The 10 laws of multimedia

We can get ourselves into such a fluster in our hurry to add the latest innovation to our websites that we may lose sight of what exactly it's meant to be doing for our readers.

So it's probably a good idea to take a step back from time to time and take stock.

Deb Wenger has a report, on the Advancing the Story blog, of a talk given by multimedia expert Al Tompkins (pictured) to educators at the Poynter Institute listing what he calls the 10 laws of multimedia.

He told them: "To be great, multimedia has to make the story better than it would be in a legacy form.”

The rules include making the site interactive, being search engine friendly, and tapping into local passion groups.

“The most important reason to do multimedia is to improve the journalism,” Tompkins told the group.

Of course, many people have what they consider to be a good multimedia strategy but it's always good to look at what other people suggest doing. You never know, you might be missing a trick.

From API to Yahoo Pipes: The Journalist’s guide to the digital jargon

For some, “tweeting” is something birds do and our colleagues’ conversations may sound like a script from Star Trek. But let’s face it, the speed of technological development means that even some of the most dedicated technophiles can struggle to keep up with the pace.

So praise be for the charming guys and gals at Poynter Online, headed by Jennifer 8. Lee (pictured), for instigating the compilation of a comprehensive A to nearly Z of the lingo you need to know to convince your colleagues you know your Mashup from your IPad.

The glossary relates to Web standards, programming, online tools, social networking, online advertising and basic technology and even defines the most common terms such as “app” and “blog” for the seriously technologically challenged.

The glossary was created by the Hacks/Hackers group and was released June 22, 2010 under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License. The original glossary can be found here.