SSI Online Journalism Speaker Gets Enthusiastic Reception in HCMC

Mindy McAdams explains the importance of blogging to HCMC journalists

During the course of a weeklong training, the University of Florida’s Mindy McAdams introduced online journalism to 34 reporters and editors from HCMC's major news outlets.  Ms. McAdams began with an overview of the defining features of online journalism, including use of multi-media and the expectation that reporters now must blog.  She described how blogs differ from articles, and provided hands-on training in key multi-media elements of online journalism.  Mornings were spent discussing each new feature, such as audio slideshows, and exploring some of the best examples and why they are "models" in online journalism.  Then the afternoons were spent having reporters actually prepare their own audio slideshow (or videos, or blogs, as the week progressed).  Participants said McAdams was very clear in describing online journalism, and even made adopting the technical features seem easy.  The event was the first ever of its kind in Vietnam.