What is...? A handy guide for the new media novice

As a new media newbie, it can be a bit daunting to be thrust into a world of acronyms and technical jargon. 10,000 Words is easing the transition by providing the definition for many common terms and concepts as they relate to journalism and new media.The following set of definitions is available for download and distribution via PDF and the embedded document below.What is...? A handy guide for the new media novice APIapplication programming interface; a set of standards for accessing an online software application or tool. APIs are freely available to programmers who can expand the services of an existing online programbeatbloggingthe use of social networks by beat reporters to connect with knowledgeable experts in their field in order to augment and improve their reporting• See BeatBlogging.Orgblog(n) an online journal where entries are written and displayed in reverse chronological order. Blogs can include photos, videos and links; (v) to write in the aforementioned style• See Blogs in Plain Englishblogospherethe collective online community of bloggers and their blogscitizen journalista person without professional journalism training who disseminates news and information, often using the internet as a means to do socontent management system (CMS)computer software or online tool used to create, publish, edit and manage the content of a website in a consistent mannerMore new media terms after the jumpcommentsthe various remarks posted to a website, usually on a blog or individual articlecrowdsourcingthe use of online tools to gather information from a large group of readers for use in a news storyCSSCascading Style Sheets; a computer programming language that controls how a website's elements — such as fonts and colors — are styled• See W3Schools CSS Tutorialdatabasea collection of records or data stored on one or more computers. In online journalism, databases are used to synthesize large amounts of information and present it in an indexed or searchable waydigital footprintevidence of a computer user's online activity. This can include information posted to social networks or blogsDreamweaverprofessional HTML editing software used to create web pages and elementsFlashanimation/multimedia creation software often used by journalists to create interactive graphicsgeotaggingthe process of adding location-specific information to various media such as photos or video. The data often includes place names or latitude and longitude coordinatesHTMLHyperText Markup Language; Programming language that is the foundation of most websites• See W3Schools HTML Tutorialhyperlocala form of journalism that focuses on small areas or community-based storieslivebloga blog or blog post updated with commentary or coverage of a live event as it happens; also livecast• See Liveblogging gets the word outmashupweb application that combines information from one or more sources and presents it in a new wayphotoblogan online journal comprised mainly of photos, often with very little text or commentary• See 30 Amazing photoblogs (and a few tips for creating one)Photoshop(n) professional image manipulation and graphics creation software; (v) to use said program to alter a digital image• See 21 Free online photo editing toolspodcastan audio or video recording distributed over the internet for playback on a computer or personal audio player; also the act of creating or distributing said recording• See Podcasting in Plain EnglishRSSA format for distributing news and other regularly updated content. RSS "feeds" notify subscribers when new content becomes available on a particular site• See What Is RSS?search engine optimization (SEO)the improvement of a website to increase its rank in search engines, thus making visitors more likely to find the sitesocial networking the use of online sites or "social networks" to build relationships and interact with peers, acquaintances, colleagues, and/or sources, as well as connect with people with similar interests. Social networks include sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn• See Social Networking in Plain EnglishSoundslidesFee-based software used to produce multimedia slideshows by combining photos, text and audio into an existing template• See Soundslidestaggingadding labels to web content and/or blog posts in order to categorize and make a site more navigableTwitteran online service and social network that lets users send "tweets" or short text messages of up to 140 characters• See Twitter is making news faster, betteruser-generated content (UGC)online content that is produced by members of the general public, rather than by traditional journalists or media organizations. Sites powered by user-generated content include YouTube and MySpacevodcastvideo podcast; a video recording distributed over the internet for playback on a computer or personal video player; also the act of creating or distributing said recording; also vidcastvlogvideo blog; an online journal comprised mainly of videoswidgeta chunk of HTML code that can be embedded in any web page, blog or social network profile• See What a good widget looks likewikia website that allows online users to collaboratively author, edit and modify information• See Wikis in Plain EnglishPreviously on 10,000 Words: Flash Cheat sheet

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What is...? A handy guide for the new media novice

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