twitter // Ricochet by Chrys Wu

Just wanted to bring your attention to some news-related projects that launched this week:

Reporters looking for advice from other reporters should take a look at ReportingOn.

Ryan Sholin’s revamped site is like a help forum for news developers and journalists, particularly beat and local journalists. Follow ReportingOn on Twitter. You’ll find me on ReportingOn too.

The hyperlocal news and data site Everyblock released its source code, much to the delight of Django developers everywhere.

Everyblock is the brainchild of Adrian Holovaty, one of the co-developers of the Django framework. Read more about the project, poke around and see what you find.

Personally, I’d also like to see the source code for the Everyblock iPhone app, but one thing at a time.

If you want to learn more about mobile site design, consider signing up for W3C’s first-ever live training session in Cambridge, UK.

The event takes place Oct. 13. Registration — at a hefty €399.00 (about US$558 at today’s exchange rate) — includes lectures and hands-on workshops, as well as access to the nine-part course. Read the full description, register online or read more about the W3C Mobile Web Initiative.

Feel free to browse around the blog. A few of the most popular posts on Ricochet include:

Have Reporting Work You’re Proud Of? Enter the Online Journalism Awards (Hurry! Deadline is July 8.)
10 Golden Rules for Video Journalists
How to Tell a Multimedia Story: The Pitch

What ideas and tools would you like to know more about? Drop a comment, or ping me on Twitter @MacDivaONA.

Headline writing has always been part of the craft of journalism. Online, it’s even more important as it catches reader attention and affects Google page rank.

Those who follow me on Twitter will sometimes see an update that begins, “The hed made me read it.”

In doing so, I’m trying to point out just how important it is to write a headline that makes a reader want to click. And in turn, I want to acknowledge the work of sharp journalists — and copy editors in particular.

In the last few days, it’s been fun to see “the hed made me read it” and its variations show signs of becoming a mini-meme on Twitter. Kevin Koehler picked it up. Dan Berko gave it a twist.

What headlines have made you want to click on content? Want to follow my tweets? You’ll find me @MacDivaONA.

Addendum: If you’re looking some background on hedwriting for the Web, I suggest:

“This Boring Headline Is Written for Google” from The New York Times
“Headline writing: How to write web headlines that catch search engine spiders” from New Media Bytes
“Writing Headlines for Regular Readers, Search Engines, and Social Media” from Copyblogger

Have a Look at These New Sites Around the Web

What’s With ‘The Hed Made Me Read It’?

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