Michael Ray Smith on Newspapers Online

Free downloads to help move your newspaper online

By Michael Ray Smith

Here are three examples of no-charge web sites with an estimate on how long the neophyte needs to make it happen.

1) A is for Animoto.com, 10-minutes.

Do you have 10 minutes? See if you can make a video just in time for the next holiday. This free tool automatically produces a 30-second video using the photographs and video clips of the creator.

Here are the four basic steps.

1) From Animoto.com, create an account. (You will be asked to buy the upgrade, a $30 annual fee, but you can continue with the free version.)

2) Using your personal files, upload video clips of no longer than four to eight seconds each and add some still photographs. Keep in mind that the video that you make will only run 30 seconds unless you purchase the upgrade.

3) Once the content is uploaded, select music from Animoto’s files. The content includes top 40, indie rock, electronica, hip hop and all the rest. You can use some of your own music files but be cautious of copyright issues.

4) Follow the directions. Animoto will mix the visual with the audio to create a unique package. It is very fast, very easy and, best of all, it’s free.

The drawbacks, of course, include no audio that the user can add to identify subjects in the pictures and video; however, this free approach may work well as an online equivalent of the traditional photo page. A box near the video can provide some modest context and work like a photo cutline.

2) B is for blogging. WordPress.com, 15-minutes.

WordPress is another free tool, blogging software used by professional writers. This software is rather easy to use and it comes with enough storage to hold up to 2,500 photographs. Again the user will need an e-mail address and establish an account that will end in “wordpress.com.” I use WordPress for a blog for my Home Owners Association with the awkward wording “plantationatvineyard.wordpress.com.”

Once you have created an account, WordPress has templates called themes so you can look like a pro without too much effort. It’s like watching the waves crash on the beach--all pleasure and little labor.

WordPress uses a tool called a dashboard to help the writer add video, photographs and links to create an organized web presence with the ability to categorize the work. The process to create a blog is not difficult and WordPress provides many helps.

3) C is for compression. Twitter and TwitPic, 20-minutes.

As most NCPA members know, Twitter requires a writer to compress her thoughts into 140 characters. It is just another way to interact with busy readers who are surfing the web as they lumber through a routine day.

Many first-class publications are using Twitter to promote articles, particularly developing stories. It is a great tool for weeklies that want to keep readers informed between printing cycles. Twitter and Twitpic use the same approach as other services, an e-mail address, logon and password.

Using 140 characters, Twitter allows users to make a comment called a “tweet.” The best tweets often link to a column or article. Many accounts have themes such as fashion, entertainment or the news industry. My Twitter account is Osbiesmith and it is about writing.

A bonus for Twitter users is a feature that can benefit backpack journalists, the ability to upload photographs to a Twitpic site. Reporters can use a cellular phone to upload photographs or a computer and Internet connection. The system also allows a user to compose a cutline to accompany the photograph.

Newspapers without a strong web presence (or no web presence) can help their online readers stay abreast of news in the community with these three tools. Readers are demanding interactivity and these tools feature comment boxes, a popular feature with readers who want access to the once-veiled world of news gathering and reporting.

As laptop computer include more and more tools, the next generation of users will find making video and audio stories easier and easier. However, the key to all these approaches, whether free or premium, is to choose the right approach to tell the story.

Stories told well with heart get a hearing but stories told poorly from the head suffer a slow collapse.

Apply the A-B-Cs to the Net using these no-charge ideas such as Animoto and you may amuse yourself and you may amuse your readers, too.

(Michael Ray Smith is a professor of communications studies at Campbell University, Buies Creek, N.C. He spent 10 years in newsrooms including time with a Gannett-owned newspaper, Lancaster newspapers and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He speaks on convergence at national journalism conferences and has been interviewed by The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Editor and Publisher and appeared on French TV 24 among other broadcasts.)