Author: Matt Morris

Gotta say I’m terribly disappointed with the way Google Analytics and the POWr hit counter is explained throughout the how to load, instructional videos. I mean total bullshot. If you get turned around and misstep you’re screwed. Tried watching the video tutorials and it’s like watching a music concert from the rafters – the perspectives are worthless and the acoustics suck. I killed several hours trying to install this crap. I have no idea if it works or not. With blood sugars running low, it’s a wonder this laptop is still in one piece. If the mic’s had been turned on at work, the FCC’s cuss jar would be overflowing and Dick Cheney’s infamous, on-air remarks would be considered Sunday School.

Was able to create a links gallery to use for the portfolio page, but got side tracked by the Analytics stuff and haven’t finished that. The one good thing, is that the night photo for the landing page was taken and uploaded.

Oh, btw, all of the logos needed to be sent to photoshop to be custom sized to fit the theme’s image templates. It wasn’t hard, just time consuming. Next step is to re-figure out how to add hyperlinks to them.

So for class, we will need to spend time on analytics and hit counter, then plan how to add links to the logos. I believe the analytics and hit counter are important to the site because of the information they can provide. How many visitors and what they like.

I followed the WP beginner Facebook page’s recommended GA installation plug-in’s, but feel that other companies plug-ins may be better because of user ratings.

It has been a frustrating week, but the only frustrating week throughout the entire project. It’s 3:33 in the morning and I’m tired. See you in a few hours.

Glanced over the readings. Once again, the links they provide are very nice. The first reading was Why do you optimise content for search and social? (Please forgive the British publishers for misspelling optimize. Is their reckless disregard for spelling, a foretelling of the end of western civilisation?)

I like the premise that the content creator should think beyond standard print, to make the article easier to navigate and be more user friendly. It talks about content strategy and how by employing a few simple things can make your work more easily recognized.

These readings relate back to how to create headlines. How headline content will be handled by search engines, and how readers may identify with how the words are arranged.

Jimmy Rohampton’s article discusses the news-gathering habits of millennials. Rohampton discusses how millennials don’t buy into the network hype and view their peers’ opinions over a talking head. Millennials tend to integrate news throughout the day, as opposed to setting an allotted time or avenue to receive it.

Millennials have circumnavigated around the mainstream, pay-for, media scam, but get their info from unproven, unregulated sources. Is BuzzFeed really a credible source? I find it sad that millenials get most of their news from Facebook. Does relevant info get realized on a Facebook feed?

Now days, people disregard journalistic integrity and pick headlines that appeal to their notion of reality. That is scary in 2017, when network media is slandering the leader of the free-world and incriminating a world-superpower (without evidence) of direct tampering of our latest election.

If people believe what they want to believe with no regard for the truth, then we’re all in trouble. Somewhere, somehow, someway, somebody needs to deliver a news-feed without commentary, opinion or slant. Integrity, consistency, impartiality and reliability will slowly earn credibility and respectability over sensationalism, ratings and profitability.

The falling in love with a political party and the hooray for our side mentality inside the news-rooms has to be corrected.

Another Busy couple of weeks during the heart of July. Crooksville – Roseville Pottery Festival, Perry County Fair, and maintaining a 23 year-old pickup.

As I left class last Tuesday, I was fixated on internet speed testing. Schoonover lobby wifi was 40+ Mbps, up and down. Verizon Wireless at the Athens Dairy Queen, was approx. 7Mbps, up and down. Verizon Wireless at home, was comparable to Athens. Centurylink DSL at home was 4Mbps download and 300Kbps upload! WHIZ wifi is 20+ down and 30 up.

FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn visited Marietta on July 18, to listen to citizens’ concerns about rural internet services, and learned that is a luxury compared to the problems Southeastern Ohio residents face with ‘established’ forms of communication.

Commissioner Clyburn made it quite clear that she wasn’t there to offer anything but a sympathetic ear. “We do not believe in hand-outs,” Clyburn said. “What needs to be done, will need to be done by people in their communities, at the community level.”

While billionaires take their tax-cuts to buy lobbyists to convince congressmen to lower their taxes more, Clyburn implies it’s our duty to hold them accountable for their civic responsibility.

The stories that were recited by the one or two hundred, who were in attendance, were eye-opening, to say the least. Many of the complaints were from Morgan County. While the Main topic was broadband, concerns addressing landline telephone and digital TV were aired. Simple, mindless, communication practices, that are standard everywhere, doesn’t happen here.

Meanwhile, at work, I snatched a Radio World magazine dated July 19, that featured Clyburn on the cover. The persona displayed throughout the interview, matched the persona I witnessed in Marietta. I like her, I believe she’s as good a bureaucrat as we can get.

I wasn’t attracted to this week’s reading about long form. But the hyperlinks were good. Especially, the one “How to keep users on your site.” The Optinmonster page and it’s links are phenominal.

Since Tuesday the 25th, I have straightened up the home page and about page. I believe I have the basic drag and drop stuff figured out. Now it’s time to learn coding, embedding and adding links.

Bottom of the home page I would like to turn into samples of published work. Product 1 into published print; product 2 into published audio; and product 3 into published video.

Eventually, I may need to sell photos and videos form the site. Clearly, that will involve an SSL certificate and figuring a format to make purchasing a breeze for the visitors.

So, for class, I will bring my laptop so that we can see how I arrive at the dashboard, evaluate the go-daddy options and find a more efficient way to navigate. We didn’t get that done last time.I had a company pressing me to join with their SEO program. It was free, but I blew them off. I would like to find links to learn the steps we will need to polish this project off, ie, embedding video and links.

We’re at crunch time and I will devote more time to hammering out the upcoming intricacies. This is where I will definitely need guidance and possibly more face time. Next reading will include Social Media. That’s another weak area that i need to learn more. So, here we go…

First off, I would like to begin by taking a moment by entering godaddy and making sure all the preliminary steps and purchasing is ok.

Another busy week has caused me to fall behind in site development. This Blog is about the July 18, readings. So I will be on track with the syllabus. Worked with site the other night and resigned in frustration. The Sydney theme has some glitches that I do not like and cant seem to get around.

Plan to spend time this afternoon working on lower part of home-page. Home internet speeds really suck, and that builds the frustration.

This week’s readings were about headlines and SEO.

Headlines are a weak point of mine, since the editor of a local newspaper adlibbed my first few. I treat headlines as an afterthought, not as a guidepost. I printed off the NPR list.

SEO, search engine optimization, is only a concept, never really practiced. Burt Speakman touched upon Seo in both classes that he instructed. He showed the online journalism class how algorithms vary per machine.

The readings discussed how some editors hold the metrics as a value standard in journalism writing. I disagree. However, Metrics can be useful as a tool to see how you can improve.

Burt taught: cram as many keywords into your headline that you can. This will improve SEO. There are many facts learned through Burt’s Classes and the Vico class, but they don’t necessarily piece together. Hopefully we can find a way to make the random organized. A right triangle has a 90 deg. angle, but what are the other two. 45+45 – 60+30? Reality says they must add to 90, but what is the formula?

I looked ahead to try to get a jump in my progression and printed the 11 hacks article. I found it to be very logical and similar to the blog I wrote the other night. It pushes: a clean (tidy) design that should be easy to read, fortified with snappy pics, hyperlinks and video will keep a viewer on your page longer. However, it doesn’t stress hierarchy. (I have a question about swapping call to action with Our Story – About Us – Mission Statement.)

The next reading is long form. I will read it more deeply in the coming days, but I have the urge to create a story about my venture into this summers racing journalism. It can make a fine long form blog.

We should be ready to discuss these topics and what direction to take when we meet later this morning.

Thanks, MM — Oh, and placing pics and fitting text.

Wow what a busy couple of weeks. I tried relaxing the month of May and June as much as possible, but recently, things have intensified a notch and have began overlapping. I began building this site on July 2, and have been freelance writing for the Perry County Tribune while working part time at WHIZ AM.

July 8, I covered the 125th anniversary event at the Opera House Theater in McConnelsville. July 9, was a race at Midway Speedway. Monday was a crash day. Tuesday, I had to repack front wheel bearings on my pickup, Wednesday was class in Athens, Thursday and Friday were spent covering the Crooksville Roseville Pottery festival and Saturday events will overlap. What’s next?

The drive times across Southeastern Ohio are extensive and Morgan County internet speeds are brutally slow. What can be done in minutes in Athens and Zanesville takes hours in McConnelsville.

Tuesday, July 18, at 6p.m. there will be an FCC representative at Marietta High School publicly discussing internet concerns across the region – I plan to attend.

So, this blog will cover my thoughts on: Why Journalists Need To Code./ Usability and Interface Design.

Journalist shouldn’t have the need to code, but in this ever changing world, it may become necessary. As traditional news outlets are disappearing, downsizing and consolidating, Journalists are becoming more independent.

This independence may mean more flexibility, but it also means Journalists need to become more tech savvy. Do Journalists really need to learn code? Some say yes and some say no. Some have corporate IT departments that can code and some don’t. Some say I’ve never had to learn it, and some do all of their own coding. And a few say they’ve learned, but the industry is changing so fast, what they’ve learned isn’t applicable.

So, Do I need to learn to code? I say yes and no. What that means is yes I need to learn the basics of coding- what it is, and what it’s about. Enough to recognize it, understand it and get comfortable with it enough to maybe expand it on my own.

Today’s news industry is less about disseminating facts ans more about popularity: ratings, appearance and profitability. Today’s independent Journalist needs to become self sufficient and marketable. While a simple, plain web-page can work; a catchy easy to use web-page will make anyone more appealing to hire.

While a flashy website may be appealing, an easy-to-use website will add a certain tangibility. Website development should revolve around usability. Easy use for the viewer to navigate, as well as the people who access and maintain the site.

WordPress seems to offer the platform providing that all round simplicity, with its wide-array of themes and options for simple navigability. A web-page should be thoughtless, self-evident and easy.

Content should be easily navigable, logically located with an architectural hierarchy, brief and comprehensible. Reduce your text by speaking precisely.

A hierarchy should prioritize information in a logical and consistent manner. Navigability benefits by logical standardization. Your page can stand out, but it should adhere to a common understanding of how a site should act. WordPress offers an administrative dashboard in much the same mindset. All administrators have a common accessibility platform that is simple and common.

Coding offers website administrators versatility, but versatility can lead you astray from web standards. WordPress themes allow you to use some coding skills while maintaining web usability standards. It allows for individualized appearances while not letting go of common navigability issues.

Should a driver need to know how to change a flat tire? Should a driver need to know how to change motor oil? Should a driver need to know how to pump their own fuel? Or just how to drive?

Does a journalist need to know coding? Yes, but in the same way as Microsoft Office, Google Drive, Adobe CC or industry specific software; a tool that fixes and maintains. A Journalist’s main job is to drive. Punctuate, use grammar and write. Not get bogged down by the endless specifics of software and coding.

A basic understanding of coding allows a journalist to be flexible in this free-for-all world of instability and bottomless wages. It allows the Journalist the ability to save a buck, by doing instead of subletting. And it allows a journalist to exit the turnpike and venture the back-roads.

 

Really uncomfortable with setting up a domain and host unassisted, but got it done. I feel gypped by GoDaddy because, as a newby, I established a domain before setting up their hosting. Essentially paying for a domain that would have been offered free if I had set up the hosting first.

There are many ‘insurance options’ available, such as malware and domain name protections that are offered, but are they really necessary? I can buy them later, if they are.

Did I pick the right hosting platform? I chose GoDaddy’s WordPress platform, which has many WordPress specific presets. I want easy, but would like to learn too. Would GoDaddy’s Economy, multi-platform host provided a better host? And I could swap to it later?

The economy platform may offer more diversity by allowing other apps (other than WordPress) to to be used, but WordPress comes highly recommended and curiosity can get the best of me later.

I have looked forward to tackling this project for many years. This project is a step toward overcoming a fear of technology, but now that it’s here, I haven’t put much time into it. That will change.

It’s easy to sit-back and wish, but some sort of effort needs to be demonstrated in-order for that wish to become reality. That too will change.

It’s easy to become overconfident and then get confused by unexpected confrontations, but diving in and experiencing how to handle them will teach how to become comfortable and familiar with a technology essential to the 21st century.

Simple things like: What will this site be, What do I want to display, How do I want it to look, Am I forced to use specific images and fonts, are all slapping me in the face. But are what I need to aim for next.

During this initial phase of the project, there have been many hurdles crossed, and some things that will probably have to be changed, but it’s all part of the game.

Adding hyperlinks is new, but a habit I need to start.