Report
Right now, Report allows students to write newspaper articles, insert photos, and load them to a blog. Rajesh Ramakrishnan at Columbia University provided a few technical notes:
- This works for build 595 - The wordpress module is =in the ./wordpress directory and needs to be setup through ./wordpress/setup.py install - The install script works as per expectation: ./setup.py dev - The blog feature works to some extent, but it currently only grabs the text [The AbiWord module needs to be modified to somehow spit out data in a better format] - No implementation work has been done on the plan tab. - The username and password to the blog have been hardcoded to post to http://olpcjam.wordpress.com
Guide
See [1] for the original rtf.
What's This?...Tutorial/Example
Event/Topic
A topic is what the news article is about. Think of something that happened that you want to share with other people. What do you want to write about? Examples: There was a new road built. There was a holiday celebration or someone got married.
Headline
A headline is the title of your story. It is short and tells the reader what the story is about. It is the first thing readers see, so try to catch their attention. Examples: Lots of Fun at the Wedding Big Storm Causes Damage
-Sub-head
The sub-head describes your story in one or two sentences. It is under the headline and before the actual article. It makes readers interested in your topic. Examples: A new road now connects our village to the neighboring town Many houses and trees fell down due to bad weather
Lead
The lead is how you start your article. The first sentence should make readers want to read more. Examples: It was the best wedding ever. The storm was terrifying.
Byline
The byline tells the reader your name and other information you want to include about yourself. Example: Mary John, age 8 John Mary from New York
Description of Event
How do you tell readers what happened? To help tell the story, answer these questions. Who is involved? What happened? Where did it happen? When did it happen? Why did it happen? How did it happen?
Quotes
People like to read what other people said about the topic or event. Example: “I am so happy that I am married,” said the bride.
Numbers
Numbers are important because they can help you prove something. Example: One hundred trees fell down because of the storm.
-Context
Every story is more complicated than it seems. The context is why the event happened the way it did. Exploring the context makes the story more interesting. Here are some questions to help you write about the context. Has anything like this happened before? Example: There were five big storms last year. What are the causes for the event? Example: People were unhappy about the old road and had been complaining for years.
-Effects
Effects include reactions and consequences. What happened as a result of the event? Here are some questions to help you write about the effects. How did people react? Example: Everyone was happy that the couple got married. The mother cried in joy. Did the event lead to more events? Example: A nearby village wants a road now too. What will happen next? Example: The government might give money to rebuild houses.
-Conclusion
The conclusion is the ending of the article. It should close your story.
MORE TO COME:
- Presentation of the program
- Definition of a news article
- Ethics (subjectivity, sources, facts)
UI
Dan Sutera at Columbia University has made some mock-ups of how a UI could integrate this content with the existing software (see the gallery below).
History
More background can be found at Journalism Jam New York/Results.