Charlotte still needs N.C. — for now

Charlotte, N.C., has an impressive skyline. But is the city known well enough nationwide to stand alone in datelines in news stories?

On occasion, I have shown students in my editing classes a collection of news stories that identify Chapel Hill, N.C., as the home of Duke University. The Wall Street Journal and CNNSi.com are among those making this error, which UNC-Chapel Hill students find unfathomable and even offensive. (For the record, Duke is in nearby Durham, and the campus is known for Duke Chapel.)

I thought of that problem this week when I read that journalists and PR people in Charlotte, N.C., are asking the AP Stylebook to recommend that Charlotte stand alone in datelines and stories as big cities like Atlanta, Houston and Miami. They argue that Charlotte has hit the big time, especially with the Democratic National Convention coming to town this summer. The stylebook campaign has its own hashtag on Twitter. I’ve even seen at least one call for UNC-Charlotte to rename itself the University of Charlotte.

The AP Stylebook editors responded on Twitter that it periodically reviews its list of standalone cities but didn’t plan to make a change for Charlotte now. I think that’s the right call. Here’s why:

• When I was in Los Angeles in 2008, I was surprised at the lack of knowledge there about North Carolina. There some awareness of where UNC was located, and most people knew that college basketball is a big deal here. But there were lots of questions: Where did the Carolina Panthers play? (Charlotte.) Where did the Carolina Hurricanes play? (Raleigh.) And are those places in North Carolina or South Carolina?

• A friend who lives in Washington, D.C., posted a photo on Facebook from the Charlotte airport with the mildly snarky caption: “Greetings from layover country!” The image was of a sign with this motto: “Charlotte’s got a lot.”

• Another friend who grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Denver told me that she is often asked which state Charlotte is in.

• On a recent trip to Miami, I was asked by the hotel concierge where I was from. I told him North Carolina. His response: “I was in Charlotte this year for a few days for a conference. Nice city. What state is that in? Is that North Carolina?”

Indeed, there’s confusion out there, and that includes in the media and in advertising. Charlotte suffers for two reasons: People mix up North Carolina and South Carolina, and they mix up Charlotte and Charleston, S.C. (The existence of Charlottesville, Va., and Charleston, W.Va., doesn’t help matters.)

Charlotte is not alone in that regard. The New York Times and other media labeled Greensboro, N.C., as a S.C. city in coverage of the John Edwards trial. It probably doesn’t help that Greensboro sounds similar to Greenville — and North Carolina and South Carolina each have a Greenville.

This is where a stylebook comes in. A style recommendation should be about clarity for the reader. Does this word choice, abbreviation or spelling improve understanding of the news?

I  think keeping the “N.C.” after Charlotte adds detail and clarity. Helping readers is more important than boosting civic pride.

I suggest that people in Charlotte do the opposite: Rather than rejecting the “N.C.” abbreviation after the city’s name, embrace it. Own it. Make it clear that Charlotte is in North Carolina and that it’s not the place where the Civil War started or where Thomas Jefferson built Monticello.

Use the media hype surrounding the Democratic convention to play up your connections to the state, not play them down. Show the nation who you are and where you are. Afterward, we can revisit this stylebook discussion. What do you say, Charlotte?

UPDATE: In August 2012, the AP turned down Charlotte’s request, saying that “more detailed datelines help readers overseas and elsewhere grasp news locations.”

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.

Q&A with Elena Rue and Catherine Orr of StoryMineMedia

Elena Rue and Catherine Orr are the founders of StoryMineMedia, a North Carolina company that specializes in documentary storytelling. In 2011, they were among the News21 fellows who produced Coal: A Love Story. In this interview, conducted by email, Rue and Orr talk about their company’s mission, projects and business model.

Q. What is StoryMineMedia, and what do you hope to achieve?

A. StoryMineMedia is a visual storytelling company. We come from a photojournalism background with a focus on documentary-style video stories. We produce independent projects — stories we are passionate about, and are not necessarily getting paid to tell. And through those projects, hope to attract clients who like our style and see the value of using stories to communicate their message.

Q. How do you decide what projects to work on, and how do you go about reporting and editing them?

A. Most of our story ideas come from observing what’s going on around us. What stories aren’t being told, what stories are being told but could use a different perspective? How can we add to the conversation?

We recently released our first independent project, a quirky piece about a middle school student council election. “The Council” follows three eighth-graders as they navigate their way through the challenging landscape of middle school politics. The idea came from the flood of election coverage we’re all experiencing this year.

We wanted to offer a different perspective, and show what it could mean to “govern yourself accordingly.” Needless to say, we could learn a lot from these kids.Once we had the idea, we started contacting schools to learn about their student government systems and gauge interest. We chose a local middle school that was holding its first election in four years.

After meeting with the teachers and administrators, we did a round of pre-interviews with all of the candidates to determine which three we wanted to focus on. We chose Leah, Cara and Ryan because they are great and because they each represented something that added another layer of meaning to the project. (But we don’t want to spoil it, so watch “The Council” to see for yourself).

We filmed in the school and with our three subjects through the two-week campaign period and the election, and then came back for the first council meeting. We edit collaboratively, from identifying which parts of the interview should make the final script, to cutting scenes and choosing music.

In graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill, professors and peers were constantly critiquing our work. Carrying that kind of constant back-and-forth into our business pushes us to be more creative and do our best work. Plus, it’s a lot more fun that way.

What we love about this startup is that we get to do any kind of story we want. “The Council” was light and quirky, but the next piece we do may be about astrophysics or race relations in college athletics (really).

Since the stories we’ll cover will differ greatly, so will the reporting and editing process. That too will keep us constantly challenged and hopefully mean that our work only gets better from here.

Q. How do you use social media to research your projects and promote them?

A. Viewing good work and seeing different ways of storytelling is essential to our process. Whether it’s a full-length documentary, photo essay, text piece, graphic or oral history, we are always looking for ways to build on our storytelling skills.

Social media is one of the main ways we are exposed to work on a daily basis. It is how we learn about new projects, share work that we find interesting, and follow other people in the field.

We also apply that same principal to promote our own work. Our hope is that other people who are looking for work might find our multimedia pieces interesting.

As a small startup, we rely heavily on word-of-mouth, bloggers and tweeters to share our work beyond our own personal networks. In addition to our visual work, we use our blog to share our experiences as we try to build our company from scratch. We have learned countless lessons from people who have shared experiences with us, and we would like to do the same for people who are also starting out.

One of the beauties of social media is that everybody (who has an account!) has a voice. We of course learn every day from others in our field, but we also recognize that we operate in a relatively small world of multimedia journalists.

One of our goals is to use social media to hear from others who are not in our field. We used crowdsourcing to find our name, choose our logo and develop a launch strategy for “The Council.” We plan to reach out to people for many of our decisions and ideas as we move forward. We know this will make our projects better, and we hope that it will help others feel invested our work.

Q. There’s lots of talk about small startups like yours as part of the future of journalism. What have you learned from the experience so far, and what advice would you give to people considering similar businesses?

A. The most important piece of advice we have for people starting out is to make time for your own work. Our commitment to producing independent projects was made before StoryMineMedia was born. We believe that good work is the best advertising for our skills and our hope is that people who like our independent work, might ask us to do similar projects for their organizations.

In an ideal world, every client would want us to work creatively and push the boundaries. In reality, most organizations have specific needs that don’t always fit into the most creative package. We respect this, but we also believe that we need to push ourselves creatively to be able to grow and keep ourselves engaged. Our independent work allows us to spend as much time as we need on a project and think outside the box.

Q&A with Joe Ovies, radio host and blogger

Joe Ovies is co-host of a sports talk show on 99.9 The Fan, a radio station in Raleigh, N.C. He also writes a blog about sports for WRALSportsFan. In this interview, conducted by email, Ovies talks about his job, social media and the way sports talk has changed.

Q. You’re on the radio and you blog for the WRALSportsFan website. What is your typical workday like?

A. Outside of what happens between 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 99.9FM The Fan, the typical day fluctuates. The morning consists of sifting through Google Reader, catching up on Twitter and putting together notes for possible show topics later in the day. I’ll text or email with Adam Gold (co-host) throughout the day to get an idea of where he stands on an issue or take on a game.

The nebulous part of the day arrives around lunch time. There could be an interview taping or meeting to attend in the middle of the day before the show starts.

Most show prep actually takes place at home, where I do a ton of reading and listening to sports talk throughout the day. We have show meetings at the station twice a week with our program director for long-term planning and discussions of show format tweaks since listener habits are constantly evolving.

The day doesn’t end when the show ends at 7 p.m. During the high-traffic months of college football and basketball, I’ll spend most of my evenings watching or going to games. Obviously, I have to watch all this stuff if I’m going to talk about it the next day. It’s a rough life, watching sporting events for a living.

Q. How do you decide what to blog about, and what role do editors play in that, if any?

A. Local topics get priority. That’s what WRALSportsFan can provide better than any national outlet.

Want the full coach’s press conference from NC State? We have that. Missed the interview with Coach K on The Fan? It’s there. Opinion on North Carolina getting bounced by Kansas? I’ll write something on it. Local content is our bread and butter.

Oddly enough, I’ve never really had an editor. When I started the 850 The Buzz blog in 2005, it was your typical blog. No editor, snarky views on local sports and a comment section that would devolve into flame wars. I wrote what I wanted to write about with no input from upper management.

After the merger with Capitol Broadcasting in 2009, I was introduced to an environment with actual structure: operations manager, sports director, online editors, etc. However, not much has changed in terms of what I decide to write about. The only difference now is that there’s someone around to change the headline and correct my grammar. I write like I talk, which won’t please the grammarians.

Q. How do you use Twitter and Facebook as part of your job?

A. Twitter is versatile, so here is how I use it.

News gathering and distribution: The real-time nature of Twitter gives it a certain advantage over RSS, so it’s great for getting the most up-to-date news throughout the day. Who you follow matters, so I’ve curated a list of ACC media members and national folks that provide the best information. Twitter is used to distribute our own news, podcasts or anything I might find interesting.

Interaction: Talk radio has always used alternative ways to interact with the show. At one point in time, faxing your opinion to a show was cutting edge. Then it was email. Then it was texting. Now social media is the new thing. But if you want to get the most out of Twitter, actually engage with followers who pop up in your mentions feed. Spend enough time on there and you’ll discover that many of your followers can tip you off to stories or sources. Twitter is also fantastic for commentary during games.

Branding: While I hate the term, it matters, and I’ve seen the results of using Twitter as an extension of the show. Radio is a faceless business, but the power of the avatar helps put a face with the voice (for better or worse). The Final Four in New Orleans was good example, where media members recognized who I was based on my Twitter avatar. Flash back five years ago, you’d have to catch a glimpse of a press badge to have an idea of who that person was.

I keep Facebook personal and do my best to maintain a tight friends list. The rule of thumb is, “have I met this person in real life?”

Google+ is still figuring itself out, but it is useful. I’ll typically post my columns from WRALSportsFan and we’re toying around with the Hangouts feature.

Q. Many students probably like the idea of writing and talking about sports for a living. What advice do you have for them to get a job like yours?

A. Do everything. Write, blog, tweet, podcast, edit video or whatever.

Companies are looking for a wide range of skills and employees capable of providing content on multiple platforms. There’s no such thing as “just a reporter” or “just a radio host” these days.

Follow Joe Ovies on Twitter and check out his blog.

Q&A with Daggum Roy

Daggum Roy is the fictional Twitter persona of Roy Williams, head coach of the men’s basketball team at UNC-Chapel Hill. In this interview, conducted by email, Daggum Roy discusses the way he and his team use social media and the way the media cover Tar Heels basketball.

Q. Why is Daggum Roy on Twitter? What do you hope to achieve there?

A. Roy is on Twitter by accidental stumblin’ into. And because of bein’ smitted by the folksy speakin’, the ‘daggums’ and the ‘daggerns’, I reckon, and the fact I don’t use any ‘at gotdamn language.

Achieve?  Hope to achieve comedy, I ‘spose, and a glimpse inta what Roy really wonts to say.

Q. Players such as point guard Kendall Marshall and the walk-on players known as Blue Steel are on Twitter as well. What is your policy on the team’s use of social media?

A. On the what? Cotdamnit, told them boys The Twitter is For Growed Adults! Not for a buncha smart-alerc kids wantin’ a-talk about the ‘wheels up’ and the ‘takern a gotdern nap today’ type crap.

Now, the Blue Steel walk-on types, that’s different. Thar on the thar so won’t misplace ‘em. And Wander and I can hunt ‘em if thar not back by the 9:00 Blue Steel lights-out or if I need a fresh Co-Cola, pronta.

Q. Last fall, you asked reporters from broadcast and print media this question: “You guys like it when all the Internet people beat you on a story?” What is your view of the media’s coverage of Tar Heels basketball as well as sports generally?

A. What is ma view of the know-er-all media’s coverage of ma ballsquad? Well, we’re about 3 weeks away from some uppita nat’l feller with hot breakern’ news of NC2A rule-breakin’ that was prob’la already reported to NC2A and’s a non-story, but sells them papers on Final Four Eve. The timing. Got dern.

Overall, media does pretta ‘far job a reportin’ the truth, save a few agendars here or there, and with the puttin’ up with these cranka Jimma Calhouns types. Sports reporters tend to get a little soapboxery sometimes, why I prefer a more realistic, Gary Parrish type.

Q. It’s possible that you may not be the real Roy Williams. Do you care to give us any hints as to who you really are?

A. Well, that wouldern’t been any fun, now, would it?

For more about Daggum Roy, check out his website.

Q&A with Nicholas Graham of the N.C. Digital Heritage Center

Newspapers like these are part of the online collection of the N.C. Digital Heritage Center.

Nicholas Graham is program coordinator at the N.C. Digital Heritage Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. In this interview, conducted by email, he discusses the center’s efforts to digitize and publish historical documents, including newspapers, that reflect the history of North Carolina.

Q. What is the mission of the N.C. Digital Heritage Center, particularly regarding newspapers?

A. The N.C. Digital Heritage Center is a fairly new (we started work in 2009) organization dedicated to working with cultural heritage organizations around the state to digitize selected materials from their collections and share them online via our website. We’ve worked with 80 different institutions to date. We’re supported by the State Library of North Carolina and the UNC University Library.

We work with lots of different kinds of materials — photos, scrapbooks, documents, maps, books — but newspapers are by far the biggest project we’re working on and the toughest. We work with our partners to select materials that will help their users who are interested primarily in state and local history and genealogy, and newspapers are an unparalleled source of information.

In keeping with our mission, we work to provide the best possible digital images and present them in a way that is easy to use, freely available to all, and sustainable. The newspapers are available online at http://digitalnc.org/collections/newspapers.

Q. How are newspapers selected for scanning and posting?

A. We asked public libraries around the state to nominate newspapers that they would like to see digitized. We received a great response, and we will be working this year to digitize papers from all over North Carolina, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.

We digitize from microfilm because it is much faster and cheaper, and in many instances original copies of the old papers don’t exist anymore. When we finish the current batch of papers, we’ll look again to our partners to suggest more titles.

It’s important to us to have a range of titles that reflect the cultural and geographic diversity of North Carolina. I think we’re doing a pretty good job of that now.

On our site you can find a pretty broad selection, from the Fayetteville Observer in the 1850s and 1860s, when it was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, to the Carolina Times from Durham in the mid 20th century, an important African American newspaper that was a prominent voice for the Civil Rights movement.

Our biggest frustration is that we can’t get the work done nearly fast enough to cover the demand. We’re on pace to digitize around a hundred reels a year, which is just a drop in the bucket in terms of what’s out there (the North Carolina Collection at UNC, for example, holds over 40,000 reels of North Carolina papers on microfilm).

Q. What are some common characteristics of the newspapers that you’ve posted so far? Any surprises?

A. Because of the wide variety of papers we’ve worked on — both in terms of geography and time period — there aren’t too many common characteristics that reach across all of the papers.

One of the things that continues to surprise me is the amount of seemingly mundane news that was included. Nearly all of the old papers had a social column where they reported on the comings and goings of the people in the town. This was far more than just births and deaths — they would report if somebody was going to be out of town for the weekend or if they had a dinner party.They provide a fascinating look at the life of a community.

I’m also surprised by how much we can learn about the day-to-day life of North Carolinians through the ads and announcements in the old papers. If we look at the early 19th century papers, we see things like notes about turpentine manufacture, horse-drawn carriages, food sold by the barrel, and runaway slave ads — it’s a detailed and often stark look at a very different way of life. Looking at the early 20th century papers, we can already see the modern world emerging in ads for movie theaters and department stores, and the much wider variety of goods available due to the increasing reach of the railroad.

Q. The center uses Facebook and Twitter to promote its work. Do you see a day where we’ll be archiving tweets and status updates?

A. We have a couple of features on our Facebook page that have been fun — we post a “Yearbook Photo of the Week” from one of the old yearbooks we’ve digitized and also have an album of interesting ads from old newspapers. We’ve been tweeting at @ncnewspapers for just a couple of months. We post a headline each day from an old paper published on that day in history. It’s been a great way to connect with users and provide a preview of the materials we’re working on.

Libraries and archives are already working on policies and strategies to archive social media and other “born digital” content. The Library of Congress has announced an effort to archive every tweet — it’s a daunting job, even for an organization as big as LC.

Librarians and archivists in Wilson Library are focused on preserving and providing access to the myriad ways in which North Carolinians express themselves today. There are a ton of technical and administrative challenges. It was certainly a lot easier to buy a copy of a book or newspaper (or even a letter or diary), which had all of the content in a fixed format. This is a big focus of the whole profession now, and the School of Information and Library Science at UNC is one of the leaders in digital preservation research and education.

It’s definitely where our field is heading in the future, and I’m confident we’ll rise to the challenge. In the meantime, we’ll keep working on the old newspapers.

Checking in with Foursquare

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to join Foursquare, the online service that allows you to “check in” wherever you are. (Among my other resolutions: to try absinthe and to be described as “cheeky.” And yes, to exercise more and eat well, with the possible exception of the absinthe.)

On Foursquare, you can earn “points” and “badges,” and you even become the “mayor” of locations that you frequent often. You can share all of this beyond Foursquare itself via Facebook and Twitter.

I have several friends on Foursquare who post their check-ins to Twitter and Facebook, and I was curious about how and why they used it. I wondered why they would feel the need to let the world know that they were at the grocery store, a gas station or the office.

I asked friends and colleagues about Foursquare. What was I missing? Is it worth joining? Here’s how Margret Anne Hutaff, program coordinator for e-learning at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, described how she uses Foursquare:

“I try to check in at unique places and events. I’m not one to check in at my apartment (privacy issues) or Starbucks every morning or the j-school every day. That can get annoying for your friends/followers. And I don’t always publish it to Twitter. Usually I say something or post a photo when I post to Twitter.”

That journalistic approach makes sense: Check in when you are doing something you consider newsworthy to friends and followers. They may not care that you are at the grocery store, but they may be interested to know that you are at a workshop on campus, out of state for a conference, or somewhere that’s simply interesting.

Hutaff also made this suggestion: ”Sometimes I use the app to find places to eat or explore, especially when I travel. I sometimes leave tips about places, and it’s helpful to see tips from others, too.”

Again, I see the value in gathering and sharing information, regardless of the medium or method. That’s what publications like Rough Guides and Zagat have been doing for decades, after all.

I’ve been on Foursquare for about a month. So far, I am enjoying it. Yes, it’s a bit of goofy fun to get “points” for checking in somewhere. I’ve earned a couple of badges and even become a mayor of my gym, at least for the moment.

When I share check-ins on Twitter, I aim to offer something of value to my followers. A check-in by itself is a bit like a robo-Tweet. It needs context and a human touch. So I include a comment about what I am doing at that place, and I sometimes add a photo.

The idea is to “contribute to the story,” as this Atlantic article about Twitter suggests, and “to be informative or funny — or, ideally, informative and funny.”

On the latter quality, perhaps I’ll check in when I get around to following through on that absinthe resolution. Or maybe not.

Guest post: Leading the movement, one editor at a time

Students in JOMC 457, Advanced Editing, are writing guest posts for this blog this semester. This is the first of those posts. Maggie Cagney is a senior from Chicago, and she is specializing in reporting at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The world of journalism is always changing. No longer must we go to the local grocery store to pick up a newspaper for $1.25 — we can read it on our laptops in the comfort of our own homes. No longer must we scan the front page of one newspaper for the major headlines of the day — we can visit Twitter and access every major headline of the day from numerous news organizations.

Some people fear that print publications are fading fast. I say the possibilities are endless.

From the aggregation of news on social media sites to the opportunities blogs provide for anyone who wishes to share their voice, the means of communication are expanding. And we are experiencing it firsthand as editors in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. As editors of The Carrboro Commons and Durham Voice, part print and part online local publications, the world of journalism is in our hands. We, as UNC Professor Jock Lauterer says, are doing something larger than contributing to a community newspaper — this is live fire.

As editors of a community newspaper, we are the mechanics of the news business, says Jim Roberts, assistant managing editor of The New York Times. Community journalism will never die, and we make that possible.

Many people believe that the men and women behind the scenes do not have an important role. But as someone who has experience both on and off the stage, our role as editors is equally important.

When I pick up a newspaper, my eyes immediately go to the headlines. I look to see whether the pictures and their placement are visually compelling. I take note of the layout — a newspaper with an overbearing amount of text that is not broken up by pictures, headlines and textboxes doesn’t work for me.

As an editor, having the ability to look at a newspaper and find what works and what doesn’t is a powerful thing. But what is more important is putting those thoughts into action and doing it in the most creative way possible.

The field of journalism is moving toward new means of communication, and as editors, it is our job to develop innovative ways to share news with our audience. Our generation grew up with so many valuable social media tools that make change beautiful, but it takes more than an understanding of these tools.

We must challenge what is put in front of us, as Roberts said in a recent visit to our editing class. Take, for example, a New York Times’ slideshow of the American forces leaving Iraq. The pictures, the soldiers’ faces and the movement, tell the story better than 800 words of text. This is our chance to be the change in journalism, and to create something that stands out for its creativity.

A career goal of mine has always been to write something that is life-changing. That is my goal as a reporter.

But my goal as an editor is to create something that is life-changing. I want to create a sequence of photos for a news organization that will be remembered for its visual impact. I want to create a front-page headline that evokes some sort of reaction from my audience, whether the reaction is joy, anger or inspiration.

As editors, we have the chance to inspire and produce something that is more than just words. And with the proliferation of blogs and news websites, many doors have opened for us. It is our time to lead the movement toward new means of communication. It is our time to be as creative as we can in nontraditional ways. It is our time to light the fire.

Q&A with Brooke Cain, N&O researcher and blogger

Brooke Cain is a news researcher, reporter and blogger for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Cain, who has undergraduate and master’s degrees from N.C. State University, has been at the N&O since 1992. In this interview, conducted by email, Cain talks about her job, social media and the future of the N&O.

Q. You have many roles at the News & Observer. Describe your typical workday.

A. I do some research for the newsroom, write for the print edition and for the Happiness is a Warm TV blog, and also do some archiving. How much blogging I do depends on what else is going on in the newsroom that day.

Oftentimes, I can be in the middle of writing my own story and have to stop to look up something for someone else in the newsroom, so it can definitely be a challenge to stay focused. If I have a story to file or interviews to do, I may have to do some blogging from home later. The only constant thing is that I feel like I start each day a little further behind than I was the day before, but I’m definitely not alone in that.

Q. How do you decide what to blog about, and what role do editors play in that?

A. For the most part, I blog about whatever I want, as long as it’s TV-related. I think the only time editors have ever asked for specific blog content was during Scotty McCreery’s rise on “American Idol” — and I would have blogged about Scotty anyway (and still do sometimes) because of the local angle. Thad Ogburn, who is the Metro Editor and also a Warm TV contributor, did a lot of the Scotty blogging.

Despite my personal TV tastes, if a TV show or story has a local angle, I give it top priority. If Evan Rachel Wood is nominated for a Golden Globe, it’s going in the blog. If someone in Fuquay-Varina is on “Wheel of Fortune” and I know about it, it’s going in the blog.

We also try to do reviews for major new TV series as much as we can. Pop Culture editor Adrienne Johnson and I usually try to divide those up for Warm TV. We don’t do as many recaps as we did in the beginning, just because of time constraints, but again, if there’s a local angle, we try to catch those.

And we have a couple of very nice unpaid correspondents who enjoy recapping some of the reality competition shows, and those are popular. I really wish I had more time during the day to devote to the TV stuff, because that’s my favorite.

Q. How do you use social media as part of your job?

A. It’s really incredible how much easier my job is with Twitter alone.

In the olden days, I’d waste so much time trolling around various sites looking for something interesting to write about or just trying to keep up with the latest media news. With Twitter, I check one place and it’s all there — instantly! It has been invaluable. And of course, it’s a great networking tool.

Maybe more than anything, I think it’s a wonderful way to interact with readers and a way to show ourselves as active members of the community, not just robots tweeting links to stories. I also like that with Twitter, I can let my personality come across a little more.

Q. You’ve seen many changes during your career at the N&O. How do you think the paper will change in the years ahead?

A. Oh, if I had that particular crystal ball, I’d be sitting in Sacramento calling the shots. Honestly, I wish I knew. I do think the N&O will always be around in some form.

I remember going over to the NandO offices in the early 1990s to see a demonstration of this crazy new thing called the World Wide Web and thinking it was incredible and exciting, but still never could have imagined then what it has become and what it has meant — both good and bad — for our industry. I’m no good at predictions, but if I may be allowed to hope, my hope for all newspapers is that someone figures out a sustainable financial model that allows there to be both print and online editions so that we can reach everyone who wants news in the way they want to receive it.

One of my short-term hopes specifically for the N&O is that we develop stronger mobile products and that we’re smart about evolving technologies so that we are ready to roll with changes as they come.

Is that asking too much?