inundate followers with up-to-the-second stats. Instead, I try to look go inside the game, add an anecdote from an interview with a player earlier in the week or just try to be funny (that fails sometimes). After the games, I like to tweet some interesting quotes from the coach and players while saving some info (things I see, 1-on-1 interviews, etc.) for my story.

Q. Many students at the journalism school at UNC-Chapel Hill have an interest in sports reporting and editing. What advice do you have for them?

A. This isn’t new advice, but it’s advice that should always be repeated: read. Read newspapers, read Sports Illustrated, read Mark Twain — just read good writing. The more you read and understand other writers’ styles, the more you can develop your own.

In that same thought, sports writing isn’t just about game stories. Anyone can write a game story, and in fact, even computers now can write game stories. When I crank out what I believe to be a good profile of a player or a team, that means more to me than a handful of front-page game stories.

That said, everyone has a story. That’s what I’ve told my staffers for years. And if you’re just starting out and you’re covering a non-revenue sport, don’t get discouraged. There are X players on that team, and each one has a story worth telling — and it may be a story that someone has yet to tell.

UPDATE: In August 2012, Jones accepted a reporting position at The Charlotte Observer, covering the Carolina Panthers football team.

Let’s have breakfast in Chicago

The Breakfast of Editing Champions returns to the AEJMC national conference in Chicago on Friday, Aug. 10. I’m the organizer and moderator for the event, succeeding the wonderful Deborah Gump in that role.

The breakfast, which will begin at 8:15 a.m., is free and open to anyone who teaches editing, appreciates editing or simply likes to hang around editing professors. That should be pretty much everyone, right?

This year’s breakfast is BYOB: Bring Your Own Bagel. I’m working on providing coffee for everyone. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by signing up here. Please do so by Monday, Aug. 6.

The agenda is simple, yet fundamental to journalism that matters: the future of editing and editing education. This year’s breakfast will include a panel discussion on the teaching of social media in editing courses. Panelists will be:

• Amy Bartner, social media editor at The Indianapolis Star
• Sue Burzynski Bullard, University of Nebraska
• Scott Kleinberg, social media consultant, Tribune Company
• Leslie-Jean Thornton, Arizona State University

A highlight of the breakfasts has been the Teaching Idea Exchange, in which we swap assignments and strategies. Jill Van Wyke of Drake University will again handle the exchange this year, so send your best teaching idea or tip to her at jill.vanwyke@drake.edu by Tuesday, July 31. Send her a few paragraphs on your idea and be ready to discuss it for a minute or two at the breakfast.

Special thanks to the sponsors of this year’s breakfast:

• American Copy Editors Society (www.copydesk.org)
• Department of Communication, Wayne State University (http://comm.wayne.edu/)
• Newspaper and Online News Division of AEJMC (http://aejmc.net/newspaper)
• Poynter’s News University (http://www.newsu.org)
• School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill (http://jomc.unc.edu)

See you in Chicago!

UPDATE: Registration for the breakfast is closed. It will be in room Chicago F at the conference hotel.

Thank you, Ruth Walden

Ruth Walden, who teaches media law at UNC-Chapel Hill’s journalism school, is wrapping up the spring semester, and with it, a 31-year career in academia, most of them in North Carolina. At a going-away luncheon this week, Ruth estimated that she has taught 120 courses, or about 4,800 students, while at UNC.

I was one of those students, though I never took a course with her. For me, Ruth was mentor in two important phases of my life, and I’m grateful for her guidance.

GRADUATE SCHOOL

When I was a master’s student in the journalism school in the 1990s, Ruth was my adviser, and she gave excellent advice on coursework and preparation for my thesis. Because of my interest in the First Amendment and media law, she agreed to lead my thesis committee.

Ruth was the ideal adviser for this project, titled “Newspaper Distribution and the First Amendment.” The research centered on legal battles over the placement and appearance of newspaper newsracks, among other issues surrounding newspaper circulation.

From start to finish, I relied on her help to research the topic, organize my findings and present them in a clear, cogent manner. Ruth pored over drafts of each chapter, writing extensive notes and asking probing questions. She was a tough editor.

It was difficult but rewarding work. Ruth’s advice, questions and suggestions made my thesis a significant piece of research that I was able to use to write papers that were accepted at academic conferences. Her rigorous approach also prepared me for the thesis defense, which many graduate students find to be daunting. Thanks to Ruth’s preparation and thorough vetting of my research, the defense was more of a conversation about the topic more than a defense of my thesis. The result was a true exploration of ideas, and it was a wonderful experience.

JUNIOR FACULTY

I joined the faculty of the journalism school in fall 2005, and Ruth became my faculty mentor. Again, she provided invaluable counsel on issues of teaching, research and service.

A few times each semester, Ruth took me to lunch at a Mexican restaurant on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill so we could discuss my progress in each area. She kindly picked up the tab each time.

The tenure process can have a “doom and gloom” aura, but Ruth made the path to tenure navigable, even enjoyable. She did so by explaining the expectations of the journalism school and the university, and how I could meet them.

Her guidance in this area gave me confidence to not only meet those expectations, but to beat them. I worked hard in each facet of my job, and in each area, Ruth gave me a gentle and steady push in the right direction. In 2010, I was granted tenure and promotion, and to celebrate, Ruth and I returned to the Mexican restaurant. This time, I paid the bill.

Ruth Walden is retiring this year, effective July 1. Although she will no longer be on the faculty, her influence and guidance will continue on via the faculty and students she has mentored here. Now I find myself in the role of mentor, both to graduate students and junior faculty. I’m pleased to pass along the type of assistance that Ruth has given me all these years.

So thank you, Ruth, for being a great mentor, colleague and friend. I will miss your words of wisdom — and your laugh — around Carroll Hall.

Student guest post: For internships, think small

Students in JOMC 457, Advanced Editing, are writing guest posts for this blog this semester. This is the 13th of those posts. Ashley Russell is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill who is majoring in editing and graphic design. She hopes to become a book editor when she graduates in the spring of 2013.

Are you on the hunt for the perfect summer internship to complement your major? Or are you bummed because you didn’t get an interview for the big editing or publishing companies in New York? Well, as it turns out, your alternative plans could be better for you than your dream summer internship with HarperCollins (not that getting your dream internship is necessarily a bad thing).

As a junior, I know all about searching for that senior summer internship that will help your resume when you start applying for jobs. However, sometimes finding a smaller company can be just the right thing for you.

That’s what happened to me. I had searched the University Career Services website for hours every week to no avail. Every internship that I could possibly apply for was in some big city and unpaid. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to go to New York City and live without a steady income. Factor in 40 hours of an internship a week, and that leaves little time to work elsewhere to pay for it all.

Fortunately for me, my combing of the UCS website paid off with an internship at Technical Information Publishing Solutions, or TIPS. TIPS is a publishing company in Carrboro. It is less than a mile away from my house, and I had never heard of it. TIPS works with companies to create and edit books. One of the main companies that TIPS works with is W.W. Norton, better known to college students as the creator of Norton anthologies.

Most people come back from internships at big companies and talk about how they didn’t do much more than make a bunch of photocopies and run errands. I am almost at the end of my internship, and I have learned so much. I have learned all about the process of book publishing and what it entails. With such a small office of only three full-time workers, TIPS offers an environment that is conducive to learning, which is what an internship is all about.

Although an internship with a big company may look great on a resume, it is not necessarily the best way to get the best experience possible. Working in a small organization allowed me to learn about every aspect of book publishing and allowed me to hone my skills even more.

Plus, as a UNC-Chapel Hill student, you have so many options. There are many small publishing companies and presses within a 25-mile radius (including Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, Duke University Press and Oxford University Press) that can offer students the opportunity to gain and polish their skills with publishing. Sometimes a smaller company can be the best place for you to grow.

Student guest post: Are hubs the next wave or the death knell of copy editors?

Students in JOMC 457, Advanced Editing, are writing guest posts for this blog this semester. This is the 10th of those posts. Miranda Murray is a junior majoring in editing and graphic design at UNC-Chapel Hill. She will work for Media General in Richmond, Va., this summer.

When I first got the phone call to hear that I had been offered an internship position this summer copy editing, I was so excited that it didn’t occur to me that there was no Tribune or Daily or Journal at the end of the company’s title — I just said yes. But after the initial rush, I looked up the company online to realize that I had been placed at an editing hub, a relatively new concept now being turned to as a solution as newspapers downsize and technology expands.

Like many other changes in the newspaper world, the advent of hubs has been greeted by both bitterness and hope. The entire point is to consolidate editing and design to be more cost-effective, with more emphasis placed on reporters’ abilities to turn in relatively clean copy that doesn’t require much reworking. This consolidation equals taking copy and design desks out of newsrooms, a move that several large media companies including Gannett, Media General and Tribune have been steadily pushing.

Here in the Triangle, the newspaper community felt these changes in 2011 when The News & Observer, one of the area’s largest newspapers, decided to move its design and editing desks from Raleigh to Charlotte. In fact, this blog was one of the loudest voices against this decision.

Succinctly, some of the criticism I could find of what seems to be the future of copy editing at the moment includes the loss of local knowledge, more miscommunication between the newsroom and the editing desks, and creating more responsibilities for an already thinly stretched staff.

But in the interest of fairness, several bloggers also fired back at the criticism, including Brian Throckmorton, who commented on a blog post by John McIntyre about his experience working at a hub. He wrote that taking a copy desk out of the newsroom won’t necessarily translate to a loss of local knowledge thanks to the ease of electronic communication. He also brought up the point that newspapers are dwindling in size and that there is not enough work to justify so many copy positions. Other bloggers simply took the mindset that people needed to cut their losses and adapt to this newer form of copy editing.

I personally find this tremendous discussion on the good and evil of copy-editing hubs intriguing, considering that I will spend my summer experiencing firsthand how the process works. Since I have no real experience working day-in and day-out on a copy desk housed within a newspaper, I have no prior expectations of what this internship will bring – but in the end, if this is the path I need to take to one day become a copy editor, I plan to take it.