Scroll down for the education talk from Philly-area principal Chris Lehmann, it was electrifying.
Real Time News Gathering – Panel moderated by Ryan Osborn, Producer, Today Show
Andy Carvin, Senior strategist, NPR (@acarvin)
Jennifer Preston, Social-Media editor, NYT (@NYT_jenpreston)
Eric Kuhn, Audience Interaction Producer, CNN
Jennifer: We’re all familiar with Twitter lists, and for news organizations they are very valuable. Talking about Ft. Hood, being able to identify the news organizations – small television stations – who were on the ground with valuable news, and present that news to people in real-time (unfiltered!). Then, later in the evening, started to put together stories. Theme of how news is now fluid – shooter profile at 10pm, another story at midnight, but the news was continuous all day.
Andy: Talking about woman leading the Obama caucus in Texas, who could not get into the caucus event due to restrictions from the fire marshal. “She was suddenly acting as a stringer, without ever intending it.” Came to a realization that this was the way to cover voting – harness a crowd as on-the-street reports and editors, to help the journalists make informed decisions on what stories to follow.
Got more and better responses when he would engage with his personal account rather than the NPR account – it’s about the relationship that you manage. The more 1:1 you are able to cultivate, the more people will respond – it doesn’t matter if you’re the person, or the brand.
Eric: “CNN is a huge organization, and I’m very hard pressed to find someone … who isn’t on Twitter. We have 100s and 100s of people in the organization on Twitter to create that personal relationship.” Talking about Octavia Nassar (sp?), the middle eastern editor engaging the community during President’s Obama trip to the area. Then, when the election emerged, Octavia was able to monitor the tweets and realize that Hezebolla (sp, again) did not have support on the grown. “Rolled over to Iran,” she already had the relationships when people were switching their locations over to Tehran.
Echoing Jennifer’s sentiment about Twitter lists as a newsgathering tool. And, he continues to interact with the people on those lists, to be able to follow a story.
Jennifer: “When you’re putting together a list and putting handles on your home page, how do you make sure that person is who they say they are, and will bring value to the users of your website?” The tip I would share with you is to check out their stream, evaluate the judgment they bring to their tweets and the people they are connecting to.
Q from Alex: “One of the most difficult things for orgs to do as they develop a stream is to determine fact from misinformation,” and also the challenge for our panel as editors, “so how do explain as the story is evolving?”
Andy: “We are MONITORING these Twitter accounts, and we want you to monitor them with us.” Allows viewers to PARTICIPATE in news, add depth or debunk. Talking about a photo of a cracked building that emerged in the Haiti coverage, and that folks on Twitter debunked it within 25 minutes (photo was from a quake in Japan 15yrs prior). Helps us sort fact from fiction more quickly.
(Theme: Editors are not infallible, they are now people harnessing the crowd.)
@colbywg – Question about geolocating and Foursquare in news.
Eric: Politicians are beginning to use FourSquare (I read that!). Allows for more transparency, to track what’s happening on the ground.
Jennifer: We used it in Vancouver with a lot of success. But we have to be careful how we use that. We might not want to know. Could be danger! “We have to mindful of what the stories are and what the risks are.”
Andy: Journalists using judgment in check-in, have to avoid exposing elements of the story and the sources.
(SPEED ROUND)
(?) from Easton – How do you get buy-in from on-air personalities?
Jennifer: Show the value of twitter for the journalists.
(?) – How does real-time effect getting the full story?
Andy: Not many circumstances when you CAN get all the facts. It’s a starting point. The big story is a complex story. Earthquake is about buildings, evacuations. (breaking in with a follow-up, cross-chat – “the audience can’t expect the story in real-time” – which is a contradiction, in a way!)
(?) – Has twitter enabled tabloid journalism?
“Only if you let it.”
(?) – Unfiltered comments – no real response on this one
(?) – Are we creating a new digital divide?
“It’s been there for a long time.” Talking about the YouTube debate – people in Charlestown lacked the access/skills to even know about the debate, let alone participate.
“Does civic discourse become balkanized, are we creating apartheid?”
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Social Media + Education – the amazing, fantastic Chris Lehmann, principal of Philadelpha’s Science Leadership Academy (@chrislehmann)
“It’s wonderful to be in NYC because I can talk as fast as I can, I feel like I’m with my people.”
Chris spoke at the Philly #140conf, he is a wonderful speaker, but has so damned much to say!
“My single greatest fear for my children is that school will break them of this habit [the habit of very young children learning new things every day].” Talking about the first graduating class
“The maddening paradox of education, 2010” Students can do things they’ve never been able to do before – talking about digital microscopes, writing the report in real time, publishing – but “none of that matters unless it shows up on the test.” What we can do and what we’re being asked to do are in a disconnect.
Data driven decisions is important – “you’ve got to use good data, and good data ain’t cheap.” Good data on kids is the work they do in classrooms with colleagues and teachers, not the way they perform on one test.
“Know the difference between change and innovation.” Talking about kids desperately reaching for the devices “like oxygen” when they walk out of school. So why are we stopping them from using them inside? Adults want to pretend the technology doesn’t exist, so are we shocked \
“When we passed the notes the teachers collected them, when they pass notes the world sees it.”
“Be humbled by the task.” “Keep asking questions.” “Continue the conversation.” “Speed up to slow down.”
(First standing O of the day, lead by me. That was chill-inducing. Amazing.)
Another connection to ‘achievement porn’ where the rewards aren’t for learning but for successfully jumping through a particular hoop.