Google Docs:
Storytelling Tools… say what?
I do have a name for my RJI Fellowship project, it’s Storytelling Tools. But I don’t yet have a decent description — one that’s engaging, or even understandable.
I spout phrases like: “putting big media tools in the hands of smaller newsrooms,” “plugins that aid and enhance the digital workflow,” and “lean startup user-surveys”…
See? My explanation stinks. But I do know it’s explainable.
So I consulted a company called Tadpull, run by Jake and Eulalie Cook, a husband-wife team of UI/UX specialists. They’re good at comprehending and communicating complicated ideas. I told them everything I thought the project was, then asked them for a good way to describe it.
Tadpull distills Storytelling Tools
MS Word:
Does your media organization use WordPress? We need your help
Subhead: RJI Fellow is developing new plugins for journalists
By Barrett Golding
Large media organizations have teams and tools to help with daily tasks, all the way from finding images to fact-checking. During my nine-month RJI Fellowship at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, I’ll adapt some of these tools for use by smaller newsrooms and freelancers.
As both a public radio producer and a Web developer, I’ve seen how a little programming can automate chores like adding pull-quotes or interacting with editors. This RJI Fellows project will create a suite of WordPress plugins — we call them Storytelling Tools — designed for journalists.
Rather than guess what people want, we’ll ask them. In August we’ll be surveying journalists, journo-coders, broadcasters, podcasters, freelancers and student media staff. The goal is to better understand writers’ digital workflows, answering questions such as:
- Do writers compose in Microsoft Word or input text directly into their content management systems (CMS)?
- Do editors run all articles through a fact-checking process?
- How do designers, developers and authors collaborate on long-form multimedia work?
We’ll suggest potential tools and invite suggestions for others. If you’d like to take the survey, please contact us or watch the RJI site for more information.
Potential plugins for producers and writers
Mobile Preview
See how your article displays on a phone, while you enter content, without leaving the CMS. (Based on the Atavist preview feature.)
Version Vault
For audio and video producers: Use WordPress to keep track of successive versions of your media productions, and your editor’s comments on each one. (Expands on the WP Document Revisions plugin.)